Scarecrow Gods

by Weston Ochse

This is the true first edition, signed and limited to only 300 copies, published by Delirium Books... Scarecrow Gods is the tale of Maxom Phinxs, a black man tortured and disfigured in Vietnam. Maxom, called the Maggot Man by the Tennessee locals, is feared and reviled because of his appearance. Even so, he takes under his wing a troubled young boy named Danny who's fighting incest rumors to repair a shattered family, wondering every day if his sister will return to clear it all up. In southern Arizona, John the New Baptist has created a new religion promising salvation. Most people believe in his strange ways. They don't understand he is establishing a herd for his personal use. Only Simon, a faithless Alexian Brother, and a homeless man named Billy Bones who speaks in palindromes, anagrams and metaphor realize the evil and engage the Scarecrow Gods—a circle of immense saguaro dressed in Salvation Army clothes who speak wisdom in the wind from pursed coke bottle lips. Maxom, Simon, Danny and Billy all fight and converge upon the center of evil as each journeys through the world of imagination, the Land of Inside-Out and across America, striving to defeat demons both personal and real to ultimately discover their deserved salvations.

Genres: Horror, Fiction

395 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

The American Library Association calls Weston Ochse “one of the major horror authors of the 21 st Century.” He has been praised by USA Today, The Atlantic, The New York Post, The Financial Times of London, Publishers Weekly, Peter Straub, Joe Lansdale, Jon Maberry, Kevin J. Anderson, David Gerrold, William C. Dietz, Tim Lebbon, Christopher Golden, and many more of the world’s best-selling authors. His work has won the Bram Stoker Award, been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and won multiple New Mexico Arizona Book Awards.

A writer of nearly thirty books in multiple genres, his military supernatural series SEAL Team 666 has been optioned to be a movie starring Dwayne Johnson and his military sci fi trilogy, which starts with Grunt Life, has been praised for its PTSD-positive depiction of soldiers at peace and at war.

Weston has also published literary fiction, poetry, comics, and non-fiction articles.
His shorter work has appeared in DC Comics, IDW Comics, Soldier of Fortune Magazine, Cemetery Dance, and peered literary journals. His franchise work includes the X-Files, Predator, Aliens, Hellboy, Clive Barker’s Midian, and V-Wars. Weston holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and teaches at Southern New Hampshire University. He lives in Arizona with his wife, and fellow author, Yvonne Navarro and their Great Danes.

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Upon first glance, I noticed that these were not your normal variety scarecrows. These were cactuses; casually dressed cactuses, but the prickly plant nonetheless. So, I figure, any guy who can hold up a book with a menacing, bohemian-like dressed cactus and still show his face around town is okay in my book. (Okay in my book…this is a book… get it? Oh forget it!) Now, here’s the best part of this entirely too long monologue: this scarecrow book, is not about scarecrows!! Sure, those finely-dressed plants play into the story, but they aren’t THE story. Weston, can I call you Weston? That little trick just secured the life of cactuses everywhere, and landed your name right on my Christmas list!

Now let me just say this is not your normal variety scary book. The gore and blood is almost non-existent, and Ochse avoids the cheap tricks that are so commonly seen. No, what we have here is a smart and original plot. Character-driven, the story aims to capture your heart and mind first and foremost. Challenging your beliefs and your faith, the plot attacks you internally, feeding on your fear and emotions. Too late you realize that it’s been chewing since you opened the book, and nothing can satiate it. Ochse is a terrifying genius!

The true brilliance shown is in the pace of the book. Ever patient, the build-up is gradual, the climaxes reached only when the tension is ready to burst. The events are never rushed and the actions never consuming; everything is played out naturally and in its own time. This is not to say that the speed is slow, far from it. I read this book in just under eight hours, but what kept turning the page was not hurried violence. It was simply to see what happened next, what challenge Ochse would throw at me. Even though the atmosphere switches constantly to two polar opposite settings, the one feeling throughout is home. Both the warmth and hostilities that are found in your house are felt in waves here. Although there is an undercurrent of wrongness that seeps into both, it never fully consumes it.

And just to further show you what a clever man Mr. Ochse is, let me tell you about his writing. Ochse’s style is natural, his direction cryptic. Instead of dishing out pre-digested, chewed-up clues and answers, he allows the reader to use their own imagination and intelligence. What he does reveal, he exposes slowly, piece-by-piece. This form of storytelling is what got me reading in the first place.

His characters are just as precisely detailed. Carrying most of the weight, the cast is realistic and memorable. Three-dimensional, you can understand these characters better than most people you know. Rather than try to imitate friends/family, the characters refine our expectations of what we normally see. Our protagonist is not some random person with a hero complex, nor does he have super powers. He’s just a person, no more no less. It’s only through his actions and convictions that he rises to a level we all wish could in some form or another.

-As posted on Horror-Web

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Scarecrow Gods, Weston Ochse tells the story of Maxon Phinx (aka Maggot Man), a severely disfigured Viet Nam veteran; Danny, a boy whose sister has run away from an abusive situation; Simon, a monk whose faith is questionable; and Billy Bones, a homeless man who lives in the Arizona desert and speaks what seems to be gibberish. Their lives converge over the issue of John the New Baptist, a young cult leader with remarkable powers of persuasion that he used to ensnare young women. John has strange powers drawn from some form of Hinduism and perhaps some dark, ancient power. But Maxon has some powers of his own.

When Danny and Maxon begin an unusual friendship and Maxon teaches him some of this power, they use it to try to find Danny's sister. In the meantime, Simon experiences several exorcisms while trying to help Billy Bones. He tracks Billy to his desert home near the Scarecrow Gods, a set of large cacti that Billy has dressed up to look almost human. I wasn't absolutely sure of their powers, but they made for an interesting visual.

Since this book won the 2005 Bram Stoker Award for best first novel, I expected a little more frightening material. But I would have to say that, rather than sheer fright, the novel contained a good deal of creepiness. But there was also an interesting and touching sentimentality to the story that isn't usually part of horror tales. I also found the characters to be developed better than in most of the horror genre I've read over the past few years (not my favorite genre, but an area I try to look into from time to time). The ending was quite good, although a little too rushed for my taste.

[Andy Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great supernatural tale of good vs evil. What you get when you cross a disfigured Nam Vet with Waco and Carlos Castaneda.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second Weston Ochse(pronounced oaks) novel I have read and loved this one

[Ralph Carlson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. Enjoyed it more this read than I did the first time I read it.

[Jeff Wait · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was dubious about the quality of this book when my buddy said, “did you know the guy who wrote Seal Team 666 won a Stoker?” It’s not horrible, but it has weird pacing, makes some big leaps without a guiding hand and feels like it’s doing too much. There are some cool ideas and a unique look at possession; this is why I didn’t DNF. I wanted to see if it would payoff. Not quite. I like this guy’s brain, but his writing wasn’t up to par with his ideas. Maybe his later work (Seal Team 666) will be better.

[Normalene · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the book for which Ochse won the Bram Stoker Award for first novel. It’s currently out-of-print, but I bought a copy from the author when he came up to Prescott for an author talk. Ochse says he named the main character after his son, Max, but the Max in the book is an African-American and a disabled Vietnam vet with a serious case of PTSD who can control animals during out-of-body experiences and when he wrote the book, Ochse’s son was very young, is not African-American and not a Vietnam vet. This is a cool hook and it immediately drew me in to the story. When Max meets a young boy being bullied by schoolmates, they slowly and painfully form a bond and Max decides to teach the boy how to do what he can do. This causes all kinds of problems and leads to the main conflict of the story – how Max can help the boy rescue his sister from a religious cult all the way across the country. There is just enough military language to make it real and just enough mystery/horror elements in the story to make it great. I would love to see a sequel for this, but I’d also be happy to see it back in print so I can buy a copy for my library to share with everyone – my copy is autographed and I’m not giving it up.

Ochse's book 'Seal Team 666' just got optioned for a movie deal with Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson to star. I loved that one too.

[Andrea Blythe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am normally generous with books and it takes a lot for me to give a book a one star rating.

The beginning was rough going for me. The chapters jumped back and forth between many characters, combined with graphic brutality. I didn't mind the violence in itself (and was horrific and cringeworthy), but I wasn't connecting with any of the characters. I wasn't connecting with the writing.

Just as I was about to quit, things started to turn around. The story became a less focused on tortuous violence and I became invested in the characters. By the final chapters of the book, all the threads and storylines weaves together into a cool final battle of sorts.

Then came the last chapter -- scratch that -- then came the last two paragraphs. I'm reading the passages leading up to the conclusion and I audibly told the author, "Don't you effing dare." (Much to the confusion of my roommate, sitting on the couch across from me.)

This was followed by my throwing the book down and beginning to curse. (Also to my roommate's confusion.)

I'm sorry, but, no. No. No. No. I refuse to accept that ending, or that kind of ending. It's bullsh!t and really killed the whole experience in a slew of rage.

[Jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were too many characters that didn't really add to the story they felt like filler. The plot also took way to long to come together at the end then, it was a very unsatisfying and a very quick resolution. The author was very graphic in his discriptions but as far as the story went I didn't find it all that enjoyable a read.