cover image The Glob Who Girdled Granville and The Secret Lives of Actors

The Glob Who Girdled Granville and The Secret Lives of Actors

Peter Grandbois. Wordcraft of Oregon, $12 (120p) ISBN 978-1-877655-84-5

Extraordinary characters in ordinary situations prompt wry philosophical speculations about everyday life and longings in this pair of novellas laced with tropes from sci-fi B-movies. In the first story, the titular glob—actually, the Blob from the 1958 movie of the same name—subdivides so that one of his selves can explore life outside of the humdrum routine of his stultifying suburban existence. In the second story, an actor named Jim—actually James Arness, conflated with his role as the Thing from Another World—competes in work and love with John, the actor who reprised his role with greater depth of character in John Carpenter’s 1982 remake. Although Grandbois (Domestic Disturbances) endows his characters with some otherworldly attributes, he renders them believably human through their self-doubts and amusing foibles. His clever, sympathetic depiction of the men inside the monsters will appeal to a wide range of readers. (Oct.)