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Today is the official release day for my debut full length weird / cosmic horror collection, The Puppet King and Other Atonements, from Journalstone. Largely inspired by a reading of Thomas Ligotti’s Teatro Grottesco and written between 2022 and 2021, this deeply personal book began as an intense mediation on (and coming to terms with) pessimism, depress
ion, and the problem of agency in human action. As the project grew, other themes of abiding interest—labyrinths, mirrors, and religion—found expression as well. The resulting compilation of stories is one in which I hope readers of Ligotti, Padgett, and other darker strains of the horrific will themselves at home.
It is now available on the Journalstone website, Amazon, and other online book retailers.
“Bleak, melancholy, and intelligent like the best by Thomas Ligotti and Jon Padgett, these tales unmistakably come from a deep, personal place and will best resonate with searchers after metaphysical horrors.” —Dejan Ognjanović, RUE MORGUE
“Burnett takes you through a journey of contrasts. At once delicate and painfully intimate, yet vast, reverberant and strange, The Puppet King and Other Atonements draws the reader deep into the primordial to the very edge of the stars. Highly recommended.” —Emma J. Gibbon, author of DARK BLOOD COMES FROM THE FEET
“An inheritor to the mantles of Ligotti and Langan, Justin Burnett writes bleak, unrelenting and philosophically challenging horror that chills every dimension of its reader—mind, body, and spirit." ----Kurt Fawver WE ARE HAPPY, WE ARE DOOMED
“With grippingly beautiful prose, Justin Burnett weaves a tapestry of philosophical and existential nightmares that speak to grief, love, identity, and the human condition.” ----Jo Kaplan IT WILL JUST BE US