Pendarvis, Jack 1963–

PERSONAL: Born 1963. Education: Attended University of South Alabama.

ADDRESSES: Home—Atlanta, GA. Agent—c/o Author Mail, MacAdam/Cage Publishing, 155 Sansome St., Ste. 550, San Francisco, CA 94104.

CAREER: Writer. Worked in a coffee shop, Mobile, AL, and for Turner Broadcasting, Atlanta, GA.

AWARDS, HONORS: Pushcart Prize.

WRITINGS:

The Mysterious Secret of the Valuable Treasure: Stories, MacAdam/Cage (San Francisco, CA), 2005.

Short stories have appeared in Stories from the Blue Moon Café II, 2003, and Stories from the Blue Moon Café III, 2004, both edited by Sonny Brewer.

SIDELIGHTS: Jack Pendarvis is the author of humorous short stories and of the collection The Mysterious Secret of the Valuable Treasure: Stories. In an interview with Karen Spears Zacharias for the Beatrice Web site, Pendarvis explained that he wanted to become a writer at an early age, noting: "The really pivotal time for me was when I was about nine, there was this television show called My World and Welcome to It, based on the writings of James Thurber. I started reading Thurber's short stories. That made me want to write short stories, then when I read Catch 22, that sealed the deal." The Mysterious Secret of the Valuable Treasure features short stories and an array of other writings by the author, including a fictitious "letters to the editor" and "contributors" sections. It also includes a novella that is a send up of not only the detective genre but also the ideas of narrative and structure in fiction writing. As a Kirkus Reviews contributor wrote, "the depictions of fragile humanity and the subtle social critiques … are truly affecting." Writing in Publishers Weekly, a reviewer noted that "when he allows his characters to develop … his writing can be … funny."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, September, 1, 2005, review of The Mysterious Secret of the Valuable Treasure: Stories, p. 93.

Publishers Weekly, September 5, 2005, review of The Mysterious Secret of the Valuable Treasure, p. 33.

ONLINE

Beatrice, http://www.beatrice.com/ (November 14, 2005), "Karen Spears Zacharias Interviews Jack Pendarvis."