Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about but haven’t yet read. Most of the time they’re books that have yet to be released, but not always. It’s based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme, which was originally hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.
This week my Can’t-Wait-For Book is Freakslaw by Jane Flett!
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Horror, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer cast
Published on: 20th June 2024
Goodreads
Discover the dazzling new queer literary horror novel about chosen family and the risks it takes to become the person you want to be.
‘The glittery punk offspring of Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love and Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus.’ Chelsea G. Summers, author of A Certain Hunger
A travelling funfair of seductive troublemakers arrive in a repressed Scottish town. What could possibly go wrong?
It’s the summer of ’97 and the Scottish town of Pitlaw is itching for change.
Enter the Freakslaw – a travelling funfair populated by deviant queers, a contortionist witch, the most powerful fortune teller, and other architects of mayhem. It doesn’t take long for the Freakslaw folk to infiltrate Pitlaw’s grey world, where the town’s teenagers – none more so than Ruth and Derek – are seduced by neon charms and the possibility of escape.
But beneath it all, these newcomers are harbouring a darker desire: revenge.
And as tensions reach fever pitch between the stoic locals and the dazzling intruders, a violence that’s been simmering for centuries is about to be unleashed…
Praise for Freakslaw:
‘A wild, fun house of horrors – whip smart, the sharpest writing, funny, visceral and filled with vengeance. I loved it!’ Rachelle Atalla, author of The Pharmacist
‘Delightful, delirious and transgressive… a queer punk masterpiece and we should all be so lucky to have our lives turned upside down by a visit to the Freakslaw.’ Leon Craig, author of Parallel Hells
‘Wild, raunchy, brutal – a madcap funhouse with heart.’ Liska Jacobs, author of The Pink Hotel
Reviews for this one are incredibly mixed – it’s clearly a love-it-or-hate-it book – but sorry-not-sorry, I’m absolutely in love with everything about this. ‘Lock up your daughters: tie a horse rope round your sons’??? Please give whoever came up with that tagline a raise, because WOW AM I SOLD!
I’m not clear on whether the fantastical elements here will be outright fantasy or more in the magical realism line, but either way, who can resist the idea of a queer circus out for revenge?! And revenge for WHAT, dare I ask? I kind of dread to think, especially given the time and setting…
‘a queer punk masterpiece’, Leon Craig says. Yes, I’m worried about some of the content warnings and my low tolerance for horror – but I absolutely HAVE to read this!
I believe it’s only releasing in the UK for now, but I have my ways, that won’t stop me from getting a copy. So looking forward to it!!!
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