“Odd, creepy, funny, The Black Lagoon meets the Six Gun universe. High up on the way-cool factor. You need this.”
—Joe R. Lansdale, author of the Hap and Leonard series
As an unlikely found-family flees to Galveston, a psychic young girl bonds with an enigmatic gill-man: Charlie Fish. With vivid imagery, evocative storytelling, and uncanny wit, Josh Rountree enters the fine tradition of Texan storytellers, as he wades into the waters of True Grit by way of The Shape of Water.
“Odd, creepy, funny, The Black Lagoon meets the Six Gun universe. High up on the way-cool factor. You need this.” —Joe R. Lansdale, Edgar Award–winning author of the Hap and Leonard series
As an unlikely found-family flees toward Galveston, a psychic young girl bonds with Charlie Fish, an enigmatic gill-man. Meanwhile, they are pursued by bounty hunters determined to profit from the spectacle of Charlie. But the Great Storm—the worst natural disaster in U.S. history—is on its way. Josh Rountree’s strikingly original debut novel ranges effortlessly between the Gothic, pulp, literary, Western, and comedic. With his vivid imagery, evocative storytelling, and uncanny wit, Rountree enters the fine tradition of Texan storytellers, wading into True Grit by way of The Shape of Water.
As always, Floyd Betts rides into town alone. He arrives for his father’s funeral, but he is returning to Galveston, Texas, with two orphaned siblings he has rescued. Nellie, who is descended from a long line of witches, has visions from other people’s minds. Hank, her impulsive younger brother, just wants to break out his outsized revolver.
Along the way home, Floyd, Nellie, and Hank encounter a dubious traveling salesman, Professor Finn, and his henchman, Kentucky Jim. They are struggling to capture a fish-man in order to put him on cruel display. When Nellie taps into the peril of the gentle Charlie Fish, Floyd’s makeshift family expands to include the lost, two-legged amphibian.
With the circus charlatans in pursuit, ominous winds are picking up from an impending hurricane. Meanwhile, all Charlie Fish wants is to return to his home at sea.
“Rountree excels at creating new mythology and folktales that feel like they’ve always existed, and The Legend of Charlie Fish is no exception. A tense, exciting, and gorgeous read that will sweep you up immediately and not let go, lingering even after you turn the last page.”
—A. C. Wise, author of Wendy, Darling
“A winsome tale of wondrous misfits and unlikely kinships, The Legend of Charlie Fish channels all the wit and melancholy of the great Charles Portis. Part adventure story, part lament, the whole is a triumph of voice and heart.”
—Andy Davidson, author of The Hollow Kind
“A fantastic work of dark historical fiction, in the spirit of Lansdale, Gorman, Pronzini, and McMurtry.”
—Brian Keene, author of the Rising series
“A fantastic novel about the power of family, be they blood, human or not. Of love and loyalty and strange talents. Of heat and violence and storms and a Fishman. A tight heart-filled tapestry of almost alternate history that hits all the notes I crave in weird fiction. I adored it.”
—John Boden, author of Jedi Summer, Spungunion, and Snarl
“An entertaining historical weird fantasy tale featuring a cigarette-smoking manphibian befriended by an orphaned witch girl and her gun-toting kid brother. Set in Galveston, Texas, during the deadliest hurricane to ever strike the United States, this strange self-made family not only must deal with the elements but a pair of scheming scoundrels intent on capturing Charlie as well. Author Josh Rountree knows the city of Galveston and its tragic history backwards and forwards. Recommended for those who enjoy a good ‘weird western.’”
—Nancy A. Collins, author of Sunglasses After Dark
“Odd, creepy, funny, The Black Lagoon meets the Six Gun universe. High up on the way-cool factor. You need this.” —Joe R. Lansdale, author of the Hap and Leonard series
“By recounting their past tales of loss and longing, Rountree effectively crafts deep characterizations for each of his cast members and makes you care for their plight, especially during the breathless final act as a colossal hurricane bears down on their Galveston locale. I was thoroughly taken with this story, Rountree’s writing, and the unique island setting.”
—The Speculative Shelf
Josh Rountree has published more than sixty stories in a wide variety of magazines and anthologies, including Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Realms of Fantasy, The Deadlands, Bourbon Penn, PseudoPod, PodCastle, Daily Science Fiction, and A Punk Rock Future. A handful of them have received honorable mentions in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: Seventeenth and Twenty-First Annual Collections, edited by Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, and Gavin J. Grant, as well as The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois. His latest short fiction collection is Fantastic Americana: Stories from Fairwood Press. Josh lives somewhere in the untamed wilds of Texas with his wife and children and tweets about books, records, and guitars at @josh_rountree
Praise for Josh Rountree
“Josh Rountree is that rarest of creatures, a natural born storyteller.”
—Jaime Lee Moyer, author of Divine Heretic and Brightfall
“Rountree’s writing came down on me like the Assyrian on the fold.”
—Howard Waldrop, author of Night of the Cooters
“Despite the popularity of fantasy during the past twenty years or more, very few writers have done much with short fantasy fiction rather than novels, and Rountree is definitely one of the exceptions.”
—Critical Mass
Praise for Fantastic Americana
“Rountree demonstrates impressive range in his wild debut collection of 21 speculative shorts. Unusual juxtapositions create striking tales . . . The result is as inventive as it is eclectic.
—Publishers Weekly
“The stories in this collection are deeply human even when their settings are fantastical, from America’s mythic past to its possible apocalyptic future . . . This is a collection not to be missed!”
—A.C. Wise, author of Wendy, Darling and The Ghost Sequences
“Each of these stories is a wild ride—but put them all together, and you’ve got a corkscrewing roller coaster that stretches from sea to shining sea.”
—Bradley Denton, author of Lunatics and Blackburn
“Fantastic Americana justifies its bold title. It’s worth looking for.”
—The Endless Bookshelf
The Legend of Charlie Fish
Josh Rountree
“Odd, creepy, funny, The Black Lagoon meets the Six Gun universe. High up on the way-cool factor. You need this.”
—Joe R. Lansdale, author of the Hap and Leonard series
As an unlikely found-family flees to Galveston, a psychic young girl bonds with an enigmatic gill-man: Charlie Fish. With vivid imagery, evocative storytelling, and uncanny wit, Josh Rountree enters the fine tradition of Texan storytellers, as he wades into the waters of True Grit by way of The Shape of Water.
The Legend of Charlie Fish
by Josh Rountree
ISBN: Print: 978-1-61696-394-1; Digital: 978-1-61696-395-8
Published: July 2023
Available Format(s): Trade paperback and digital
“Odd, creepy, funny, The Black Lagoon meets the Six Gun universe. High up on the way-cool factor. You need this.”
—Joe R. Lansdale, Edgar Award–winning author of the Hap and Leonard series
As an unlikely found-family flees toward Galveston, a psychic young girl bonds with Charlie Fish, an enigmatic gill-man. Meanwhile, they are pursued by bounty hunters determined to profit from the spectacle of Charlie. But the Great Storm—the worst natural disaster in U.S. history—is on its way. Josh Rountree’s strikingly original debut novel ranges effortlessly between the Gothic, pulp, literary, Western, and comedic. With his vivid imagery, evocative storytelling, and uncanny wit, Rountree enters the fine tradition of Texan storytellers, wading into True Grit by way of The Shape of Water.
As always, Floyd Betts rides into town alone. He arrives for his father’s funeral, but he is returning to Galveston, Texas, with two orphaned siblings he has rescued. Nellie, who is descended from a long line of witches, has visions from other people’s minds. Hank, her impulsive younger brother, just wants to break out his outsized revolver.
Along the way home, Floyd, Nellie, and Hank encounter a dubious traveling salesman, Professor Finn, and his henchman, Kentucky Jim. They are struggling to capture a fish-man in order to put him on cruel display. When Nellie taps into the peril of the gentle Charlie Fish, Floyd’s makeshift family expands to include the lost, two-legged amphibian.
With the circus charlatans in pursuit, ominous winds are picking up from an impending hurricane. Meanwhile, all Charlie Fish wants is to return to his home at sea.
“Rountree excels at creating new mythology and folktales that feel like they’ve always existed, and The Legend of Charlie Fish is no exception. A tense, exciting, and gorgeous read that will sweep you up immediately and not let go, lingering even after you turn the last page.”
—A. C. Wise, author of Wendy, Darling
“A winsome tale of wondrous misfits and unlikely kinships, The Legend of Charlie Fish channels all the wit and melancholy of the great Charles Portis. Part adventure story, part lament, the whole is a triumph of voice and heart.”
—Andy Davidson, author of The Hollow Kind
“A fantastic work of dark historical fiction, in the spirit of Lansdale, Gorman, Pronzini, and McMurtry.”
—Brian Keene, author of the Rising series
“A fantastic novel about the power of family, be they blood, human or not. Of love and loyalty and strange talents. Of heat and violence and storms and a Fishman. A tight heart-filled tapestry of almost alternate history that hits all the notes I crave in weird fiction. I adored it.”
—John Boden, author of Jedi Summer, Spungunion, and Snarl
“An entertaining historical weird fantasy tale featuring a cigarette-smoking manphibian befriended by an orphaned witch girl and her gun-toting kid brother. Set in Galveston, Texas, during the deadliest hurricane to ever strike the United States, this strange self-made family not only must deal with the elements but a pair of scheming scoundrels intent on capturing Charlie as well. Author Josh Rountree knows the city of Galveston and its tragic history backwards and forwards. Recommended for those who enjoy a good ‘weird western.’”
—Nancy A. Collins, author of Sunglasses After Dark
“Odd, creepy, funny, The Black Lagoon meets the Six Gun universe. High up on the way-cool factor. You need this.”
—Joe R. Lansdale, author of the Hap and Leonard series
“By recounting their past tales of loss and longing, Rountree effectively crafts deep characterizations for each of his cast members and makes you care for their plight, especially during the breathless final act as a colossal hurricane bears down on their Galveston locale. I was thoroughly taken with this story, Rountree’s writing, and the unique island setting.”
—The Speculative Shelf
Josh Rountree has published more than sixty stories in a wide variety of magazines and anthologies, including Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Realms of Fantasy, The Deadlands, Bourbon Penn, PseudoPod, PodCastle, Daily Science Fiction, and A Punk Rock Future. A handful of them have received honorable mentions in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: Seventeenth and Twenty-First Annual Collections, edited by Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, and Gavin J. Grant, as well as The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection, edited by Gardner Dozois. His latest short fiction collection is Fantastic Americana: Stories from Fairwood Press. Josh lives somewhere in the untamed wilds of Texas with his wife and children and tweets about books, records, and guitars at @josh_rountree
Praise for Josh Rountree
“Josh Rountree is that rarest of creatures, a natural born storyteller.”
—Jaime Lee Moyer, author of Divine Heretic and Brightfall
“Rountree’s writing came down on me like the Assyrian on the fold.”
—Howard Waldrop, author of Night of the Cooters
“Despite the popularity of fantasy during the past twenty years or more, very few writers have done much with short fantasy fiction rather than novels, and Rountree is definitely one of the exceptions.”
—Critical Mass
Praise for Fantastic Americana
“Rountree demonstrates impressive range in his wild debut collection of 21 speculative shorts. Unusual juxtapositions create striking tales . . . The result is as inventive as it is eclectic.
—Publishers Weekly
“The stories in this collection are deeply human even when their settings are fantastical, from America’s mythic past to its possible apocalyptic future . . . This is a collection not to be missed!”
—A.C. Wise, author of Wendy, Darling and The Ghost Sequences
“Each of these stories is a wild ride—but put them all together, and you’ve got a corkscrewing roller coaster that stretches from sea to shining sea.”
—Bradley Denton, author of Lunatics and Blackburn
“Fantastic Americana justifies its bold title. It’s worth looking for.”
—The Endless Bookshelf