The Bold. The Brilliant.
The Beautifully Unruly.
OUR FIRST RELEASE?
A LITTLE CHAOTIC.
A LOT BRILLIANT..
THE BOOK HOLLYWOOD TRIED TO BAN
QUEER PEOPLE
A Madcap Jazz Age Satire of
Hollywood's Scandalous Eccentrics
By Carroll and Garrett Graham
"The best book I ever received as a gift? Easy. QUEER PEOPLE...as funny as anything I've ever read."
— Graydon Carter, Former Editor of Vanity Fair,
in The New York Times (2025)
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"Queer" is used in its 1913 Webster's Dictionary sense — strange, eccentric, unconventional — a celebration of the gloriously oddball characters of 1920s Hollywood.
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Published in 1930 by two brothers who lived it, QUEER PEOPLE hit pre-Code Hollywood like a brick through a studio window, exposing 1920s Tinseltown at its most scandalous. Wickedly funny, spectacularly indecent, nine printings in one summer. Then buried for over 50 years.
Follow Whitey, a broke, gin-soaked newspaperman who blows into Prohibition-era Hollywood. Blackmail, backstabbing, casting couches, murder — all washed down at wild bootleg-and-jazz parties where nobody means a word they say. Real moguls, real stars, real dirt — Irving Thalberg, John Gilbert, Louella Parsons, and many more — barely disguised.
Howard Hughes bought the film rights. Even he couldn’t get it made.
Paperback | Hardcover | Kindle
BOOKSELLERS:
Available through Ingram
Paperback | Hardcover | Epub
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Media Kit:
Press Release| Sell Sheet | Cover Art
Inquiries:
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Starshells of Madness publishes stories that matter — and refuse to behave.
We champion culturally essential works from any era: sharp‑tongued Hollywood satires, visionary new voices, forgotten gems that still spark, and contemporary titles that challenge, provoke, or illuminate. If a story has teeth, resonance, or a pulse, it belongs here.
Our imprint was founded by multi‑award‑winning publisher, narrator, and producer Daniel Henning, whose lifelong devotion to storytelling began with an unexpected encounter at age twelve — a moment later immortalized by Sir Alec Guinness in his final memoir. That spark of mentorship, myth, and artistic curiosity lives quietly in our name and logo, a nod to both literary legacy and the enduring power of voice.
Starshells of Madness publishes both print and audiobook editions, treating each format as its own art form. We believe in context, craft, and cultural impact — and in bringing forward stories that deserve to be part of the conversation.
Whether the work is timeless or brand‑new, iconic or iconoclastic, we publish the bold, the brilliant, and the beautifully unruly.
Starshells of Madness began with a spark — a moment, a story, and a promise I’ve never forgotten.
This imprint is my home for the bold, the brilliant, and the beautifully unruly.
For the works that won’t sit still.
For the voices that refuse to behave.
If you’re here, you’re part of the mischief now.
---Daniel
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