SKIP HORACK

THE OTHER JOSEPH:

A brilliant, gripping novel written with uncommon skill, The Other Joseph is a poignant and unflinching account of one man’s quest to rise above his mistakes, misfortunes, and circumstances—a novel that is as concerned with the search for answers as it is with matters of the heart and soul. The scope of Horack’s imagination, knowledge, and empathy is striking, and there are innumerable things to be both learned and felt within the pages of this remarkable book. My highest recommendation.

—Adam Johnson

With every book, Skip Horack proves that he is utterly fearless, not only in terms of structure and ambition, but also in the way he can push a sentence to be so entirely spot-on, so perfect, that his books become pointillistic, composed of a subtle emotional gradations from one line to the next, only to finish in a stunningly sophisticated whole. I read The Other Joseph with pleasure: it is big, tough, and ravishing, a ghost story in the voice of a lost brother, an elegy with the ache and grace of deeply-lived life in it.

—Lauren Groff



THE EDEN HUNTER:

Skip Horack's novel is historically grounded, richly imagined, slyly humorous, and finally very touching. It seems to me not just a brave book, but a noble one, and it's also a sheer delight.

—Ron Hansen

Skip Horack’s debut novel, The Eden Hunter, is a beautifully written, suspense-filled adventure story that conjures the great terrain of Melville and Conrad as he explores one man’s struggle to seek goodness in the midst of evil. Call him Kau. Or Adam. This pygmy slave’s journey from birth to myth is amazing in scope and storytelling power.

—Jill McCorkle

THE SOUTHERN CROSS:

These stories evoke places with a sharp, sensuous and at times magical skill. They also dramatize characters and states of mind with a fierce truthfulness and sense of understanding. Horack’s style has a beautiful edge to it; the range of his sympathy makes this a wonderful collection.

—Colm Tóibín

Every one of these stories serves up a unique world peopled by individuals who could, each of them, star in his or her own series. They are all epic-worthy. And yet, Skip Horack appears to have so much talent, talent to burn, that he can let each character occupy a single story, no more. That restraint—that simultaneous sense of abundance and tantalizing withholding—is primarily what made this collection stand out for me.

—Antonya Nelson

Each of these deeply felt stories is an offbeat song of the new South. From post-K New Orleans to the Panhandle, Horack rummages fearlessly through the houses and trailers and yards and bars where his characters kill time and make hay, so he can unearth what worries their hearts. His is an intrepid and startling new literary voice.

—Pia Z. Ehrhardt



Intensely grounded in a world of oil rigs, American landscapes and ocean, The Other Joseph is a  compelling, suspenseful meditation on  brotherly love and family longing in a disintegrating world.

—Thomas McGuane

The Other Joseph is a rich and melancholy tale of a broken man pulled at by a lost brother and an elusive future. It’s a tale about what we can make of ourselves from the remnants. Roy Joseph fears he will never be forgiven for his past, but he struggles to become a good man anyway. Horack’s writing is clear and evocative, and his observations about America—from the Gulf Coast to Nevada to California—linger long after the book is finished. Maybe every generation is in some sense lost, but with The Other Joseph Horack offers a more generous vision of what might be salvaged.

—David Vann 

The Eden Hunter is a fierce, taut novel that's hard to stop once you start it. It has a seamless quality, gleaming details described in a perfectly-pitched, lyrical flow of language that’s as powerful and unstoppable as its river of ants (just wait till you get to it). With one of the most original and unforgettable heroes in recent fiction, this novel will dazzle and horrify you, often in the same phrase. My highest recommendation.

—Tom Franklin

These stories are the real deal, the way Larry Brown's and Raymond Carver's stories are real. They move at depth with what can only be called a great and authentic soul. This is a special book, and the announcement of a wonderful writer and storyteller.

—Rick Bass

How on earth does one man know so much about beekeeping, fox trapping, rabbit farming, and the animal ways of the human heart? In these beautiful, unflinching, pitch-perfect stories, Skip Horack unbuckles the Bible Belt to show us an America we tend to ignore, one in which love and loss, grace and sorrow, are all in a day’s work. The Southern Cross is a timely and powerful collection.

—Eric Puchner

These stories are alive with feeling, they are strong and intelligent, they explore the geography of a place and a time and a people—and they explore it unforgettably. Skip Horack is a writer to watch.

—John L’Heureux