Recent News – December 2011

on Dec 19 in Blog Post by
Recent News – December 2011

The year ends and it’s always busy. At work, I’m developing a WordPress site for our partner company AND shooting and editing a Christmas video (due Thursday night). I’ve been working on the edits of This Dark Earth and now I’m moving on to the edits and revisions of The Twelve-Fingered Boy due on January 5th, my birthday. In addition to all of this, family is coming into town for Christmas and will be staying at my house.

But I wanted to fill you in on some recent news before I go bury my head in the sand.

In addition to Southern Gods being placed on both the Bram Stoker and Nebula Award’s recommended reading lists, I’ve been honored to have Southern Gods included on some year’s best lists.

Brian Keene placed me on his year’s best list, right below Stephen King, which kinda blew me away. He said:

This debut novel from John Hornor Jacobs combines three of my favorite things: H.P. Lovecraft’s mythos, the Blues legend of Robert Johnson, and the hard-boiled detective story. It results in a compulsive read that is in equal parts mesmerizing, touching, funny, and absolutely horrific in the most glorious, pulpiest sense of the word. Effectively utilizing those three elements in a historical-fiction novel would be a difficult task for even a veteran writer, but Jacobs does a masterful job with it in his first book-length work. There are a few slight stumbles, indicative of any first novel, but they are easily overlooked and forgivable, because the overall book is simply magnificent. Indeed, if Southern Gods is any indication (and I believe it is) then we may very well be looking at the bona fide Next Big Name In Horror. Which would be fine, except that I suspect Jacobs can easily expand beyond the trappings of the genre. Whatever he chooses to write next, I can’t wait to read it. You shouldn’t wait either. Congrats, Mr. Jacobs. Welcome to the party. Buy it here.

I was also very honored and humbled to be placed on Grift Magazine’s year’s best crime novels by the inimitable John Kenyon (follow him on the Twitters), which is kinda awesome, alongside Lawrence Block, Frank Bill, Donald Ray Pollock and Daniel Woodrell.

John was kind enough to say this regarding Southern Gods:

This is technically horror, which is a) not a genre I usually read; b) not a genre covered by this list; c) not anything that should stop you from reading this amazing book. There is plenty of crime here, too. Jacobs creates a place and drops you there in a way that makes it feel like, well, not home, but someplace you’ve been a long while. A dazzling debut.

Saturday night, I appeared on She Never Slept’s blog and did a live interview. It turned out quite well. You can listen to that right here. Make clicks and listen.

Ed Kurtz also placed me on his year’s best list – for which I’m grateful. See that here. He said:

This is one that burst out of the gate running and has earned the author a great deal of very well deserved praise. Southern Gods is Jacobs’ debut novel, an addictive mix of Faulkner’s pathos, Jim Thompson’s rural noir, and Lovecraft’s unknowable, otherworldly horror. It’s a hell of a treat and highly recommended.

I made a little film called Writing Day though it would’ve been more aptly titled ReWriting Day. You can see that here.

The King of the Nerds wrote a highly-favorable review of Southern Gods here.

As a fan of the blues and a fan of horror Southern Gods is a wholly unexpected fusion of two things that on first glance shouldn’t go together. It is difficult to believe that Southern Gods is Jacobs’ first published novel (though he has some short fiction under his belt). Anyone who enjoys horror and dark fantasy looking for something new and exciting need look no further the John Hornor Jacobs’ Southern Gods. This is definitely one of my favorite novels of 2011 and I will be look forward to seeing what Jacobs has to offer in the future.

Luca Veste was kind enough to place Southern Gods on his best of 2011 list at #12 (that’s one better than what Chris Holm received, which will probably never happen again, either, Holm being the writer that he is). You can check that out here.

And last but not least, Jimbo McCleod of the Ginger Nuts of Horror blog placed Southern Gods at numero uno on his best discoveries of 2011 list. Check that out here.

That is all. I hope you guys have a great holiday season. I’ll see you in the gym on January 1st.

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