A Lush and Seething Hell

Two Tales of Cosmic Horror

By: John Hornor Jacobs

Narrated by: Almarie Guerra, MacLeod Andrews

The award-winning and critically-acclaimed master of horror returns with a pair of chilling tales - both never-before-published in print or audio - 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.

©2019 John Hornor Jacobs (P)2019 HarperAudio

Rich detail

The rich detail and pacing makes it an excellent listen. Both stories are rich in culture and nuances you feel yourself in them. It is hard to pause listening. Well done.

Loved both Stories

I thought this was brilliant, top to bottom. Great writing (beautiful prose), deep, mysterious, dark plotting. Wonderful narration, in both parts of the book. I would read more horror by this author in a moment.

Great horror and a great performance

Finding horror novels that are well written, fresh, and gives actual nightmares are hard to come by for me. This book , and the person narrating make it a gem that should be read by anyone who appreciates horror.

Impressive

This is such good storytelling. Both stories. I wished the first was longer, and there were times I wish the second was shorter but not often. The pace is slow and steady, peeling layer after layer methodically and carefully enough to keep you interested and trying to figure out where it’s going. I enjoyed them both.

Half great

The first of the two stories is awful: I nearly gave up on the book halfway through it. It wasn’t even obvious that it was a horror story until about the last five minutes. In addition to the story being uninteresting, the narrator was using the same voice for all the characters, so a lot of the time I couldn’t even tell who was speaking, which made it harder to follow.

However, the second story was magnificent. 11/10. Had it been the only story, this would be a shorter but five star book. I recommend skipping straight to the second novella.

Beautiful, sensuous, and eerie.

These two stories are very different, yet equally compelling. Jacobs writes with an empathy and attention to sensory experience that carries the reader through the supernatural horrors he describes. The effect is something between ASMR tingles and shivers of revulsion. Highly recommend.

good but not the best

enjoyed this one but I think it could have been better. the stories held my interest so no regrets for listening to it.

Meh...

I had a hard time considering these stories as "cosmic horror".

The first story was extremely (IMO) long and the ending was unsatisfying-for all the build up the "payoff" was minimal. It seemed like the author just gave up.

The second story was more interesting, the plot more engaging but again, the ending felt forced and abrupt.

Not "Cosmic Horror" in the sense of Lovecraft-more "odd tales". YMMV.

great!

an amazing surprise. I've never even heard of JHJ and now I'm off to track down any book I can find. amazing narrator and excellent, original storytelling.

A journey of guilt

I was enraptured from the first. I listened all night as I went in and out of sleep,backing up where I had left off, eager to hear the results of all his questions . All I can say is take a chance you won’t be disappointed.