Product Description The Second Story Theatre is set in an inner-city Los Angeles theatre slated for demolition. Against bitter odds and eminent domain, an unlikely trio - a forgotten B-move star, and aspiring young playwright, and a soap opera queen - converge to stage a successful production of The Royal Hotel.The Rat Boy is the story of a troubled Vietnam vet, a feral dog, and the sewer system of L.A.The Friend is a gut-wrenching, all-too-real account of a sober addict trying to rescue an old buddy from hell. From Library Journal The "Second Story Theatre," a surprisingly nondescript novella by the author of Final Performance ( LJ 2/1/88), conjoins three Hollywood-novel staples--the aging, forgotten, and near-destitute silent-film star; the worn-out and drunk former child star, now an aspiring playright; and the successful but bored TV soap actress--in a last-ditch production of a play in a building soon to be leveled and asphalted into a freeway connector. Despite detailed background stories, the characters remain cliches, and the plot is neither interesting nor inventive. This disappointing short novel is followed by two superb short stories, "The Rat Boy" and "The Friend."-- David Bartholomew, NYPLCopyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. About the Author James Brown is an Associate Professor of English at California State University at San Bernardino.