Creole Conjure - by Christina Rosso (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Every city has a story.

Behind the veil of tourism, New Orleans drips with hunger, sorcery, and secrets. One of those is Honey Island Swamp, a powerful nexus of magic outside the city limits. Its blue-green water can make you ageless and manifest carnivals out of thin air. Similar to the River Styx, it serves as the gateway between the realms of the living, dead, and in-between. And because of this power, it becomes both a haven and a battlefield for witches, humans, and other magical beings.

Review Quotes

"So much of the brutal, beautiful magic of Christina Rosso's Creole Conjure is in its intricate details and how deftly they weave themselves together into a seductively monstrous, fairytale tapestry. Each one of these stories is inextricably intertwined with its sister stories-each a single coiled snake on the head of the well-groomed Gorgon. Strands of the old-world fairy tales we know are braided with the new-world characters and landscapes. In Rosso's darkly dreamy New Orleans and lush swamplands, women and girls find themselves both freed and dammned by their own bestial appetites. You can't be certain from one moment to the next who will be devouring whom."

- Lindsay Lusby, author of Catechesis: a postpastoral

"Creole Conjure is one of the most original and imaginative books I've read in a long, long time. It's dark, violent, empowering, sometimes downright hysterical, and packed with enough magic and New Orleans lore you'll want to hop a plane down south with only this book as yout huide. Rosso's new collection belongs on every reader's shelf-and I wouldn't be shocked if it finds its way into a cobwebby, cauldron-bubbly occult shop near you."

- Nick Gregorio, author of With a Difference and Good Grief

"Rosso weaves a rich tapestry of characters and experiences set in her otherworldly vision of New Orleans with these interconnected stories. Each piece lures the reader into some dark corner of the city or its surrounding swamps to introduce them to the local residents, whether they're a swamp siren, an overworked voodoo doll, or an usher of the newly dead. Rosso crafts even the unlikeliest of characters with care, giving nearly as much fascinating depth to a talking alligator as she does an all-powerful swamp witch. While magic and the supernatural abound in these stories, the histories and experiences of these characters are often harsh realities that give the collection a socially critical and progressive focus."

- Nicholas Perilli, author of Cul-de-sac

"Rosso's collection invites us to think about our own humanity - and what it means to be alive and how to live our lives. In particular, the lessons learned in each of these stories aren't always easy to swallow, but ultimately call us to live in a better world, starting with our small actions. I care about the characters in the stories, literally sitting at the edge of my seat wondering what the next page will bring, and what will happen to them. Rosso is a true master of suspense."

-Joanna C. Valente, author of A Love Story and other books