Visions

by Troy James Weaver

A hypnotic descent from childhood to adulthood. A boy sees angels, finds love, loses it, and becomes heartbreakingly aware of the world around him. Using a dreamy prose that calls to mind the films of Harmony Korine, Weaver crafts a deft and disturbing portrait of the young life of a David Koresh-like cult figure.

“Troy James Weaver’s novel unravels the typical coming-of-age story. It erases the distinction between finding and losing your voice, becoming enlightened by a vision and swallowed by darkness. The plot moves at a breathless pace and the unsettling details linger, hovering at the edge of what can be fully understood.” —Jeff Jackson, author of Mira Corpora

“A noir fueled as much by the dread of what might happen as what actually occurs, with a narrator teetering on the edge of something very dark indeed. Beautifully sparse and precise, like someone tapping softly on your skull with a ball-peen hammer trying to feel out the perfect place to crack it open.” —Brian Evenson, author of Windeye and A Collapse of Horses

“Visions moves at a manic pace reminiscent of Hannah’s Ray. The story breathes, bleeds, pulses. It’s fragmented yet fluid, bleak but not without hope. Don’t be fooled by the thin spine - you may blaze through this book in an afternoon but it will burn a hole in your head. Weaver speaks the truth and I hope to hell everybody is listening.” —Nat Baldwin, musician (Dirty Projectors)

“Untimely death, Richard Ramirez, child abuse, violence, poverty, loneliness… somehow Troy James Weaver is able to take all these ugly facets of humanity and combine them into something so beautiful that it feels almost holy.” —Juliet Escoria, author of Black Cloud

“Visions is a coming-of-age, Harmony Korine-style, This Boy’s Life-meets-Wise Blood fever dream that Troy James Weaver carved into some Ouija board he later used to summon the spirits of David Koresh, Jesus Christ, and Richard Ramirez. I can’t even begin to tell you how insane and beautiful this book is.” —Brian Alan Ellis, author of Something Good, Something Bad, Something Dirty

“Troy James Weaver’s Visions is a smart and disturbing book, told in a voice as haunting as the cultish world it portrays. All those strange voices and visions packed into this slim novella, rendered with an honest complexity make this a remarkable achievement. I’m glad to have read it.” —Brandon Hobson, author of Deep Ellum

Genres: Horror, Fiction

134 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2015

Reviews

[Plagued by Visions · Rating 5 out of 5]

There’s authors who have captured lightning in a bottle by exploring horrors as they bleed in unlikely environments: The horrors in darkness, in absence, in quietude, in other worlds. Following this vein, Troy James Weaver’s Visions is a remarkable exploration of the horrors that lurk in afterimages, in ill-formed memories, and in spiritual abstraction. The prose reaches heights as blunt and cruel as O’Connor, and as languid and bleak as Breece D’J Pancake. The book is somewhat constructed to mirror the peripherality of said visions, to contrast their bizarre, sublime, and ethereal nature against the solid grit of rural isolation and cultural debris. The effect is one distinctly gothic and horrific, allowing the eeriness that exists within meetings of the heavenly and secular to flourish.

This is a fast, searing read.

[S̶e̶a̶n̶ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I kept thinking about the old man as we drove. I felt like I'd seen him before. He had this emptiness about him. The kind of emptiness that's fuller than full.

This reminded me a lot of Scott Bradfield's The History of Luminous Motion, which I read recently. It's a much more succinct story, though, and told in a staccato style, which works to its advantage as Bradfield's approach to his narrative felt too long-winded. Visions felt much more authentic, as well—with Bradfield's book I never moved past a nagging impression of artificiality. The description on the back of the book mentions Harmony Korine's films, which do also serve as a relevant reference point, though the medium of the written word softens the still admittedly heavy subject matter to a point at sharp contrast to the baldness of Korine's visions we see on the screen. Weaver's tendency to underexpose—or at least not linger over—the more graphic scenes keeps the narrative focused. There is none of Korine's nihilism present, either; if anything, the book is permeated with a sense of questing belief on the part of the narrator. I'd definitely read more of Weaver's work.

[Frederic · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jeez! Fans of Scott McClanahan and Harry Crews should take note. Troy James Weaver’s Visions made me think of both of those masters several times in its short run. It’s quick, darkly amusing, and all the way weird at times. I loved it.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

A strange, short read with some very clever writing, though the end left me wanting. Rereading the blurb on the back cover, I almost wondered if my copy was missing half of the pages. That said, and as unlikely as it is, I’d love to see a sequel. There is some beautiful mystical and hypnogogic prose in here, such that the first half of the story reminded me of B.R. Yeager’s excellent novel Negative Space.

[Adrian Coombe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite disturbing in places, with an underbelly of futility and desperation, and a longing to fit in and be loved. The desire to believe in something divine but in the remit and boundaries people set themselves, to excuse all else for that devotion, is very well portrayed. Second book by TJ Weaver, both 5/5. Broken River Books fans will love this.

[Aria · Rating 5 out of 5]

A totally hypnotic bizarre piece of fiction that catapults you through and leaves you lightheaded. If you’ve found your way to it, it’s probably the kind of thing you’re looking for.

[Benoit Lelièvre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, but solid piece of fiction about the process of belief in America. There were no transcendent literary moments for me, but the sheer originality of Troy James Weaver's writing and the clever structure that felt like narrating someone's memory were more than efficient enough to keep me under. Humans have always been obsessed with closing the gap between them and the divine, but it's an obsession that's always been more central in the American society and in a way, VISIONS honors that through a narrative of how faith is engineered. It's a bleak, cerebral and contemplative short novel, reminiscent of both Harmony Korine and Blake Butler's work. If you're into the questioning the divine like I am, you'll enjoy this book a lot.

[Brian Alan Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are you a Troy James Weaver believer?

Thought so.

Believe in the Weave!

[Benjamin Grim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The gritty, dark coming-of-age story done succinctly and precisely to great effect. Reminds me that I should read Goodnight Punpun again...

[Bingus Boingus · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Tex Gresham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is everything I want out of a book like this. Visions gives visions into existences desperate for visions. Lost and sad, but ever hopeful. It's an uncomfortable and challenging book -- but nothing about it feels false or forced. Despite the overwhelming sense of religiosity bubbling under ever moment, this is a human story -- the pains, the suffering, the desperation for sincerity and love. It is a catalogue of a world where the body, the flesh is the main caretaker of our self-interests, and the soul is an afterthought in a dream mostly forgotten. The book is also shrouded in the idea that our hardships and pains are all part of a collection of self-markings that tell the story on our flesh, through our blood and piss and cum and everything we evacuate. That we can feel less lonely by listening to the voices and visions in our deep innards during times when those outside us are dead or dying or drunk and neglectful. Just like everything TJW writes, I loved this book. And I'll read it again and again and again and forever we'll be.

[David Catney · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is some crazy shit, folks.

[Fergus Nm]

All I can remember is there was a boy with a penchant for wrapping a chain around his dong, some heavy abuse seething in the background, and it was like a not-as-good Mira Corpora (although in this case, thankfully free of Neutral Milk Hotel fanboyism). Not being particularly memorable, I don't think it was very good, although with that said I feel like I enjoyed it enough to finish it. YMMV.

[Sarah Babbage · Rating 4 out of 5]

“it was too late for revival, too late for resurrection, and even too late for hope, and yet, in a way, it all looked so beautiful this way— it all seemed natural, just as god intended.”

[Tyler Dempsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a lyrical, sideways glance, at the cult-y, emotionally walloping experience some Christianity plays with in America.

Snake-handling, speak-in-tongues-primal shit that settles over Midwestern/Southern adolescence, then lifts (if you're lucky) and leaves in its wake something like a hallucination.

It's not a hallucination. But, that's what it rhymes with.

Trace this journey with the narrator of Visions. I was never blown away by this one. But, Troy has pulled that off (Marigold). His craft is so tight and delightful, I'd only have to read a few pages of Vision before I was pulled back in.

Totally worth it. And, Apocalypse Party spins a real purty book, too.

[meow · Rating 5 out of 5]

started and finished going in and out of small towns in east utah desert

the landscape’s epic desolation compared to the modest watching little towns paired well with the milieu and spirit of this little book—

God’s brutal mystery flushed with insatiable animality…

It’s a bildungsroman steeped in the end of days. Youth blossoms from wretched poverty, wretched landscapes. Fervent faith enacted by chains of molestation.

I saw a blurb comparing the book to the Harmony Korine universe so I knew I would like it. I found it however more in line with Lester Ballard in *Child of God*, but at a formative young moment a la Neil McCormick in *Mysterious Skin*.

[KKUURRTT · Rating 5 out of 5]

Visions is a beautiful book about awful things. Told through fragments of an adolescence, Weaver captures the misery of a situation that seems like it could only ever lead to profundity. Im left wanting more, of wondering and imaging what comes next and writing the narrative in my own head. The prose is sparse and meticulous as if playing the remainder of the narrators life out has always been up to us. Some pretty fantastic groundwork leaves the gates open to interpretation and yet I feel compelled that our narrator is the real deal. At the very least, the author is.

[Karl Fischer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the prose, the visions both horrifying and splendid. The ending was not what I expected, but it tells you all you need to know about the protagonist and how he will eventually turn out. Really beautiful stuff.

[David Simmons · Rating 5 out of 5]

Religion/Cult-themed transgressive horror-type s**t is one my favorite genres to read. When I think of a master in that field, I think of Brian Evenson, so when I cracked open my copy of Troy James Weaver's "Visions" and saw the Brian Evenson blurb, I was like, "Oh Sh********t! this joint about to be TEW serious," and it was.
The cycle of abuse the narrator goes through is shown very well, very minimal, sparse, which makes it a lor bit creepier than it could have been if Weaver just spelled everything out. The narrators innocence and ignorance, how he has no guidance or role models, how everyone he loves either betrays him or begins to slowly fall apart (both physically and mentally) the way this shapes his view of the world, it's just really f**ked up. This same lack of description when it comes to the setting or landscape of the town or city or wherever this is taking place, makes the story feel like it is happening in another world, similar to our own in almost every way, but still so strange and otherworldly. I really f**ked with the notebook/vision sequences tew, how that was inserted throughout the book.

I would have loved to see what this wild young boa turned out to be when he got his congregation together, but that is not the point of this book. There are so many books like that, but so few that show how the cult leader became to be. That is why I really liked this.

Also, published by Apocalypse Party, with the Revert cover and the J. David Osborne shout out at the end? This joint was destined for greatness from the gate. LFG

[Ehren W · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had popped up in my recommendations time and time again, and had made its way onto my "want to read" list a while ago. As a Kansan, finding out Weaver is from Wichita definitely moved this to the top of my list.

This is a quick read. It is not an easy read. This is not shock for shock's sake; this is a surgical strike. Weaver's tale of a young, naive man in a small town being inundated by visions that he is told (and he he believes) are from god goes in a direction that many readers might feel is completely ridiculous. It's not.

This book is for anyone who has spent time in these small towns. People surrounded by religious and spiritual certainty in a world that does not care. Towns filled predatory minds using the naivety of those around them for their own gratification.

I think this was absolutely brilliantly written, and I expect my rating to go up on a re-read, but right now? I just do not even know how to rate it. I was engaged and enthralled, but reading this just filled me with sadness. I think that was the point.

I will have more to say at some point.

[Geo · Rating 3 out of 5]

“So I smoked it with her, coughing every time I took a drag, and wishing, with every pull, I could take away all the illness in the world and fit it inside me.”

A dark coming-of-age filled with rural isolation and hollow spirituality. A disturbing read, with moments filled with quiet futility and desperation. The characters have an aching to be wanted and loved, wanting more out of life’s cruelty. Abuse and meaninglessness fill these pages. It felt like this story was about emptiness; the emptiness in people, and how they reach out for each other or anything to make them feel whole. Ethel Cain would make for a fitting soundtrack to this book. This felt like the dark and gritty underbelly of a southern gothic story. This was a short but impactful read, and one that made me curious about the author’s other works.

“I felt like I’d seen him before. He had this emptiness about him. The kind of emptiness that’s fuller than full.”

[Sean Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A big tip of the hat to Troy James Weaver for this memorably chilling short novel. The genius here is in the control. Weaver never once loses grip on his masterly, voice-driven narrative, which is no small feat when portraying such a young protagonist. So many instances here where a lesser writer would have overplayed his hand by going for cheap shocks or cliché transgressions, but Weaver kills by holding back, building the sense of dread to an almost unbearable pitch. Definitely made me want to read everything he’s written. And I will.

[Jøhn Wayne Gucci · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading this book and it has left me wanting more in the best possible way. In only 111 pages Troy James Weaver is able to create a world containing characters that are heartbreakingly relatable. Underneath the prophetic visions of an adolescent lays a desire to belong and a hunger for companionship even if it blooms from the most toxic of places.

I read this all in one sitting which usually is hard for me given the ADHD, but the style and length of this book make it easy to pick up but hard to put down until its over.

[AutomaticSlim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This guy, this Weaver guy, he writes some of the best sentences I've ever read, the kind of sentences that make you mumble 'shit' in both good and bad ways, but always in wonderment. Plus he likes to put them at the end of his short little vignette chapters so they hit even harder.

Oh and the story here is fine and all.

Round down 4 stars

[Luke Pajowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

A read in one sitting book that packs just as puch power in its slim volume than a lengthier novel does. Surgically precise in its portrayal of belief in America with enough dread dripping from its teeth.

[Danielle (Danni) Vinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I discovered this author through a post put up by a reader who is very well read. This book is about a boy who slowly slips into a disturbing mindset about s*x, and religion. The writing is very spare, and the story itself is deep, quite dark, unsettling, and bleak. I enjoyed it.

[Jo Quenell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little bit of Gummo, a little bit of Jesus Camp. From the opening pages to the last sentence, this is a pretty uncomfortable read. This one pulls no punches.

[Josh Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reminded me of Sophia by Michael Bible in a good way.

[Chanel Chapters · Rating 1 out of 5]

A book of religious pedophilia.

[Leon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars