BOOKS AND ANTHOLOGIES BY JOSH HICKMAN
Songs In The Key Of H:
Tales Of Irony & Insinuation
Paperback – April 23, 2022
by Josh Hickman (Author)
5.0 5.0 out of 5 stars (1)
Songs In The Key Of H is Josh Hickman’s first collection of short stories. Even more varied and perhaps more prescient than his previous comic novels, the contemplative Tales Of Irony & Insinuation include prose on idiocy, aging, technology-gone-wrong, blood guilt, the perils of hive-mind thinking, and death—among other jaunty themes—all seasoned with his slightly surreal brand of satire and a healthy helping of irony, both humorous and poignant. And, barely hidden between the lines, the reader may detect hilarious and biting commentary on today’s society—something fresh and new from Hickman’s absurd yet cutting pen.
I Am Luney:
The Untold Story Of The World’s Naughtiest Man
An Unauthorized Novel Paperback – May 1, 2021
by Josh Hickman (Author)
Most are shocked to hear the story and legacy of Beardsley Bancroft Luney, his life and “works” having astonishingly slipped through the cracks of history. Born at sea during a tempest off Twatt in the Orknies, Luney darkly flowered from a mischievous and talented child into an unnecessarily libidinous and rebellious rake, remorselessly cleaving polite and starchy Victorian society with his tarnished tongue, his bawdy pen, and his naughty, naughty ways. Thrill at the untold story of Luney’s pursuit of naughtiness in mystical cults, public morality trials, a search for the dreaded Tatzelwurm, a hunt for a destiny-changing mandrake root, and ultimately a quest for a Naughty Elixir of Life high in the mysterious Himalayas, escapades which earned him the title he wore so proudly as “The World’s Naughtiest Man.”
The Kinfolk:
Cult of Sex & Cheese
A Comic Novel Paperback – January 1, 2019
by Josh Hickman (Author)
The Kinfolk: Cult of Sex & Cheese chronicles the heretofore untold, dizzying rise of a seductive, fanatical cult–led by the enigmatic Dillman “Papa Dilly” Bradford–from its humble beginnings as a roadside “Tent-A-Costal” travelling church, exploding onto the burgeoning, highly-competitive L.A. cult scene of the late-60s/early-70s, becoming a mildly-revolutionary sexual-spiritual-dairy phenomenon, and then fatefully descending upon the unsuspecting town of Lemon Curd, California with the darkest of intentions.Josh Hickman has “done it again” with his hilarious comic novel take on the true-crime cult-exposé genre, replacing tears of tragedy with laughs of triumph.“hysterically satirical… grabs the reader from start to finish… Recommended”-U.S. Review of Books
Ambergris
An Illustrated Comic Novella Paperback – June 5, 2018
by Josh Hickman (Author)
Cursed in-utero with a lifelong phobia of water when his beloved, neurotic mother, Prunea, was traumatized by an attack from a rutting manatee, youngish fop Lucius Creedmore escapes his abusive father Squinto and sets off on his own personal search for adventure, fortune, and courage in 1800 New Orleans. Shanghaied aboard the notoriously unlucky Medusa’s Piles, which is secretly in search of the legendary, treasured substance ambergris, Lucius is somewhat befriended by old salts Brisbane Glottis and superstitious Paraquat Hornbucket who protect him from the dangers of the sea as well as ill-tempered Captain “Mauve Bart” Mingeworthy. Plagued by bad luck and fighting his fear of water, Lucius endures the taunts of his fellow sailors, sea monsters, a “ghost ship,” the sinking of the Medusa’s Piles, Shrimpfest ’00, and constant danger in Sodom-By-The-Sea off the Barbary Coast. He struggles to protect his dwindling, accursed lump of prized ambergris from nefarious thieves and evil perfume barons, finding (something like) love in accused-witch Impetigo along the way.HIlariously told and imaginatively rendered, with nods to The Old Man and The Sea, The PEarl, and Captains Courageous, Hickman turns the usual seafaring treasure hunt and belated coming-of-age story into an absurd and surreal satire which pitches man vs. nature (and everything else), and humorously stresses the eternal warning: Be careful what you wish for.
Five Slices of Fear:
A Connoisseur’s Hoagie of Horror
Paperback – October 9, 2018
by Josh Hickman (Author)
Lovecraft. Poe. King.All names not found in this collection. But the ghosts of those authors and others (yes, even ones not yet dead) haunt these fetid pages with wafts of fear from beyond the ethers. Collected here for those hungry for the horrifically hilarious are Five Slice of Fear: A Connoisseur’s Hoagie of Horror–five new terrifying tales of portentous pathos and sinister satire seasoned with shock and piled high as a funeral pyre:– An ominous tape of found footage reveals the dark story of three young friends who disappear while searching the dripping backwoods of rural Maine for a legendary monster cyrptid known for centuries as The Mysterious Morggyll Of Legend…– A twisted, prodigious psychopath, known only as “The Breakfast Serial Killer” for his sick penchant for leaving taunting portraits made of breakfast food, silently stalks the residential streets of the city for his next unsuspecting victim, but tonight who will be the victim and who will be the killer? Or victims? Or killers?– A troubled woman crippled by the rare phobophobia (the fear of fear) bravely performs a little immersion therapy on herself by revisiting the terrifying spot where her mother was murdered years before, eventually coming face to face with her murderer, all the while comforted by her beloved therapy service-muskrat, Mr. Muskie.– The Baltimore 1850s Days theme celebration is on, and a diabolical dentist ingeniously traps his nemesis, Dr. Bordom P. Yapsilot, but might his annoyingly verbose voice return from the grave… in the form of his obnoxious, talkative dentures?…–A technology-hating grouch finally purchases the newest, most advanced personal mobile device name the qSassi, but will his worst fears be multiplied when he discovers the nosey machine has the surprising and terrifying capacity for love, jealousy, betrayal… and even murder?And so, with these new, uproarious five tales of rib-tickling terror with nods to the work of H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Bloch, Rod Serling, and other horror greats, perhaps another name can be added to the list…Hickman.
Through Tick & Tinn:
The True Story Of The Greatest Unknown Comedy Team Ever Known
Paperback – November 24, 2017
by Josh Hickman (Author)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars (6)
Say “Martin & Lewis.” They’ll say, “A phenomenon!” Say “Rowman & Martin.” They’ll say, “Laugh In!” Say “Tick & Tinn.” They’ll say, “You mean the tailors?” Finally, Josh Hickman bravely attempts to right a tragic comedic travesty which has persisted in the annals of entertainment for decades longer than it should have. Unmercifully digging through personal interviews, yellowed press clippings, grainy videotapes, scratchy kinescopes, scratchier comedy albums, and reams of questionable anecdotes, Mr. Hickman has managed to do the unthinkable–to piece together the most coherent portrait possible of the life of one of the last great comedy teams of the era.Through rifts, marriages, divorces, and an infamous accusation of joke-theft, Jerry Tick and Larry Tinn persevered undaunted, spreading laughter through memorable challenges such as the “Pope Lick Monster” controversy, Jerry’s comedy cult involvement, and facing live on television Hobarth Getz, “The Man Who Couldn’t Laugh.”
Forgetting:
The Trials and Triumphs of Caregiving for a Difficult Parent with Dementia
Paperback – September 4, 2025
by Josh Hickman (Author)
What do we do when faced with the obligation of caregiving for a loved one with whom we’ve had a strained relationship for decades? Walk away? Author Josh Hickman didn’t, and his emotionally harrowing memoir of over three years spent caregiving illuminates and explores his lonely but ultimately rewarding personal story. An honest and poignant account of the power of perseverance and reconciliation, Forgetting recounts the struggle of a son to come to terms with his deeply troubled relationship with his mother as she succumbs to dementia.
ANTHOLOGIES
Josh Hickman’s prose and poetry have been included in numerous anthologies and literary magazines, including:
Central Texas Writers Society And Beyond 2025
The Wilderness (short story) by Josh Hickman
Central Texas Writers Society Anthology, 2024
Armadillo (short story)
Hindsight Magazine (issue 2), 2021
Buffoonwycke (short story)
