The Legend of Charlie Fish by Josh Rountree

“Odd, creepy, funny, The Black Lagoon meets the Six Gun universe. High up on the way-cool factor. You need this.” —Joe R. Lansdale, Edgar Award–winning author of the Hap and Leonard series 

As an unlikely found-family flees toward Galveston, a psychic young girl bonds with Charlie Fish, an enigmatic gill-man. Meanwhile, they are pursued by bounty hunters determined to profit from the spectacle of Charlie. But the Great Storm—the worst natural disaster in U.S. history—is on its way. Josh Rountree’s strikingly original debut novel ranges effortlessly between the Gothic, pulp, literary, Western, and comedic. With his vivid imagery, evocative storytelling, and uncanny wit, Rountree enters the fine tradition of Texan storytellers, wading into True Grit by way of The Shape of Water

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Paradise was a whirlpool of unnatural greens and gold coral reefs, phosphorescent flowers and palaces cut into the heart of undersea caverns. 

THE LEGEND OF CHARLIE FISH is quite simply one of the best novels I have read this year. Set at the turn of the 20^th Century, a time when the American Old West was beginning to disappear, it is the story of damaged characters - Floyd Betts, estranged from the late father whom he arrives in town to bury, and the orphans he ‘adopts’, Nellie and Hank, whose parents have been murdered by the townspeople who condemned their as a witch. On the return to Galveston, the trio rescue a creature from two ‘scoundrels’ they encounter on the road. While Floyd initially thinks the men have captured a huge fish, Nellie, who has inherited a form of telepathy, ‘whisper talk’, from her mother, recognises the captive as a sentient being, whom she names Charlie Fish.

There are obviously fantastical elements - the titular character is a Creature From The Black Lagoon-like amphibious man - but it is thoroughly grounded in reality, and what a reality; the climax plays out against the Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900. Josh Rountree’s description of the storm is frighteningly visceral; you really hear, and feel, the wind and surging water, the buildings moving, the almost complete disorientation. I would have to think long and hard to find a better evocation of the destructive power of nature.

I believe this is Josh Rountree’s first novel but his prose is beautiful, even when describing intense violence, either of the storm or the swift retribution of a semi-lawless society. THE LEGEND OF CHARLIE FISH is reminiscent of Ray Bradbury, Neil Gaiman, of Joe R. Lansdale, but Rountree has his own voice. I thoroughly enjoyed it and rushed breathlessly through the story. I will reread it and look forward to see what comes next from the author.

About the Author: Josh Rountree has published more than sixty stories in a wide variety of magazines and anthologies, including Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Realms of Fantasy, The Deadlands, Bourbon Penn, PseudoPod, PodCastle, Daily Science Fiction, and A Punk Rock Future. Several of his stories have received honorable mentions in The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: Seventeenth and Twenty-First Annual Collections, as well as The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection. His latest short fiction collection is Fantastic Americana: Stories from Fairwood Press. Josh lives somewhere in the untamed wilds of Texas with his wife and children, and he tweets about books, records, and guitars at @josh_rountree.