Noir at the Bar Eryk Pruitt
Your Brunch Waiter Hates You

THE RECTORY
My Blog

I am often asked: “Are you a real Reverend?” Allow me to answer with a scenario: If you found a proselytizing preacher screaming fire and brimstone at the top of his lungs on any street corner in any Southern city in America, would you dare ask him for his clerical credentials? Instead, you should be asking him what he's listening to on the radio. My blog,The Rectory, allows you to keep a safe distance while contemplating the finer points of American music.
Two of my favorite posts are traveling down Highway 61 and seeing T-Model Ford in one of the last juke joints, and The Johnny Folsom Show at the Haw River Ballroom.

Hardboiled Wonderland
A Peckerwood and a Dirtbag Walk Into a Bar – A Conversation with Jedidiah Ayres

“…what I didn't expect was the seriousness of the writer, and the empathy for the characters that couldn't be covered up by the gore and the squalor. Not to mention the structure of the novel…”

Wag The Fox
Selfie Filling Prophecy - an interview with Eryk Pruitt, author of "Hashtag"

“…What's the worst piece of writing advice you ever received? Or what piece of writing advice do you wish would just go away? Any kind of guilty pleasures when it comes to books or movies or whatnot? Got some southern gothic My Little Pony fan-fic tucked away in your trunk, maybe?…”

No Depression—The Roots Music Authority Since 1995
Lead Belly, Smithsoniam Folkways Collection Box Set - Alubum Review

“…A single, solitary man who absorbed music, tradition, and verse from not just old school blues halls or medicine shows, but chain gangs, cotton fields, gospel houses…”

Hardboiled Wonderland
On Holding Out - A CriMemoir

“Honor among thieves.
I'd never heard such bullshit before. I mean, part of the reason I came up glamorizing the junkie and the drunk and the derelict was because there was no honor anywhere else…”

Bad Citizen Corporation
S.W. Lauden, Interrogation: Eryk Pruitt - Interview

Is Lake Castor a real place? An amalgam? Why is it an ideal setting for a novel like DIRTBAGS?
“Lake Castor is fictional. Geographically, it's situated about where Danville, Virginia would be, although it is not based on Danville.”

One Bite at a Time
20 Questions with Dana King

"Who are your greatest influences? Do you outline or fly by the seat of you pants? Do you listen to music when you write?” Answers to these questions and more.

Chin Wag at the Slaughter House
Richard Godwin's Welcome to the Slaughter House - Blog/Interview

How do you see the social dialogue between law and religion operating in the US today?
“I see folks using religion to enforce the laws they want. Not even the laws, really, but to justify their own bad behavior. I hope I am able to tap into that effectively with DIRTBAGS, as more than one character can quote the Bible.”

Hardboiled Wonderland
Picture Books: Jim Thompson - Guest Blog Post

“…if a reader wants a true glimpse of the human condition, they need look no further than a Jim Thompson novel. Those booze-soaked pages full of paranoid plot twists and dangerous, depraved protagonists…”

Wag The Fox
The Southern Gothic Noir Soundtrack - Guest Blog Post

“Dark fiction splinters into many sub-genres, and those sub-genres continue to splinter. One of my favorites is Southern Gothic, which manages to bridge the gap between literary and horror…”

Paul D. Brazill
The Elements of Rage in Agatite by Clay Reynolds - Guest Blog Post

“…So what makes Agatite by Clay Reynolds so good? There are dozens of elements in the book which make it ideal reading for a guy of my tastes…”