Well, as an aspiring horror writer, I like to think I have the balls to churn out the darkest shit my imagination can cook up. It's far easier for me, as I am by no means a proper writer. Once you become successful, and by that I'm talking novel deals and making a living at writing, there's always an element of 'Can I go that far?'
A lot of authors wouldn't contemplate it; King, Koontz and even Laymon (just about) write within a zone they and their agents are comfortable with. Jack Ketchum is a different beast all together and he proved this with A Girl Next Door - a great example of where pushing the boundaries draws out a novel that, in my opinion, craps over anything written by the aforementioned authors.
Now he's taken that boundary smashing up to 11 with a chapbook called Weed Species and in Jack Ketchum's own words: 'It's the most vicious thing I think I've ever done.' I urge you to have a read of the free excerpt here, but be warned it ain't pretty:
The price is pretty steep, but having read a fair bit of his other work I'm willing to bet it's worth every penny.
Available from www.cemeterydance.com $35.oo
4 comments:
I've not read any Ketchum stuff but a couple of people have been pushin' me in his direction (and now you) so I guess I'll have to give him a chance.
Good to see you in blogland.
;o)
That extract is nasty. Lol, I'll be buying this one after Christmas - if it's not in my stocking. Ketchum has also got a new short story collection due out in January. I think it's called Closing Time. Look out for that. His short fiction is just as good as his novels.
Brian - What are you doig on this blog when you should be reading Jack Ketchum, lol.
Steven - I didn't know he had a new short story collection. I loved Peaceable Kingdom and especially the story The Box
Yeah, Peacable Kingdom was a great collection. Check out my latest blog post, rich, to find out what I got for Christmas...
;)
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