Dillinger in Hollywood: New and Selected Short Stories

John Sayles, better known as a screenwriter and filmmaker, has been quietly publishing short stories since the 1980's. In this collection, he has compiled ten stories written over the span of twenty-four years, the oldest of which lends its title to the book. Some of these stories focus on the lesser known side of the film industry, the world of bit actors and technical crews, while others explore such varied experiences as women whose men are incarcerated and midwives. Most of his stories are leisurely, almost novelistic in their unfolding, and a few approach the novella length. Sayles seems in no hurry to finish his tales, and will introduce key characters ten pages into them. The stories he treats this way have no urgency, no sharp spikes of conflict, and yet they are engrossing because of Sayles's superb ability to draw his characters and their situations. "Dillinger in Hollywood" is a humorous, bittersweet tale about a man in a show business nursing home who maintains that he used to be John Dillinger before he had staged his "murder" and took a job as a driver on a movie lot. Sayles occasionally breaks with his own traditions. One of the messiest and shortest stories is also one of the most effective. In "To the Light", Annie, a midwife, helps an illegal immigrant deliver a breech baby while remembering her first delivery, a boy who turned out to be a mass-murderer. Not surprisingly, John Sayles knows how to tell a story, even if it turns out to be a shaggy dog tale. His unpretentious style is less visual than one would expect, and instead of giving the reader a sweeping scope, he focuses on quiet moments between characters. These largely traditional stories should appeal to a wide range of readers, from Sayles's film fans to readers of literary fiction.