Blue Days Black Nights: a memoir of desire

FROM THE CREATOR OF FELLOW TRAVELERS WITH A NEW FORWARD BY MATT BOMER AND A NEW EPILOGUE BY THE AUTHOR... comes this reissue of the acclaimed 2004 memoir. "A tragedy bolstered by a laugh out loud sense of humor, alongside startling lucidity and self-awareness in the midst of a drug-induced haze, this memoir explores themes that run through the beautiful body of Ron's work: embracing pain, grief, and failure, and using all of it to make art (and have a full life)." -- Matt Bomer A wrong turn down a one-way street in the shadow of the Sunset Strip's Chateau Marmont leads Academy and Emmy Award-nominated writer/producer Ron Nyswaner ( Philadelphia, Fellow Travelers ) on a journey that will nearly drown him in the intoxicating, impulsive, maddening, tragic, and transformative nature of love. Despite his success, Ron is fighting depression and contemplating self-destruction. "I don't want a mediocre, empty life," he tells his psychiatrist-acupuncturist-herbalist after halfheartedly attempting to hang himself with a belt. Then, on a trip from his home in upstate New York to Los Angeles, he meets and falls for world-weary Johann, a Latin-quoting, leather-clad hustler with a vague, European accent. In the next year Johann will teach him many things: how to make a crack pipe out of a soda can, how to come down from a crystal meth binge, how to walk down a city street as if he owns it, how to beg for "more" in Hungarian, and how to lose oneself utterly in reckless passion. If he can survive it, loving Johann might be Ron's salvation. Ron Nyswaner's credits include Fellow Travelers, Philadelphia, Smithereens, Mrs. Soffel, Soldier's Girl, The Painted Veil and others. He lives in Los Angeles.