Gerry Ringwald - Novelist

Runnin’ Down the Drain is a darkly comedic novel that traces the history of civilization through multiple generations of the Mulligan clan. The Mulligans were eyewitnesses to some of planet’s most stupid, funny, and tragic moments of history. From the early days of prehistoric man to present day Los Angeles, members of the Mulligan family have had a front row seat to mankind’s stupidity through the ages. Mulligans have been present at major American events of previous  centuries, including: The Civil War, Custer’s Last Stand, the Great Depression, World Wars I & II, the Vietnam War, and more. 

This story is seen through the eyes of Billy Mulligan, a sixty-year-old writer, who is looking back on his life, while struggling to survive a recent string of mental and physical setbacks during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. His grandfather was a rumrunner for mob in the thirties and his father smuggled hash for a Mexican cartel in the sixties. Not wanting to be a third-generation illegal substance smuggler, Billy left Bay Ridge, Brooklyn for Los Angeles. The novel flashes back to various pivotal moments in Mulligan family history that shed light on what led to Billy being close to death as our story begins. 

Throughout history, the Mulligans have been the epitome of anti-establishment, non-conformity. But they were always rebels without a clue. Billy is a 21st century Mulligan, who is making major physical and mental adjustments in his senior years. At age sixty, he is dealing with cancer, repressed memory, ageism, political correctness, cancel culture, the coronavirus, and worst of all, living in Los Angeles. Born in Brooklyn, Billy has never really adjusted to a place where “sixty is the new ninety.”

Although he wants to write creative fiction, Billy instead makes a meager living as a marketing writer. His uncle had owned a P.R. ad firm called “Mulligan Stew” for decades and helped put Ronald Reagan in the White House. His uncle eventually turned the agency over to his nephew. Which didn't really work out well.

As it turned out, the Covid pandemic coincided with his own spiritual and moral reevaluation. As the nation changed, so did Billy. He watched as his own government treated Covid as a business crisis first, and a health crisis second. Billy watched Wall Street make huge profits during the pandemic, while Main Street was left to fend for itself. 

At age sixty, Billy tries to regain his humanity before it’s too late. And he has to do battle with a client that might or might not have given him a life-threatening disease, decades ago. Other ghosts from his family’s past come back with a vengeance as well. Billy has to decide whether he’s willing to buck Mulligan family traditions and fight or take the money and run. But unfortunately, money can’t buy back time. 

[Novel completed and seeking publisher.]

Aim Low is the sequel to Runnin’ Down the Drain, continuing the history of America through the eyes of the dysfunctional and inept Mulligan clan, that has been screwing up mankind for over ten centuries. The novel continues the story of Billy Mulligan, a semi-retired P.R. executive in Los Angeles, who recently has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. 

Billy gets tasked by a mysterious client to go to Castonia, an ex-Soviet bloc nation, who recently broke away from Russia’s reach. It seems that the country recently discovered huge deposits of lithium in its mountains. The metal is the key ingredient of the batteries that run every smartphone and computer in the world. Within weeks, the United States, Russia, and China have expressed intense interest in this new lithium motherlode. 

At age sixty-three, Billy is desperately trying to keep his head above water with all the changes that have taken place in a post-Covid America. He can barely afford to keep up with all his medical bills and the corporate greed which seems to be ripping the middle class into shreds. Billy is also dealing with the culture clashes between the Boomers and the Zoomers, including the recent uptick of political correctness on steroids, which has made simple communication pretty problematic.

The other main storyline revolves around Billy’s great aunt, Molly Mulligan, who is presently writing her memoirs about her early years in Hollywood. We see how Tinseltown went from a sleepy little berg with oil wells, to the home of moviemaking in just a few years. From silent films to sound pictures, the reader gets a front row seat on the journey. The cranky octogenarian also looks back on her father, an Oscar-winning director, whose career came to a grinding halt after he was blacklisted in the nineteen-fifties. She tells her father's story, from making silent for Thomas A. Edison in Fort Lee, New Jersey, to his journey to Hollywood and fame and fortune. Molly describes Aidan Mulligan’s adventures in South of the Border to make a movie with outlaw Pancho Villa and his return to Mexico decades later to make the film that ruined his career. She also tells the story of how she herself became a top Hollywood writer and eyewitness to many seedy scandals of the time. Molly also begins an affair with the son of a famed movie studio mogul, whose family used its vast fortune to hide many hideous crimes. 

Another player is Sam Donovan, a L.A. private eye who was hired by Molly to investigate a mysterious death that she believes was covered up to protect a well-connected person in town. Meanwhile, in the present day, Billy and his wife Samantha Donovan - the daughter of the late private eye - go to Castonia and encounter a web of spies and espionage mischief that the couple was unprepared for. Within a short period of time, World War III seems actually possible. All because of those damn lithium deposits. Washington is leaning on Billy to get Castonia's mineral rights for America, before Russia or China can. 

The exciting and hilarious conclusion satirizes the global obsession with social media, smartphones, cable news, and our unhealthy dependence on technology that can be as addictive as any mind-altering drug.

[Novel completed and seeking publisher.]

Mystery to Me is the third chapter of the Mulligan trilogy, which began with Runnin’ Down the Drain, then followed by Aim Low. The new novel continues the adventures of ex-P.R. executive, Billy Mulligan and his private eye wife, Samantha “Sam” Donovan. 

While Billy is in the hospital undergoing a stem cell transplant to combat his Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, Sam abruptly re-opens a decades-old cold murder case that was once investigated by her late father. In the nineteen-forties, her dad, a famed L.A. private eye, was hired to solve the murder of a handsome actor who was the star of a long-running radio program, “The Crimson Spider”. His naked body was found in his convertible on Pacific Coast Highway, near Malibu. The killer was never found. Sam’s dad spent decades trying to solve the crime, but to no avail. 

The murder case exposed the seedier side of Hollywood in the post-World War II era, where some young actors first got their start by doing things that took them to a dark place. Some of these regrettable events involved members of organized crime and other denizens of the L.A. underworld. From pimps and pushers to amoral attorneys and debased businessmen, both Donovans became knee-deep in corruption, deception, and moral decay. 

Mystery to Me paints a vivid picture of Hollywood after World War II, which includes labor unrest, race riots, pornography, multiple murders, illegal narcotics, and more. Back then, the City of Angels was filled to the brim with venal politicians, violent cops, sleazy studio executives, desperate Hollywood talent, and other infamous types with criminality on their minds. 

While Billy struggles to make a comeback from cancer, Sam fights to stay alive while attempting to solve one of the most infamous, unsolved murder cases in Hollywood history.

[Novel completed and seeking publisher.]

God Hates Me is the final chapter of the Mulligan Quartet, which began with Runnin’ Down the Drain and continued with Aim Low and Mystery to Me. God Hates Me wraps up the comic misadventures of ex-P.R. executive, Billy Mulligan and his private eye wife, Sam Donovan. The story also focuses on Billy’s cousin, Thomas and his son, Ronan, in a steamy, sex-filled tale of how Simi Valley became the porn capital of America. 

Even though Billy has survived a stem cell transplant and is back home, he is currently knee-deep in melancholy. His wife, Sam, suggests he see a therapist. During these sessions, Billy struggles with his long-repressed guilt from his childhood and teenage years.

The other major storyline revolves around two other members of the Mulligan clan. Thomas Mulligan – son of Brandon Mulligan (original owner of famed Los Angeles P.R. firm, “Mulligan Stew”) and Billy’s cousin – became a famed porn director in the seventies, and his son, Ronan, who didn’t want to follow in his father’s footsteps. Generational familial conflicts ensued.

We see the growth of the adult entertainment industry through the eyes of Thomas, from the sixties to the present, from B-movie director to porn mogul. From super-8 peep shows...to the explosion of the home video market...to porn-on-demand on smartphones, Thomas was at the epicenter of it all.

By contrast, Ronan survived the stigma of being the son of a porn king to become a T.V. writer. In many ways, his journey through the mainstream Hollywood entertainment industry mirrored the creative obstacles and challenges that his father went through in the adult entertainment industry, located in nearby San Fernando Valley. 

Ronan also falls in love with a beautiful woman who has a mysterious past. But when he tries to find out more about her, Ronan is thrown into a maelstrom of deception that takes him south of the border to uncover the truth.

God Hates Me is a funny and nostalgic look at Hollywood over many decades, and wraps up the journeys of the Mulligan, Byrnes (a famous movie studio dynasty) and Flores (a famous drug cartel) families. All three clans come together to create a compellingly comical conclusion.

[Novel expected to be completed in 2025.]