'Ratso' is the nickname of the New York, NY, United States-based author, Larry Sloman (b. 1950).

Sloman was born into a middle-class Jewish family from Queens. He is perhaps best known for his collaboration with Howard Stern on the radio personality's two best-selling books, 'Private Parts' and 'Miss America'. He also appears in all of Kinky Friedman's mystery novels as the Dr. Watson to Kinky's Sherlock. Sloman wrote an account of Bob Dylan's 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue tour, 'On The Road With Bob Dylan'. He has also penned 'Reefer Madness', a history of marijuana use in the United States, 'Thin Ice', an account of one season with the New York Rangers hockey team, and 'Steal This Dream', an oral biography of Abbie Hoffman.

His book 'The Secret Life of Houdini', written with magic historian William Kalush, presented research that attempted to prove that early 20th-century American magician Harry Houdini was a spy.

Sloman's other collaborations include 'Mysterious Stranger', with the magician David Blaine and 'Scar Tissue', the autobiography of the Red Hot Chili Peppers lead singer Anthony Kiedis. Starting in 1985, for a few years Sloman served as executive editor of 'National Lampoon' magazine.

As for his recorded output as a musician... Ratso recorded Our Lady Of Light in 2019, a duet with Nick Cave. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.