Josh Rountree – författare

Odd, creepy, funny, The Black Lagoon meets the Six Gun universe. High up on the way-cool factor. You need this.' - Joe R. Lansdale, Edgar Award-winning author of the Hap and Leonard series As an unlikely found-family flees toward Galveston, a psychic young girl bonds with Charlie Fish, an enigmatic gill-man. Meanwhile, they are pursued by bounty hunters determined to profit from the spectacle of Charlie. But the Great Storm - the worst natural disaster in U.S. history - is on its way. Josh Rountree's strikingly original debut novel ranges effortlessly between the Gothic, pulp, literary, Western, and comedic. With his vivid imagery, evocative storytelling, and uncanny wit, Rountree enters the fine tradition of Texan storytellers, wading into True Grit by way of The Shape of Water. As always, Floyd Betts rides into town alone. He arrives for his father's funeral, but he is returning to Galveston, Texas, with two orphaned siblings he has rescued. Nellie, who is descended from a long line of witches, has visions from other people's minds. Hank, her impulsive younger brother, just wants to break out his outsized revolver. Along the way home, Floyd, Nellie, and Hank encounter a dubious traveling salesman, Professor Finn, and his henchman, Kentucky Jim. They are struggling to capture a fish-man in order to put him on cruel display. When Nellie taps into the peril of the gentle Charlie Fish, Floyd's makeshift family expands to include the lost, two-legged amphibian. With the circus charlatans in pursuit, ominous winds are picking up from an impending hurricane. Meanwhile, all Charlie Fish wants is to return to his home at sea.

In his first novel, Texan author Josh Rountree (The Legend of Charlie Fish) has created a devastating Frankenstein-inspired tale set in the Wild West. With equal parts Cormac McCarthy, Mary Shelley, and Stephen Graham Jones, Rountree creates a work of historical horror that deftly navigates the terrible aftermath of love and death. Catherine Coldbridge is a complicated woman: A doctor, an occultist, and, briefly, a widow. In 1879, Private Frank Humble, Catherine's husband, was killed in a Sioux attack. Consumed by grief, she used her formidable skills to resurrect him. But Frank lost his soul after the reanimation, and disappeared after a killing spree. Unable to face her failure and its murderous consequences, Catherine fled to grieve. Twenty-five years later, Catherine has decided she must make things right. She travels back to Texas with a pair of hired killers ready to destroy Frank. But Frank has remade himself as the Unkillable Frank Lightning, traveling with the Wild West Show. Reaching for a last chance at redemption, Frank and Catherine are at an impasse. As time runs out, their final choices may result in considerable bloodshed. 'With THE UNKILLABLE FRANK LIGHTNING, Rountree solidifies himself as not only one of the best writers working today, but makes the case for being the best Western writer of our present century.' - C. S. Humble, author of That Light Sublime trilogy.