Peckinpah [Paperback]

D. Harlan Wilson (Author), Danny Evarts (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 10, 2009

Life in Dreamfield, Indiana, is a daily harangue of pigs, cornfields, pigs, fast food joints, pigs, Dollar Stores, motorcycles, pigs, and good old-fashioned Amerikan redneckery. The decidedly estranged yet complacent occupants of this proverbial smalltown go about their business like geriatrics in a casino ... until their business is interrupted by a sinister gang of outsiders. Angry, slick-talking, and ultraviolent to the core, Samson Thataway and the Fuming Garcias commit art-for-art's-sake in the form of hideous, unmotivated serial killings. When an unsuspecting everyman's wife is murdered by the throng, it is up to Felix Soandso to avenge her death and return Dreamfield to its natural state of absurdity.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

D. HARLAN WILSON is an associate professor of English at Stick Figure University, where he received a triple Ph.D. in fi lm studies, astrophysics and paleontology in 2005. Hundreds of his stories and essays have appeared in magazines, journals and anthologies throughout the world in several languages, and he is the editor-in-chief of The Dream People, a journal of irreal texts. His books include Pseudo-City, The Kafka Effekt, Stranger on the Loose, Dr. Identity, or, Farewell to Plaquedemia, Blankety Blank: A Memoir of Vulgaria and Technologized Desire: Selfhood & the Body in Postcapitalist Science Fiction. For more information on Wilson and his work, visit him online at www.dharlanwilson.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 116 pages
• Publisher: Shroud Publishing, LLC (August 10, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 098198942X
• ISBN-13: 978-0981989426
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,018,943 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars peckinpah, November 12, 2009

By 

J. David Osborne (Norman, OK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Peckinpah (Paperback)

In 1994 Alan Moore wrote a short story about a woman named Maureen Cooper, a bartender who slowly comes to realize she exists only as a character on a popular TV soap. The story was dense, verbose, brilliant metafiction, blending the story of Maureen with that of the actress who played her (who was herself not who she seemed) with a vicious polemic on television and its effects on society. It was called "Light of Thy Countenance" and there are two reasons I bring it up: first, because I feel that it is the spiritual predecessor to D. Harlan Wilson's amazing "Peckinpah", and secondly, because of Alan Moore himself, who felt strongly enough about this book to provide a blurb on the cover.

"Peckinpah" is difficult to categorize, a satirical meta mash-up of microfiction and microcriticism into something that maybe resembles a novel but is, I think, something much more interesting.

The back cover blurb does its best: it tells us "Peckinpah" is about Felix Soandso, the husband of a murdered woman who must wreak righteous vengeance on her killer, Samson Thataway, the hyperviolent leader of the Fuming Garcias, a Reservoir Dogs-esque clone army. Sure thing, back cover, but I'd argue that the story is just as much about a man who tears pigs in half or a shoe store clerk witnessing his coworkers disappearing beneath a stampeding tractor or corn stalks that open to reveal chainsaws.

Amidst all the absurdity, a wide variety of film motifs come under fire, such as rape scenes, lazy endings, and the fetishism of weaponry and violence. But it's the oversized role of film and television in our lives that seems to be the biggest target: pay attention to the chapter in which Felix Soandso is introduced to the single worst moment in his life through the screenplay excerpt that we have just read. Or the only chapter in which a book makes an appearance, the cover depicting an alien riding the blast of a nuclear explosion.

Throughout its entirety Wilson manages to keep the language terse and punchy. It is a brief novel made briefer by the force of its language, but if you're like me, you'll pick it back up and read through it again, slower the second time. And once again it will entertain and, more importantly, once again it will get you thinking.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Lovesong to Blood-n-Guts, January 6, 2010

By 

David W Barbee (Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Peckinpah (Paperback)

D Harlan Wilson's Peckinpah is one of his best works, and that's saying a lot. Wilson takes his own flare for high-minded weirdness and jacks it up a billion notches. The book is structured in jagged bits and pieces, and it covers a wide variety of topics. Only about half of the chapters involve the actual story and characters. The rest of Peckinpah includes theories on the nature of ultraviolence and short essays about Sam Peckinpah himself. It can be daunting if you don't know what you're in for.

Part of Peckinpah is a classical revenge tragedy starring Samson Thataway and Felix Soandso. Thataway is a surreal character. He and his Fuming Garcias are almost the living embodiment of ultraviolence. They carve a trail through the earth with their LeBarons, performing gruesome executions and epic acts of random destruction. Felix Soandso's wife is killed during the massacre, and naturally he sets out to take revenge on the Fuming Garcias' insane leader, Samson Thataway. Along the way we learn more about who Sam Peckinpah was and some sophisticated theories on ultraviolence.

In my opinion, Wilson really flexes his muscles when he shows us his violent scenes using film references. Peckinpah is like a literary version of Natural Born Killers, Kill Bill, and some of the more violent anime out there. Certain scenes are described with camera angles, moving shots, close-ups, fade-outs, and sound effects. These scenes are some of the most vivid stuff I've ever read. Overall, D Harlan Wilson isn't content to write a revenge story. Instead, he uses his sharp and colorful style to examine and dissect a dead director and his love affair with ultraviolence. Truly, Peckinpah is an ultraviolent romance.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Peckinpah, August 30, 2009

By 

Chris Benton (Wilmington, NC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Peckinpah (Paperback)

D. Harlan Wilson's fantasia of good ol'boy bloodletting and slapstick surrealism reads like a smoldering, sentient crack pipe being passed back and forth between the ghost's of Maurice Blanchot and William S. Burroughs while they watch an eternal marathon of Sam Peckinpah films. Tersely written, and visually outrageous, this book is a must for film fanatics and avant-noir enthusiasts...