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It's been nearly three years since Joe Hill made such a decisive debut to the sprawling horror genre with the cracking tale of a miserable old rocker drowning in his own bitterness whose past literally comes back to haunt him. At the time, it was difficult to discuss Heart-Shaped Box without reference to the somewhat mixed blessing of its author's paternal heritage, but that novel, not to mention the impressive collection of short stories that both preceded and suceeded it, proved strong enough to cement Hill's reputation as among the great new voices of speculative fiction. Any other considerations were rendered moot the moment Judas Coyne discovered exactly whose cursed suit he had ordered from eBay.
The Speculative Scotsman has had an eye out for Hill's sophomore effort since, and it was with no small measure of excitement that I discovered the very thing listed on Amazon a few months ago. As of this writing, Horns is due out in a few short weeks, and I'm not ashamed to say its devilish premise has one specific reader on tenterhooks already:
"Ignatius Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things. He woke up the next morning with one hell of a hangover, a raging headache... and a pair of horns growing from his temples.