Shane Berryhill's Bad Mojo will be published by Ragnarok Publications in July 2014.
Information about Shane Berryhill:
Shane Berryhill is a novelist and comic book writer. His work has been praised by Publishers Weekly, NPR, NBC Today.com, Wired Magazine, Horror World, and others. He's been a guest and speaker at events ranging from the National Council of English Teachers conference to San Diego Comic Con.
Bad Mojo is Shane's first urban fantasy novel featuring Zora Banks. He is also the author of The Adventures of Chance Fortune series from Tor, Dragon Island, The Long Silent Night (A Jack Frost Mystery), various short stories (one in Kaiju Rising: Age of Monsters), and the comic book series, Sherwood, TX.
Shane Berryhill lives with his wife, Lesley, in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Click here to visit the author's official website.
Information about Bad Mojo:
Bad Mojo is a tale of love and murder among the men, women, and monsters of a mystical, modern-day South.
Shane Berryhill's first dark adult fantasy is the story of Zora Banks - a beautiful, Southern conjure woman of mixed race - as told through the eyes of her partner, Ash Owens, a pretty boy-redneck cursed with a monstrous alter ego.
When Tennessee State Representative Jack Walker hires Ash to find his missing, drug-addicted wife, Ash finds himself at odds with Chattanooga's various underworld gangs - both the living and the unliving - as he and Zora become embroiled in a far-reaching occult organization's grab for ultimate power.
Equal parts True Blood and Justified, bad Mojo will prove a dark delight for fans of urban fantasy, Southern Gothics, paranormal romance, and hardboiled crime.
A REVIEW OF SHANE BERRYHILL'S BAD MOJO
Shane Berryhill was an almost unknown author for me before I began to read Bad Mojo. Based on this novel I can say that he's a good author, because he writes intriguing urban fantasy for adults.
Before I write more about Bad Mojo, I have to mention that I'm very difficult to please when it comes to urban fantasy, because I've been more or less disappointed by the quality of several urban fantasy novels. I've often mentioned that I consider urban fantasy to be the worst possible bane of speculative fiction, because a huge amount of mediocre urban fantasy novels have been written and published during the recent years. Most of these novels tend to recycle the same elements over and over again without any kind of originality or style, and what is worst, shallow characters become fascinated by many kind of supernatural beings and fall in love with them (this is something that I totally abhor in these novels; to be honest, it's one of the main reasons why I tend to avoid reading urban fantasy).
Fortunately there are good and stylistic novels like Bad Mojo out there on the market that differ from other similar novels. These good novels remind quality-oriented urban fantasy readers of how entertaining and relaxing escapism urban fantasy can be at its best.
Shane Berryhill's Bad Mojo was a very pleasant surprise for me. I don't normally get excited about this kind of urban fantasy novels and I seldom praise them, but this novel was excellent urban fantasy entertainment because of its grittiness and a bit different kind of a protagonist. I'm aware that there are plenty of other urban fantasy novels that have grittiness in them, but in this novel it feels fresh and exciting.
Here's a bit of information about the story:
The events take place in Chattanooga. Ash Owens is a man who has a monstrous alter ego. His partner is the beautiful Zora Banks, who's a conjure woman. Congressman Jack Walker hires Ash to find his drug-addicted wife (Suzanne) and her journal, because the journal contains information that could be disastrous for his future plans. Suzanne has become addicted by bad mojo, which is a supernatural drug and has disappeared. When Ash begins to investigate things, he finds out that things aren't as simple as they seemed to be...
Here's a bit of information about the two main characters:
Ash is homo occultum. He's both a human being and a spook. Zora is a talented and powerful conjure woman who owns a bookshop. She has a daughter, Sonny. The relationship between Ash and Zora is an interesting relationship, because they're friends and partners. (There are also other characters in this novel, but I won't write anything about them or I might reveal too much information about the story.)
The first person narrative mode works well, because Ash is a witty man with a cool bad ass attitude. His descriptions of the happenings are very entertaining and gritty to read.
Bad Mojo is a delightfully dark, gritty and noir flavoured urban fantasy novel. I love the stylistic grittiness in this novel, because it sets it apart from most new urban fantasy novels. The author described the happenings in such an exquisitely addictive way that you can't stop reading the story.
Shane Berryhill uses well known urban fantasy elements in Bad Mojo and adds a bit of style and originality to the story as the events begin to unfold and the reader is introduced to Ash's life and problems that arise when he's doing his job.
What makes Bad Mojo especially interesting is that it's in equal parts fantasy, southern gothic fiction, paranormal romance and hardboiled crime entertainment. This is an interesting and unique combination, which works well, because the reader can't help but enjoy the story and its different elements.
The living and the undead persons are portrayed in fantastically vivid way in this novel. Ash's opinions of them are delightfully sarcastic and witty (I like the way the author writes about Ash's feelings and thoughts about the other persons).
There are several interesting and well written scenes in this novel. For example, the metamorphosis scene is written perfectly and comes as a total surprise for the readers. It was also fun to read what happened to Ash while he was investigating things, because the investigation and action scenes were well written scenes.
In my opinion Shane Berryhill writes boldly and fluently about sex and lust. His descriptions of these things are surprisingly good and they highlight the grittiness of the story.
I have to mention that I enjoyed reading about the Crossroads (to be short, the Crossroads is a kind of a place that connects the human world to the supernatural world). It was interesting to read that spending time in the Crossroads can be dangerous to human beings, because they can be affected by the Faye madness and conjuration can become an addiction.
One of the best things about Bad Mojo is that it doesn't feel forced in any way, because Shane Berryhill genuinely seems to love storytelling and clearly enjoyes writing about the characters and their actions. The story is refreshingly dark and the author knows how to move it forward without losing the reader's interest in the happenings.
I can recommend Shane Berryhill's Bad Mojo to urban fantasy readers. If you're looking for an intriguing, thrilling and well written urban fantasy novel, you should read this novel, because you'll love it. The story is so entertaining that it will keep you glued to the novel until you've reached the last page.
Good urban fantasy entertainment!