Written during F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Hollywood years, a witty collection of tales where humor and heartbreak collide through the eyes of a once-successful screenwriter—now with a new foreword by Fitzgerald’s great-granddaughter Blake Hazard and a bonus Pat Hobby story that has never before been published in print.

Literary legend F. Scott Fitzgerald pulls back the curtain on the glitz, chaos, and absurdity of the movie industry through the eyes of Pat Hobby, a screenwriter clinging to his faded dreams. Pat’s amusing misadventures offer a glimpse into the life of a man caught between the illusions of ambition and reality’s disappointments.

Set in 1930s Hollywood—a place where lunchroom gossip held as much power as the scripts themselves—Pat’s world is one of desperation and hustle. Once celebrated for his screenwriting, he’s now a relic, scraping by on odd jobs and his half-baked schemes to make a buck. Pat navigates town with a blend of cunning and futility. “This was not art, this was an industry,” he observes, capturing the soul of a system where creativity takes a back seat to profit.

Originally published in Esquire from 1939 to 1940, these stories were born from Fitzgerald’s own struggles to make it in Hollywood. The result is a darkly funny and brilliantly crafted portrait of an antihero writer who’s willing to go for broke.