California Screaming, Signed by Doug Guinan
[Signed] Guinan, Doug. California Screaming. First Edition. 1998. Book and dust jacket are both in very good condition—pages are clean but show mild yellowing due to age; an "autographed copy" sticker is adhered to the front cover. Book is signed “Doug Guinan” on the title page.
Written in the laid-back 1990s, just before smartphones and social media changed everything, this fun and dishy gay novel captures a West Hollywood that now feels almost as remote as the 1950s. Its narcissistic but oddly endearing protagonist, a staggeringly handsome transplant from New York, drifts through life sustained by little more than good looks, a rigorous gym routine, and an unwavering commitment to skin care. That changes after a Christmas Day meet-cute with an entertainment mogul who bears more than a passing resemblance to David Geffen. Anyone familiar with West Hollywood in that era will recognize the milieu: Friday happy hours at Muse, cruising at Athletic Connection, late nights at Spike, and bargain hunting at the Barneys warehouse sale. Beyond its romance and satire, the novel serves as an unexpectedly vivid snapshot of gay Los Angeles at the end of the twentieth century, before apps, influencers, and online personas transformed the way people met, socialized, and reinvented themselves.
“Like many youngish people in LA, they could not imagine buying a house, but a forty-dollar bottle of hair conditioner did not seem unreasonable. It seemed, in fact, absolutely right.”
--Doug Guinan