Graffiti in the Rubber Room: Writing For My Sanity

The Lynchian life and so-called career of existential pulp fiction author and B movie impresario Will "the Thrill" Viharo, as told in an epistolary mosaic.

"A storyteller's greatest challenge is telling a story about themselves. The raw unvarnished truth of their life, their loves, their losses, their triumphs and their tragedies. Will Viharo has taken that challenge and has succeeded wildly. Graffiti in the Rubber Room is a poignant, exhilarating, at times philosophical epistle to the people, places, and experiences that turned a fresh-faced baby boy into Will The Thrill. It's a stunning achievement that does what so few memoirs do, it tells the truth, for good or ill. I couldn't put it down!"-S.A. Cosby, bestselling author of Razorblade Tears and Blacktop Wasteland

"Only Will Viharo could pull off an epistolary bildungsroman with this much pulp fiction, gonzo journalism, and overall weirdness. Don't fret Viharo fans. Graffiti in the Rubber Room also comes with a heaping serving of the author's perpetually oversexed brain and wry commentary on the absurdity of modern life. And, yet, somehow in the midst of this wild, pop-culture rumination, Viharo finds the perfect spots for those gut-punch lines that betray an old cynic's heart still yearning to be broken." -Joe Clifford, author of Junkie Love and Say My Name

"Read this book! It takes a certain (and rare) kind of courage to unflinchingly record one's life for the world to read and, therefore, judge. My friend Will 'the Thrill' Viharo has done it with all that courage in evidence, and a style all his own. But then, Will always had both. What I really didn't know was that his remarkable life has been lived on his peculiar terms, a place that only Will could inhabit. He delivers it all to us here. At once exhaustive, elegant, and entertaining, Will's memoir is a kickass read, and a lesson on how to live bravely. To say nothing of his mastery of writing. 'What you don't know about me could fill volumes,' I once heard a character in a movie say. What I didn't know about Will was truly voluminous, but I sure do now, and I am thankful for that. And for him."-Jon Lindstrom, award-winning star of General Hospital and Port Charles, writer-director of How We Got Away With It

"'Will The Thrill' has really delivered in this passionate and personal saga of his days in Hollywood and elsewhere. A man of wit and taste, he bled his memories onto the page, and they now become ours. What a gift! Already a well-known and accomplished fiction master with his Vic Valentine stories, this memoir is a must for hipsters and genre lovers from back in the day, or anyone now wanting a cool Tiki-tinged read this summer. Do yourself a favor and pony up for this swell tome."-Steve De Jarnatt, director of Miracle Mile and Cherry 2000

"A memoir with a better butter anecdote than Last Tango in Paris. About 10 pages into Will's book I pulled out a notepad and started a list of movies I needed to see. It's a tour through American cinema-better than any film school. It's also a memoir of stark honesty detailing mistakes, regrets, missed opportunities, and pain. Somehow, through it all, it's also funny and hopeful. Will's writing is a surprising ride through a painful youth, tragic and sexy ladies, brushes with fame, and the struggles of being a noir writer. Then he'll take a turn and reveal a vista of insight with a beautiful line about the necessity of forgiveness that is worthy of the noir films that inspire him. 'Lingering bitterness is nothing but slow-burning suicide.'. I love it."-Shannon Wheeler, New Yorker cartoonist, creator of Too Much Coffee Man