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WORK TITLE: The Atrocities
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
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NATIONALITY: American
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: n 2009019618
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/n2009019618
HEADING: Shipp, Jeremy C.
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053 _0 |a PS3619.H579
100 1_ |a Shipp, Jeremy C.
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953 __ |a rg01 |b rg04
PERSONAL
Male.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Novelist and short story writer.
WRITINGS
Contributor of short stories to publications, including Cemetery Dance, ChiZine, Apex, Withersin, and Shroud.
SIDELIGHTS
Jeremy C. Shipp writes fantasy, science fiction, and horror in the bizarro fiction style. His stories, which have a haunting and psychedelic quality, have been published in numerous sources, including Cemetery Dance, Apex, Withersin, and Shroud. A Bram Stoker Award-nominated author, Shipp lives in Southern California in a haunted Victorian farmhouse.
Vacation and Sheep and Wolves
Shipp published Vacation in 2007. In bizarro fiction style, the story focuses on regular Joe, Bernard Johnson, who is ready to take a break from his boring life and job. In a year-long corporate-sponsored vacation, he expects to see the world. Instead, he is kidnapped by terrorists and is used in a back and forth battle between drug lords. Despite his predicament, he does not miss his American Dream. Along the way, Shipp comments on victimization, how the world is ruled by the wealthy, and how life isn’t fair.
In 2008, Shipp published Sheep and Wolves: Collected Fiction that includes mind-bending stories in the “bizarro fiction” movement that transport readers on a thrill-ride into the absurd. In the genre of literary horror, Shipp’s stories address themes of alienation, cultural conformity, intimacy, and darkness that invades characters’ homes, dreams, and lives. His psychedelic imagery, layers of meaning, quirky characters, and bursts of humor propel his stories of strangeness and cruelty. With insight into odd occurrences, the stories offer a view of insidious humanity that challenges and unsettles.
Cursed and Fungus of the Heart
Next, Shipp published the 2009 Cursed. Because he is slapped in the face once every day, Nicholas believes he is cursed by some entity, human or demon. He also compulsively writes out lists. His girlfriend Cicely believes that the world will end unless she constantly holds a tennis ball. As the couple meet other suffering characters, like accident-prone Abby, they search for the source of their curses. They find the mysterious Pete who torments them for his own amusement. “What’s missing in coherent plot here is made up for by witty dialogue,” according to Booklist critic Carl Hays. A Publishers Weekly reviewer praised the tightly written story of suspense and occult horror and Shipp’s ability to use Nicholas’s idiosyncratic voice to convey “the claustrophobic world of people caught up in events beyond their control.”
Shipp’s 2010 Fungus of the Heart: Collected Fiction provides surreal adventures into political satire, science fiction, fantasy, and horror. A Bram Stoker Award finalist, the book delves into the theme of relationships, personal desires, the need to protect yet hurt people, and societal breakdown. Quirky characters experience heartbreak and humor in their interaction with others.
The Atrocities
The Atrocities is Shipp’s 2018 gothic horror novel about the education of a ghost. Tutor and governess Danna Valdez arrives at Stockton House, the huge and nearly empty estate of Mr. and Mrs. Evers, to teach their young daughter Isabella. Although Isabella has died, her ghost is still around, ready to be schooled. Her mother believes that a good education will help Isabella in the afterlife. Suffering her own tragedy and feeling sympathy for the grieving mother, Danna agrees to stay in her odd position. However she’s not entirely sure there is a ghost of Isabella, especially considering Mrs. Evers’s erratic behavior. Soon, Danna’s creepy feelings intensify and aspects of the haunted house grow.
Shipp investigates the supernatural spaces between life and death. With a gift for horrific imagery, he describes a strange house lined with nightmarish paintings and a maze of twisted human-like statues featuring elongated limbs, hairless figures, and faces with mouths wide open. In a review in Publishers Weekly, a writer observed: “Told in Danna’s haunting voice, this beautifully executed tale… will surely linger with readers.” According to Booklist critic Emily Whitmore, “The mystery of the haunting drives the plot and does not disappoint the reader.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, October 15, 2009, Carl Hays, review of Cursed, p. 27; April 15, 2018, Emily Whitmore, review of The Atrocities, p. 26.
Publishers Weekly, September 7, 2009, review of Cursed, p. 33; February 26, 2018, review of The Atrocities, p. 72.
About Jeremy
Jeremy C. Shipp is the Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of Cursed, Vacation, and Sheep and Wolves. His shorter tales have appeared or are forthcoming in over 60 publications, the likes of Cemetery Dance, ChiZine, Apex Magazine, Withersin, and Shroud Magazine. Jeremy enjoys living in Southern California in a moderately haunted Victorian farmhouse called Rose Cottage. He lives there with a couple of pygmy tigers and a legion of yard gnomes. The gnomes like him. The clowns living in his attic–not so much. His twitter handle is @JeremyCShipp.
Feel free to contact Jeremy via email at: chrismatrix(at)yahoo(dot)com
“Jeremy C. Shipp’s boldness, daring, originality, and sheer smarts make him one of the most vital younger writers who have colonized horror literature in the past decade. Shipp’s modernist clarity, plus his willingness to risk damn near everything, put him up at the head of the pack with the very best.”
–Peter Straub
“Shipp’s clear, insistent voice pulls you down into the rabbit hole and doesn’t let go.”
–Jack Ketchum
Click on the covers to learn more about Jeremy’s books:
Print Marked Items
The Atrocities
Emily Whitmore
Booklist.
114.16 (Apr. 15, 2018): p26.
COPYRIGHT 2018 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
The Atrocities.
By Jeremy C. Shipp.
Apr. 2018. 105p. Tor, paper, $14.99 (9781250164391); e book, $3.99 (9781250164384).
Schoolteacher Ms. Valdez arrives at the mansion prepared to tutor the young daughter of the house. She is immediately greeted by the parents but
told that she will meet her pupil, Isabella, later. But in the huge, empty, dank house isolated from the outside world, nothing is quite as it appears.
Ms. Valdez discovers this when she is introduced to Isabella, who is not visible because she is dead. Isabella's mother assures Ms. Valdez that
trying to keep her daily schedule as normal as possible will help her daughter in the afterlife and begs the tutor to stay at the house. Out of
sympathy for the mother's loss, Ms. Valdez wearily agrees to stay; then the strangeness she felt emanating from the family grows exponentially.
Shipp (Cursed, 2009) successfully plays with the expected atmosphere of a haunted house but still presents surprises. The mystery of the haunting
drives the plot and does not disappoint the reader. Any fans of haunted houses or strange families will thoroughly enjoy reading this short novel. -
-Emily Whitmore
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Whitmore, Emily. "The Atrocities." Booklist, 15 Apr. 2018, p. 26. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A537268077/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=19eeca9e. Accessed 19 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A537268077
The Atrocities
Publishers Weekly.
265.9 (Feb. 26, 2018): p72.
COPYRIGHT 2018 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
The Atrocities
Jeremy C. Shipp. Tor.com, $3.99 e-book (104p) ISBN 978-1-250-16438-4
A governess finds herself at the mercy of a strange house and its odd inhabitants in Stoker-finalist Shipp's contemporary fever dream, within
which beats a gothic heart. Danna Valdez arrives at the imposing Stockton House expecting to teach Mr. and Mrs. Evers's young daughter,
Isabella. Mrs. Evers explains that Isabella has died, but her spirit remains. Danna is skeptical, but the pain of her own recent tragedy makes her
hesitant to leave, as does Mrs. Evers's increasingly erratic behavior. Is there really a ghost? Did Isabella ever exist? Shipp (Cursed) uses a very
strange house, full of nightmarish paintings and statuary, to explore the vast, haunted spaces between life and death, showcasing a gift for horrific
imagery: "The sculpture depicts a maelstrom of elongated limbs and hairless faces. In my imagination, the whirlpool of flesh swirls around a
murky vortex. The lipless mouths open wider, wider." Told in Danna's haunting voice, this beautifully executed tale, as twisted as the hedge maze
she braves to reach Stockton House, will surely linger with readers. (Apr.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"The Atrocities." Publishers Weekly, 26 Feb. 2018, p. 72. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A530637444/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=0167d1db. Accessed 19 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A530637444
Cursed
Carl Hays
Booklist.
106.4 (Oct. 15, 2009): p27.
COPYRIGHT 2009 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
Cursed.
By Jeremy C. Shipp.
Nov. 2009. 216p. Raw Dog Screaming, $29.95 (9781933293868); paper, $14.95 (9781933293875).
With his offbeat first novel Vacation (2007), Shipp joined a growing cabal of authors practicing what's called "bizarro" fiction. Borrowing
elements of sf, fantasy, and horror, the upstart genre appeals to readers interested less in story than in twisted scenarios and wacky wordplay.
While staying true to his bizarro roots with an unconventional narrative, Shipp's latest nevertheless sticks to an engaging story line, albeit
featuring some decidedly odd characters. Nick is a professional stuffed-animal creator and compulsive list-maker afflicted by a strange curse: at
least once a day, someone slaps his face. His newfound best friend Cicely endures an equally anomalous curse: she must palm a tennis ball 24/7
or, she's convinced, the world will end. Comparing notes, the pair quickly surmises that one individual, whether human or demon, may be
responsible for both curses. Together, they brave neurotic relatives, alien abduction, and imminent torture to unravel the mystery. What's missing
in coherent plot here is made up for by witty dialogue and a profusion of well-timed, sardonically funny lists.--Carl Hays
Hays, Carl
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Hays, Carl. "Cursed." Booklist, 15 Oct. 2009, p. 27. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A210723693/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=464cddb3. Accessed 19 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A210723693
Cursed
Publishers Weekly.
256.36 (Sept. 7, 2009): p33+.
COPYRIGHT 2009 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
Cursed
Jeremy C. Shipp. Raw Dog Screaming
(Ingram, dist.), $29.95 (216p) ISBN 978-1-933293-86-8; $14.95 paper ISBN 978-1933293-87-5
Shipp (Sheep and Wolves) offers readers a tightly written story of suspense and occult horror. Nicholas believes that he has been cursed, and he is
not alone; his eccentric love interest, Cicely, is convinced that the fate of the world depends on her possession of a tennis ball. As their loved ones
express skepticism, Nicholas and Cicely seek out other curse victims, including accident-prone Abby and reluctant mentor Kin. Though at first
the curses seem mere delusions, it soon becomes clear that a malevolent entity called Pete is amusing itself by tormenting them. Abby's fatalism,
Nick's self-hatred and Pete's power and ruthlessness hamper their efforts to find curse-free lives. Using Nicholas's idiosyncratic voice and
fondness for lists, Shipp effectively conveys the claustrophobic world of people caught up in events beyond their control. (Nov.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Cursed." Publishers Weekly, 7 Sept. 2009, p. 33+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A207705109/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=49f43fcf. Accessed 19 Aug. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A207705109