Holding Smoke
Published on 15. April 2021
Book
Paperback/Softback
336 pages
978-1-951709-29-7 (ISBN)
Description
The final novel in Steph Post's acclaimed Judah Cannon trilogy
Judah Cannon. Sister Tulah. It all comes down to this.
Before the final showdown with Tulah Atwell, the Pentecostal preacher responsible for his father's death and his own return to a life of crime, however, Judah still has a few more fires to walk through. The dust may have settled after the shootout that left a string of bodies-including that of ATF agent Clive Grant and drug runner Everett Weaver-in its wake, but that doesn't mean a quiet life is on the horizon for Judah, his girlfriend Ramey, and his two brothers, Benji and Levi.
A power struggle within the Cannon family soon erupts, placing Judah in debt to Sukey Lewis, a crime matriarch from across the creek, just as an irresistible scheme to steal a thoroughbred stud stallion falls into the Cannons' lap. Trying to solve all their problems with a single heist, Judah agrees to trust Dinah, an enigmatic drifter, even as Ramey's faith in him begins to waver.
While Sister Tulah returns to her old tricks, running a swampland scheme and intimidating everyone in her path, and Brother Felton returns to Florida a changed man with a mystic mission, Judah finds the foundation of his family crumbling and only hard choices in sight. Will Judah and Ramey survive Sister Tulah-and the darkness within their own hearts-or are such dreams impossible in Bradford County, nothing more than holding smoke?
Judah Cannon. Sister Tulah. It all comes down to this.
Before the final showdown with Tulah Atwell, the Pentecostal preacher responsible for his father's death and his own return to a life of crime, however, Judah still has a few more fires to walk through. The dust may have settled after the shootout that left a string of bodies-including that of ATF agent Clive Grant and drug runner Everett Weaver-in its wake, but that doesn't mean a quiet life is on the horizon for Judah, his girlfriend Ramey, and his two brothers, Benji and Levi.
A power struggle within the Cannon family soon erupts, placing Judah in debt to Sukey Lewis, a crime matriarch from across the creek, just as an irresistible scheme to steal a thoroughbred stud stallion falls into the Cannons' lap. Trying to solve all their problems with a single heist, Judah agrees to trust Dinah, an enigmatic drifter, even as Ramey's faith in him begins to waver.
While Sister Tulah returns to her old tricks, running a swampland scheme and intimidating everyone in her path, and Brother Felton returns to Florida a changed man with a mystic mission, Judah finds the foundation of his family crumbling and only hard choices in sight. Will Judah and Ramey survive Sister Tulah-and the darkness within their own hearts-or are such dreams impossible in Bradford County, nothing more than holding smoke?
Reviews / Votes
Praise for HOLDING SMOKE"Terrific...A born storyteller, Post expertly weaves these disparate plot strands into a wholly satisfying if inevitable ending." -Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
"A pedal-to-the-metal tale of Southern gothic noir...Post keeps the reader guessing who, if anyone, will come out of this wild ride alive." -Colette Bancroft, Tampa Bay Times
"Steph Post is a big, bold and welcome fresh voice in this world. Her authentic tales of those living in a whirlwind of chaos and violence is a game-changer." -Ace Atkins, New York Times bestselling author of The Shameless
"Post draws the Judah Cannon trilogy to an appropriate conclusion here, with her trademark crisp dialogue and action-packed, dark-edged storytelling again providing the appeal." -Booklist
Praise for the novels of Steph Post
"Steph Post is a great new discovery. Her stories carry a dark pulse that keeps the perfect beat in a world where people put everything they've got on the line." -Michael Connelly
"This is a tale brimming with imagination and rich in melancholy as it pits the natural against the supernatural and touches on what it means to be human. Great fare for fans of gothic fiction or simply good storytelling." -Kirkus Reviews on MIRACULUM
"In Steph Post's cinematic fantasy novel, fear and power are the sideshows, while hellfire and destruction are the main attractions." -Entertainment Weekly on MIRACULUM
"Steph Post's writing is the Big Top. Buy a ticket. Seats are going fast. " -Joe Ide, award-winning author of IQ
"Readers will content themselves with Post's rich, atmospheric prose and displays of dark magic while they wait. Ruby has strange powers of her own, and the ending, with animal howls of rage, is all the more effective for the suddenly understated prose." -Booklist on MIRACULUM
"Old fashioned storytelling at its finest." -The Rumpus on MIRACULUM
"Steph Post's Miraculum grabs hold of you from the very first page and refuses to let go until the very end. The marvels, as Daniel himself declares, just keep coming." -Aaron Mahnke, Creator of Lore
"Fans of Erin Morgenstern's Night Circus will inevitably find this a cousin of their favorite...readers of Katharine Dunn's Geek Love or Neil Gaiman's American Gods are likely to enjoy MIRACULUM." -Library Journal
"You won't find many writers with more momentum than Steph Post." -BookRiot
"WALK IN THE FIRE is the best book by an author rightly compared to Harry Crews and Larry Brown, but who blazes a path all her own. You do not know the dank heart of the great state of Florida unless you've read Steph Post." -Kent Wascom, author of The Blood of Heaven
"WALK IN THE FIRE slings the Cannon family back on the page like a Molotov cocktail through a window. Few writers could coax a cast of characters this vast onto a single stage and orchestrate their story with such mastery. Post own the genre of North Florida noir."
-David Joy, author of Where the Light Tends to Go and The Weight Of This World
"Post combines classical genre tropes with a touch of Harry Crews-style Southern gothic in this terrific crime novel." -Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) on Walk in the Fire
"Sizzling...Post has a real knack for creating a complex plot that maintains its drive through sweat-slicked settings that range from raucous Daytona Beach strip clubs to the kind of lonesome roads where nothing good happens." -Tampa Bay Times
"Steph Post's prose is lyrical and evocative. Her depiction of hardscrabble life in rural Florida is so effective, you'll wanna lock the doors and crank up the AC. But where LIGHTWOOD truly excels is in illuminating the ties that bind-and stretching them well beyond their breaking point."
-Chris Holm, award-winning author of The Killing Kind
"Brilliant...Lightwood solidifies Steph Post as the official voice of working class literature in Florida, akin to what Daniel Woodrell has done for Missouri, or Ron Rash for the Carolinas."
-Brian Panowich, bestselling author of Bull Mountain
"Post paints a large, vivid cast...Post's Florida is rather farther north than the world of Carl Hiaasen's fiction, but they share the dark comedy, intricate plotting and strong sense of paltry sin and mordant evil. Readers who like Hiaasen should find "Lightwood" well to their taste." -Wilmington Star-News
"(A) gritty, propulsive crime novel...keeps up a headlong pace as the Cannons, the Scorpions, Sister Tulah and other forces clash brutally all around Judah and Ramey. You might not want to visit Silas in real life, but it makes a fine setting for this twisted and compelling tale." -Tampa Bay Times
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Interest Age: From 18 years
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 215 mm
Width: 139 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-951709-29-7 (9781951709297)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Steph Post is the author of four acclaimed novels: A Tree Born Crooked, a semi-finalist for the Big Moose Prize, two Judah Cannon novels, Lightwood and Walk in the Fire, and Miraculum. Post is a recipient of the Patricia Cornwell Scholarship for creative writing from Davidson College and the Vereen Bell writing award for fiction. She holds a Master's degree in Graduate Liberal Studies from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. Her short fiction has appeared in Haunted Waters: From the Depths, The Round-Up, The Gambler Mag, Foliate Oak, Kentucky Review, Vending Machine Press, Nonbinary Review and the anthology Stephen King's Contemporary Classics.
Her short story "The Pallid Mask" has recently been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She is a regular contributor to Small Press Book Review and Alternating Current Press and has published numerous book reviews and author interviews. She is currently the writing coach at Howard W. Blake High School in Tampa, FL. Visit author's website at stephpostfiction.com or @StephPostAuthor.
Her short story "The Pallid Mask" has recently been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She is a regular contributor to Small Press Book Review and Alternating Current Press and has published numerous book reviews and author interviews. She is currently the writing coach at Howard W. Blake High School in Tampa, FL. Visit author's website at stephpostfiction.com or @StephPostAuthor.