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Murder Ballads and Other Horrific Tales  By  cover art

Murder Ballads and Other Horrific Tales

By: John Hornor Jacobs
Narrated by: James Meunier
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Publisher's summary

A terrifying collection of horror and crime noir from the author of Southern Gods and A Lush and Seething Hell.

Featuring 10 tales, two never before in print, Murder Ballads and Other Horrific Tales is an exciting glimpse into the dark territories of the human heart.

These are coming-of-age stories. Stories of love and loss, grief, and revenge. Survival and redemption. From old gods to malevolent artificial intelligences, vampires to zombies to ghosts, Jacobs exposes our fears and worst imaginings.

Contains the sequel to Southern Gods.

©2020 John Hornor Jacobs (P)2020 Journalstone

Critic reviews

"Jacobs demonstrates masterful control of his eclectic themes and frequently propels them into unexpected and pleasingly original territory...Offers plenty to keep genre fans hooked." (Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about Murder Ballads and Other Horrific Tales

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Good, one story has dog fighting

Good collection of stories, some more grounded in reality. Old Dogs has a pretty brutal depiction of dog fighting, so be aware if that is a trigger.

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  • Overall
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Subtle Tales Of Extraordinary Circumstances

Incredibly satisfying both in content & execution . James Horner Jacobs claims not to be a short story natural in the intro to this collection - don’t be fooled Jacobs finds new directions in well travelled genre conventions like the Coming Of Age, Ghost, and Vampire story. James Meunier’s narration is curiously perfect- his native British expository narrative accent works because his American, southern character accents work incredibly incredibly well. Highly recommended.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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Couldn't vibe with the writing at all

After listening to 'Exquisite Corpse' by Poppy Z Brite twice in a row (something I've *never* done before) I figured this would be an excellent palate cleanser. Still horror, but more digestible short stories.

First story was about Vikings and some kinda legend? I don't know. I couldn't follow along at all. I loved the narrator's voice, though.

Maybe the first story just isn't for me, I thought, and skipped to the next one. It was slightly more interesting, granted, but still nearly impossible to follow along with. I couldn't get a visual picture in my head to go along with the story.

Returned. Still loved the narrator's voice and accent, but the writing and I just didn't vibe.

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Very Few Stories Kept My Interest

This was a struggle to get through. 3 or 4 of the stories were decent enough to keep my attention, but none of them were great. Despite having a good narrator, this book was such a drag. I can't place what hurt it. Maybe it was the basic descriptions of things, the lifeless characters, or the fact that nothing stood out in these stories. If this book was a free listen, I would have stopped listening half way through it, but because I wasted an audible credit, I made it to the last story before I finally decided to stop wasting my time.

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