A Lush and Seething Hell: Two Tales of Cosmic Horror

The two novels in John Hornor Jacobs' "A Lush and Seething Hell" are impressive. They are much more literary than I expected.The time periods and settings are masterfully created. I liked them both but "My Heart Struck Sorrow" pulled me into it more than 'The Sea Dreams It is the Sky." Both seem well-written but also, at times, over-written. There is so much information I lose the stories.Nevertheless, Parker has his own Necronomicon—he is obsessed with and subsumed by his own "Stackerlee." It ended as it should end. I can't say why; it has to be experienced as it is.

The two novellas or short novels contained in this volume differ in a number of ways: one is set in an imagined country in South America, the other in DC and the American South; the former deals in the politics of tyranny, the latter in the tyrannies of racialism; each has a distinct tone. Yet they share an element used often by Lovecraft (and others): the perils of the quest for forbidden knowledge--the book that shouldn't be read, the pictures that shouldn't be seen, the song that shouldn't be heard. (Although by the end of My Heart Struck Sorrow I really wanted to hear that song. As with Grady Hendrix's We Sold Our Souls, I wished more than once that the book came with a sound track.) They share also the slow burn of creeping, building dread; oblique and imperfect glimpses of cosmicism beyond the world we know; and the heartbreaking knowledge that there is more than enough horror in the things we ordinary earthbound humans do to each other. Above all they share truly brilliant, masterful writing. More than the subjects or settings or characters, the language and imagery of these stories wormed into my mind like a fever that lingered for several days after I finished the last page. I will be reading more John Hornor Jacobs.

Both stories deal with found manuscripts and hallucinatory weirdness. I found both stories slow to start and had trouble getting into them. It’ll depend on your taste as a reader–many readers are fine having the setting slowly detailed before starting to get to anything unusual. I tend to prefer my genre trappings a little more up-front and center. It’s up to you whether this book is likely to appeal to you in that area. Certainly those parts of the book are quite well-written.The characters are really interesting. I’m not entirely fond of some of them (I really didn’t like Cromwell much, for example), but they have a fair amount of depth and interest to them. I would have liked a bit more of Hattie in the second book; she just seemed like a more intriguing character.I loved the creepiness factor once it crept in! I was glued to the page as soon as things got weird. Jacobs’ treatment of the bizarre is wonderful–it slips in and grabs hold of you before you know what’s happening. I did think the end of the first story was a little abrupt, but it was still good. All in all this is a great book.Content note for racism, torture, and sexual content. The second story mostly takes place (via the manuscript) in 1938 in the American South, so there’s a whole lot of racial tension.

In the latest offering from the inimitable John Hornor Jacobs we're actually given a double feature. A Lush and Seething Hell contains The Sea Dreams it is the Sky, previously released only in digital, as well as the short novel My Heart Struck Sorrow. Both are narratives of creeping, seething dread, with Jacobs' prose at the absolute top of its game.I've written previously on The Sea Dreams it is the Sky, so I'll focus primarily on My Heart Struck Sorrow and the book in its entirety for the sake of this review. And as far as the book in its entirety goes, Jacobs breathes a world to sinister life and connects two otherwise disparate tales together with the common threads of deeply personal horror. With My Heart Struck Sorrow we are taken on a dark, strange ride through the American South chasing down a song that is so much more than a song. And while it's the world and the environment that truly shines becoming something both immersive and evocative, Jacobs does a disconcertingly good job sliding the reader into the skin of the narrator. It goes a long ways towards making the ever-rising note of horror more distinct, the darkness a little bit darker. A Lush and Seething Hell is available now in print and digital, and I absolutely cannot recommend it enough.

Not sure there is much to say about these tales. Neither were particularly interesting. Both had were far too long, with too little pay off; too much atmospherics with too little horror. Finally, both contained woke elements, with the second tale being the far more egregious of the two; I skipped every section that contained any dialogue from the woke-scold Hattie. That being said, the writing was well done, and obvious care went into the stories construction. They just weren’t written for me.

A Lush & Seething Hell contains two powerful horror novellas by John Hornor Jacobs, an author I've enjoyed for a number of years. The first novella, The Sea Dreams It Is the Sky, was published last year, and was one of my Top Favorite stories of 2018. It is a powerful and intense novella, which creeps into your soul, and the lyrical language is a bonus pleasure. I feel that it is one of the best pieces of horror that Jacobs has ever written, and this book is worth the price just for that tale. .This second novella, My Heart Struck Sorrow, is a bit of a slow burn, but the journey is fascinating, and the language once again has a poetic edge. The tale deals with music and horror, and brings to mind Jacob's first novel, Southern Gods. You'll find yourself immersed in the details of this tale, including its historical elements. Another excellent tale.I highly recommend this book, as well as the rest of Jacob's novels.

As a long-time fan of John Hornor Jacobs’ unique brand of lyrical horror, I was excited to get my hands on this two-novella volume. The first novella, The Sea Dreams It Is the Sky, is a poetic meditation on the nature of artistry and radical politics set in the imaginary South American country of Magera. The second novella, My Heart Struck Sorrow, is a stunning piece of psychological horror, a modern-set narrative shot through with the history of a shadowy and disturbing tradition of jazz accessed via a mysterious audio archive, an atmospheric context which I absolutely loved. This beautifully executed volume shares a world of cosmic horror with Jacobs’ earlier work, Southern Gods, and, if possible, is even more dark and heartbreaking than that book. And that ending: what a knockout! I was right there with the protagonist in the last pages of the book and it completely blew me away.

Some of the best writing I have stumbled across in likely my entire life.If you are looking for something new to pick up, something to enthral you & your imagination the way Lovecraft and others have been known to, look no further.The first book stands out vividly in my mind as a classic, truly, and I have revisited it again & again.The second book was not as strong in my opinion but certainly touches on all the themes you might expect of cosmic or otherworldly horror.Certainly encourage you to read it, make your own opinions and enjoy !

It was very good and set a good mood. The two stories were very eerie yet entertaining.

Absolutely stellar. While the previous books by Jacobs have already been fantastic, with ALASH, he has absolutely honed his craft and is at the top of his (and anyone's) game.