You Play the Black and the Red Comes Up

Book excerpt: A bestseller when originally published in 1938, a lost noir classic given new life in this edition featuring an introduction from Matt Groening. A novel of luck and irony, You Play the Black and the Red Comes Up follows the wayward meanderings of a Depression drifter (Dick) as he bums his way from Oklahoma to Los Angeles in search of his son and runaway wife. There he commits one crime, plans another, and gets arrested for something he didn't do. He is befriended by characters as lush and crazy as L.A. Deco: Quentin Genter, film director, decadent, collector of beauty and poison. Mamie, an indestructibly loving divorcee. Patsy, who gilds her sandals with radiator paint and becomes an adored evangelist. And a procession of crooks, shysters, rueful temptors and loopy saints.