Summary

In Southwest, Less arrives in Palm Springs to interview H.H.H. Mandern. In the green room, Less takes a call with the other authors on the prize committee, while he waits for Mandern to arrive. He is dismayed when the tech tells him to go on stage and read his own work to pacify the impatient audience. When Less begins reading, their shouts fade and Less realized that their reverence is not for his oration but for H. H. H. Mandern, who had stepped onto the stage. After the interview, Less drives back with the other author who explains that he is “a literary prisoner” (66). Mandern is behind on his next novel. And his publishers insist that he can only go to press junkets and the airport until the manuscript is complete. He threatens to cancel the profile piece unless Less agrees to...