Stump Juice

by Kristopher Rufty

High school seniors Shane Porter and Ike Johnson are friends with no real future since they were kicked off the football team. One night, while trying to avoid getting beat up by their old teammates, they hide in the woods and stumble upon a backwoods moonshine operation being conducted in their town. Instead of reporting their find to the authorities, they decide to steal the still and go into business for themselves. In 1992, what’s a faster way to make money for college than by selling illegal mash?

What they don’t realize is they’ve interfered with the matters of the Bible Belt Mafia, and these bad guys want their still back. Shane and Ike are knee-deep in corn mash, female wrestling hit girls, and a gang of hillbilly bootleggers all gunning for them, the still, and Ike’s grandpa’s secret formula for Stump Juice, the best moonshine in the south.

326 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 25, 2024

About the author

Kristopher Rufty lives in North Carolina with his three children and pets. He’s written over twenty novels, including ALL WILL DIE, THE DEVOURED AND THE DEAD, DESOLATION, THE LURKERS and PILLOWFACE. When he’s not spending time with his family or writing, he’s obsessing over gardening and growing food.

His short story DARLA'S PROBLEM was included in the Splatterpunk Publications anthology FIGHTING BACK, which won the Splatterpunk award for best anthology. THE DEVOURED AND THE DEAD was nominated for a Splatterpunk award.

He can be found on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. For more about Kristopher Rufty, please visit: www.kristopherrufty.com

Reviews

[Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Backwoods bootlegging noir. This could have been a book in the Hard Case Crime series in my opinion. Lots of twists and turns. Shady characters and sticky situations. A great page turner that kept me hanging from chapter to chapter. I really like reading books like this.

[David Thurman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been a fan of Kristopher Rufty’s writing since I first bought his book from him at a Convention early into his career. He has made a name for himself with the extreme “splatterpunk” style, and I have felt he was the heir apparent to Richard Laymon’s take no prisoners style. His writing has excelled at nailing characters and their motivations very quickly before the brutal action overwhelms them. In Stump Juice, his ability to draw vivid characters takes center stage. This book to me read like Krist was really using his abilities to write dialogue that is naturally and organically funny for characters that are engaged in increasingly dangerous and insane behaviors. Stump Juice is not so much in the vein of Laymon, but instead demonstrates an easy flow with an economical and sharp prose that recalled for me the work of Joe Lansdale. The story, involving psychotic bootleggers, backwoods wrestling, and family secrets, follows a couple of high school seniors as they get increasingly over their head as they try to navigate their way through the events they fall into. Highly recommended.

[MamaKate4 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Rufty's newest release and I gotta say, I loved it! There's an element of humor injected into this one, along with one helluva storyline, all of the drama, and a heart pounding ending. Backwoods, revenge, a still, love'em and leave some characters, you will feel right along with these boys and those characters in their lives.

This is a story about two senior boys who stumble across something they aren't supposed to see- which opens up way more than they were prepared for.

With heart, history, friendship, and some good old fashion moonshine and madness, if you love Rufty's work, or if you are new to it, definitely go pick up this one.

[Todd Guerra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hot damn!

I never thought that I’d be sucked into a story about moonshine like I was with this, but here we are. Great characters that you actually care about, twists you didn’t see coming, this book has it all. Rufty is quickly moving up the authors I love charts. So far he’s two for two with me, and I can’t wait to check out more of his work. Go read this!

[Jonathan Tripp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gritty crime story south dealing with moonshine and written by Rufty!? Yes please! There needs to be more books by Rufty like this! So damn good! There is humor in it as well. This book is in my top five by the author!

[Garrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rufty is channeling his inner Joe R Lansdale in this book, and I loved every minute of it! While Rufty usually writes horror, and I primarily read horror, his two recent non-horror books (this and Machete Mama) might be my two favorite books of his!