3/11/2015

WASHINGTON POST REVIEW, Powell's Reading, And More!


SKULLCRACK CITY has been out for a month, and it's been a crazy 30 days. I'm trying to compile all the post-release propaganda and news here:

First, SC received a glowing review in THE WASHINGTON POST. Having the novel called "Genre-bending [...] haunting and humorous." alongside a review of the new Gaiman collection felt like a coup/minor miracle.

Second, my favorite bookstore on earth (Powell's) is now carrying SC in their Small Press Featured section.

AND, I've been invited to read at Powell's Hawthorne on Thursday, May 14th at 7:30pm. This will be my first time having a solo appearance at Powell's, and I still need to talk to their Event Coordinator about their policies regarding nudity, fake blood, and Cormac McCarthy jokes, but it should be a great time!

Third, two different podcasts suffered lapses in judgment, so you can listen to my jibber-jabber and angelic singing voice at both Books and Booze and Surreal Sermons. At 10:54 I introduce an idea that changes everything for modern society. At 43:44 you won't believe how great my impersonation of Jimmy Stewart sounds. Or none of that happens. But both are audible!

Fourth, my first post-SKULLCRACK print interview is live over at Entropy Mag. I finally answer the question, "Briefs or a carefully smashed-and-glued taco?" It's very provocative stuff!

Fifth, LITREACTOR has chosen SKULLCRACK CITY as their April '14 Book Club Selection. I'll be joining the conversation, and all participants will be entered in a contest to win a very rare signed (and error-riddled and goonie-looking) ARC of SC. If you enjoyed the book (or hated it) please join us!

Sixth, an exclamation!

Seventh, here's the SKULLCRACK Hype Train Round-Up Chugging On Through!
"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

Big thanks to everybody who's been checking this thing out or even advocating on behalf of its craziness. It's been a lovely launch and I truly appreciate all the positive energy people have put into the book over the last month.

Cheers,

JRJ

2/08/2015

SKULLCRACK CITY IS FINALLY AVAILABLE!


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