Alligator Zoo-Park Magic: A Novel

Is Jeffers an Alligator Zoo-Park Magician or The Messiah?

Two friends live unapologetically on the edge of poverty in the rugged, un-decorous part of the South. Jimmy, a single father with an addict ex, and Jeffers, a magician whose tricks are closer to miracles—both are immersed in a place where trailers and Hot Pockets dominate the landscape, and alligators roam free. When Jimmy witnesses “losing” his best friend to his biggest trick gone awry, he reflects on their lifelong friendship and what it really means to escape.

Trade Paperback // 272 Pages // $15.95

Order today

(We suggest ordering through your local bookstore. Click the IndieBound logo below to find your local store).

If you’re in Jacksonville, find your copy at San Marco Books & More, BookMark in Neptune Beach and Chamblin’s (Uptown & Bookmine).

You can also purchase it directly through the publisher (that’s us) by clicking the Bridge Eight logo below.

“Magic, Myth & Beasts of the South”

Come out to for a unique reading and discussion of the magic, myth and beasts of the South. Wherever you meet Hooks on the trip, it is sure to be entertaining.

Past Events

More book tour info and dates are being added daily. Follow @bridgeeightpress on Twitter or Instagram to follow the tour. If you’d like to host C.H. Hooks in your town, we’d love to hear from you. Please email jared@bridgeeight.com.

About the Author

C.H. HOOKS has been published in print and online publications, including American Short Fiction (Bourbon & Milk) and Burrowpress (Fantastic Floridas). He was a Contributor at Sewanee Writers’ Conference, attended DISQUIET: Dzanc Books International Literary Program, and was a Reader for the 2017 & 2018 DISQUIET Literary Prize. He received his MFA from the University of Tampa, and is a Lecturer at the College of Coastal Georgia.

Advance Praise for AZPM

“I’ve died and been born anew! C.H. Hooks is a damned wizard, and Alligator Zoo-Park Magic is a holy hell of a book. The story lands on you like a tongue of fire, like the spirit of creation, like a Hot Pocket full of God and magic. This book makes me feel good and alive.”

– Harrison Scott Key, author of Congratulations, Who Are You Again? and The World’s Largest Man

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“C.H. Hooks’ mesmerizing novel, Alligator Zoo-Park Magic, hovers in the boundaries between city boys and country boys, businessmen and truck drivers, a van named NAILR and a radiator-busting deer drinking beer. The world is both nature untamed and twisted in a theme park of mermaids and crispy-fried reptile bites. Yet, Hooks does so much more than create a new spin on the mystical, mythical South. This fascinating debut delves into the true nature of the heart: everyone’s need to belong to someone, to someplace, and, most importantly, to oneself.”

– Erica Dawson, author of When Rap Spoke Straight to God

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“AZPM is in the best tradition of Southern literature – it’s fast and funny, dark and desperate. The characters here are recognizable in their longing and confusion. Hooks captures the spirit of a culture that is exploitative and oppressive, but also beautiful and full of potential miracles. Here is a new voice from an old place, one that captures the echoes of history but also looks forward to uncharted futures, all while asking the reader to look inward, to see the beauty in the flawed, rough edges of their own humanity.”

– Shane Hinton, author of Pinkies editor of We Can’t Help if We’re From Florida

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“There are times when the words I find to describe my own admiration for a work of art surprise me profoundly. Alligator Zoo-Park Magic elicited just such a response. Holy cow, I thought as I reached the final page of this tremendous novel, this book knocked my socks off. I don’t ordinarily go around having my socks knocked off. It’s not my style. But Alligator Zoo-Park Magic is such a book. From the first pages, it’s downright hilarious. And it does not let up. It’s also tender, profound, deeply strange, and entirely relatable. Mr. Hooks has produced a magic show of the highest order.”

– Jensen Beach, author of Swallowed by the Cold

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“If you’re anything like me and you grew up fantasizing about your next trip to Gatorland and fearing the ever-present possibility of a water moccasin under your bed, the visions contained in Chris Hooks’ Alligator Zoo Park Magic are sure to haunt your dreams. Hooks capably shows us that neither the reptiles nor even the bugs are the lowest forms of life in Florida. That honor is held by a more highly evolved beast. Yet what makes this novel go is the narrator’s genuinely tender love and admiration for his Houdini-wannabe friend, who may or may not get swallowed whole by a massive gator named Lazarus in the opening chapter. Draw a direct line from Larry Brown and Harry Crews to Chris Hooks.“

– Jeff Parker, author of Ovenman

For Booksellers

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