Red Rabbit Ghost - by Jen Julian (Paperback)

About the Book

"Jesse Calloway hadn't planned to return to his repressive, backwoods hometown of Blacknot, North Carolina, after only one year away at college, but an anonymous messenger has lured him home. Eighteen years ago, his mother died under unexplained circumstances. Every story he has heard is incomplete. Now, the messenger claims to have the answers. But Jesse will have to hunt for them. Alice Catherine, the daughter of a local pork manufacturer, obsesses over Jesse in turn. To her, he is a key player in unearthing the dark family history she's convinced her father is concealing. Alice knows Jesse must find the answers himself, with the hope that once he does, he'll help her change both their futures. But Jesse's path to Alice isn't a straight line, and his questions are stirring up issues with locals, including his much older and well-armed ex-boyfriend, Harlan. When an old fling of Jesse's goes missing and Alice's plans start to unravel, it's clear there's more at stake than either of them could imagine. On a collision course littered with psychotropic fungi, time-warping magic, and far too many alligators, Jesse and Alice will need to determine how far they are willing to go for the truth, and whether they can trust each other enough to get there..."--

Book Synopsis

An impulsive young outcast confronts his small town's dark secrets in this atmospheric and haunting debut horror novel from brilliant new voice Jen Julian.

The town of Blacknot is not what it appears, and a place on its desolate edge known only as The Night House is calling...

What remains of Jesse's mother can fit inside an old jerky tin. Photos, postcards, a single, worn-out bracelet. But nothing that can explain why she was found dead eighteen years earlier on the bank of a river, her infant son left wailing by her side. When Jesse starts to receive anonymous messages promising him answers, he returns home to the regressive town of Blacknot, North Carolina so that his lifelong obsession can finally be laid to rest.

But Jesse's investigation is stirring up trouble with the locals, including his well-armed ex-boyfriend and the mysterious daughter of a local businessman, each with their own inscrutable agendas. They will soon find that this backwater town holds a power more volatile than any of them could have imagined, and that the answers they seek might be better left buried.

About the Author

Jen Julian's previous publications include a short story collection, Earthly Delights and Other Apocalypses (Press 53, 2018), which was the winner of Press 53's Short Fiction Prize, as well as work in numerous literary journals, most recently a story in Third Coast Magazine, which received distinction in Best American Short Stories 2023. Jen holds a PhD in English from the University of Missouri and an MFA in Fiction from UNC Greensboro. A 2016 Clarion Alumna, she has contributed fiction both to the Sewanee Writers' Conference and the Texas Book Festival. These days, Jen lives in the mountains of North Georgia with her enormous ginger cat and teaches creative writing at Young Harris College.