THE BRIGHT LANDS :: John Fram

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

John Fram carves quite a niche with his debut, The Bright Lands, a gothic football thriller steeped in LGBTQ+ themes, all snuggled under an umbrella of supernatural horror. Sounding like an impossible camp mash-up, The Bright Lands admirably lives up to Fram's "Stephen Queen" moniker. The nickname breeds curiosity, and the work stands on its own.

Texas is about God and football, not necessarily in that order. Joel Whitley lives a successful, openly gay life in New York, escaping the small town of Bentley 10 years ago after suffering a public homophobic ambush. His younger brother, Dylan, is currently team quarterback with a million-dollar arm, poised to give the Bentley Bison a state championship. Football towns are notoriously solicitous of star athletes (as they chew them up and discard them) and Joel heads back to the "rotten rind of a town" when Dylan surprisingly says he wants out.

Then Dylan disappears and Joel finds strange goings-on in Bentley--money, drugs, secret weekend trips, cover-ups, set-ups and whispers of a mysterious place called the Bright Lands. To uncover the horrific truth, he'll need to face sheriff's deputy Starsha Clark, his first and final girlfriend, whose brother Troy also disappeared from Bentley when Joel did, never to be seen again. There's "nothing quite like the smell of Texas in the hours before some fresh calamity," and Fram cooks up some strong Southern aromas as Joel, Starsha and a few surprising characters join forces to uncover the evils behind generations of Bentley tragedies.

STREET SENSE: This book is nutty. In a really good way, mostly. I'm not usually into supernatural arcs, and this one definitely had a Stephen King feel to it, but as far as those go I liked how it was wrapped into the story. I don't think the story needed it, per se, but it's not my story to tell. I thought the characters, back stories and past/present disappearance mysteries were more than enough and really well done. I dug the LGBTQ+ bent and the fact that the characters were just themselves. Some were gay. Obviously a bit of a deal in Texas, but I really liked how Fram just told the story from various perspectives with authority and no fanfare, if that makes sense. It felt authentic, is I suppose what I'm trying to say. I'll be really curious to see what Fram does next, because this was a fun one.

COVER NERD SAYS: I love this cover and it's the reason I asked to cover the book. I knew little about the story. The moody image, football lights and spooky title font all made me want to KNOW what was inside. I also like that the cover includes all the necessary information (even more, with a hated blurb, but at least it's not glaring) but is still spare and lets the title and image carry the day. Whoever picked the title font gets a gold star.