Ain’t Never No Snow in Atlantis
(Kallisto Gaia Press, Austin, TX; Fall 2024)
Runner-up for the Joshua Tree Novel Prize
Finalist for the Elixir Press Fiction Award
Semifinalist for the James Jones First Novel Fellowship
“A feral sense of humor that pushes all our buttons without crossing any red lines, a task too many writers have turned away from… Equal parts Terry Southern, Oscar Zeta Acosta, and Thomas Pynchon.”—Kirk Lynn, author of Rules for Werewolves
“Psychedelic and hilarious neo-noir written with a biting and insightful voice… East Texas in media is often this gritty, but nowhere is it this funny.”—Burke de Boer, author of North, to Hell!
“Full of complex characters with even more complex machinations. Compassionate, socially aware, and funny as hell.”—W. Joe Hoppe, author of Hotrod Golgotha
“This book is funny – and written in a voice that has charm and bite to spare. It also has serious things to teach us about race, indigeneity, and the unfortunate power of hate in a small East Texas town, lessons that apply to a broader America as well. Lee’s debut novel is both an entertaining mystery and a compelling examination of a man’s heartbreak and anger.”—Jeffrey Severs, PhD, Associate Professor of English Language and Literatures at the University of British Columbia and co-host of Don DeLillo Should Win the Nobel Prize: A Podcast
“Pay careful attention even as you’re chortling at the dialogue, because this mystery story is as twisty as a Caddo Lake bayou and as slippery as a water moccasin.”—Stephen Harrigan, bestselling author of The Gates of the Alamo
“In the author’s trademark style, at the same time unapologetically redneck and intellectually penetrating. A shotgun marriage of wise cross-cultural exploration and dark lowbrow hot mess fuckery from which an unapologetically neo-noir page-turner crawls hungover from the East Texas wastelands. While this gripping, cinematic story holds something for everyone, it proudly waves a Gen X flag, happily delivering a winding river of nod-and-a-wink pop culture easter eggs for the fuck around and find out generation. Just as much a raucous whodunit romp as it is a deeply imagistic and thoughtful exploration of character and culture. Imagine The Big Lebowski meets Cormac McCarthy in (or behind) the bowling alley.”—Mike Henry, co-owner and talent buyer, the Electric Lounge and the North Door (Austin, TX)
“A dark, hilarious meditation on our disturbing moment along the Texas Holocene timeline. What we have here is nothing short of the emergence of a deep East Texas Harry Crews.”—Kevin Russell, frontman for Shinyribs and The Gourds