I first met Jess Hagemann back in 2018 or 2019. We both had novels come out through the same (now defunct) small press. Her novel, Headcheese, absolutely blew me away. It gave me the same excited, dangerous feeling I used to get as a kid while reading early Chuck Palahniuk. Sometime around then I thought, Man, it would be really sick if I ever got the opportunity to publish this person through my own small press. Many years later, that’s exactly what we’ve done—and, reader, let me tell you: it is sick. It’s very sick. It is perhaps the sickest.
Jess Hagemann’s second novel, Mother-Eating, is billed as a documentary because it’s written as a series of transcripts from the surviving members of a deranged cult. It’s also a modern retelling of Marie Antoinette’s reign as the queen of France, set in Austin, Texas. Instead of marrying her daughter off to King Louis, Resa Habsburg sells Mary Toni to a pseudo-religious torture-happy sex cult in exchange for a TV contract.
After Daniel Kraus (Whalefall, Angel Down) read an early copy, he declared that “Hagemann might be the best horror writer in America,” and you know what? Difficult to disagree with this.
Check out the book jacket below (artwork by James Hutton, text design by Zach Chapman):
For those curious, the artwork is based on real 18th-century political caricatures of Marie Antoinette, such as this one:
We held an early signing for Mother-Eating at our physical bookshop in San Antonio over the weekend. Here is Jess Hagemann at her table with many, many copies of the beautifully red tome:
You can read the first chapter of Mother-Eating for free HERE. Or, you can simply buy a signed copy of the book HERE, because it’s officially available as of today.
Our publicity ghoul and assistant editor, Mindy Rose, interviewed her for the blog HERE.
Not sold yet? Oh my god, how is that possible? Maybe take a look at all of these blurbs from early readers, and just try not to buy a copy. We dare you.
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR MOTHER-EATING
“Mother-Eating reimagines the doomed decadence of Marie Antoinette in the world of contemporary politics, child exploitation, and religious zealotry. Wildly original and unforgettable, this book brings history to screaming, bleeding life.”
—Lindsay King-Miller, author of This Is My Body
“With Mother-Eating, Jess Hagemann has made herself a blade, and you, reader, are meat. Drop everything, and deliver yourself into these pages.”
—Chris Panatier, author of The Redemption of Morgan Bright
“Mother-Eating gleefully penetrates and butchers all you thought was possible in fiction. It is a literary impalement. Perverted, shocking, and unprecedented. Jess Hagemann is one of the most singular and distinct voices I’ve encountered since first reading authors like William S. Burroughs and Georges Bataille. There is no literary equivalent to this raw, uncompromising masterpiece. It truly exists in its own superior class.”
—Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke
“I am completely broken after reading [Mother-Eating]. Jess Hagemann pulls no punches. There’s so much angry honesty in these pages, it’s frightening. This story is filled with false religion, jealousy, the plight of women, cults and how evil that mentality can become. This book just proves to me nothing good ever comes from joining a cult.”
—Marguerite Turley, bookseller
“Jess Hagemann has crafted a compelling, harrowing, nasty story that is very, very, very hard to put down! While only being familiar about the broad strokes of Marie Antoinette’s life story, that didn’t stop me from enjoying this grotesque, unique interpretation. I loved how this story is told by some of the many secondary and tertiary characters with their unreliability (and the ending really ties the format together in a really smart way). This is the latest release through Ghoulish Books, so you better believe it is addictive and has some impressively thought-out gore. Definitely more extreme than your standard horror novel, but it’s better for it. You really feel the twists and turns viscerally.”
—Lorry Jamison, cartoonist
“Hagemann writes clean and sharp. When [Mother-Eating] wants to be clinical, it is surgical. When it wants to sing, it does, briefly, before cutting the power. […] Is it scary? Yes. Not jump-scare scary. System-scary. Warm-room scary. The kind where someone politely explains why pain is good for you while lining up the hardware. […] This is a top-quartile standout that marries true-crime texture to literary bite, turns theology into a weapon, and leaves you suspicious of roses, fountains, and anyone who uses the word sacrament too casually. Bring a highlighter. Bring soap. Bring birds to look at when you are done.”
—The Blog Without a Face
“Presented as a Documentary, the Tale of Mary Toni and those around her are laid out by Jess Hagemann like some great infernal Tapestry, full of lurid scenes and vibrant colors, yet delivering a sensation that hollows your gut and chills your heart. […] Mother-Eating is a book that does not shy away, does not sugar-coat, and does not flinch. It’s not a book that will leave you feeling good, but it will leave you feeling human, connected with yourself and those around you.”
—Books for Decaying Millennials
“Inventive, intelligent, and violent, Mother-Eating will stick with you, inside you, and clean through you.”
—Johnny Compton, author of The Spite House
“Hagemann might be the best horror writer in America.”
—Daniel Kraus, author of Whalefall and Angel Down
Get a signed copy HERE. Alternatively, check out Jess Hagemann’s book tour dates on her website HERE.
