Squirrel Eyes

"I am the Golem built from the mud of Hollywood. My brain processes life at 24 frames per second; my heart pumps sticky concession-stand muck through veins of curled celluloid. And maybe like the Golem of legend, I too am a soulless creature, animated only by the thousands of hours of pop-culture imagery funneled into my body over the course of a lifetime." SQUIRREL EYES is the story of Alvin Bandy, lifelong movie junkie and would-be filmmaker, who finds himself alone in Hollywood after his girlfriend Alison sends him packing in favor of another man. With his career †if you can call it that, when it consists of one incredibly bad movie he wrote †on the rocks, Alvin hatches a drunken plan to course-correct his screwed-up life: he travels to his hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico to seek out his first girlfriend, Kelli, and do what he never did before: have sex with her. Kelli, however, won't be had so easily, and lays down a challenge to Alvin that could either be his undoing or his salvation...Funny, dark, raunchy and sentimental, Squirrel Eyes is a novel about the strength of dreams, the depths of lust, the power of guilt and above all, the glory of cinema and the hold it has on us all."If you somehow cloned the perfect science bastard love-child of Cameron Crowe, J.D. Salinger and The Kinks, it couldn't build a better story of underdog charm than Squirrel Eyes. Scott S. Phillips creates fascinating and endearing characters, then drops them in the hot zone of their own mangled lives, with nothing but their wits and pop culture to protect themselves." †Axel Howerton, editor, Dark Moon Digest, author of Hot Sinatra"Squirrel Eyes is a crazy journey through Scott S. Phillips' twisted, pop culture cluttered mind. He touches on universal emotions in this insightful, often laugh-out-loud journey through Alvin Bandy's †and the reader's †most denied memories of love lost." †Robert E. Vardeman, author of Burn the Sky"The F@%ker can write!" †Elwood Reid, author of D.B. and If I Don't Six"With his goofball characters, ear for quirky dialogue, and always-colorful turns of phrase, Scott S. Phillips is like a modern beat writer †tempered with postmodern sensibilities and a generous dash of observational comedy... But that's just an erudite, flashy way of saying that no one makes me laugh louder or harder than Scott S. Phillips." †Brian Jay Jones, author of Washington Irving"Scott's narrative blasts and rattles down the road, chasing rabbits and stray chickens out of its path, while his dialogue sprays the countryside like full-automatic fire." †Victor Milan, author of The Wild Cards Series and CLD: Collective Landing Detachment"Triangulate funny, creepy and melancholy, and you'll find Scott S. Phillips, waiting for a bus." †Nathan Long, author of The Blackhearts Series