First published 1980
Bert Flax sits at his typewriter, staring at another assignment that pays the bills but kills his soul. He works as a freelance writer, churning out articles for magazines that care more about deadlines than truth. The work pays well enough, but each piece feels like another step away from the serious novelist he once dreamed of becoming. Bert moves through New York's media world, meeting editors who want quick fixes and publishers who chase trends. He watches younger writers make the same bargains he made years ago. His marriage strains under the weight of his cynicism. Friends from his early writing days have either sold out completely or given up entirely. Bert must decide whether to keep playing the game that feeds him or risk everything for work that might actually matter. Sheed creates a portrait of a man caught between artistic integrity and financial necessity, exploring what happens when talent meets the machinery of commercial publishing.
Genres: fiction, satire, literary-fiction, contemporary
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: artistic-integrity-vs-financial-necessity, cynicism
Setting: New York
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
Paperback · Vintage Books