A Lush and Seething Hell

John Hornor Jacobs — 2019

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

Reviews

Emily Perkovich@undermeyou

Dec 10, 2022

I loved the second story, my heart struck sorrow. The sea dreams it is the sky didn’t really work for me. It wasn’t bad. There were a lot of parts and lines that I loved. But I had this feeling the whole time that it was like the story was written to house certain elements. I kept thinking of “killing your darlings” and feeling like everything was being written in circles to make certain things that the writer wanted to include be included even if they were immaterial instead of just giving in to something that was good not working and saving it for later. The page for the novella has great reviews, so perhaps I’m singular in that feeling. But nevertheless that made it hard for me to stay focused and I tended to feel the story dragging.

Janice Hopper@archergal

Nov 2, 2022

I put off listening to this book because I was pretty sure I'd have issues with it. I was right. Maybe cosmic horror (and some earthly horror) just really isn't for me. The language the writer uses is fine. He writes very well, with lots of lush adjectives. I listened to "My Heart Struck Sorrow" first. A musical folklorist goes chasing after the origins of a song in the rural south. There may be some cursed verses of the song. He goes looking for them, and finds some weird stuff. A generation or so later, another musical folklorist tries to follow his trail. He also finds some weird stuff. I strongly disliked the modern-day folklorist. But that was the worst part of this story for me. The other story is the one with the lovely title "The Sea Dreams it is the Sky." I honestly had some issues with this one, because of the abuse and torture depicted here. I couldn't even pay good attention to what was going on because of my revulsion. If you have a stronger stomach than I do, you will probably like this story more than I did. The writing, the words on the page, is fine. The subject matter is repellent to me. YMMV. 2.5 rounded up to 3 stars because of the writing. I hated almost every minute I listened to the first story.

Jasmine@jasmeaniethebookish

Sep 16, 2022

This is not your typical horror book. It’s strangely refreshing just based on the fact that it does have supernatural themes, but is geared more towards the psychology of its characters. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting and I’m thankful for that.