“Leave it to Peter Heller to imagine a
postapocalyptic world that contains as much loveliness as it does
devastation. His hero, Hig, flies a 1956 Cessna (his dog as copilot)
around what was once Colorado, chasing all the same things we chase in
these pre-annihilation days: love, friendship, the solace of the natural
world, and the chance to perform some small kindness. The Dog Stars is a wholly compelling and deeply engaging debut.” —Pam Houston, author of Contents May Have Shifted
A riveting, powerful novel about a pilot living in a world filled with loss—and what he is willing to risk to rediscover, against all odds, connection, love, and grace.
Hig survived the flu that killed everyone he knows. His wife is gone, his friends are dead, he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, his only neighbor a gun-toting misanthrope. In his 1956 Cessna, Hig flies the perimeter of the airfield or sneaks off to the mountains to fish and to pretend that things are the way they used to be. But when a random transmission somehow beams through his radio, the voice ignites a hope deep inside him that a better life—something like his old life—exists beyond the airport.
Risking everything, he flies past his point of no return—not enough fuel to get him home—following the trail of the static-broken voice on the radio. But what he encounters and what he must face—in the people he meets, and in himself—is both better and worse than anything he could have hoped for.
Narrated by a man who is part warrior and part dreamer, a hunter with a great shot and a heart that refuses to harden, The Dog Stars is both savagely funny and achingly sad, a breathtaking story about what it means to be human.
Jackie says:
"It takes a bit to get used to Peter Heller's unique writing style in this debut novel. But soon you get into its rhythm, which suits Hig, the main character, a man who has survived a pandemic with only one taciturn and cranky old man to talk to, occasionally. Well, him and shouting across a field to a Mennonite group living a short plane's ride from the airport Hig has made his home. They are sick, carrying the blood disease that many of the sparse survivors of the flu contracted, which is why he must keep his distance. He maintains his 1956 Cessna, using it to patrol his area, watching for bandits and thieves trying to ambush him and the old man, Bangley, who knows how to use a gun to protect them both. For nine years they get by, surviving day to day. Hig keeps his sanity by talking to his dog, Jasper. When Jasper dies of old age, Hig, pounded with grief, decides to fly farther than ever before to see what might be left. He'd heard a voice on the plane's radio a few years back, and he figures it's time to look into it. What he finds changes his life.
This is very much a dystopian future, one that is not all that difficult to imagine coming true. But for every dark moment, there is a a bright beam of hope, renewal, recovery, and a possible future for the planet. Heller has an impressive standing as a non-fiction writer, and he's brought that insightful eye and layered creativity to join the fiction community in a very impressive and memorable way. Everybody is talking about this book already--read it and you will understand why."
He will be reading from and signing his book starting at 7:30 pm at our Historic Lodo store.
Need Lodo parking information? Click HERE.
A riveting, powerful novel about a pilot living in a world filled with loss—and what he is willing to risk to rediscover, against all odds, connection, love, and grace.
Hig survived the flu that killed everyone he knows. His wife is gone, his friends are dead, he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, his only neighbor a gun-toting misanthrope. In his 1956 Cessna, Hig flies the perimeter of the airfield or sneaks off to the mountains to fish and to pretend that things are the way they used to be. But when a random transmission somehow beams through his radio, the voice ignites a hope deep inside him that a better life—something like his old life—exists beyond the airport.
Risking everything, he flies past his point of no return—not enough fuel to get him home—following the trail of the static-broken voice on the radio. But what he encounters and what he must face—in the people he meets, and in himself—is both better and worse than anything he could have hoped for.
Narrated by a man who is part warrior and part dreamer, a hunter with a great shot and a heart that refuses to harden, The Dog Stars is both savagely funny and achingly sad, a breathtaking story about what it means to be human.
"It takes a bit to get used to Peter Heller's unique writing style in this debut novel. But soon you get into its rhythm, which suits Hig, the main character, a man who has survived a pandemic with only one taciturn and cranky old man to talk to, occasionally. Well, him and shouting across a field to a Mennonite group living a short plane's ride from the airport Hig has made his home. They are sick, carrying the blood disease that many of the sparse survivors of the flu contracted, which is why he must keep his distance. He maintains his 1956 Cessna, using it to patrol his area, watching for bandits and thieves trying to ambush him and the old man, Bangley, who knows how to use a gun to protect them both. For nine years they get by, surviving day to day. Hig keeps his sanity by talking to his dog, Jasper. When Jasper dies of old age, Hig, pounded with grief, decides to fly farther than ever before to see what might be left. He'd heard a voice on the plane's radio a few years back, and he figures it's time to look into it. What he finds changes his life.
This is very much a dystopian future, one that is not all that difficult to imagine coming true. But for every dark moment, there is a a bright beam of hope, renewal, recovery, and a possible future for the planet. Heller has an impressive standing as a non-fiction writer, and he's brought that insightful eye and layered creativity to join the fiction community in a very impressive and memorable way. Everybody is talking about this book already--read it and you will understand why."
Need Lodo parking information? Click HERE.
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