Bone Music

4/5 ( ratings)

A little over sixty years ago, Robert Johnson died of poison in a little town up off the bluff in Arkansas. In an hour, a little girl named Lisa will die of cancer. Such different deaths - but linked, horribly and inevitably, by the crime Robert Johnson committed in the hour that he died. That Crime was Judgment Day: Robert Johnson sang Judgment Day, the song to end the world, as he lay dying in that shack up off the Mississippi River bluff - and nothing anywhere in the world has been right since.

"Startling originality, a strong and rhythmic narrative voice, compelling characters, and delightfully quirky metaphysics make this a noteworthy hardcover debut for Rodgers, author of New Life for the Dead. . . . Well-realized settings range from contemporary New York City to Missouri and Mississippi in 1938; heaven and hell both come down to earth in modern New Orleans. Through colloquial prose that's strong and perfectly pitched, Rodgers combines elements of horror , fantasy, and magical realism into a unique novel that's not only an occult standout but a captivating memoir of an important slice of American culture." - Publishers Weekly

"The highest praise one writer can give another is to say 'I wish I'd written that book.' I would cheerfully trade my younger brother Rick, my collection of original Beatles cards, and any hope that my beloved Cleveland Indians will ever win a World Series to have written Alan Rodgers' Bone Music." - George Alec Effinger, author of When Gravity Fails

"Alan Rodgers . . . uses simple and beautiful words to tell this complex and horrific story. Really weird! Don't die until you've read Bone Music." - BrianLumley, author of Necroscope
"Alan Rodgers' Bone Music is a work of mythological proportions. He captures the beauty and the horror of the old bluesmen, the terror and majesty of Heaven and Hell, and mixes it all into a potent tale of earthly woe. For atmosphere, real soul, and a touch of mystical madness, read the dream that is Bone Music." - Billie Sue Mosiman, author of Widow