Stahl began publishing short fiction, won a Pushcart Prize in 1976, and made a living writing for magazines and doing porn stories for cash. One writing job as humor editor for "Hustler" meant moving to Columbus, Ohio and living at the YMCA until the magazine moved its headquarters to California. Stahl lost his job six months to the day after taking it and ended up on unemployment in California, alongside an escalating heroin dependency, which eventually led to his contracting hepatitis C.