Beneath the Moon and Long Dead Stars

Overview

In the dazzling flash fictions of Beneath the Moon and Long Dead Stars, lives are altered in what appear to be minor moments: an unlatched lock, an old photo, a light left on too long. But in the care of acclaimed novelist Daniel Wallace, those details constellate into something mysterious and magical. The drifter who is mistaken for a movie star, an old woman who sits on the roof of her house to smoke her secret cigarette, a man building a coffin for his wife—the men and women in these stories, hungry for connection, often find that everything hangs on a gust of wind or a single word. Beneath the Moon and Long Dead Stars tenderly navigates the shadows, inviting readers to take comfort. There’s plenty of light left.

Author Biography

Daniel Wallace is the author of six novels, including Big Fish, his first, published in 1998, and Extraordinary Adventures, in 2017. In 2003 Big Fish was adapted and released as a movie by Tim Burton and then in 2013 a Broadway musical directed by Susan Stroheim. His most recent book, a memoir entitled This Isn’t Going to End Well, was published by Algonquin books in April 2023. He is the J. Ross MacDonald Distinguished Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.