Movie Stars (Paperback)
Staff Reviews
I read Movie Stars in its entirety one Sunday on a whim & now that afternoon is cemented in my memory as one of the best in my reading life. These stories are strange & often sweet & always funny. Populated with eccentrics, shut-ins, sad-sacks, & weirdos, you're guaranteed to at least crack a smile if not legitimately laugh out loud as you make your way through the wildly imaginative, wonderfully demented, & darkly funny world Jack delivers.
— From Katelyn
Hot dog! A book of stories by Jack Pendarvis. Funny, completely unpredictable, occasionally sad, wildly inventive, more real than real life. “You should try sitting in your house in the dark listening to some troubled youths blow on their duck calls outside your window,” begins “Duck Call Gang.” In “Taco Foot,” one character says “We can’t be punished for our thoughts.” His so-called friend responds, “Oh yes we can.” Get it? Now go read the book.
— From Richard's 2016 PicksDescription
These stories are linked by humor, setting, themes and recurring characters -- cat lovers, murderers, gamblers, ghosts and fools -- but mostly by the movie stars, gods and goddesses who look down on us struggling mortals with a mixture of benevolence and wrath. From Scarlett Johansson to Joan Crawford, Clint Eastwood to Jerry Lewis, they represent the impossible ideals to which lesser beings turn for hope in an otherwise baffling world.
About the Author
Jack Pendarvis is the author of three previous books of fiction and one of nonfiction. A former columnist for both the "Oxford American" and the "Believer," he is a writer and story editor for the Peabody award-winning television show Adventure Time. He lives in Oxford, MS.