Bret Easton Ellis is an American author. He is considered to be one of the major Generation X authors and was regarded as one of the so-called literary Brat Pack, which also included Tama Janowitz and Jay McInerney.
His novels feature a 'flat effect' and a glossy, empty style that garners him extremely polarised reviews. He has called himself a moralist, while he has often been pegged as a nihilist. His characters are young, generally vacuous people, who are aware of their depravity but choose to enjoy it. The novels are also linked by common, recurring characters, and dystopic locales (such as Los Angeles and New York).
Less Than Zero, a tale of disaffected, rich teenagers of Los Angeles, was praised by critics and sold well (50,000 copies in its first year). He moved to New York in 1987 to release his second novel The Rules of Attraction.
His most controversial work is the graphically violent novel American Psycho. Some consider this novel, whose protagonist, Patrick Bateman, is both a cartoonishly materialistic yuppie and a serial killer, to be an example of transgressive art. American Psycho has achieved considerable cult status and is considered by many to be Ellis' magnum opus.
Less Than Zero was filmed in 1987, American Psycho in 2000 and The Rules of Attraction in 2002.
Ellis has been vague and evasive about his sexuality for much of his life, seemingly reluctant to tag himself as either straight, gay or bisexual, but in August 2005 he broke his silence about his personal life and told The New York Times that his best friend and lover for six years, Michael Wade Kaplan, died in January 2004, at the age of 30. Even so, it appears that Bret and Michael's relationship was 'loose' and unconventional, as neither were interested in embracing the 'gay' lifestyle. His 2005 novel Lunar Park, was dedicated to Michael Wade Kaplan.
His next novel is a follow up to Less Than Zero entitled Imperial Bedrooms.