RED RABBIT GHOST

a haunting, luminous Southern Gothic novel following a young man returning to his hometown to finally solve the mystery of his mother's death. With confident, assured prose, a lived-in southern setting, and a weird fiction edge, this is perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher and Jeff VanderMeer.

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. Jen'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 Wigleaf and SmokeLong Quarterly. Jen holds a PhD in Creative Writing 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.