115 – Andy Davidson & Ornate Maps of Hell

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The last episode before Halloween and it’s suitably about my favourite book of the year: Andy Davidson’s The Hollow Kind

Andy is the Stoker-nominated author of In the Valley of the Sun and The Boatman’s Daughter. The Hollow Kind is his third book and it packs a lot into its 400 pages. It’s as dense and weighty as an imploding paper star. 

It’s a haunted house story (of sorts), a creature feature (of sorts) and a whole lot of Southern Gothic of many kinds. The prose is lush and wow, does Andy know a lot about the history of Georgia both human and natural.

We talk about that, as well as the link between industry and horror, the allure of extreme violence, and the sheer delight of finding a map at the front of a book. Plus, we go a little deeper than usual into the nature and origins of the evil at the heart of the story.

Enjoy and have a happy Halloween my horror-loving siblings!

The Hollow Kind was released on October 11th by MCD 

Other books mentioned in this episode include:

• The Boatman’s Daughter (2020), by Andy Davidson
• Convulsive (2022), by Joe Koch
• Absalom, Absalom! (1936), by William Faulkner
• Poachers (1999), by Tom Franklin
• Knockemstiff (2008), by Donald Ray Pollock

Jo Koch interview with Andy at Southwest Review 

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