Angry Johnny
4August 20, 2013 by Laird
In the summer of 2011 I stayed at my brother’s house in the mountains of Montana, a few miles as the crow flies southwest from the town of Lincoln. I spent those months in sequestration. That’s where I wrote “More Dark” and the majority of The Croning. It’s also where I put together a novella about a 1920s mob enforcer named John Cope. Hand of Glory was a kind of therapy. I’d never tried anything quite like it, but had wanted to for a long time. I needed to write a tale about the Roaring 20s, flappers, gansters, Tommy guns, sons versus fathers, and sons versus the ghosts of their fathers, and the occult fucking it all up. It emerged in a white hot blaze over the course of three weeks. As is often the case in matters of serendipity, I embarked upon the journey when I damned well should’ve been doing something else.
I didn’t sleep much that summer; my various deadlines were a real weight upon my shoulders, and during the creation of Cope’s universe, three or four hours a night was a luxury. Ross Lockhart did a hell of a job making the novella presentable, and he wound up soliciting it for The Book of Cthulhu II. A few days ago, it was nominated for one of the major awards in our genre, and considering Johnny Cope’s provenance, it’s an unlikely and amazing outcome.
Here’s a little something I put together at the time in celebration of completing Hand of Glory.
Meet Johnny Cope, enforcer for the Arden family of c. 1920s Olympia, WA.
This is Johnny at work:
This is Johnny’s Chicago Typewriter:
When Johnny runs low on ammo he reaches for this little honey:
Johnny took piano lessons as a boy:
This is Johnny’s girl:
This is what Johnny drinks:
This is what Johnny smokes:
This is what Johnny Drives:
This is where Johnny lives:
Johnny is going to pay his respects to the boss of Ransom Hollow. Good luck, Johnny.
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Category: Uncategorized | Tags: book of cthulhu II, hand of glory, johnny cope, laird barron, ross lockhart, world fantasy award
I’m reading Hand of Glory now. (Got my copy of The Beautiful Thing over the weekend.) Yeah, I love the references to the Broadsword Hotel from Occultation and that latent sense of violence throughout the story.
Thanks, Durand.
Bring back Johnny Cope. Hand of Glory is a bad-ass story that needs a sequel or two or three(Im a Johnny Cope fan)
Thanks! I have ideas for a sequel or two. Will have to see how it goes…