REVIEW- JD CLAPP ‘A GOOD MAN GOES SOUTH’
BY JOE WEST
The stories of JD Clapp are the stuff of drunkard dreams and schizophrenic revenge fantasies. Clapp’s writing is the personification of the unreliable narrator. Every story in A Good Man Goes South gladly ends in tragedy but seems to go reliably well for those in society we have vilified, even canonized, by their crimes.
As someone who craves fiction for men, about the evil men are compelled to perform, I found each story in AGMGS more enjoyable than the last. However, the author has a keen eye for removing empathy for his characters. Clapp’s gallery of ne’erdowells are a who’s who of petty crime, murder and regular men drawn to doing violence as their way to vent, to perform the ritual of sadism and the art of brutality not for the readers entertainment as much as for his own pleasure.
If you are hoping for a fast, gut-punch read to while away the hours at your slave job, A Good Man Goes South will please your palate long after each story is finished. If there is one thing no man is ever surprised by is the depravity of other men; their neighbors as well as the gas station attendant or the snake oil salesman making promises in the name of God, JD Clapp sees them all for who they really are and gives them each a chance to redeem themselves or die trying.
A GOOD MAN GOES WEST
JD CLAPP
ANXIETY PRESS, 2025
$15
JD Clapp
JD Clapp writes in San Diego, CA. His work has appeared in Wrong Turn Literary, The Milk House, Revolution John, and several others. His story, One Last Drop, was a finalist in the 2023 Hemingway Shorts Literary Journal, Short Story Competition.
JOE WEST
Joe West is a writer of transgressive urban fiction. He relies heavily on elements of his lifelong memories of St. Louis and the unique people of the Midwest. His latest book, Tears Into Wine, currently available from Anxiety Press, is the brutal story of Curtis, a world-class writer but a thoroughly piss-poor person, and JD, who is handsome as hell, but it would be a miracle if he could write a novel. But together, if they don’t kill each other first, all their dreams will come true. Mr. West can be reached by email for offers and other interesting gestures joewestwrites@gmail.com
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