Jordan Farmer
Jordan Farmer is the author of the forthcoming Head Full of Lies (Book two of the Harlan Winter Series) Lighthouse Burning (Book One of the Harlan Winter Series), The Poison Flood &The Pallbearer.
Jordan was born and raised in a small West Virginia town, population approximately two thousand. He earned his MA from Marshall University and his Ph.D. at The University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The Harlan Winter Series
Lighthouse Burning (Harlan Winter Series Book One)
In a small Appalachian town, an amateur detective unearths a dark conspiracy and his own haunted past, in a chilling novel about sacrifice, art, and revenge.
Med school dropout Harlan Winter returns to his impoverished West Virginia hometown, where the law is scarce, arsonists are turning everything to ash, and his family’s turbulent history lingers. All he wants is to keep the peace in a community cowering from The Lighthouse, a local cult preying on people’s fears. Harlan’s own fears, too, when he’s hired to play detective and find a young couple gone missing.
The vanished artist and his girlfriend have left behind a series of paintings that enrage The Lighthouse’s Pastor Logan, who believes art can have divine power. It’s not easy to believe for a rational man like Harlan. And impossible to ignore when his investigation is haunted by visions of the dead lurking in the shadows of his own violent past.
Revelations about the disappearances are being unearthed. The Lighthouse’s grip on the community is tightening. And Harlan fears he’s losing control. As the threats against his town, his sanity, and his life begin to mount, Harlan doesn’t know which is more terrifying: what’s real, or what’s in his mind.
Head Full of Lies (Harlan Winter Series Book Two)
The southbound trail of a stolen spell book becomes a nightmare road trip in a propulsive novel about the unrelenting power of evil by the author of Lighthouse Burning.
Harlan Winter has returned to his corner of Appalachia, where his fiery history with a depraved cult has made him a legend. All Harlan wants is to run his occult bookshop and get on with his life—if only his unsettling visions would let him. But when a fellow devotee of the dark arts moves to Coopersville and Harlan’s coveted grimoire is stolen, he’s pulled into a world deadlier than the one that already scarred his soul.
The foolish thieves are two local teenagers hightailing it out of Appalachia in a stolen car and heading south to Florida where a buyer for the coveted grimoire is waiting. They have no idea what evil lies on the road ahead. But Harlan does. Blood has already been spilled. He’s following them mile by mile on a mission to save them before it’s too late. Because once their prized possession is in the wrong hands, there will be hell to pay.
The Poison Flood
A captivating, gritty, and tender story of a reclusive musician and the environmental disaster that threatens his small town and changes his life forever.Hollis Bragg lives on the fringes. The hunchbacked son of a West Virginia hill preacher, he now resides in rural isolation next to the burned-out husk of his father's church, and earns his living ghostwriting songs for a popular band that left the poverty and corruption of Appalachia and never looked back. It's the life he prefers, free from the harsh glare of the spotlight and attachments that lead only to heartbreak.Then, much to his consternation, he's discovered by Russell Watson, a local musician and fan who also happens to be the rebellious son of the local chemical company magnate. When a devastating toxic spill at the Watson chemical plant poisons the local water, it sets off an unpredictable series of events as Hollis witnesses a murder, faces a shocking betrayal, and begins to come to terms with his body and his past. Soon Hollis will find that in losing his anonymity and reclaiming his music, he can transform his future; and in opening himself up to the world, he might find redemption.
Praise For The Poison Flood
Reviews
“Hollis himself is vivid…When the novel focuses on a musician’s creative struggles, it sings”—Kirkus Reviews
“Affecting . . . combines an unconventional lead with a sobering portrayal of an environmental disaster’s impact on a small community. Readers who like their fiction to have a social conscience will want to take a look.”—Publishers Weekly
"In his narrator, Hollis Bragg, Jordan Farmer has created a compelling character whose personal story and damaged body becomes emblematic of a whole region devastated by environmental destruction. The Poison Flood is a timely and important novel."—Ron Rash, PEN/Faulkner Finalist and New York Times bestselling author of Serena
"The Poison Flood is thrilling, poignant, and full of music, a forceful counterpunch to the usual expectations about poverty, trauma, and physical difference."—James A. McLaughlin, author of Bearskin
“Jordan Farmer's novel is both a gripping page-turner and a stunning meditation on body and place. The Poison Flood will punch you right in the throat with its honesty and its heart. Farmer is a singular talent, with a voice I won't soon forget.”—Nick White, author of Sweet & Low
"Once again, Jordan Farmer has written a darkly urgent book. The Poison Flood is not only a story about the redemptive power of art— it is itself a redeeming and beautiful work."—Smith Henderson, author of Fourth of July Creek
“Jordan Farmer’s immense talent shines with the creation of Hollis Bragg, an indelible character at the heart of this perfect ballad to rural West Virginia.”—Devin Murphy, author of The Boat Runner and Tiny Americans
“Once in a great while, a book appears that gives voice to multitudes living just beyond our everyday scope. The Poison Flood establishes Jordan Farmer as a writer whose lyricism and unflinching search for truth places him among those artists who carry our deepest concerns and very best possibilities across time. This is a profoundly good book.”—Jonis Agee, author of The Bones of Paradise
"A fascinating exploration of character, with a story that captivates with suspense and heart;The Poison Flood is a book about the influence of music, the power of art, and the complexities of luck. Irresistible and original.”—Timothy Schaffert, author of The Swan Gondola
Get In Touch
Literary Agent: Noah Ballard at VERVE TALENT & LITERARY AGENCY