Chaz Thompson dropped out of high school in 1969 to join the circus, but when the circus left town without him, he took his guitar and began a musical odyssey. He ended up in Madison, Wisconsin, where Disco killed his music career and led him to a more secure vocation as a graphic artist. Returning to Los Angeles, he began writing screenplays, but a disagreeable relationship with his agent prompted him to let his contract expire, and turned him to writing novels, where the final word is in the hands of the author. More or less.