A Barnes & Noble Sensational Debut Novel"Something of a miracle." - The Memphis FlyerJohn Pritchard's acclaimed first novel, Junior Ray, takes the reader on a wild rideinside the mind of Junior Ray Loveblood, a Mississippi Delta deputy sheriffas bloodthirsty as he is misguidedly hilarious. Junior Ray narrates the story inhis own profane, colloquial voice, telling why he hates just about everybody, andwhy he wants to shoot Leland Shaw, a shell-shocked World War II hero and poetwho is hiding in a silo from what he believes are German patrols.Through a series of sleights of hand, misdirections, and near misses, Junior Rayand his sidekick Voyd give a dark tour of the Delta country as they chase theirmysterious prey. Junior Ray's thoughts are peppered with excerpts from Shaw'snotebooks-sometimes starkly different from Junior Ray's diatribe, sometimeseerily similar-and by the end of the story, it is up to the reader to sort out whosereality is more fantastic, Shaw's or Loveblood's, as the one stalks the other throughthe pages of this highly original and darkly comedic story."This writer knows the country whereof he speaks, its dialect, its mores andfolkways. But this is not sociology. It is primitive fiction of the sort one rarelysees. More's the pity. Underneath this violent language and narrative, there is asweet truth. It deserves to be read." - Harry Crews, The Mulching of America"Junior Ray runs on a belly laugh per page. When Junior Ray, a deputy sheriffwho makes Flem Snopes sound cultured, sets out to track down a 'maniac' loosein the Mississippi Delta, he proves to be more demented than his prey. Like hisprotagonist, John Pritchard's novella is outrageous and ribald, a revolt againstthe literary school of manners and a ride that takes Southern Gothic to newextremes." - Curtis Wilkie, Arkansas Mischief