EVAN JAMESON Experimental Literary Horror Sometimes extreme, sometimes subtle, always uncompromising.
I write experimental literary horror because I want to explore the spaces where reality fractures and darkness seeps through.
EXPERIMENTAL LITERARY HORROR What does "experimental literary horror" mean to me?
It's horror that can sometimes refuse to follow the rules I was taught horror should follow. The important thing is knowing and understanding the rules and why you I'm moving away from them.
LITERARY for me, language matters as much as what happens. I want every sentence to work, whether it's poetic, visceral, or coldly clinical. Whatever the story needs.
EXPERIMENTAL means I can twist structure, perspective, form, use whatever tools I have to make things different. The amnesiac fragmented realities in Bans is experimental for me. So too is folklore I created in Sue Side. Nothing is off-limits if it makes the horror more real. Does it always work? Not for everyone. That's why I try to push my stories toward broken people like me or those who genuinely want something different.
UNCOMPROMISING, no softening. No apologies. If a story demands darkness, like Sue Side demanded, it gets that darkness. If it requires disturbing content, I don't sanitize it. EXTREME OR SUBTLE Sometimes it's body horror that makes you flinch (BANS). Sometimes it's psychological slow-burn that stays with you (Sue Side). Both terrify in different ways. At least for me.
ALWAYS HONEST, even when, especially when, honesty is uncomfortable. This isn't horror for everyone. It's for readers who want to be challenged, disturbed, and maybe changed.
My debut novel, Sue Side, emerged from a desire to examine grief, loss, and the supernatural entities that haunt some of us. The driving force behind this desire was my own mental health issues and the ever presence of Sue Side at my side since my early teens. Probably even earlier than that. To be able to write suicide the way I write about it, I think you have to experience how it feels to have thoughts of suicide hanging over you day after day. The story certainly contains a lot of my experiences with Sue and those of the Black One, Miss Thanh and Poetess E.
The book deals extensively with difficult themes. It's not for everyone, and that's intentional. Please read the publisher advisory prior to picking up the book to read. This is horror that doesn't apologize or soften its edges. It tries to be realistic in a fictional fantasy world. Falling under the wheels of a train will not be painless. And writing about that pain may stop someone from taking that fall. It's the kind of story I wish I had when I was younger. One that shows Sue Side for the abusive user she really is.
The Black Paintings is a planned 5 book series I intend to write, that includes the already published - Beneath a Nameless Sky
What is a black painting story?
To answer that question, we need to look towards Francisco Goya. One of his paintings disturbs me more than any other I've seen. Partly because of the painting itself and partly because of the title of the painting. It's called Saturn Devouring his Son. The painting depicts Saturn, who fearing he would be overthrown by one of his children, eats each one of them at birth. Goya's interpretation seems to depict an adult child being devoured by his father, rather than a baby. There is much more to this disturbing story, but that's for another time. Saturn Devouring his Son, is one of Goya's Black Paintings. One of 14 images Goya painted, in his later life, directly onto the walls of his house - the villa of the deaf one - just outside of Madrid. Goya was not in a good place mentally when he created the Black Paintings in the early 1820's. Sometimes, being in a bad place mentally, can take an artist to a good place creatively, even though it is a black place.
The haunting, bleak, insane nature of the Black Paintings have taken me to similar places in my writing. The first story in our Black Painting series is called Beneath a Nameless Sky. It's a bleak and insane story, which is why I refer to it as a Black Painting. With Beneath a Nameless Sky, I peeked into the world body horror and surreal realities. It's a descent into a grotesque world where transformation is both salvation and damnation.
These aren't stories with happy endings. They're explorations of what happens when we confront the unthinkable. Stories written for only a small number of readers.
SUE SIDE Available on Kindle Unlimited & Paperback
I met them in a chatgroup called Deathbed. The group was made up of strangers and those who liked to kill themselves. They were obsessed with an urban legend called Sue Side, an entity who promised death’s sweet embrace.
When I held the chopping knife at my throat ready to make the final cut, I saw her out of the corner of my eye, as if I were not supposed to see her. She saw me, though, and took me to the bad feeling room. Every time she killed me, she took me there. And in the afterlife I was shown, I realised the truth about my daughter, how I loved her all along, even after I convinced her to hate me.
⚠️ PUBLISHER WARNING This story deals extensively with suicide and people who fantasise about committing suicide. It is a dark story with no happy endings. Please do not read the book if you find these issues upsetting.
WHAT READERS SAY "Haunting but beautiful, this book was written in a very pretty way in spite of the very dark subject matter." "This truly is unlike anything I've read before... beautifully written." "The horror comes in waves and then an absolute tsunami towards the end." "Infinity stars out of five. And all the flowers."
Available Now: 📖 Kindle Unlimited (Read Free) 📚 and in paperback here on Amazon
Beneath a Nameless Sky Available now on Kindle Unlimited & Paperback in November
An amnesiac awakens in a surreal hellscape of body horror and shifting realities.
Haunted by fragmented memories of a lost love, the journey takes them through a grotesque world ruled by warring god-like beings. To find and uncover the truth, they must endure horrific transformations and confront the very nature of reality, a journey that blurs the line between saviour and victim.
Publisher Advisory: Beneath a Nameless Sky is an experimental work of extreme horror fiction intended for a specialized readership. This novel features:
• Graphic body horror and visceral imagery - including surgical mutilation, transformation sequences, and disturbing creature descriptions
• Non-linear narrative structure with an unreliable narrator experiencing memory loss and psychological disintegration
• Surreal, dreamlike progression that prioritizes atmosphere and psychological terror over conventional plot development
• Mature themes including suicide, grief, and existential horror
• Literary horror approach in the tradition of Clive Barker and Dante's Inferno
This book is recommended for readers who enjoy:
• Experimental literary horror
• Cosmic horror and weird fiction
• Character-driven psychological narratives
• Complex, challenging reads that reward careful attention
Not recommended for readers seeking:
• Traditional plot-driven horror
• Light supernatural content
• Linear storytelling
• Content suitable for sensitive readers
Please consider your reading preferences carefully before requesting. This is uncompromising literary horror that makes significant demands on the reader.
Available Now: 📖 Kindle Unlimited (Read Free) 📚 here on Amazon
