Ahoy from noirish Los Angeles

kimcooper

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I'm new, and didn't want to chime in without making a proper introduction.

My name is Kim Cooper, and I'm a pop music critic who is transitioning into historical mystery fiction, a switch that evolved out of my work as a true crime historian and guide with our family tour business, Esotouric bus adventures.

My first novel is forthcoming, and available for pre-order as a deluxe Subscriber's edition through Christmas, then in paper and electronic editions in February. Set in 1929 Los Angeles, The Kept Girl is the fact-based story of a murderous cult of angel worshippers who were charged with fraud. The fictional spin comes in the casting of the detectives who uncover the cult's weird activities: Raymond Chandler (then still an oil man), his devoted secretary Muriel Fischer, and Tom James, a demoted police detective who might be a real-life model for Philip Marlowe.

With my husband Richard Schave, I curate the salons of LAVA - The Los Angeles Visionaries Association. We host a free Salon on the last Sunday of every month, where LAVA Visionaries present. We also host occasional LAVA Literary Salons and quarterly forensic science seminars at Cal State LA.

We also have a weekly LA history podcast, which this week is dedicated to the criminal 1920s L.A. backdrop of my novel. Interviewed are L.A. Noir writer John Buntin and historian Rick Baudé, who has a unique, personal perspective on the cult featured in The Kept Girl.

Previously, I edited the independent magazine Scram, a journal of unpopular culture from 1992-2006, and co-edited two spin-off anthologies, Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth: The Dark History of Pre-pubescent Pop from the Banana Splits to Britney Spears (Feral House) and Lost in the Grooves: Scram's Capricious Guide to the Music You Missed (Routledge). I wrote the best-selling entry in the 33 1/13 series of little books about great albums, Neutral Milk Hotel's 'In The Aeroplane Over the Sea' (Bloomsbury/Continuum), and ghosted my grandmother Barbara Cooper's memoir Fall in Love For Life: Inspiration from a 73-Year Marriage (Chronicle).

I'm happy to be here, have a lot of questions, and look forward to participating in future discussions.

Kim Cooper
Author of The Kept Girl, a mystery of 1929 Los Angeles
http://www.thekeptgirl.com
 

Izz

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Welcome to AW, Kim! :welcome:

I'm sure you'll love it here; best online writing community and resource around, imo. You'll find plenty of peeps writing historical fiction to hang with, too. Warning: AW is very addictive!

A tip: you might find it easier to set up your website, etc, as a signature (you can do this via your Control Panel), so you don't have to type it out in every post.

See you around the boards! :)
 
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kimcooper

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Thanks for the welcome, and for the tip about the signature--didn't see that as an option.
 

L. Y.

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Welcome to the Water Cooler!

:welcome:

AW is a huge place, and there's a lot of information to be found here. Take your time and browse around to get a feel of the various forums.

For those interested in receiving a critique of your work, there is a 50-post rule. Here's a link to some of the most commonly asked questions in the FAQs. Wondering what those interesting acronyms used around the forum mean? Find out in the Absolute Write Dictionary.

And don't forget to check out the Newbie Guide.

Enjoy your stay. :)
 

BMajor

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Welcome to AW, Kim! I'll be checking out the links - Nice to meet you!
 

rwm4768

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Welcome. Sounds like you have some interesting projects going.
 

Griffin Hayes

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Welcome aboard!
 

regdog

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Take some time and read the Newbie Guide and the Stickies found
at the top of Forum pages. They are your best guide to learning about
Absolute Write.


Please read the FAQ about posting photos.


In fact we have lots of brilliant FAQs check them out.


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Chase

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. . . from noirish Los Angeles

:welcome:, Kim.

"Noirish Los Angeles" gave me a chuckle. It's the second circumstance where I've seen the word "noirish."

I'm a fan of LA's topgun lawyer, Perry Mason. Only those who need closed captions would understand, but the intro music to every episodes in the '50s was captioned "noirish theme" for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.

:ty: and :welcome: again.
 

kimcooper

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Thanks for the welcome. I borrowed the phrase from a somewhat notorious message board thread on Skyscraper Page, a celebration of lost Los Angeles that has grown like nostalgic kudzu to nearly 1000 pages. Didn't realize it was a also a reference to Mason's music!
:welcome:, Kim.

"Noirish Los Angeles" gave me a chuckle. It's the second circumstance where I've seen the word "noirish."

I'm a fan of LA's topgun lawyer, Perry Mason. Only those who need closed captions would understand, but the intro music to every episodes in the '50s was captioned "noirish theme" for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.

:ty: and :welcome: again.