Freakslaw by Jane Flett
In this riotous horror debut, a traveling carnival of troublemakers arrive in a small Scottish town and perform their favorite pastime: revenge.
- Sale Date
- ISBN
- 9781638932666
- Page Count
- 368
- Language
- English
- Dimensions
- 5¾ x 8½
- Imprint
- Zando
Meet the Author
Jane Flett
USA TODAY BESTSELLER!
Named A Best Book of the Year by Men's Health and Booklist • A Storizen Best Horror Book of April 2025 • An LGBTQ Reads, CrimeReads, Goodreads, and Autostraddle Most Anticipated Book of 2025
In this riotous horror debut, a traveling carnival of troublemakers arrive in a small Scottish town and perform their favorite pastime: revenge.
It is the summer of ‘97 and the repressed Scottish town of Pitlaw is itching for change.
Enter the Freakslaw—a travelling carnival of deviant queers and architects of mayhem. There’s Gloria, fortune teller and worm charmer; her daughter Nancy, a contortionist witch; big-hearted tightrope walker, Werewolf Louie; not to mention illusionists and conjoined twins, Cass and Henry, and tattooed human pincushion, the Pin Gal. Against Pitlaw’s miserably grey landscape, the carnival shines electric and bright, and it doesn’t take long for the town’s teenagers to be seduced by its neon charms and the possibility of escape.
But beneath it all, these newcomers are harboring a darker desire: revenge. Revenge for being cast out, never allowed to settle, punished for purely existing. And as tensions reach fever pitch between the stoic, unwelcoming locals and the dazzling intruders, a violence that has been bubbling for centuries is about to be unleashed . . .
Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love meets Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus in this sizzling debut by a writer as captivating as she is incisive, as wild as she is precise. Read this and try not to run away with the Freakslaw. Go on. We dare you.
“THIS BOOK IS EVERYTHING . . . an ode to Tod Browning’s Freaks, Kathryn Dunn’s Geek Love, and Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes . . . Grotesque, creepy, and celebratory, Freakslaw is sure to be one biggest books of the year (and possibly, one of the defining novels of the century).” —CrimeReads
“Holy hell, I loved this book. A carnivalesque tale spun in luscious, crackling prose . . . You know those books you want to roll around in, rub on your skin, and clasp to your heart? Freakslaw is one.” —Chelsea G. Summers, author of A Certain Hunger
Named A Best Book of the Year by Men's Health and Booklist • A Storizen Best Horror Book of April 2025 • An LGBTQ Reads, CrimeReads, Goodreads, and Autostraddle Most Anticipated Book of 2025
In this riotous horror debut, a traveling carnival of troublemakers arrive in a small Scottish town and perform their favorite pastime: revenge.
It is the summer of ‘97 and the repressed Scottish town of Pitlaw is itching for change.
Enter the Freakslaw—a travelling carnival of deviant queers and architects of mayhem. There’s Gloria, fortune teller and worm charmer; her daughter Nancy, a contortionist witch; big-hearted tightrope walker, Werewolf Louie; not to mention illusionists and conjoined twins, Cass and Henry, and tattooed human pincushion, the Pin Gal. Against Pitlaw’s miserably grey landscape, the carnival shines electric and bright, and it doesn’t take long for the town’s teenagers to be seduced by its neon charms and the possibility of escape.
But beneath it all, these newcomers are harboring a darker desire: revenge. Revenge for being cast out, never allowed to settle, punished for purely existing. And as tensions reach fever pitch between the stoic, unwelcoming locals and the dazzling intruders, a violence that has been bubbling for centuries is about to be unleashed . . .
Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love meets Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus in this sizzling debut by a writer as captivating as she is incisive, as wild as she is precise. Read this and try not to run away with the Freakslaw. Go on. We dare you.
“THIS BOOK IS EVERYTHING . . . an ode to Tod Browning’s Freaks, Kathryn Dunn’s Geek Love, and Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes . . . Grotesque, creepy, and celebratory, Freakslaw is sure to be one biggest books of the year (and possibly, one of the defining novels of the century).” —CrimeReads
“Holy hell, I loved this book. A carnivalesque tale spun in luscious, crackling prose . . . You know those books you want to roll around in, rub on your skin, and clasp to your heart? Freakslaw is one.” —Chelsea G. Summers, author of A Certain Hunger
Praise for Freakslaw
-
“Blending supernatural horror, queer fiction, and magical realism, Flett’s debut showcases an eclectic cast of characters both beautifully bizarre and emotionally real. Fans of Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes will love the carnival atmosphere, but Flett’s striking story is less about good versus evil and more about the predictable comfort of conformity versus the desire to be one’s true self.”
Booklist (starred review) -
“Funny and strange, you’re going to want to get your claws on this one.”
Autostraddle -
“Holy hell, I loved this book. A carnivalesque tale spun in luscious, crackling prose, Freakslaw is the glittery punk offspring of Katherine Dunn’s Geek Love and Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus. You know those books you want to roll around in, rub on your skin, and clasp to your heart? Freakslaw is one.”
Chelsea G. Summers, author of A Certain Hunger
About the Imprint
Where the unexpected lives. Fiction that surprises. Nonfiction that sticks. The Zando imprint publishes weird, wonderful, and culture-shaping stories from authors with something to say . . . and the confidence to say it loudly.
