Flight 505: a novella

Billy Sooner made it big. Mickey and Al were left behind. In a bid to recapture the past, they hope to reunite on stage at Madison Square Gardens, before Mickey’s shady past and bingo dauber heroin send them on a trip they can’t come back from. Flight 505 is bloody, bleak, meditative, funny, and, on one level or another, all about music, musicians, and the glory and damage of their world. "Flight 505 pays dark homage to the Southern California post-punk music scene. Through the story of three band-mates drawn to Los Angeles during its rock club heyday, Les Bohem skillfully deconstructs the adolescent male’s archetypal dream of rock and roll stardom. Bohem’s prose carries the cautionary weight of his having been there. The problem with most rock and roll fiction is that it invariably falls prey to its own self-importance. Flight 505 begs to differ." —Rodney Crowell "I’m not one for reading rock and roll writing. I find it either terribly clichéd or over-fantasized. Having definitely been there and definitely done that, I was immediately familiar with and felt real affection for Les’ dysfunctional family of characters. Every dirty club floor, cheap beer and chronic loser truly lives and breathes in this story, and Les’ amazing recollection of and attention to detail are so impeccable if you weren’t in L.A. back in the ’80s, you’ll certainly feel as if you are… and if you weren’t in a band, well, this is what it was like. A great read." —Johnette Napolitano