Jarret Middleton is the author of Darkansas and the novella An Dantomine Eerly. He was the founding editor of Dark Coast Press and the classics library Pharos Editions, an imprint of Counterpoint/Soft Skull Press. His fiction, essays, and reviews have appeared in Shelf Awareness, The Quarterly Conversation, The Weeklings, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, The Collagist, SmokeLong Quarterly, and HTMLGIANT, as well as appearing in the print anthologies The Breadline Anthology; Hotel Angeline: A Novel in 36 Voices; and In Heaven, Everything is Fine: Fiction Inspired by David Lynch. He lives in Seattle, WA with his wife.
"Middleton's tale is irresistibly gothic"
-Barnes & Noble
"A novel in the Southern Gothic tradition...Darkansas looks like it
will live up to its name for sure."
-BookRiot
"An edgy, modern version of Southern Gothic, with plenty of
atmosphere and action."
-Literary Hub
A book that deserves many readers, one I suspect will be passed
around for many years. ... Middleton's creepy, crawly sentences are
laden with gothic thicket, and the atmosphere he evokes is
mystical. ... In a memorable and skilled novel, Middleton suggests
that there are unexplained mysteries out there, and that their
presence may play a heavier hand in our daily lives than we'd like
to believe.
-Arkansas Times
"Darkansas is a dark, compelling novel of country noir about a
family with a secret past and a curse several generations old... a
novel that shares DNA not only with the best contemporary Southern
Gothic and country noir authors but also with literary giants like
William Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy."
--Criminal Element
"From the get-go, Middleton grabs readers with an eerie dream about
a violent death, a portent of things to come in his page-turning
debut about a family's curse...the book is elevated by Middleton's
prose, especially the rough and textured descriptions of the
landscapes and environment."
--Publishers Weekly
A well-carved story of a family's curse, as brittle and grotesque
as any works in the vein of Faulkner or O'Connor. A subversive
twist on Southern myths that's surprisingly rich in its
execution.
--Kirkus Reviews
"Finding the right phrase to describe Jarret Middleton's new novel
isn't easy. It's a tale of the tensions within a family; it's the
story of that family's bloody history; and it's an account of
bizarre and uncanny forces heightening existing conflicts and
transforming them into something horrific. Classifying this book
isn't easy, but the tense and gripping sensations that reading it
sparks are undeniable."
--Vol 1 Brooklyn
Old grudges, regrets, jealousy and 150 years of buried secrets....
Bleak, perhaps, but Darkansas also shines with a light of empathy
for a family with more than its share of bad luck to go along with
its bad genes.
--Shelf Awareness
"The devil didn't go down to Georgia, he went to Arkansas, where
the Bayne family struggle against Beelzebub's grip on their
collective fates. Middleton's ferocious debut has it all-sex, song,
sadness, and a history as dark and twisted as the Ozark hollers
that fill these pages. Holy hell, what a book."
-Peter Geye, author of Wintering
"Gritty, ghostly, poetic...one of the best debuts of the year."
-Donald Ray Pollock, author of The Heavenly Table
"A mesmerizing debut [. . .] There is a dark magic in Middleton's
prose that is impossible to resist."
-Jonathan Evison, New York Times best-selling author of The Revised
Fundamentals of Caregiving
"Middleton's lush writing creates an atmosphere both beauitful and
horrific. A grand debut that pushes the limits of 'Southern Gothic'
and delivers an engrossing story of family, love, and fate."
-Kathi Kirby, Powell's Books, Portland, OR
"Middleton's brilliant debut is a vivid, haunting page-turner in
the American gothic tradition."
-Garth Stein, New York Times best-selling author of The Art of
Racing in the Rain
"A slow burn [. . .] Before you know it you can't put it down. A
barbed meditation on fear, family, and the monstrousness of
fate."
-Brian Evenson, author of Last Days
"A delicious blend of the gritty reality inherent in dysfunctional
family relationships and the magical realism of small towns in the
mythic 'deep south' [. . .] You can practically hear Ry Cooder's
guitar licks playing in the background."
-Paul Hanson, Village Books, Bellingham, WA
"Reminiscent of the works of Larry Brown and Rick Bass; richly
drawn, refreshing, and authentic [. . .] An innovative literary
voice that I look forward to following for decades to come."
-Nickolas Butler, author of The Hearts of Men
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