Today I want to introduce library workers to an author who Bizarro fiction fans have known about for years, but whose work may not be in your library. Well that’s not 100% true. I would venture that those of you who have some Bizarro story collections will have a story or two by Johnson in your library, but a quick WorldCat search showed me that very few public libraries had his books until this one-
Entropy in Bloom.
From Goodreads:
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 previously 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.
With this major publisher backed, hard cover edition of JRJ’s most popular stories PLUS a brand new novella, this is an author whose time has more than come to be added to public library collections. Many have already added this volume, but not enough in my opinion.
Bizarro fiction is really gaining in popularity because these genres are all about mashing up the speculative genres. The genre even has it’s own award, the
Wonderland Book Award, which JRJ has won before.
Click here to learn more about Bizarro. Or
here for a list of top Bizarro authors which includes JRJ.
To hear a review of this collection by 2 fans,
listen to this episode of the Booked podcast. The first half is a review and the second half is an interview with JRJ. [Also, keep the podcast bookmarked because I recorded an interview with them at StokerCon.]
This is a great title to add to your collections and allow Bizarro to have a presence in your library. If you don’t have any
Bizarro authors in your library, you are already behind the curve a bit. Fix it by adding JRJ.
Need help booking this volume?
Readalike authors who your patrons may already be enjoying are the legendary
John Skipp,
Paul Tremblay,
Stephen Graham Jones, and
Nick Cutter-- all authors I have talked about here on the blog more than once, all authors you wouldn’t think twice about adding to your collections.
To help get you excited,
I have a brand new, hard cover copy of Entropy in Bloom, from the publisher to give away here on the blog to a public library worker in the US or Canada. Email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with with subject heading [Entropy in Bloom] and your library’s name to enter. Entries will be accepted until Wednesday, May 24th at 5pm central. I will reply to you that your entry has been received to confirm.
Good luck.
And if you don't win I would highly suggest finding a way to put a copy of
Entropy in Bloom in your collection. I had only heard of JRJ before this collection came out in April. I had not read him before. I am happy to say I fixed that. I have read these stories and they are surprisingly, unsettling, well constructed, and highly original. Even this , “been there done that reader,” was entertained throughout.
