Crystal Lake is honored to welcome Jamal Hodge!
Jamal Hodge is a native New Yorker, an award-winning filmmaker, writer, and poet. A member of the HWA and SFPA, he’s a Bram Stoker Award Finalist, a two-time Rhysling nominee, and a 2nd place Dwarf Stars, and 3rd place Elgin award winner, author of The Dark Between the Twilight, Everything Endless (with Linda D. Addison) and editor of Bestiary of Blood: Modern Fables & Dark Tales.
Jamal loves the broken things that want to be understood and the secret things that never bothered to hide. With his writing, he hopes to uncover the paradox between suffering and meaning, to use darkness to show light.
When he’s not writing or filming, Jamal is traveling to odd locales, connecting with the youth, or bludgeoning an unsuspecting ear with endless philosophical dribble.
He fancies himself a pretty cool guy.
Crystal Lake will be publishing I’m Not a Good Person, I’m A New Yorker in 2026. See below what Jamal says about this new poetry collection.
I’m Not a Good Person, I’m A New Yorker is my toxic love letter to this beautiful bitch of a City called New York. A place that creates and destroys in equal measure. This isn’t just a collection of poetry; it’s a memoir etched in scars, chronicling the spiritual, mental, and physical battles of growing up in a city that shaped me, broke me, and rebuilt me.
New York City is the world’s greatest city, despite its relentless efforts to prove otherwise. It’s capitalism’s Garden of Eden, rooted in historical savagery and sanctified by the endless hopes and dreams of its diverse inhabitants. Here, hope is a blind giggling lunatic. We walk forward with our eyes locked on the future, hearts on our sleeves, daring adversity to stop us.
The people at the heart of the world.
The bridge between kindness and cruelty, chaos and community. We’ll stop to help you find directions even when we don’t care about you. We’ll step over your dead body, even when we do.
Told in a unique blend of horror, fantasy, and concrete reality, I’m Not a Good Person; I’m A New Yorker is a poetic mixtape of a Metropolis’ native son. It’s a love letter and a scream, paradise and prison, my life, my city, and my truth all in the same breath.
For more, visit www.writerhodge.com