A review by fineplan
A Lush and Seething Hell: Two Tales of Cosmic Horror by John Hornor Jacobs

3.0

I found the first novella a bit bland and unsatisfying, unfortunately, and the main character of the second quite annoying and a bit gross. However, the second novella did an excellent job of the musical deal with the devil tale and definitely had me creeped out. He has a way with his unsettling imagery that rarely steers fully into gross and certainly is masterful in his creation of the traditional unreliable narrator (ie. the one that can't understand what's really going on vs. the modern "Girl/Woman/Wife" book-style one who is actively fooling the reader into not realizing that they are even more awful than they appear). Plus it had a shocking end that was sort of philosophically satisfying.

While I didn't absolutely love the second tale, it intrigued me enough that I'd try the author out again.