Superhero - by Tim Blake Nelson (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

"A uniquely nuanced and engaging perspective on the oddness of Hollywood...Superhero goes inside baseball in all the best ways: unbiased, at times ridiculous, and wonderfully, uncomfortably accurate. It begs to be read because it is so damned good." --Amanda Seyfried

A-list actor Peter Compton and producing partner Marci Levy exist in the rarefied air of Hollywood's elite. Their status as a married power couple is unmatched, their presence in any room transformative and god-like. But as their private jet lands in Atlanta to begin production on a tentpole superhero movie, even their privileged position will come under threat by the massive pressures of such an undertaking.

Compton, a self-educated recovering addict, sees the role of Sparta comics superhero Major Machina as the opportunity to transcend his already stratospheric platform. As director Joel Slavkin, Oscar-winning DP Javier Benavidez, and a crew of hundreds arrive in Atlanta to begin shooting, it doesn't take long for the production to be embroiled in the tension and egos that drive the film. But when video of Peter's disastrous on-set behavior goes viral, Peter and Marci's partnership will be challenged as it never has before. As the stakes grow ever higher, it may just take a superhero to save them.

With his signature wit and razor sharp dialog, Tim Blake Nelson invites the reader to walk alongside him as he enters the closely-guarded world of industrial strength cinema.

Review Quotes

Praise for City of Blows

"The best, funniest, most incisive depiction of Hollywood's brute illogic since The Player, and the only one I can think of that so perfectly situates that illogic within the greater American power structures that have deformed us all. Tim Blake Nelson's City of Blows is phenomenal." --Matthew Specktor, author of American Dream Machine

"Tim Blake Nelson's vivid characterizations in City of Blows so humorously, painfully and accurately depicts the savage world of Hollywood that it is too true to be satire. Anyone in show business will recognize people they know from the headlines or from their own experiences. And most poignantly, they will recognize themselves in the Hollywood playground of damaged people who desperately seek external validation. For a show-biz outsider, this powerful, and exquisitely written novel is a cautionary, existential primer on the ego-driven workings behind an entire mega-business." --Debbie Liebling, executive producer of PEN15 and South Park

"A travelogue of purgatory. Brutal, but minutely rendered--a chronicle of small betrayals and vicissitudes in a ruthless world. Losers, hustlers and delusional artists, all trapped in their pretense and hollow lives; making deals with the devil at the crossroads of Tinseltown." --Guillermo del Toro

"City of Blows reveals the 'business of show business' for what it often truly is: a desperate, bareknuckle fight to assert identity and insist that, as Arthur Miller put it, 'Attention must be paid'.... The very best novels about the darker veins under the Hollywood dream are Day of the Locust, What Makes Sammy Run and Play It as It Lays.... City of Blows goes on the shelf right next to those classic bruisers." --Edward Norton

"Tim Blake Nelson's City of Blowsis a biting exposé lifting the veil on the less glitzy side of the Hollywood movie-making machine. It's bitterly funny, cruelly accurate and a compelling read." --John Turturro

"This hard-edged debut looks at the power, savvy, and ugliness that go into making movies...Nelson is a solid writer whose dialogue is smart, pacy, and pointed...An ambitious, acerbic, entertaining take on the film business." --Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

"There's something sustaining in a story that shows how beautiful people can be just as petty--just as ugly--as the rest of us." --The Millions

"This novel's depictions of Hollywood machinations are of a higher caliber than those in any other literary work that's attempted to depict that world. CITY OF BLOWS abounds in the economy and fluidity that accompanies true authority." --The Brooklyn Rail

As seen in Entertainment Weekly!

"A uniquely nuanced and engaging perspective on the oddness of Hollywood...Superhero goes inside baseball in all the best ways: unbiased, at times ridiculous, and wonderfully, uncomfortably accurate. It begs to be read because it is so damned good." --Amanda Seyfried

"There are perhaps a few thousand people alive who have seen the inner workings of industrial-strength, superhero cinema. Luckily, one happens to be a great novelist. With Superhero, Tim Blake Nelson both elucidates the backstage of a blockbuster and communicates the timeless drama of relationships with a wisdom few other authors can rival. Absolutely masterful!" --Will Chancellor, Fiction Editor, Brooklyn Rail