J David Osborne

Fiction from Oklahoma

Clean delivery. Weird cargo. Stories of working people encountering the genuinely strange. Four-hour journeys meant to pull you away from everything else.

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The Work

Novels and novellas. Each one a complete journey. Read them in order or jump in anywhere.

Berserker Club
Available

Berserker Club

Novella • 34,000 words

Tucked deep in the back country of southwestern Oklahoma, a misfit militia of separatists combine folk magic and firepower to build a resistance against the state. When their camp is raided by skinheads intent on stealing their weapons cache, loyalties collapse, and one bad decision will set off a war between the spirits of the land and the mutant monsters these people have become.

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Gods Fare No Better
Available

Gods Fare No Better

Novel • 128,000 words

In the neon wreckage of Cyclone City, a reluctant killer is pulled back into a war between spirit and machine. As reality begins to unravel, Kentaro must survive factions fighting to rewrite the world itself—one ideology, one corpse, one divine circuit at a time.

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Black Gum
Available

Black Gum

Novel

After his life spirals out of control, a young man navigates a world of juggalos, transients, and petty criminals with Shane, an enigmatic small-time drug dealer with a penchant for body modification.

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Low Down Death Right Easy
Available

Low Down Death Right Easy

Novel

A gruesome discovery beneath the waters of their favorite fishing hole sends the lives of two brothers into a tailspin. Torn by cowardice and conscience, the men make a fateful decision which will bring them ever-closer to Danny Ames-a vicious enforcer for the local meth trade.

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By the Time We Leave Here, We'll Be Friends
Available

By the Time We Leave Here, We'll Be Friends

Novel

Siberia, 1953. A man must escape from a gulag before he is murdered by the guards. Enlisting the aid of an aging friend, a cold-blooded killer, and a beautiful, murderous nurse, Karriker must now secure his getaway by finding a "calf": a gullible prisoner to be cannibalized when the tundra is at its most barren.

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About

Oklahoma: Heartland, USA

I write fiction rooted in Oklahoma. With every book, I aim to improve the quality of the story, with the goal of serving readers looking for weird stories they can disappear into for hours.

I'm currently working on two projects. The first is "Budget Hitman" with Kelby Losack. It's the story of a down-on-his-luck guy who accidentally kills the world's greatest assassin, and finds a whole world of killers coming down on him. I'm also working on a series inspired by one of my favorite shows, "The X-Files."

Every book I write is a complete journey—usually 30,000 to 50,000 words meant to be consumed in one or two sittings. The stories involve working people, lean toward the mystical and strange, and take Story seriously as something alive that demands service.

I view writing well-crafted books as an important service to pull people away from low-quality content. Clean delivery, weird cargo.

— J David Osborne

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Stories to Tell