The Thirty-Foot Elvis: A novel

by Jane F. Hankins

Overview

Set in the 1980s, when Bill Clinton was governor of Arkansas, this Flaggesque exploration of Southern characters is filled with plot twists, character surprises, New Orleans parties and true love. The second volume in the Peavine Chronicles Series, Hankins undergirds the narrative with a whimsical spirituality and delivers belly-laugh reading enjoyment with an afterglow.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781624910050
Publisher:	Parkhurst Brothers, Inc.
Publication date:	11/01/2013
Series:	The Peavine Chronicles Series , #2
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	282
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Jane F. Hankins was one of 10 Arkansas women artists chosen to participate in a show at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. The juror was New York Times art critic Grace Glueck, who purchased one of the Jane’s sculptures and offered her a bit of wisdom. “Honey,” she said in all seriousness, “it can be funny and it’s still art!” Jane resides in Little Rock with her husband of 41 years, local TV news anchor and former radio DJ, Craig O’Neill.

Table of Contents

Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter One: The Arrival of a Tall Dark Stranger

Chapter Two: Bo and Lucille's Big News

Chapter Three: Best Cure for the Post-Holiday Blues

Chapter Four: The Return of Mary Lynn

Chapter Five: Granny Laurite Has Her Say

Chapter Six: Rhonelle Gets a Makeover

Chapter Seven: A Timely Call From Krystal Bridges

Chapter Eight: The Lady With a Bird on Her Shoulder

Chapter Nine: The Story of Vaudine Fortney and Mr. Nasty

Chapter Ten: Leviticus Saves the Day

Chapter Eleven: Going Back to the Big Easy

Chapter Twelve: Dinner at Antoine's

Chapter Thirteen: The Royal (Sonesta) Wedding

Chapter Fourteen: Breakfast at Brennan's

Chapter Fifteen: Back to the New Normal

Chapter Sixteen: Snow Day!

Chapter Seventeen: Louise Dolesanger, Musical Entertainer at Seymour's Tex-Mex

Chapter Eighteen: Candelight Dinner at Don's

Chapter Nineteen: How to Restore a 1964 T-Bird

Chapter Twenty: Peavine Poodle Pageant Time Again

Chapter Twenty-One: The Long Hot Summer

Chapter Twenty-Two: Falling Into Fall Again

Chapter Twenty-Three: Saving Pasto Astor

Chapter Twenty-Four: One Thing Leads to Another

Chapter Twenty-Five: Pink Birthday Cake and Elvis

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Gift

Chapter Twenty-Seven: An Unconventional Thanksgiving

Chapter Twenty-Eight: So Now What?

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Long-Unread Letter

Chapter Thirty: Hot Chocolate Celebration

Chapter Thirty-One: A Sweet Reunion

Chapter Thirty-Two: Teenie's Bright Idea

Chapter Thirty-Three: The Marching Elvises

Chapter Thirty-Four: A Very Elvis Christmas

Chapter Thirty-Five: More Elvis Than Ever

Chapter Thirty-Six: The Wedding of Tammy Lepanto and Cecil Swindle

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Beware the Ides of March

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Winds of Change

Chapter Thirty-Nine: What to Do With a Leaning Tower of Rock and Roll

Chapter Forty: April Fool's Day

Epilogue

Essay for "Thirty Foot Elvis"

"Q and A" Session with Author Jane F. Hankins

How Road Signs Became Sculptures that Begat a Novel by Jane F. Hankins

Editorial Reviews

It’s all in her head

 

Jane Hankins launches her latest book.

By Emily Van Zandt

Nearly hidden between discarded brushes and sculptures ready to come alive with paint, sits a copy of Jane Hankins’ favorite background noise.

Surrounded by her crystal-studded dragon sculptures and colorful paintings of adventurous, fanciful children, it’s no wonder Hankins finds inspiration in Harry Potter audio books.

“My favorite line is in the last book,” Hankins says. “Harry isn’t dead, but he’s seeing Dumbledore and thinks he might be dead.”

Harry asks his bearded mentor if what he’s experiencing is real, or if it’s in his imagination.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry,” Dumbledore says. “But why on Earth should that mean that it is not real?”

Hankins couldn’t agree more.

At 63, Hankins is busy promoting her second book, The Thirty-Foot Elvis, a story that came to her so fast, she barely had time to write it all down.

“It’s all a movie in my head,” says Hankins, who lives in the Heights with her husband, THV 11’s Craig O’Neill. “I’d open the laptop and just start writing. It’s like sitting down to read a book.”

Hankins’ over-the-top characters all reside in the fictional Arkansas city of Peavine, and their backstories and personalities are so real to Hankins that she talks about them like she would any friend.

“The main character, Ronelle, in the second book is the psychic who formerly was a stripper,” Hankins says. “She was prematurely gray, and in the South you just don’t let your hair go gray. So finally, she gets a makeover and she decided to dye it.”

Even the smallest details about her characters, who have been circling in her head for more than a decade, are fully fleshed out in Hankins’ books.

The first in Hankins’ Peavine Chronicles, Madge’s Mobile Home Park, sprouted from a series of sculptures Hankins did in 2000. She started with just a few figures in her “Mavens of Madge’s Mobile Home Park” series, but it quickly expanded to a whole neighborhood. From there, Hankins decided to keep expanding, finally putting the stories in her head down on paper. In 2012, Madge’s was finally published.

“It took just eight months for me to finish writing Elvis,” Hankins says. “I gained 6 pounds! Writing is very fattening.”

Elvis carries over several characters from Madge’s, but a few new faces may seem familiar as well.

“Sweet Ginger Beebe said, ‘You know, you oughtta have a character named for Mike and name him Buckshot,’” Hankins says.

So it was that Peavine got a new mayor as an homage to Gov. Beebe: Buckshot Bradley (like the Arkansas county) and his wife, Sugar. President Bill Clinton even makes an appearance, as Gov. Bill Clinton (the books are based in the ’80s) who makes a visit. And then there’s the former stripper character, Krystal Bridges. Yes, named after that Crystal Bridges. No, this isn’t a children’s book.

“Because I paint the things I do, people assume that I would make this a kids’ book,” Hankins says. “But those paintings don’t need words. These characters do.”

Growing up in Jonesboro, Hankins focused on drama and art, never thinking she’d write a book. Looking back, typing lessons might have been a good idea. To write, Hankins sits curled over her laptop, meticulously typing out rows of words without ever looking at the screen.

“And then I’ll look up and wow, I’ve really misspelled everything,” Hankins says. “So I’ll have to delete it all and go back.”

To promote the new release, Hankins packed her schedule so full of local signings that she’s busy through Christmas. On Saturday, Jane and Craig have planned a launch party for the book from 6-9 p.m. at the Argenta Community Theater. The night includes a book signing and sale, food and drinks, a staged reading from Elvis and an art show featuring Hankins’ work.

Hankins says her husband has been instrumental in her writing process, listening to nearly every version of every sentence of the first book.

“Bless him, he listened,” Hankins says. “But the second book was coming so fast that he never knew what I was talking about. I had to tell him to just wait until I was finished.”

Craig has also helped Hankins publicize the Peavine books, and Hankins says she hopes Elvis will reach a greater audience.

“Any minute I’m waiting on 300 books to arrive at my door,” Hankins says.

But whether the books take off nationally or not, Hankins says she’s excited to keep writing, balancing it with her art. The stories are just too vivid for her not to get them down in print.

“I’ll just keep going as long as I can still be coherent and have someone publish it,” Hankins says. “Once you fall in love with these characters and their lives, you just can’t let them go.”

— Emily Van Zandt, syncweekly.com

 “Great fun! If Grandma Moses wrote fiction, this is what she would sound like. The plot and characters are deceptively simple. Deceptively! Rhonelle and company are “round” and full of life—and not a few surprises.”

 

— H. A. Maxson, novelist and poet

“The fun never fadesas we discover a colorful mobile home park in a small southern town. The arrival of a 30 foot sculpture, psychic situations in every corner, and true romance combine with characters from other dimensions to entertain throughout.”

 

— Diego Vázquez Jr, author of Growing Through the Ugly

From the Publisher