“The Devil is First A Literary Critic…”
HORNS has caught its first couple reviews and so far, so good. Publisher’s Weekly liked it very much. I’ll take “compulsively readable… morbidly amusing and emotionally resonant.” Those are the highlights, and there aren’t any real lowlights. The whole review is here, but you’ll have to scroll down to find it. Library Journal was equally enthusiastic, summing up their response to the book with a “highly recommended.” Their review appears in the 2/1 issue. Finally, Bev Vincent has a very long, very positive (and very spoiler-filled) review in Onyx. For those who have read the book, this is probably the most interesting of the three, since Vincent is also engaging in a certain amount of analysis, but those who haven’t read the book yet (possibly because it isn’t actually out yet) will want to pass.
Furthermore, my mother thought it was wonderful, and she thinks I’m wonderful too, and no one else’s opinion really matters. So now you know.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:17 pm
why is Pi on the cover.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:28 pm
I do like that cover…
(Every picture tells a story!)
Can’t wait to read the reviews! I think you hit another homer, Joe!
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:28 pm
Always good to get the thumbs-up from Mom.
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:17 pm
[...] Joe Hill’s Horns recently. The review, however, came to the author’s attention and he links to it in his blog post today. So I’m linking back, to create some sort of Internet Gordian [...]
February 2nd, 2010 at 3:50 pm
And yet “my mom loves it” is considered taboo to put into a query letter. MADNESS!
February 2nd, 2010 at 3:59 pm
isnt that the UK cover
February 2nd, 2010 at 4:24 pm
The cover is reminiscent of the UK version of Heart Shaped Box.
February 2nd, 2010 at 4:54 pm
CKHB…when ya got a mom who’s a great writer herself, saying “Mom loves it” means a LOT!
February 2nd, 2010 at 7:24 pm
i look forward to reading HORNS! VERY much much mu…..
whenever i read your wonderful books… pitapat! pitapat! ( ^-^)/?
Joe forever!
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:55 pm
Congrats Joe! Cant tell you how excited I am for it. Just ordered my copy from River Run. Its so great that they ship to LA. And hey if Momma loves it, thats all you need.
February 2nd, 2010 at 9:15 pm
I like the cover, and my daughter would love the butterfly.
I won’t say more about the book than that right now.
I got this new and unexpected job, to round out my part-time work at the Fire Department and, after two days, I’m exhausted from it. I’m listening to messages for a guy who’s so popular he gets hundreds of them a day, and almost all of them are stupid. I never knew stupidity could just keep coming single file, one after the other, until dozens of them were piled on top of each other.
The point is I’m in a bad mood now, and the only thoughts that are rushing to the front of my mind are wearing the same stupid outfits that my friend’s callers wore. If stupidity were a preservative, most of his callers would live forever.
I don’t know why he even lets them call. He hardly ever answers the messages, but he listens to them-when he can.
He’s doing a movie shoot right now and didn’t take his phone with him. After I lost all my funds last week, he decided to help me. I agreed, thinking “This’ll be a breeze, the easiest money I’ve ever made. How hard can it be to listen to a few calls from his ‘fans?’ ”
Boy, was *I* ever deluded.
I’m grateful for the work, but it’s way harder than I thought. And I should probably stop prejudging things anyway. I’ll work on that.
I’ll be revisiting this thread when I’m feeling more chipper than grumpy.
February 2nd, 2010 at 10:27 pm
So long as you like it, i’m sure i will too.
Can’t wait for general release…
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:09 pm
It’s funny how I have the next five books lined up, but the second “Horns” is in my hands, then I’ll stop in the middle of the current book and indulge into my much needed fix.
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:57 pm
Can’t wait to read your latest, Joe. Come to think of it, I’ll have to order some for my mother-in-law and grumpy old aunt too. That way, afterwards, I can drop in conversational tones that, yeah, I gave ‘em Horns…
February 3rd, 2010 at 5:55 am
Drop gorgeous book cover. It’s a masterpiece itself. I can’t wait to get my limited editions from the good people from PS Publishing in England. Lastly, I think it’s good your mother loves the book and if a mother likes something, indeed, nothing else matters. Since I’ve followed you before you became a New York Bestseller, I’m proud of you, Joe.
February 3rd, 2010 at 12:51 pm
got a little story to tell…
at the beginning of 2010, i ordered horns in my favourite bookstore,and i thought of the german version(because i am from germany, and i ordered it in a german bookstore). yesterday(two weeks before release date!!) i got from my favourite bookstore, hey guy, horns is here, come and get it! totally happy i went to the bookstore, ordered the book, looked at its back, and, dear me, its in english!! thanks favourite bookstore!
now i am reading it in english, which is a bit harder, but till a lot of fun. i just finished the first part, and i have to say: its just awesome
great characters, a surrealistic atmosphere, a totally loveable(in my opinion;)) main character, and a genial idea to base the story on!
have to read it!
February 3rd, 2010 at 3:12 pm
I’m lookin for the ‘like’ button, Joe. Can’t seem to locate it. Oh well, I’m giving you a very big ‘like.’ And hope for success.
February 3rd, 2010 at 6:33 pm
In my case, it would be no problem. My mom never liked most of what I did, and she CERTAINLY would find my writing a horror novel distasteful.
I wrote this short story that would qualify as a horror tale; actually it’s probably more of a short short. He wanted me to write up to 2,500 words, and I had a massive struggle getting any kind of characterization and plot with that limit of words.
That was mostly b/c Stephen King was the first horror writer I read, and I was trying to write mine based on how he did his.
I didn’t believe I was going to be as good as he was, I was just using the only model I knew. I couldn’t figure out anything Dean Koontz was doing in his, and his stories aren’t true horror anyway. I don’t even know why he’s considered a horror writer.
In retrospect, I think it was good that I stopped reading Stephen King. The reason is that, when I stopped reading ONLY his books, I found this wide world of horror writers I never even knew existed. Besides H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe, that is.
I’ve found some totally awesome horror writers that I was passing by in my obsession with one author’s writing. The most awesome of the list are Ramsey Campbell, Cherie Priest and Graham Masterton (tho reading him is also a lesson in British English.)
I never even considered showing my mom the story, b/c I knew she would dislike it and give me a lecture, then suggest I write a different type of story. And the one she’d choose would be something along the lines of ‘Gone With The Wind,’ her favorite story of all time. She liked Danielle Steele too.
I can’t write romance stories, and I don’t want to anyway.
February 3rd, 2010 at 11:16 pm
Nils, curious that it was released in English in Germany…I was going to try to hunt down the German version…but I want it in German
February 4th, 2010 at 4:37 am
Very excited for this book! I totally dig the premise and your characters are always fantastic.
February 4th, 2010 at 9:38 pm
I can’t buy hardcover. It’s so heavy, awkward and cumbersome. The only hardcover books I buy these days are textbooks since they don’t seem to come in any other form. Maybe Kindle really is the best solution.
And I’m doing something I swore I’d never do…writing a vampire book. No one will ever see it… unless his name is Owen.
“For everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heavens.”
February 4th, 2010 at 10:18 pm
Started working at B&N awhile back and am now privy to ARC’s. I snatched up Horns as soon as we got it a few weeks ago.
No spoilers, I just wanted to tell Joe how much I loved the book. Wasn’t expecting to like it more than I did Heart-Shaped Box (which was a lot), but I actually thought it was a better book.
In some ways, I thought it had a lot of the same themes. It starts out with no likeable characters, but then as it goes on, and they get fleshed out, you like them and they feel like real people to you.
Anyways, great book Joe. Glad to see you over the sophomore slump and we’re looking forward to many more.
February 5th, 2010 at 11:17 am
Are we talking about Satanic, Panic, or Mosaic horns here? If Mosaic will our hero be parting narrow seas and laying plagues on tyrants?
February 5th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
OK. Just so as I know I’m not losing my mind here, there really was the first two paragraphs of Horns on here last night-and a spot in the right upper corner for ordering the book?
Please tell me I didn’t imagine it. In Chapter two, Ig has a girlfriend named Glenna, who tells him her secret desire to pig out on donuts and then what she did the night before with an old boyfriend?
I wish I would have ordered a copy. Then I’d know for sure.
February 5th, 2010 at 6:04 pm
Ha ha, John Liptow made me laugh!
February 6th, 2010 at 3:31 am
Horns was a great follow up to Heart Shaped Box. I have ordered a copy and can’t wait to read it a second time. Ig is my new hero. Thank you Mr. Hill you have out done yourself.
February 6th, 2010 at 11:28 am
Vicki, yup that was in the book.
February 6th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
I received an ARC the other day, so I have just started reading the book. I am completely sucked in already. Can’t wait to read the rest of what has started out as a fantastic story. Way to go, Joe!
February 6th, 2010 at 7:59 pm
Finally ordered my copy from RR. I really wanted to order the audio but they seemed a bit unsure about whether I could get it signed so I went ahead and ordered the HC. At any rate, I’m really looking forward to the re-read. I really think HORNS will be a great success Joe! And of course we have the next L&K to look forward to as well. Ain’t life grand?
February 6th, 2010 at 10:44 pm
In a coincidence, Joe Hill and his father Stephen King have a same-day release date. Feb 16 for Hill’s novel HORNS and King’s Audionovella UR. Of course, King something almost every week, so it’s not surprising.
February 7th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Hey Mighty Joe –
Stuck with my people in the back of a (car) by a lake in New Hampshire — I’m onta somethin’ deeper involving more time than I understand…with S. & Joy pickin’ at my stuff…it’s all hidden in the safe…tha craft is my only way out…lookin’ forward to Horns…see you in Milford.
February 7th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
It’s a bleeping miracle. I finally used my credit card without hassle. And it only took nearly half a year to sort out the identity crisis is was forced into when some scum stole my approval number and more.
Sort out. That phrase means something different in Australia. My Aussie friend said it means the equivalent of clean your clock in American phraseology.
I hope that dude gets ‘sorted out’ where he’s going.
On a more pleasant note, my book is on the way even as I type this. Three to eight days isn’t long to wait compared to the shipping price for sooner arrivals.
February 7th, 2010 at 9:53 pm
I think I’m going to have to stay off of this site for a good few weeks until I get and finish the novel. I keep picking up little spoilers that will get me thinking too much. See you guys in a couple weeks!
February 8th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
Hey Joe,
I’ve been a big fan ever since you graciously granted me an interview for my little (now defunct, but still available at comixpress) magazine, Blood Blade and Thruster Magazine.
I’ve turned at least 5 people on to Heart Shaped Box, and I’m sure I will do the same with Horns.
Keep up the good work!
- Lucien
February 8th, 2010 at 4:54 pm
I can’t fathom how decent you have to be to give a person the opportunity to save as much as I did on my order of ‘Horns.’
Just mumbling a mere thank you doesn’t seem an adequate expression of my gratitude, mostly b/c anybody can SAY thank you and mean not one word of it.
I really do feel grateful for getting that opportunity.
February 9th, 2010 at 4:32 pm
Crap, totally forgot that i ordered the limiteds…lol
February 9th, 2010 at 7:02 pm
Can’t wait
Just re-read 20th… Pop-art is still the best coolest short-story I’ve ever read.
February 19th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
pa cuando en españa
urge
May 7th, 2010 at 8:06 am
Thank You!
I’m 57, love the world’s created by Stephen King, and was hesitant to read you, but after recommendations from TWIT (this week in technology) podcast, am listening to Heart Shape Box now.
It’s not that you copy Mr S King’s style, but that you have the same ability to create these incredible worlds and characters by your skillful use of mere words on a page.
I am so hooked and am so enjoying the ride that your taking me on. Congratulations on the fruition of a lot of hard work.
Again…thank you for this work.
Peter R Gravel
Nova Scotia, Canada