Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Soft Skull Press (2004), Edition: First Edition, 112 pages
Description
A comic book in words, episodic and eerie, The Haunted Hillbilly is a carnivalesque thrill-ride that reads both like a vintage 1950s issue of Tales from the Crypt and a 21st century re-imagining of Michael Ondaatje’s The Collected Works of Billy the Kid. The Haunted Hillbilly is an historical first-person narrative, told by Nudie #147;The Carnival Couturier” (the name’s a twist on #147;Nudie, the Rodeo Tailor”, a real-life figure perhaps best known for dressing Elvis Presley), a gay couturier who, in Derek McCormack’s spellbinding world, also happens to be a vampire. As the story evolves, with its magical poetic cadence, Nudie makes, then breaks, the career of country-and-western legend Hank Williams.
User reviews
LibraryThing member blakefraina
Derek McCormack’s prose is honed to a razor sharp point. It’s so precise, the words are so well-chosen, that you scarcely notice how few of them there actually are. This is a lean, mean little novel that packs a thrilling punch. There is not one extraneous word. I am in awe.
And while it’s
The Haunted Hillbilly is an alternative history of the rise [and premature demise] of country crooner Hank Williams. In McCormack’s hands, he is a slightly dimwitted pawn who is taken under the wing of Nudie, a manipulative couturier, who also happens to be a gay vampire. Dressed in Nudie’s gaudy, bespangled creations, Hank wins over the crowd at the Grand Ole Opry before the Svengali-like vampire subjects him, and the women who love him, to one Grand Guignol torment after another. It might get downright disturbing if it all wasn’t so outrageously camp. I loved it.
McCormack is a real find. I can’t wait to sink my teeth into the rest of his work.
And while it’s
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tempting to focus on the technical wizardry alone, which is considerable, truth is, this is no case of style over substance. The story McCormack has concocted is weird, creepy, crude and very funny. The Haunted Hillbilly is an alternative history of the rise [and premature demise] of country crooner Hank Williams. In McCormack’s hands, he is a slightly dimwitted pawn who is taken under the wing of Nudie, a manipulative couturier, who also happens to be a gay vampire. Dressed in Nudie’s gaudy, bespangled creations, Hank wins over the crowd at the Grand Ole Opry before the Svengali-like vampire subjects him, and the women who love him, to one Grand Guignol torment after another. It might get downright disturbing if it all wasn’t so outrageously camp. I loved it.
McCormack is a real find. I can’t wait to sink my teeth into the rest of his work.
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LibraryThing member Carol420
My Thoughts:
A factious Hank Williams, a factious Grand Ol' Opry, a factious Nudie (the Western Wear guy) who happens to be a gay vampire who runs a sideshow on the side complete with wax museum and abnormal babies in jars...thing is as funny or interesting or entertaining as it might sound, it's
A factious Hank Williams, a factious Grand Ol' Opry, a factious Nudie (the Western Wear guy) who happens to be a gay vampire who runs a sideshow on the side complete with wax museum and abnormal babies in jars...thing is as funny or interesting or entertaining as it might sound, it's
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not. I don't remember laughing once and the only reason I finished the book was because it's so short. The horror factor wasn't there either perhaps due to the minimalist wording. It just falls short of depth. Don't waste your time. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Lambda Literary Award (Nominee — 2004)
Gaylactic Spectrum Award (Nominee — Novel — 2005)
Village Voice Favorite Books (2004)
Language
Original language
English
Physical description
112 p.; 7.5 inches
ISBN
1932360476 / 9781932360479