Season of the Gods: A Novel
ISBN: 978-1-7352738-7-7
U.S. Publication Date: October 3, 2023
Trade Paperback Original, 486 Pages
$18.00 U.S./$24.00 CAN
Also Kindle
Audiobook Jan. 2024, read by Holly Adams
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-7352738-8-4
“A master storyteller, Matzen has given us a great story—intimate, intense, and unforgettable.”
Foreword Reviews on Robert Matzen
"In Season of the Gods, Robert Matzen rounds up the usual suspects, and a few intriguingly unusual ones as well, for a plausible, and often suspenseful, narrative of the creation of the 1943 Best Picture hit Casablanca. Flesh and blood clothe the stars, screenwriters—even secretaries—whose careers merged in the midst of the worldwide escalation of hostilities in the early years of World War II. Matzen's own casting of Warner Bros. Story Editor Irene Lee as a star of this real-life drama is masterful. The supporting cast, consisting of the heat of the Los Angeles summer, nightclubs, the Hollywood Hills to the confined spaces of the Writers Building at Warners, makes Season of the Gods an enticing tale. Here's looking at—and reading—this, kid!"
James D'Arc
Author, When Hollywood Came to Town
“Absolutely fascinating! Robert Matzen is known for his meticulously researched non-fiction, but his first foray into fiction is not to be missed. You may think you know the beloved film Casablanca, but you’ll be riveted by this story behind the story. Season of the Gods is must-read fiction for lovers of old Hollywood.”
Brenda Janowitz
Author, The Audrey Hepburn Estate and The Grace Kelly Dress
"Robert Matzen’s intimate knowledge of the studio system era at Warner Bros. combined with his storytelling acumen brings the backstory of the making of Casablanca—the greatest Hollywood movie of all time—to life.”
Alan K. Rode
Author, Michael Curtiz: A Life in Film
Meet Irene Lee…
head of the Story Department at Warner Bros. and the only female executive at the studio. When "Renie" finds an unproduced stage play set in Morocco, she sees an opportunity to secure her place as an equal to the studio’s most powerful men. No one agrees until two brash young studio writers, Julius and Philip Epstein, decide to back Renie’s gamble. Their screenplay's name: Casablanca.
Renie has another problem. With what she considers a “junkyard of a love life” behind her, she meets a man who seems too good to be true and so she’s convinced she can’t get involved. She’s a career girl with no time for romance—and yet the attraction can’t be denied.
Meet "the Boys"...
Julius (left) and Philip (right) Epstein, 32-year-old twins from the Lower East Side of New York City, who have been writing for Warner Bros. for 5 and 4 years, respectively. They have risen steadily through the screenwriter ranks at the studio and see this gamble by Renie (their boss) as a worthwhile quest. The boys, as they're known on the lot because they're always seen together and no one can tell them apart, craft great lines for the developing script.
"I came to Casablanca for the waters," says Rick.
"What waters? We're in the desert!" says Renault.
"I was misinformed," says Rick.
"I've got this gun pointed right at your heart," says Rick to Renault.
"That is my least vulnerable spot," says Renault.
But Casablanca needed more than ironic humor. It needed a heart and soul and ideals for a world in its darkest hour. In short, Renie and the boys needed help to realize her dream of a perfect motion picture.
Set against the first months of World War II, Season of the Gods careens across Hollywood’s Golden Age to tell the spellbinding and unlikely story of a masterpiece through the eyes of all who made it happen.
Season of the Gods is the debut novel of Robert Matzen, internationally known bestselling author of Dutch Girl, Mission, and seven other books. He is a Hollywood historian specializing in the Warner Bros. Studios who has appeared on national broadcast outlets including MSNBC's Morning Joe, FOX NEWS primetime, NPR, and i24. His byline has appeared in the Wall Street Journal.
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