Jeremy Robert Johnson's Blog

Very excited to announce a summertime surprise from myself and Lazy Fascist Press:



My brand new book IN THE RIVER is now available!



I left my heart on the page writing this, and I think it’s my most horrific and beautiful work. I hope that those who read it will feel the same.



Here’s the publisher’s rundown:



“An intensely moving tale of survival and madness along the river's edge. A father and son fishing lesson becomes a nightmarish voyage to the sea in this visionary testament to the lengths we will go for those we love.”



IN THE RIVER



Available in print and digital editions. Cover by Matthew Revert.



100% of my first month’s royalties from the book will be donated to Portland Homeless Family Solutions to aid them in the difficult work of helping families with children find safety and security during times of struggle.



Best wishes,



JRJ

Named one of the most anticipated books of 2017 by LitReactor and Big Other and one of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Books Everyone Will Be Talking About by Kirkus/Black Gate.



Includes "When Susurrus Stirs," the basis for the award-winning motion picture of the same name. Features an Introduction by Brian Evenson.



"Johnson is a master of mood, seamlessly combining the literary with the grotesque. Horror fans will find much to chew on, and these stories will certainly reach a wider audience. Johnson deserves to be a household name, as this superb collection makes clear."―Publishers Weekly (starred review)



Available in hardcover for the first time, a collection of cult sensation Jeremy Robert Johnson's best and most bizarre short fiction, including a brand-new, never-before-published novella.



For more than a decade, Jeremy Robert Johnson has been bubbling under the surface of both literary and genre fiction. His short stories present a brilliantly dark and audaciously weird realm where cosmic nightmares collide with all-too-human characters and apocalypses of all shapes and sizes loom ominously. In "Persistence Hunting," a lonely distance runner is seduced into a brutal life of crime with an ever-narrowing path for escape. In "When Susurrus Stirs," an unlucky pacifist must stop a horrifying parasite from turning his body into a sentient hive. Running through all of Johnson's work is a hallucinatory vision and deeply-felt empathy, earning the author a reputation as one of today's most daring and thrilling writers.



Featuring the best of his independently-published short fiction, as well as an exclusive, never-before-published novella "The Sleep of Judges"―where a father's fight against the denizens of a drug den becomes a mind-bending suburban nightmare―Entropy in Bloom is a perfect compendium for avid fans and an ideal entry point for adventurous readers seeking the humor, heartbreak, and terror of JRJ's strange new worlds.



"A perfect place to get acquainted with one of the darkest stars in the genre...Johnson captures humanity's absurdity, our grotesqueries, sometimes our triumphs, all the while pushing past the limits of reality, transforming it into something dark, and surreal, and unforgettable."

―B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog



"ENTROPY IN BLOOM is an instant classic, a carefully curated manifesto whose main goal is to tell the world one of the brightest stars in indie lit is now too brilliant to remain hidden...This collection should turn him into the writer everyone is talking about. These fifteen stories and one novella show a powerful imagination, a great talent for storytelling, writing chops that allow him to tackle any genre, and a flowing, dynamic voice that, if Johnson were a singer, would extend to an impressive eight octaves."

―Electric Literature



"Surreal, visceral, and frequently unsettling...One more descriptor, while we're at it: highly entertaining. Johnson brings a pulpy urgency to the page, which blends neatly with the frequently heady concepts that he utilizes in his fiction. [ENTROPY IN BLOOM]'s a fine primer to his work, which encompasses everything from stories of pernicious terrors working their way into the world to taut crime fiction to insightful character studies."

―Tor.com



"Exciting, unpredictable, and feels slightly dangerous...free of the boundaries of conventional literature in ways you can't quite imagine. ENTROPY IN BLOOM is emotionally challenging, unpredictable and thoroughly original. I cannot say it enough: I had a great time with this book."

―Dead End Follies



"Showcases the best of the worst of Jeremy Robert Johnson. And by worst, I mean most gut-churning and nightmare inducing...Perfectly paced and extremely creepy...will leave you pondering the deeper meaning of random acts of violence for days to come. Enjoy?"

―LitReactor



"With ENTROPY IN BLOOM, Jeremy Robert Johnson continues to deliver the very best in short fiction...original ideas, compellingly realistic characters, wonderfully vivid language."

―This is Horror



"These stories can be uncomfortable, difficult, unflinching, but they're also always entertaining. Johnson writes with an energy that propels you through some very dark spaces indeed and into something profoundly unsettling but nonetheless human."

―Brian Evenson, author of A Collapse of Horses



"ENTROPY IN BLOOM crackles with weirdness, style, wit, a befittingly oddball sense of humanity, and a misshapen dark heart. I loved every damn story."

―Paul Tremblay, author of A Head Full of Ghosts and Disappearance at Devil's Rock



"Reading Johnson, you feel you are in the grip of an immensely powerful, possibly malevolent, but fiercely intelligent mind. Beware! (But enjoy--and trust me, you will.)"

―Nick Cutter, author of The Troop



"I've seen the future and it's bizarre, it's beautifully berserk, it's Jeremy Robert Johnson."

―Stephen Graham Jones, author of Mongrels



Available now wherever books are sold!

There's craziness going on behind the scenes with SKULLCRACK CITY right now, but I don't want to make any more jinx-worthy posts, so I'll just say this:

Now would be an AMAZING time to get the book up to 100 reviews at Amazon! (We're currently at 82.)

I'm freaking out about making it happen and I'm going to give away something awesome if we can pull this off: My personal copy of the very limited leather-bound/heavily illustrated Lettered Edition of SIREN PROMISED (only 29 in existence)! Includes an awesome over-sized steel traycase featuring a spinning wheel and steel cutouts containing imagery from the novel.



If SKULLCRACK CITY hits 100 Amazon.com reviews by March 1st, 2016, I'll put the name of every single Amazon reviewer in a hat. My son will draw the name and the winner will receive this incredibly rare PC copy of SIREN PROMISED.

So, if you happen to have a Goodreads review that could easily be copied and pasted, or you have a friend who loved the book and might want to pop up a review, or you feel like posting one yourself, now would be a wonderful time to do just that.

Best wishes,

JRJ

Skullcrack City

"Skullcrack City's blend of genres, breakneck pacing, brutality, and dashes of philosophy and social critique serve to cement Johnson as one of the most exciting voices in contemporary fiction. Skullcrack City is a smart, incredibly well-researched, and painfully plausible look at our immediate future. Jeremy Robert Johnson's work has always tested the limits of both genre and literary fiction and this novel proves that there's still new ground to tread and that he's already on it."--BOOKSLUT



"Fucking incredibly well written and really entertaining the whole time. Wholly original--it's a gem. Without question a FIVE STAR book."--BOOKED



"This book is a little bit science fiction, a little bit horror, a little bit everything really, with a dark, literary angle throughout. It's a must for fans of body horror, intricate conspiracies, David Wong/Don Coscarelli's John Dies at the End, or just plain great story-telling."--HORROR NEWS



"Skullcrack City is, by my estimation, a perfect book. Jeremy Robert Johnson is a novelist whose head is so full of ideas and the purest essence of Story that the book practically explodes when you open it. Moving at a breakneck speed, Skullcrack City never lets up."--THE PULP CHRONICLER



"[T]his book is singularly original. Certainly, it takes cues from Philip K. Dick and William Burroughs. It feels like it could be put on a shelf next to Warren Ellis' Supergod, Grant Morrison's The Invisibles and The Filth, and David Wong's John Dies at the End and be perfectly at home there. Despite its bleak setting and tormented characters, this book is very, very funny. And ultimately, it is a book about hope, and love, and redemption, and the human will to adapt and survive despite insurmountable odds."--INTERNAL SHIRT



"This book is like nothing else you have ever read... If forced me I would say it felt like a way weirder take on Carpenter's They Live if William Burroughs and Clive Barker worked on the script and Cronenberg directed."--POSTCARDS FROM A DYING WORLD

I'm very excited to announce that SKULLCRACK CITY is finally available from Lazy Fascist Press (with an amazing cover from Jeff Soto)! Sure, it took nine years from its announcement to be released, survived a publisher shake-up, and prompted a visit from the FBI, but now, at last, it's here and it's real, and you can finally read the crazy thing. I hope you dig it.


Here's the print version. And the Kindle.


And here's some early buzz on the thing:


"A nightmarish yet hilarious journey. You're in for an entirely unpredictable ride, the tale spinning ludicrously out of control as the hero uncovers layer after grotesque layer of a vast macabre conspiracy. Skullcrack City is original, utterly insane, and a shitload of fun.”—DAVID WONG, author of John Dies at the End


“Skullcrack City messes with your mind the way William Burroughs or a bellyful of hallucinogens will do. I’m a longtime fan of Johnson. A master of derangement, he’s been bringing it for years. This time, though, it’s different. He’s burst into the clear and is taking seven-league strides across the literary landscape.”—LAIRD BARRON, author of The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All


“Skullcrack City’s blend of genres, breakneck pacing, brutality, and dashes of philosophy and social critique serve to cement Johnson as one of the most exciting voices in contemporary fiction. Skullcrack City is a smart, incredibly well-researched, and painfully plausible look at our immediate future. Jeremy Robert Johnson's work has always tested the limits of both genre and literary fiction and this novel proves that there's still new ground to tread and that he's already on it.”—BOOKSLUT

I'm thrilled to announce that my novel SKULLCRACK CITY has been acquired by Permuted Press (with a likely release date of Winter 2014)!



I've been watching Permuted since Jacob started the ball rolling, from their early success with JOHN DIES AT THE END to their more recent Peter Clines blockbusters EX-HEROES and 14. After a long conversation with Anthony Ziccardi (formerly with Simon and Schuster and Random House), I'm very excited about the direction Permuted is heading, and proud to be a part of their expanding empire.



SKULLCRACK CITY may well be the strangest Permuted book since JOHN DIES. Set in the crumbling Post-Yesterday world first featured in short story "The League of Zeroes," SKULLCRACK CITY is a genre-jumping madhouse featuring crime, conspiracy, truly weird sex, experimental surgery, cursed pharmaceuticals, and--in true Permuted fashion--a terrifying new type of brain-muncher eager to end humankind as we know it.



There's also a turtle.



SKULLCRACK CITY, 2014.












CONGRATULATIONS to 2012 Wonderland Award Winner Cody Goodfellow (and master artists Nick Gucker and Mike Dubisch). ALL-MONSTER ACTION! picked up the Best Collection award at the Ballroom Banquet during the 2013 BizarroCon, and I couldn't be happier about it. It's an inventive, brilliant beast of a book, and Cody and his cabal of artists made something truly unique. It was wonderful to see it honored.



Cheers,



JRJ

The JRJ Sampler Series is now available for Kindle in all of its ultra-cheap ($0.99 each) digital glory.



If ANGEL DUST APOCALYPSE and WE LIVE INSIDE YOU are a convoluted, over-reaching concept double-album, these things are the carefully selected radio singles.



Here are the story selections for each sampler (and I just noticed that the Lit sampler is great for people who like the letter S, hotel rooms and/or death):



DOOMSDAY VARIATIONS: THE JRJ APOCALYPSE SAMPLER

The Sharp-Dressed Man at the End of the Line

The Oarsman

Last Thoughts Drifting Down



THE COTTONY WASTELAND OF MY E.T. ELIOT BRAND WAIST-BAND:
THE JRJ BIZARRO SAMPLER

The League of Zeroes

When Susurrus Stirs

Amniotic Shock in the Last Sacred Place



HUNGRY FUCKING ANIMALS: THE JRJ CRIME SAMPLER

Persistence Hunting

Trigger Variation

Precedents



HOW TO FUCK UP EVERYTHING AND DIE ALONE: THE JRJ DRUG SAMPLER

A Number of Things Come to Mind

Dissociative Skills

Liquidation



DEAD EMPIRES AND TERRIBLE HOSTS: THE JRJ HORROR SAMPLER

Laws of Virulence

The Gravity of Benham Falls

Working At Home



ENTROPY IN BLOOM: THE JRJ LITERARY SAMPLER

Swimming in the House of the Sea

Snowfall

States of Glass



Now off to write a novel.



Cheers,



JRJ

LOW DOWN DEATH RIGHT EASY, the new novel from Wonderland Award Winning author J. David Osborne, is now available!

"It's about meth, fishing, trash American culture and young adult despair. Imagine a Raymond Carver or Jim Thompson for the text message age and that would only begin to get it."--KRIS SAKNUSSEMM, author of Reverend America

Trapped in a rural Oklahoma town fueled by meth and doused in codeine, Arlo Clancy has made it his life's goal to keep his troubled younger brother, Sepp, out of prison. Poverty and the lure of easy drug money were pressure enough, before a gruesome discovery beneath the waters of their favorite fishing hole sent their lives into a tailspin.

Torn by cowardice and conscience, the brothers make a fateful decision which will bring them ever-closer to Danny Ames--a vicious enforcer for the local meth trade--and a nightmare world where their only chance of escape might be...

LOW DOWN DEATH RIGHT EASY

"Sometimes mysterious, sometimes vicious, and always engaging, LOW DOWN DEATH RIGHT EASY is a unique take on the crime novel that will satisfy readers who like their fiction as murky as a river after heavy rains. Here's a good way to describe J. David Osborne: Daniel Woodrell, James Ellroy, and Cormac McCarthy all wrapped into one, stripped to the bones, and given a new voice."--OUT OF THE GUTTER

"A gritty tapestry of subversive drama the likes of which I'd compare to Harmony Korine's Gummo packed in with the terse lines of Bukowski."--MICHAEL J. SEIDLINGER, author of My Pet Serial Killer and The Sky Conducting

"If you're looking for something more than just blood and guns and meth, you need to get this book immediately. Osborne has an innate talent more dangerous than a trunk full of C4. To give some sort of visual, take one of James Sallis' Spartan scenes, lock in it a single-wide with a bag of crystal and a light bulb then rip out the air conditioner and check back in a week. LOW DOWN DEATH RIGHT EASY creates sensations that haunt you long after you've started your next book."--SPINETINGLER

"LOW DOWN DEATH RIGHT EASY is working class fiction at its best. It reeks of desperation, busted dreams, and hard times. But mostly, it reeks of literary talent. Whatever J. David Osborne writes, I'm reading. And you'd better too."--BENJAMIN WHITMER, author of Pike and co-author of Satan is Real: The Ballad of the Louvin Brothers

"J. David Osborne holds a literary style distinctive enough to raise his work above the waterline of contemporary fiction. LOW DOWN DEATH RIGHT EASY challenges and hurts and mystifies its readers. The weave of characters is stunning. Intricate storylines cross and worm through each other to form a dense and powerful mystery."--MANARCHY MAGAZINE

"In LOW DOWN DEATH RIGHT EASY, Osborne reaches out into the scabrous hinterlands of landlocked nowhere to unveil an intertwined collection of reluctant dreamers and three time losers, all trying to get by while navigating rusted out acres of convenience store ice heads, run down bars, and greasy doublewides. Strange, brutal, yet disturbingly familiar, this is the sort of story you can taste on the back of your tongue, and makes you appreciate every last clean and hopeful thing you have in your life."--DARK INTENT

"A highly talented new author. Osborne is one to watch."--BLOODY-DISGUSTING.COM

Get it now at Amazon, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca.

For Kindle.


Great reviews at OUT OF THE GUTTER, MANARCHY, SPINETINGLER, and BOOKED.


An excerpt at MANARCHY.

Also, if any Portland readers are interested, Powell's should have copies of LDDRE by the end of this week.

And for people on the East coast, J. David will be doing a reading from LDDRE this Monday, March 11th, in New York, along with Sam Pink,
Scott McClanahan, and Cameron Pierce. Here are the details at TIME OUT NEW YORK.

Also, EXTINCTION JOURNALS and ALL-MONSTER ACTION! are now available for Kindle!

The newly revised 2012 digital edition of EXTINCTION JOURNALS includes "The Sharp-Dressed Man at
the End of the Line," the classic short story explaining the origin of
the world's weirdest post-nuke survivor.

The digital edition of ALL-MONSTER ACTION! includes bonus short story "Wet Nurse" as well as "We
Need to Make Things More Repulsive: The Early Sketches of Nick Gucker"!

POWELL'S READING:This Monday, March 18th, 2013 I'll be reading at Powell's City of Books on Burnside as part of their annual SMALLPRESSAPALOOZA event. Since my readings tend to run "blue" I've got the late night spot at 9:45pm. Should be great fun.

Cheers,

JRJ

ANGEL DUST APOCALYPSE is finally available for the Kindle, in a special Author’s Preferred Edition not available in any other format!

This hi-def transfer of the cult classic has been fully revised and updated and features 20,000 words of new digital-only content including:

-A Note About This Author’s Preferred Edition by Me

-An Amazing Introduction by Stephen Graham Jones

-And new section "The Fallout: Bonus Material of Suspect Value" which contains early, entirely out-of-control interviews with CEMETERY DANCE magazine and THE MEAT SOCKET, as well as "JUST THE WORST THING EVER: A TERRIBLE STORY YOU SHOULDN’T READ (WITH WRITER’S COMMENTARY)" and "A REAL BATCH OF NETWORK PITCHES FOR SHOWS WHICH YOU WILL PROBABLY NOT BE SEEING ANYTIME SOON."

I'm pretty excited for people to check this out. It's priced crazy cheap ($2.99) for the holidays and to say thanks for all the support and love the book has received in the past.

Happy Holidays!

JRJ

Very excited and happy to announce that WE LIVE INSIDE YOU won The 2011 Wonderland Book Award for Best Collection at this weekend's BizarroCon.

It was an honor to be counted among the nominees for such a strong and strange year, and I'm still a bit shocked to see the award sitting on my desk.

I've also noticed that everyone who picks it up almost instantly comments, "You could really beat someone to death with this thing."

It's the most beautiful murderous bludgeon I've ever held. THANK YOU (SO MUCH) to the readers and the Bizarro Con family for a wonderfully unforgettable event and year!

Cheers,

JRJ