My First Bookstore Appearance!

Paper has the scoop on tomorrow night’s event to celebrate the publication of The Stewardess Is Flying the Plane! at the Borders on the corner of Park & 57th:

“Ron Hogan and Joe Bob Briggs, author of Profoundly Erotic, come together to discuss the golden age of experimental filmmaking in the 1970s. Sure, this creative outburst was probably all fueled by lots and lots of fantastic drugs, but we’re not complainin’!”

6:30 p.m. See you there!

14 November 2005 | events |

Karen Spears Zacharias Interviews Jack Pendarvis

Karen Spears Zacharias is a frequent and always welcome guest at Beatrice. When she appeared at the final Southeastern Booksellers Association meeting a few months back, she shared a panel with Jack Pendarvis, who writes funny stories like “I Review Books Based on One Random Sentence” (The Believer), “Your Body Is Changing” (Nerve.com), and “Jim Jarmusch’s Notes for a Ghostbusters Sequel” (McSweeney’s). He’s also got his first collection out now, The Mysterious Secret of the Valuable Treasure, so it seemed like a good time to ask him some questions. (And then the exchange ended up sitting on my laptop for a while, until I got my act together…)

Karen Spears Zacharias: Where did you grow up?

Jack Pendarvis: Bayou La Batre, Alabama. But its real claim to fame is that it is one of the places Forrest Gump lived. It was a pleasant place to live. Lots of fresh air. Lots of family. I did have a happy childhood. I think everybody had a happy childhood back then, didn’t they? But that was a long time ago. I did have my share of problems.

Karen Spears Zacharias: Such as?

Jack Pendarvis: I was the only Cub Scout who had to wrap and carry ulcer medicine on my first and only attempt at a scouting trip. I had to be picked up early.

Karen Spears Zacharias: So you had an ulcer as a kid?

Jack Pendarvis: Well, it wasn’t really an ulcer. I had a time with a sensitive stomach. Why am I telling you this? (laughs) I had a happy childhood but apparently I found reasons to worry. This was the time when we thought the Russians were going to drop a bomb on us. We didn’t hide under the desks. That was before my time. Maybe it was because I watched the Watergate hearings everyday on television when I was 9 or 10. Maybe that had something to do with it.

(more…)

14 November 2005 | interviews |