Escape from Houdini Mountain

By Pleasant Gehman

From the glittering debauched nights of 1980s Hollywood (Escape from Houdini Mountain) to the festering bowels of New York's Lower East Side (Must Have Been Love), these 23 mind-bending tales chronicle a young woman's quest for romantic adventure. Spun from her experiences in the L.A. underground, the stories are infectiously entertaining. Pleasant's eye for the human condition is pristine. Her heart shines as she revels in a carnival of delicately drawn characters. Some are sad, some sick, some brilliant, but in Pleasant's world they are all appreciated equally. Ultimately this book, for all it's wildly funny tales, is an evolved praising of feminine beauty and it's power in a world gone mad.

Pleasant Gehman has been writing about L.A. for more than 20 years. She has appeared on E 's Wild On Tinseltown, MTV, VH-1, and CNN. The author of several books including Senorita Sin and Princess of Hollywood, her work has been widely anthologized.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0916397688
• ISBN13: 9780916397685
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Manic D Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

LIFE ON THE WILD SIDE!

Take a spin in the fast lane with the one and only Pleasant Gehman. This lady rocks (so we won't have to). Woman has lived through quite a bit and lived to write about it--and we get it all: the good and the bad. What makes her stand out as a writer is her own, very unique way of putting the word down. Might remind some of Henry Miller, Jeri Cain Rossi, or even Charles Bukowski--by that I mean she bares her heart and soul and stays away from the phony type of writing (one might find in mags like The New Yorker and others like it.) You get the whole picture: warts and all. That makes her human in this reader's eyes--and we dig the hell out of her for it.

Pleasant Gehman's Hollywood

I love this woman's unique take on Tinsel Town and L.A. in general. Once you start reading you won't be able to put it down. Read it from cover to cover in a single sitting. This is honest writing, screams from the gut. You get it all because the lady has the smarts and talent and backbone to give you the truth: the good, the bad and the hilarious. She knows life is that and more because she has lived through it. Enjoy the laughter when you can, she seems to say, and do the best that you can do to get through the less than pleasant moments (like heartbreak and other disappointments) that all of us sometimes find ourselves having to deal with. My only complaint is that she does not have enough books out there! I would like to see Pleasant write a longer work, maybe a novel or her memoirs. I put her up there with the best of them like Carson McCullers, Sylvia Plath, Unica Zurn, Dan Fante, Charles Bukowski, John O'Brien, Nathanael West, Henry Miller, Jack Kerouac, et al. Can't wait for her next book.

Clowns and Drag Queens and Preachers, OH MY!

Escape From Houdini Mountain is a dizzing joyride of autobiographical fiction from a different kind of L.A. Woman. Spun from her experiences in the L.A. underground, the stories are infectiously entertaining. Pleasant's eye for the human condition is pristine. Her heart shines as she revels in a carnival of delicately drawn characters. Some are sad, some sick, some brilliant, but in Pleasant's world they are all appreciated equally. Ultimately this book, for all it's wildly funny tales, is an evolved praising of feminine beauty and it's power in a world gone mad.

Several nights' worth of fun!

Ms. Gehman's stories of growing up in LA range from the tender ("Vet Mem") to the bizarre ("Beauty From Within"--a tale about eating make-up!) to hilarious ("Wine Me, Dine Me, Soixant-Neuf Me") but the writing is solid and fun to read.This is a collection I'll enjoy sharing with my best girlfriends, and will come back to again and again!