JESUS FREAKS Suki Hollywood

from GNI MAG ISSUE 57 - CLAIRE RICHARDS

& CHILL

Jesus Freaks is a queer thriller and a mystery in every sense of the word. Officer Dana Fisher lives a simple life in her oppressively religious American small town, when the body of local girl, Ariel, disappears among four others. Dana’s younger brother, Gary, finds Ariel walking around, fresh from the grave.

Though Ariel may be an angel, this is no miracle –she has come back different, if not wrong. What will Dana sacrifice to find out what happened to Ariel?

Jesus Freaks is Suki Hollywood’s debut novel and, though set in America, was inspired by her upbringing in Lisburn and the Northern Irish ‘suicide epidemic’.

Jesus Freaks was inspired by pulp horror novels, American films, and the creepiness of Biblical resurrection. As a queer writer, Suki hopes to re-examine standard crime tropes in this twisted detective novel: bury your gays, then dig them up and perform an autopsy.

Jesus Freaks is currently available from Category Is Books (Glasgow), Lighthouse Bookshop (Edinburgh), Paperxclips (Belfast) and eBay. Join Suki at Paperxclips on August 19th, 6pm-7pm, for a reading and Q&A with free tea and coffee.

Blurb

“In the god-fearing town of Lake in the Woods, five bodies disappear from their graves.

Dana Fisher, officer in the Sheriff’s Department, sleepwalks through life without her high school best friend, long presumed deceased.

Her teenage brother Gary, looking forward towards a future of graveyard shifts, hides a freaky secret in his bedroom.

Ariel Enckles, the preacher’s daughter, is dead. She probably should have stayed that way.”

Bio

Born in Belfast on Valentine’s Day, Suki Hollywood is a writer and a poet. Her debut novel Jesus Freaks is available now.

Her work has been published in Gutter, Clav Mag, Spam Press, The Selkie and Deleuzine.

Her debut poetry pamphlet This Suit was released in 2021 by OrangeApple Press, along with its companion film of the same name, which was included in the Scottish Queer International Film Festival 2021 line-up. Her second poetry pamphlet, Heart Eyes was released February 2022.