It means that you never use the word ‘bodega’ in your fiction. That you’d rather be shot into the sun than abbreviate the state as ‘Cali’ or San Francisco as ‘Frisco’ or call Los Angeles ‘Tinseltown.’ It means that there’s a good chance the books you like to read and the books you like to write at some point have a character opining on the best burritos or just eating one. It means that scenes that take place in cars don’t need to move quickly. It means that you know the last gunslinger of the West became a laconic private detective. It means that you don’t ever, ever, ever need to care about what happens in Brooklyn, ever.”•
This article appears in Issue 31 of Alta Journal.
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Tod Goldberg is a New York Times-bestselling author of over a dozen books, including The Low Desert, named Southwest Book of the Year; Gangsterland, a finalist for the Hammett Prize; Gangster Nation; The House of Secrets, which he coauthored with Brad Meltzer; and Living Dead Girl, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.
