The Story Behind I Am Not Brad Pitt and Other Stories by Ross Dreiblatt

 

The Story Behind I Am Not Brad Pitt and Other Stories

By Ross Dreiblatt

I have always been a little stumped by the world’s obsession with celebrities.  Famous people spend an inordinate amount of resources on projecting an image for the public to buy.  And we do! 

 

This book began to germinate after Tom Cruise’s famous couch-jumping moment on Oprah.  There he was, trying his best to earnestly manipulate tell us how he was falling in love with his now ex-wife, and then he set off on Oprah’s famous couch.  However, instead of inspiring us with his passion for his fiancée, he opened the curtains a little too wide on exactly who he is.  He was trying his best to be one of us.  But we found out, he was not like us. Not at all.

 

I began to think how celebrities are really our modern Gods of Mount Olympus living lives of privilege that none of us could ever relate to.  In the book, I wanted to use a little dark humor to explain the mythology of modern celebrities who try so hard to shape their image so we can feel that we know them.  But we really don’t know them. In the book, I explored that space between who we think they are and who they really are.

 

Why do they have such a hold on us?   On one level, I understand that everyone wants to be them, even look like them!  But aside from the aspirational aspect, I couldn’t find any earthly reason why we admire these privileged people.  So, I took the liberty of using some unearthly reasons.

 

When I finished the book, I showed it to an old friend who is an agent and he thought it was terrific.  He warned me that it would be a tough sell, mainly because it defies categorization or rather it crosses so many categories.  It’s humor, it’s science fiction, it’s a thriller, it’s a mystery and a drama.  The big publishers all had nice things to say about the book, but no one knew how to sell it.  Finally, we found a small Indy publisher, Stone Tiger Books, that agreed to take it on.  I hope you enjoy the read!  The book is chock full of surprises.

 

 

I AM NOT BRAD PITT is the first of three riotously absurd tales in Ross Dreiblatt’s debut short-story collection sending up America’s sometimes-fatal celebrity obsessions.

“I Am Not Brad Pitt” opens in a prison cell in which Mr. Pitt’s clone-like doppelganger, Tobey Crawford, remorsefully recounts the sequence of unlikely events that resulted in his wrongful conviction for murder.

The second story, “Please Allow Me To Introduce Myself,” considers the possibility that Keith Richards (along with, for good measure, Dolly Parton) is, indeed, a vampire. Nobel-Prize laureate Bob Dylan, the story’s vampire-killer, is equipped with more than just a harmonica and tambourine.

The final work in the collection, “Keeping Compliant With The Kardashians,” examines whether Kardashian family members are, in fact, aliens from another galaxy and what precisely is their interest on Earth.

Each of the stories are told with engaging humor, and each pokes fun more at American culture than they do, generally, of the celebrities themselves.

“Ross’s stories stay with you long after you’ve read them. The main characters have a relatable humanity that pull the reader in as they face an array of absurd situations. Every story is a guaranteed good time.” – Pat Griffith, author of THE DPA TRILOGY

Book Information

Release Date: November 14, 2021

Publisher:  Stone Tiger Books

Soft Cover: ISBN:  978-1735667683; 391 pages; $11.00; E-Book, $2.99; Kindle Unlimited, FREE

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59610948-i-am-not-brad-pitt-and-other-stories

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3mBsxgF

You can also purchase book at the author’s website at www.RossDreiblatt.com.

Ross Dreiblatt is an author who was born and grew up in New York. His father was a truck driver and his mom was a retail manager. He attended Hofstra University and moved to Los Angeles where he attended Cal State Northridge. While in Los Angeles, he studied under John Rechy’s master writing workshop at UCLA.

He has worked in the corporate offices of major retailers in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, and Florida toiling on spreadsheets by day, and the imaginary lives of celebrity monsters by night.

He loves to travel and will get on a plane going anywhere, as long as it eventually lands safely. Despite the dour photo, he is kind of a happy guy.

He currently lives in South Florida.

His latest book is the literary fiction / humor / satire novel, I AM NOT BRAD PITT AND OTHER STORIES.

You can visit his website at www.RossDreiblatt.com or connect with him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.