Bad Cree

A rare voice in contemporary fiction. Her debut novel similarly carves out a unique space. -- Claire Alfree * Daily Mail * Eerie, atmospheric, and intriguing a notable intervention into the genre and an accomplished debut: rich in dark folklore-inspired imagery, this is a novel about grief as a bond, inherited trauma through a cultural lens, and refreshingly intersectional sorority; with remarkable representation and a large cast of female characters at the core of the story. -- Venezia Castro * The Skinny * Johns deploys and transforms horror motifs in this haunting story of Indigenous survivance The ghosts here are entirely natural, native to the setting of this novel and the worldview of its characters [A] narrative that is truly chilling and suspenseful. A powerful exploration of generational trauma and an artful, affecting debut. -- Kirkus Reviews The novel serves as a window into a world where dreams intersect with waking reality It works equally well as spine-tingling thriller and a touching meditation on grief. -- <i>Publishers Weekly</i>, starred review At once stunning, terrifying, and deeply affecting, in Bad Cree, the reader is invited to flock with Jessica Johns through soaring prose glistening with the power of family, Cree culture, and togetherness. A novel that haunts; a novel impossible to put down. -- Laura Jean McKay, author of <i>The Animals in That Country </i> In evocative yet understated prose, Jessica Johns weaves a captivating tale of love, loss, the violence of greed, and the healing power of family. In Bad Cree, Johns delivers a suspenseful and thought-provoking page turner you wont want to put down. -- Michelle Good, #1 bestselling author of <em>Five Little Indians</em> Bad Cree deftly explores the permeable boundaries of dreams, reality, and culture, as well as complex family dynamics and relationships. A compelling novel that is a mystery and a horror story about grief, but one with defiant hope in its beating heart. -- Paul Tremblay, author of <em>A Head Full of Ghosts</em> and <em>The Pallbearers Club</em> Bad Cree is a masterwork of creeping tension. Wry, moody, and subversive, Johns explores the power of connections, both the harm and the healing, with characters rich and warm, tangled in each other, to the land and to the supernatural. Couldnt put it down. -- Eden Robinson, author of <em>Son of a Trickster</em> Both tactile and dreamy, terrifying and beautiful, Bad Cree will wrap you up and pull you along for the journey once it starts, theres no backing out, no pause, no stall. I have been waiting years for Jessica Johnss books I say books because there had better be more! She did not disappoint. -- Cherie Dimaline, author of <i>The Marrow Thieves</i> With creeps that are ever-creepy and love flowing like beer at a bush party, Bad Cree is a book about the power of dreams, home, and family. It reads like a tribute to the ones who came before us: Lee Maracle, Jeanette Armstrong, Eden Robinson. This book is tough iskwew in flannel shirts with long unbrushed hair, just looking good. Its tea rings on Formica tables, cigarette smoke wafting through windows, and an eerie magical realism that only belongs to the bush. Full of Auntie power, Jessica Johns is really coming into her own immense storytelling ways. -- Katherena Vermette, author of <i>The Break</i> Bad Cree is a mesmerising, enticing read. Jessica Johns writes the world in all its messiness and terror, while simultaneously remembering to centre its tender beating heart. A book about family and foundations, but also about how the secrets we keep can knock the floor out from under us. A captivating novel from an exciting new author. -- Kristen Arnett, <i>New York Times</i> bestselling author of <i>Mostly Dead Things</i>

Jessica Johns is a Nehiyaw aunty and member of Sucker Creek First Nation in Treaty 8 territory in Northern Alberta. Her writing has been published in numerous literary magazines, and her short story Bad Cree won the 2020 Writers Trust McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize.