Author/screenwriter Michael Meloan, a confident of the late writer Bukowski, says this about the story that makes
up his 136-page novella PINBALL WIZARD: “Young software engineer Ralph Hargraves is buffeted between a
controlling father, international intrigue in the US defense industry, and an impactful friendship with the writer
Charles Bukowski. A wild girlfriend also ratchets up the action. And a shamanic physicist introduces a new way
of thinking. Is Ralph the Pinball Wizard or the pinball? In the end, he must decide. And he does.”
While his book deals with a close relationship with Bukowski, PINBALL WIZARD tackles the author’s sense of
developing his own identity and growth as a writer as well. “In 1980,” said Meloan,” my girlfriend Jan worked at a
small health food restaurant in South Redondo Beach owned by Linda Lee Beighle. Jan told me that Linda was
dating the poet Bukowski. I had read his column “Notes of a Dirty Old Man” in the LA Free Press when I was in
high school. I was a fan, and so through Jan, I was invited to the house. Bukowski and I immediately hit it off. He
and Linda continued to invite me to the house for various parties from 1980 to the time of his death in 1994.”
“PINBALL WIZARD should be especially interesting to fans of Bukowski since some of the key action involves
him. But the story is much more than my relationship with Buk. It is a multifaced tale that should appeal to any
reader interested in family dynamics and the difficulties of discovering oneself and forging a personal identity.”