Attic Clowns [Paperback]

Jeremy Shipp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 7, 2012

BEWARE THE CLOWNS IN THE ATTIC— LEST YOU BECOME ONE YOURSELF! Bram Stoker Award nominee Jeremy C. Shipp spins 13 tales of horror and dark humor in this highly conceptual collection. Angels and demons, husbands and wives, tormented ghosts and an army of men made of soap—all of them trapped in attics of the mind, attics of heaven or hell, the attics we make for ourselves or with which we ensnare others. Meet a paranoid astronaut whose jealousy drives him to extremes beyond murder…a miniature circus spawned from the mind of woman with too much control…the underling demon Globcow who desires redemption even more than the taste of human feet… Men, women, children, and things beyond imagination all interconnect in ATTIC CLOWNS, where laughter is only the prelude to the bizarre and terrible. “Jeremy C. Shipp’s boldness, daring, originality, and sheer smarts make him one of the most vital younger writers who have colonized horror literature in the past decade. Shipp’s modernist clarity, plus his willingness to risk damn near everything, put him up at the head of the pack with the very best.” —Peter Straub

Product Details

• Paperback: 274 pages
• Publisher: Redrum Horror (February 7, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0984751912
• ISBN-13: 978-0984751914
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,772,243 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jeremy C. Shipp is a weird author of Bizarro, horror, dark fantasy, and magic realism. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in over 50 publications, the likes of Cemetery Dance, ChiZine, Harlan County Horrors, Apex Magazine, Pseudopod, and The Bizarro Starter Kit (blue). While preparing for the forthcoming collapse of civilization, Jeremy enjoys living in Southern California in a moderately haunted Victorian farmhouse with his wife, Lisa, and their legion of yard gnomes. He's currently working on many stories and novels and is losing his hair, though not because of the ghosts. His books include Vacation, Sheep and Wolves, and Cursed. And thankfully, only one mime was killed during the making of his first short film, Egg.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible stories from an awesome writer!, January 23, 2012

By 

chrisjets1975 - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Attic Clowns: Complete Collection (Kindle Edition)

Let me say this, Attic Clowns is the fourth book i've read by Jeremy Shipp, and i've loved them all. When reading his works you come to realize that the worlds he creates are ones where 1+1 may equal 619, and C definitely comes before A and B! Horror with soul, horror with a conscience, sentient horror, and Attic Clowns delivers in spades. While all the stories are completely different there is a unifying thread, you guessed it : attics and clowns. Even though I don't have any real fears of either of those I did find myself thoroughly creeped out by all the craziness and downright freakishness of what lurked in these tales. An excellent read by an author who crosses genre lines as easily as crossing the street. My two favorite stories are Dust Bunnies and Blister, while not the scariest of the bunch, I have not read anything as hauntingly beautiful as either of these masterpieces in a very long time! get Attic Clowns and enter the mind of a master!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Surreal and textured exploration of diffiicult human relationships, February 6, 2012

By 

Narrelle - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Attic Clowns: Complete Collection (Kindle Edition)

I supported the production of this book as a Kickstarter project, so I was interested to find out whether I'd actually like the final product. The horror I mostly read is vampire fiction, though I've been expanding my reading in the genre lately.

Attic Clowns is a surprise, in some ways. It starts as very surreal and almost more comic than horrific. As the short stories come along, they remain surreal, but more comes through in the way of themes and ideas. Of course, weird and sometimes evil clowns that live in attics feature strongly, but their role as metaphors for the horrors humans have in their own heads is pretty clear.

I loved that the stories were much more varied and textured than I'd initially expected. Some were funny, some were strangely compassionate, though they were all fairly creepy.

Shipp explores love, loss, grief, resentment, revenge, hope and acceptance throughout the stories.

Particular favourites were The Ascension of Globcow the Footeater, where a demonic imp goes to heaven to find redemption, under the tutelage of a rather pompous angel. Blister is also terrific, dealing as it does with grief.

Attic Clowns is a great little collection, with texture and thoughtfulness as well as a lot of creepy clowns with spiders for eyes.