Mouth by Joshua Hull

Mouth Reviews

• 
  thevampireslibrary

  "You got to love a hole with a personality!"
  .
  Rusty went from vagrant drifter to inheriting a house and having an extra Mouth to feed..literally.. from a man he met just once and we as a reader get to navigate that rather odd journey with him, how to describe this? A friendly creature feature horror? This wasn't what I was expecting at all but I absolutley loved it,
  Joshua has a fantastic story telling voice, there is a fluidity to the prose that sweeps you along, sharply drawn likeable characters that have charm and wit, the story is told in different POVs, and in just a few short pages Joshua has created a fully fleshed out cast that felt authentic, Rusty and Mouth made quite a cute pairing and seeing their friendship develop was rather endearing, same with Abigail and Rusty, their banter was amusing and fun, theres lots of movie references/trivia too which fellow nerds will appreciate, I'm a sucker for a serial killer in horror so loved this spooky addition to the story, ultimatley I think this was a sweet story about friendship, found family, fresh starts and that sometimes the monsters aren't necessarily who we think they are, poor Mouth, he's just a lil poor misunderstood subterranean monster 🥺 I love him! Really looking forward to reading anything this author writes in future! Highly recommend this to all my horror fans, and anyone actually, it's a cool and rather touching story!
• 
  Laurel

  Unexpected, insane and so very human. Loved this book
• 
  Llorona De Luna

  Mouth is a beautiful comedic horror story about found family, starting over, and a giant (kinda cute?) pet monster hole in the ground that I want my own of! Joshua, you are so unbelievably talented and I am so grateful that I met you! I will be passing this book around the same way I’ve been passing around my Glorious DVD! Thank you for gracing us with your story telling skills and u can’t wait to see what you get into next!
• 
  Rebecca

  Never could I have imagined that a writer could make a teethed hole in the earth sympathetic, but damn, did Joshua Hull make me fall in love with Mouth. If you’re looking for horror with heart, this is it. Very nice work.
• 
  Neil McRobert

  I was so charmed by Mouth - both the book and the toothy monstrosity for which it is named. Joshua Hull has a pedigree in genre filmmaking (Glorious) and his love for the medium shines through. This is an ode to the monster B-movies and trash cinema of the 60s to the 80s, complete with hysterical one-liners and horrid violence. It’s a breezy, delightful read that keeps you on your toes with sudden darts into darkness. I really enjoyed it. Like the hungry hole at its centre - it’s deeper than it seems.
• 
  Ben Young

  A quick and fun read, with an admirable balance between the bizarre and the heartfelt.
• 
  Jamedi

  Review originally on
  JamReads
  
  Mouth is a weird horror novella, the longform debut of the screenwriter Joshua Hill, and the first book coming from Tenebrous Press this 2024. A comedic horror story that plays with the monster theme (paying an incredible homage to B-series monsters films) and found family, seasoned with some violence, about a literal big hole in the ground.
  
  When Rusty is left a secluded property by an enigmatic stranger, he takes it as an opportunity to start from zero; however, there are some things attached to this property, including taking care of the called Mouth. What Rusty didn't expect is that Mouth is literally a sentient hole in the ground, which resembles a literal mouth; and feeding him is going to become a problem. Getting so many mice gets the attention of Abigail, the pet shop keeper, a cinema lover, that decides that following Rusty is a good idea; finding Mouth is definitely a shock for her, but also marks the start of something new for our weird characters.
  
  A story which becomes more hilarious the more we advance in it, especially after Abigail is introduced into the equation; you can also see the touches where horror cinema gets an homage, from the trashy b-series monster films to the sort of found footage that became popular as the "low budget" option. Hull's prose is really descriptive, and manages to create a really distinctive voice for the monster, humanizing it in some ways.
  
  Rusty and Abigail form an interesting pair, two weirdos that don't really fit into the society, and who find the obscure secret behind the former proprietary of Mouth; their influence in each other is probably not the best, but still leads to hilarious and gory situations. A pair that ends creating a sort of found family with Mouth.
  
  Mouth is a great debut, a hilarious novella that is perfect for those that are looking for not so serious horror that is also plagued by easter eggs; Hull has an interesting voice, worth to keep an eye on.
• 
  Mother Suspiria

  MOUTH by Joshua Hull is a toothy tale of horror, hijinks, and heart. This entertaining, affectionate love letter to movies is filled with memorable, quirky characters and is wonderfully, delightfully weird. Go get swallowed up by the story and its helpful reminder that being monstrous is a path we choose.
  
• 
  Roberto Carrasco

  Pues me he hinchado de llorar al final y eso para mí es ya un 5 estrellas.
• 
  Michael Allen Rose

  Great fun, and filled with personality and blood. I love a good, giant-mouth-in-the-ground story
• 
  Alicia Toothman

  I actually went into this book blind. I bought it because it’s horror and the cover is badass. I also wanted to support as many authors as possible at the Scarelastic Book Fair.
  
  I’m not generally a huge fan of third person writing. Frankly, third person is easy to screw up. It’s a delicate balance between monotonous narration of oblivious characters and creating an epic movie in your reader’s head.
  
  The latter is Mouth. Mouth is written in a fun, “you don’t want to miss a second of this shit!” kind of way.
  
  Joshua Hull fucking nailed it! I devoured this book like Mouth does anything close enough.
  
  I loved the characters and saw a lot of myself in Abigail. The bouncing, babbling teen hiding her trauma and pain behind a curtain of sarcasm and hyper-fixation. She and Rusty are polar opposites which make them the perfect partners in crime.
  
  Though Mouth may not be the mean, snarling, chained up dog he envisioned, he was the perfect “pet” for this odd pair.
  
  Speaking of dogs, as a Pitbull owner, I appreciated that Joshua didn’t use a Pitbull as an example of what Ol’ Rusty was anticipating Mouth to be.
  
  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
  
  While a quick read, Mouth was a great book! No fluff for the sake of length, perfectly executed, and phenomenal writing. I want to re-read it just to highlight my favorite quotes.
  
  With all that said, I’ll leave you with my favorite:
  
  “The world had in fact not eaten her like he had hoped. It had only made her stronger. Scarier.”
• 
  Carson Winter

  Fantastic novella that’s a love letter to cinema, while also being about a big, hungry hole-in-the-ground. What’s not to love?
  
  Hull’s MOUTH moves quickly, with appropriately cinematic pacing, short chapters, and vivid characters. Recommended for fans of quirky horror with heart.
• 
  Paul Preston

  “he was getting closer to a new beginning. One where the taste of failure and lies didn’t exist. Just blood and teeth in the ground.”
  
  MOUTH is a blast filled with slicing shrapnel. You stand frozen in place as you are cut up with humor, abhorrence, and even a few touching moments. Who would think that a story about a mouth living in the ground could be so deep? Joshua Hull has crafted a story that has no right to be as great as it is. (Did I mention that it is about a mouth in the ground?)
  Tenebrous has once again provided us with a gem of weird horror. You are handed what could be a repulsive rock but as you are reading you find that the rock is being cut, shaped, and cracked open. You realize this book/rock is actually a geode filled, not with shining purple crystals, but with razor sharp teeth, ready to cut you and drink you up. This book/rock is nothing like what you expected when you started, it has transformed into something awe inspiring.
  “Be the best version of yourself and everything else will fall into place. And you’ll finally be able to be who you’re meant to be.” She choked up. “A gift to the world.”
• 
  Leo Otherland

  Special thanks to Tenebrous Press for the ARC copy they provided.
  
  An ode to classic horror films from cover to cover? Oh yes, yes indeed.
  
  I walked into Mouth expecting monster horror and the unfortunate characters to die at the hands, I mean teeth, of the mouth in the ground. What I found instead was a love letter to the very best creature features and the horror genre as a whole.
  
  Did Mouth defy my expectations? Yes. Am I sorry about that? No. Mouth trashed every preconceived notion I had going into this book in the best possible way, and I have no regrets at all.
  
  Don’t get me wrong, people got dead, several living things got eaten in slow, painful, horrifying manners, but Mouth left me feeling fuzzy inside on the way out. Think of your favorite comfort horror flicks and you’ll know what I mean. (Looking at you John Carpenter’s The Thing.) The show might be scary, but the familiarity will make you feel right at home.
  
  That Mouth also makes you identify with the monster in the ground is exceptional. The first time I met the playful and excitable mouth in the ground, I hoped it’d have a happy ending. And Joshua Hull delivered on that front, right along with some blood and gore and… dental work? Yeah, that was a thing in this book, too.
  
  I don’t want to give too terribly much away (especially since I’ve spoiled the happy ending), so I’ll hold off on details, but if you’re a fan of horror, and in particular the classic, comfortable, and sometimes ridiculous films predating CGI, you’re going to love this book. Mouth has the feel of a well loved VHS tape, and if that isn’t something you want to put on your bookshelf, I don’t know what is.
• 
  Mike Ybarra

  A story that grabbed me almost from the first page- Rusty, Abigail, and titular Mouth are all so well fleshed out that they felt like friends. Chock full of movie references without overdoing it, I was constantly wondering what direction things would go next, and the ending is more satisfying than anything I could have come up with myself. Will recommend this to all of my friends!
• 
  Christopher Louderback

  Delightful! Taps into all the gooey goodness of classic horror! Think “The Blob” but with a ton of heart!
• 
  David Swisher

  It's about a giant hole in the ground with teeth and feelings. It's also about movies, friendship, and fresh starts.
  
  It's new, weird, funny, and touching. Read it.
• 
  Alan

  Drifter Rusty can't believe his luck when a chance meeting with old man Wayne leads to him inheriting Wayne's house, truck and acres of land. But he also inherits something unexpected - a whole in the ground filled with teeth named "Mouth" and the responsibility to keep it fed. When Abigail, a girl who works at the pet store where Rusty buys mice to feed Mouth, becomes curious and follows Rusty home, she discovers the secret. And has ideas of her own regarding how to satisfy Mouth's cravings.
  This story is a love letter to cinema, and not just the big hits, but the B-movies (and worse) of infamy. And while it has a distinct B-movie-like plot, it's written so much better than any cheesy knockoff flick ever was. Knowing full well what it is and what it's an homage to, Mouth is an enjoyable little trip to be taken.
• 
  Alex Ebenstein

  How dare Joshua Hull make me feel emotion about a giant hole in the ground??
  
  Quick-paced and weird, quirky and charming as all get out, MOUTH is one well worth your time.
• 
  David Washburn

  Psst, kid, hey…you wanna read something weird?
  
  Well, this is the book! Although it’s short in pages it’s a complete story that hits all of the major beats and did everything to win me over. I had no idea what to expect with a story that’s about a hole in the ground with teeth but I’m so glad it shaped up to be what it is.
  
  Rusty inherits a property but the condition that he just feed “Mouth”. Rusty is of course surprised when he finds out what Mouth is and what follows in the story is beautiful chaos and somehow heartfelt. How the hell did you pull that off Joshua Hull? Hats off to you for a magical story.
  
  Speaking of magic, Abigail talking about why movies are magical might have been my favorite part of the book because…of course movies are magic.
  
  Perfectly weird, witty, wholesomely gruesome, and leaving me with an appetite to devour more of this authors writing, similar to Mouth in this story.
• 
  Lexi Denee

  This novella was every bit as whacky as it sounds, but I absolutely adored it. I didn’t expect that a 128 page story about a sentient(?) hole in the ground would be packed with so much reflection on the human condition.
  
  Mouth is, at its core, about a mouth - but it’s also about the monsters that make us and the things that consume us. Riddled with lots of movie Easter eggs and a healthy dose of B-Movie vibes - I will be thinking about this one for a while.
  
  This novella made me laugh out loud at one point (don’t ask,) and was the perfect weird little horror book to read in one sitting. Check this one out if you like weird horror, monsters, b-movies, and zany characters!
  
  A note on ordering direct from Tenebrous Press - they include digital copies with all of their physical books and their packaging is impeccable! Mouth was my March preorder (even though I ordered it at 11:55pm the day before it released) and so far I have stuck with not buying any books besides preorders this year.
  
• 
  Rick Brose

  Mouth was a lot of fun. It is an interesting and original concept. The writing felt a little unrefined, but it works for the story being told. I enjoyed the characters and the setting. It was fun to imagine the different events, especially the flossing scene. The length and pace of this novella really works in its favor. There is not a lot of filler and it is over before you even know it. I read it in a single sitting and enjoyed it a lot. I would definitely read more from Hull in the future. Another win from Tenebrous Press!
• 
  ItsMeBobbyC

  A fun short story about a found family with teeth and a rumbly tummy. A little love letter to horror and b-films. Troma with heart.
  
  No notes
  ‘Nough said.
• 
  W.T.H.

  We all have cavities inside of us. We've spent the entirety of our lives seeding, cultivating, and trudging through their dark, sticky masses as they attach themselves to everything we attempt and every act we manage to accomplish. It's easy to get pulled under by own bullshit, it's easy to look backward and assign blame...but deep inside those yawning crevasses we know there was a point, no matter how brief, that we were at a crossroads with a clear choice in front of us: shall we continue along this downward path or give life one more chance to surprise us?
  
  In Joshua Hull's MOUTH, we're placed squarely at one of these crossroads with our protagonist, Rusty. There is no fanfare. There is no overwhelming info dump. There's just Rusty, standing alone at the edge of an old driveway beside a grungy old mailbox trying to make heads or tails of this strange predicament he's found himself in: he is suddenly the owner and caretaker of an old home, the sprawling property it sits on, and the resident, sentient hole in the ground that resides there.
  
  This hole's name is MOUTH.
  
  We're asked from the opening pages to stand on the cusp of this gaping, heavily toothed hole in the middle of an overgrown field and participate in conversations, conspiracies, an existential crisis (or two) and, of course, multiple, gruesome feedings.
  
  Joshua warns the reader so early (in his dedication) that by the time he pulls it off with such meticulous beauty you've already forgotten his words: "For everyone who has been chewed up by their passion, their love, and their mistakes."
  
  That's likely all of us (his readers) and it's most definitely the case for the characters in this emotional gut punch of a story. He hits these notes so incredibly well that when the end comes, you find out all at once how emotionally invested you've become.
  
  Avoiding spoilers of any kind, I'm skipping over so much depth and nuance in Hull's writing but if you want more context, think late night (all night) horror hosted reruns. Think long, lazy weekend matinees and Roger Corman marathons. Think about a lifetime dedicated to the horror genre and what kind of life has to be lived in order to have the cavities in your life filled by a sentient hole in the ground. And then ask yourself who exactly deserves to be left to fill up the cavities in MOUTH.
• 
  Josh

  The jacket copy for Joshua Hull’s novella, Mouth, really tells you everything you need to know plot-wise: a drifter inherits a house, complete with property, truck, and a sentient hole in the ground lined with teeth. Rusty isn’t a character with many resources–physical or mental– but he has a fairly attuned sense of right and wrong. So when he learns that he’s become caretaker to a carnivorous monster, he is, shall we say, troubled.
  
  Abigail, his teenage runaway sidekick, is considerable less troubled by ethical concerns, and she sees Mouth as a way, at first, to clean up the local trash, and later, to expiate past sins and start again.
  
  None of this makes a ton of logical sense, but there’s little about Mouth that asks to be engaged with at a rational level. It’s pure B-Movie trash elevated by a core of human emotion. It’s hokey horror with heart.
  
  It also takes some time to investigate just what we mean by the term “Monster,” riffing on Frankenstein, Jekyll and Hyde, The Blob, and a whole host of filmic and literary antecedents, the upshot being that the real monsters are human, and sometimes they’re us. It’s not a particularly new observation, but it does allow for signs of character growth in a story that has only so much space for such concerns.
  
  That might sound like a gripe, but Mouth is exactly what it means to be: goofy, lighthearted, sometimes gross, and unapologetically sentimental. There’s a late-show glee to the proceedings that’s infectious, and if Rusty and Abigail aren’t exactly well-rounded characters, they are certainly well-drawn types, moving the action forward and building toward a feel-good conclusion that’s pretty effective.
• 
  Justin VanDuyvenvoorde

  Maybe two and a half stars?
  
  Short stories and novellas seem to not to be my thing because I find by the time you're really getting into the thick of it all, it's over and I'm left unfulfilled! This was no different as I felt that the ending of Abigail's plot line a little abrupt and jarring, and there were definitely some things that might have hit harder had there been more context.
  
  And while the writing definitely wasn't the book's strong suit, they're was some imagery that definitely sticks with you.
  
  Overall a neat little story that feels like it would have an easy transition into slick 90 minute flick or episode of a horror anthology show.
• 
  ☠Arianne Reads Horror ☠

  "...have the Mouth POV chapters; as a non-speaking character he still has thoughts, feels, and tries to communicate. Is it believable that a stranger would just walk in, find a endless hole with teeth that can communicate and just kind deal with it ? Probably not. But it works so well, and it’s so well written that even though this is an unbelievable story, it didn’t feel like it. I loved the idea of Mouth and the journey Abigail and Rusty take to find out his “origins”, which leads them all beyond their pasts. I’d genuinely love to read more stories about Mouth, perhaps a true origin on how and what he is, or even a continuation if possible. I feel kind of attached to a hole in the ground with endless rows of teeth, and I’m not afraid to admit it."
  
  
  Full review on:
  https://www.deafsparrow.com/2024/03/2...
• 
  Matt

  This was rad as hell!!! A mouth full of teeth in the ground, a horror movie obsessed girl, a Rusty, and an old b-movie director, what's not to love? Joshua has a killer style with his prose, and he moves you right a long this story of new beginnings and strangeness.
• 
  Steve Stred

  *Huge thanks to Tenebrous Press for the digital ARC!**
  
  Over the last number of years, I’ve come to expect brilliantly written books from Tenebrous with fairly insane concepts. Look at ‘House of Rot,’ ‘The Black Lord,’ and ‘One Hand to Hold One Hand to Carve,’ just to name a few.
  
  When ‘Mouth’ was announced, I was immediately intrigued by one specific phrase – “…drifter Rusty finds himself the caretaker of a massive, tooth-filled mouth in the ground…and it’s hungry.”
  
  WHHHHAAAAAATTT.
  
  Sign me up! I love books centered around strangeness in woods, and this one looked to be a perfect fit of that bill!
  
  What I liked: On it’s surface, ‘Mouth’ seems like a very simple, straight-forward story. Rusty is living his life on the road, struggling to connect anywhere, but also not wanting to connect or set down roots. Then, randomly, he meets a stranger at a shop, they have a meal together and to his surprise, this man, gives him his property. He’s tired and wants to move on. Only caveat, is Rusty needs to take care (and feed) Mouth. At first, Rusty things Mouth must be a dog, but soon, he discovers that Mouth is not a dog, but a giant, massive, tooth-filled hole in the ground that loves mice and can somehow communicate with Rusty.
  
  From there, Hull delivers a multi-layered story of friendship, connection, relationships and coming together to get vengeance on those who deserve it. We get Abigail, a nineteen-year-old horror fanatic who has been on the run since her abusive step dad went too far. We see her and Rusty connect as well as how her, Rusty and Mouth form one of the most surprising trio’s of friends you’ll ever come across.
  
  The POV chapters from Mouth were really amazing. What could’ve been corny, Hull deftly used to show how this sentient ‘thing’ comes to understand who Rusty and Abigail are and that they’re all there together, to help each other and take away each other’s pain.
  
  The ending offers up a poignant take on these three companions, but also that Abigail may work towards showing the wider world that appearances can often mask the true nature of one’s heart and it’s that powerful metaphor that weaves its way throughout this novella that stood head and shoulders above everything else.
  
  What I didn’t like: I personally LOVE novellas. Love writing them and love reading them, but in this case, I really do wish we got a smidgeon more in terms of story length, purely to learn a bit more about Mouth’s evolution. Abigail mentions it very briefly when comparing videos of Mouth, but I’d have loved to learn a bit more about the ‘why,’ but sometimes filling in those dots can make it all that more powerful.
  
  Why you should buy this: Another home run for Tenebrous, this reminded me of the awe and the intrigue I felt while reading Andrew J. Stone’s amazing ‘All Hail the House Gods.’ You’ll instantly connect with Rusty, Abigail and you’ll desperately want to experience more and more story with Mouth.
  
  Hull’s writing was propulsive, the story phenomenal and overall, this seemingly simple read was anything but. Stunning.