A Lush and Seething Hell by John Hornor Jacobs is a collection of two powerful horror novellas that delve into cosmic horror and dark fantasy themes. The first novella, 'The Sea Dreams It Is the Sky,' takes readers on a journey through South America and Spain, exploring the nature of artistry and radical politics. The second novella, 'My Heart Struck Sorrow,' immerses readers in the American South, unraveling a tale of music, horror, and historical elements. Both narratives are filled with creeping dread, detailed settings, and masterful prose that captivate readers and pull them into worlds of eerie and unsettling experiences.

Characters:

The characters are multifaceted, navigating personal and historical traumas that reflect broader societal issues, contributing to the emotional weight of the narratives.

Writing/Prose:

The author showcases exceptional prose characterized by lyrical and vivid descriptions, effectively drawing readers into the unsettling atmosphere of the narratives.

Plot/Storyline:

The narrative features two novellas that explore different cultural grievances and the impact of forbidden knowledge, tailored in unique settings that provide a rich storytelling backdrop.

Setting:

The settings are vividly portrayed, with one steeped in the political turmoil of South America and the other designed to evoke the cultural depths of the American South.

Pacing:

The stories generally adopt a slow-burn pacing, allowing for extensive world-building and character development before delving into the horror.

On the streets, they called him “The Eye,” for obvious reasons—the eyepatch, of course, but also his wary, sleepless demeanor. He would sit in the afternoons in the Parque de Huelin in the shade, a wi...

Notes:

The book contains two novellas: 'The Sea Dreams It Is the Sky' and 'My Heart Struck Sorrow'.

The first novella is set in an imagined South American country and explores themes of tyranny.

The second novella takes place in the American South and examines issues of racialism.

Both stories involve the quest for forbidden knowledge, a common theme in cosmic horror.

The writing highlights creeping dread and psychological horror.

'The Sea Dreams It Is the Sky' features a famous poet and his relationship with a student.

'My Heart Struck Sorrow' is about a musicologist uncovering dark historical roots of a folk song.

Readers praised the lyrical quality of Jacobs' writing.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

Content warnings include themes of violence, mental illness, political oppression, and racial tension, which are pivotal to the stories.

Has Romance?

The first novella includes a complex relationship that can be interpreted as a romance within the broader themes of despair and turmoil.

From The Publisher:

A World Fantasy Award Nominee!

The award-winning and critically-acclaimed master of horror returns with a pair of chilling tales that examine the violence and depravity of the human condition.

Bringing together his acclaimed novella The Sea Dreams It Is the Sky and an all-new short novel My Heart Struck Sorrow, John Hornor Jacobs turns his fertile imagination to the evil that breeds within the human soul.

A brilliant mix of the psychological and supernatural, blending the acute insight of Roberto Bolaño and the eerie imagination of H. P. Lovecraft, The Sea Dreams It Is the Sky examines life in a South American dictatorship. Centered on the journal of a poet-in-exile and his failed attempts at translating a maddening text, it is told by a young woman trying to come to grips with a country that nearly devoured itself.

In My Heart Struck Sorrow, a librarian discovers a recording from the Deep South-which may be the musical stylings of the Devil himself.

Breathtaking and haunting, A Lush and Seething Hell is a terrifying and exhilarating journey into the darkness, an odyssey into the deepest reaches of ourselves that compels us to confront secrets best left hidden.

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A Lush and Seething Hell: Two Tales of Cosmic Horror

John Hornor Jacobs