James Greer is an American novelist, screenwriter, musician, and critic. He lives in Los Angeles[1][2] but spends much of his time in France.[3]
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Greer was Senior Editor and Senior Writer at Spin[4][5][6][7] magazine in NYC in the early 90s.[8] He then moved to Dayton, Ohio, where in 1994 he joined the influential Indie rock band Guided By Voices, contributing bass guitar and vocals to the albums Alien Lanes (Matador, 1995) and Under the Bushes Under the Stars (Matador, 1996) and touring extensively across the U.S. and in Europe.[9][10] Greer wrote and recorded the song "Trendspotter Acrobat" for the Guided By Voices EP Sunfish Holy Breakfast, released by Matador Records on November 19, 1996.[11]
He was engaged to Kim Deal of the Pixies/Breeders[12][13] from 1991 until their break-up in 1996.
Greer has published two novels, Artificial Light (Little House on the Bowery/Akashic, 2006)[14][15][16] and The Failure (Akashic, 2010).[17][18][19] Artificial Light won a California Book Award Silver Medal for First Fiction.[20] Noted American novelist Dennis Cooper has written about Greer's latest novel that "James Greer, one of the nimblest and most multilayered American fiction writers, has, with his latest novel The Failure, pulled off a sublime and shivery-smooth literary hat-trick-cum-emotional-gotcha. I defy anyone to come up with an equation to explain how this book's first impression as a ridiculously clever, funny crime story can gradually disclose a metanovel built from far more encyclopedic scratch only to reveal upon its conclusion a central, overriding thought so heartfelt literally it trembles your lower lip. This is one stunning piece of work."[21] Greer also wrote a biography of Guided By Voices, Guided By Voices: A Brief History (Black Cat/Grove Press, 2005).[22][23]
Greer has written or co-written several movies, including Max Keeble's Big Move[24][25] (Disney, 2001), Just My Luck[26][27] (20th Century Fox, 2006) starring Lindsay Lohan, the Jackie Chan vehicle The Spy Next Door[28][29] (Lion's Gate, 2010) and the forthcoming Cleo[30][31][32][33][34] (2012), a rock musical directed by Steven Soderbergh starring Catherine Zeta-Jones.