In 2017 I released a novel about a teen who becomes a masked vigilante to impress the hot chick next door, and with that pitch alone I’m already channeling elements of Rambo Van Halen, who is a fan of both pseudonyms and hot chicks (but if any of us be without sin, etc…)
At intervals in my book I included witty quotes about masks and anonymity, and one of them came from Oscar Wilde:
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person.
Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.
Obviously RVH isn’t his real name, but hey, that’s the mask. He’s published online under that moniker for years. It gives him a mechanism to say things he wouldn’t under his own name; in the era of the Internet that often means all sorts of horrible things. That’s not the case here. Now that I’ve read both of his books, I think I understand why he does it.
Raw Honesty
RVH is a veteran of the film industry, working on the blue-jeans-and-boots side of the camera as a producer. The inner workings of that industry rely on a great deal of confidentiality and you can cause yourself professional problems if you pull back the curtain when you oughtn’t. Like grunt jobs in any industry is takes its toll on body, mind, and spirit, and Rambo processes that toll through his writing. Ergo, the mask.
His first book, Hollywood Samizdat, focused primarily on stories from his years in L.A., what directors and stars are like in person (he doesn’t name names), and his own struggles with the vices that orbit the business. Here is where the honesty comes through the most, as he describes his alcoholism, his occasional fantasies of dying on the job, his pontifications on suicide (lotta jumpers on the Golden Gate Bridge), and the ease with which he falls for a pretty face.
And when I say his honesty is raw, I mean raw and blunt in a way that I wouldn’t personally say even with a mask on because hoooooo boy, God is still watching, brother. Haha. Daggum. Rambo likes the ladies and his mind goes to some very primal places in response to direct stimuli.
While his descriptions are more colorful than I’m comfortable with, I do at least appreciate how often he emphasizes his marriage and his family and how those things are the most important to him. Those are things that are hard to maintain when you’re neck-deep (or more) in an industry that caters exclusively to base desires on camera. He loves his wife and kids yet he's honest about the influences that might harm his relations with them.
So what's the new book about?
A Capable Man And Other Stories has a broader scope than the first book. He talks about life after L.A., after Covid, living with diabetes, and how the problems of big-city living followed him to the small town Mountain West. Between Hollywood's struggles, inflation, and his health, he finds himself on the edge of bankruptcy and he throws all his passion and fear into his work. It's terrifying and admirable and his candor is inspiring, even if at times it crosses my content threshold.
Good writing makes me want to write, and Rambo's writing makes me consider sharing more of my own memoirs, such as they are. That's one way I know how to describe it.
While very few Internet anons are worthy of the mask, Rambo makes effective use of it, and in a way that motivates me, often to my surprise. With that endorsement I suggest checking out his work. His first book is still my favorite of the two, but I read the second in one sitting, if that tells you anything.
Caveat lector for the profanity and such. Enjoy.