Line #6 Literature/JackieAndCraig


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2	%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExamples have been commented out. Please do not uncomment them without adding context (explaining how they are examples)
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5	[[quoteright:328:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/b088n4xytg01_sclzzzzzzz_sx500.jpg]]
6	[[caption-width-right:328:"Wherever we go, Hell seems to follow."]]
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8	''Jackie and Craig'' is a Young Adult Horror/[[UrbanFantasy Urban Fantasy]] novel by [[Creator/KentJStarrett Kent J. Starrett]], published on Devil's Eve of 2017. The story follows the [[RebelliousSpirit hell-raising tomboy]] Jacqueline Parker and the [[NervousWreck perpetually terrified]] Craig Steiger, two [[OddFriendship grossly mismatched]] [[KidHero sixth-grade friends]] who discover that [[TownWithADarkSecret bizarre creatures emerge during the night]] in their hometown. Taking it upon themselves to clear Shadow Creek of its unholy infestation, Jackie and Craig set about creating an arsenal of [[ImprovisedWeapon improvised weaponry]] to slaughter their way through the hordes of [[OurMonstersAreWeird progressively trippier and trippier "abominations"]] as they try to win friends to help in their lone stand against the increasingly oppressive otherworldly onslaught. It was followed by a sequel two years later, ''[[Literature/TheRiseAndFallOfTheSkyValleyCult Teenage Wastelands: The Rise and Fall of the Sky Valley Cult]]'', which [[GenreShift took a different direction]] and focused on the surviving characters facing [[TeenageWasteland a compound full of savage, warmongering psychic teenagers]].
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11	!!This novel provides examples of:
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13	* TheNineties: Takes place sometime in the late spring/early summer of 1997.
14	* AerithAndBob: Jackie, Craig, Amy and Will are stuck slumming it with Talon, Screech and Fang for the middle third of the novel.
15	* AbhorrentAdmirer: Fang is implied to have a [[StalkerWithACrush creepy crush]] on Craig, though it's not dwelled upon for very long.
16	* AdmiringTheAbomination: Jackie's a bit taken with the creatures, at first.
17	* AlienBlood: Creatures bleed black, grey, translucent, ''electrical sparks,'' and (in one case) flammable fuel of some kind, presumably to prevent the book from traumatizing its target preteen audience. Whether this is more or less traumatizing, well...you be the judge.
18	%%* AmbiguouslyJewish: Craig.
19	%%* AnimalisticAbomination: The Chupacabras, Mothmen, and Tharrochs.
20	%%* AntiRoleModel: Jackie. Also Craig, to a lesser extent.
21	* AnAesop: Life is full of tragedy, which is just what makes the few bright spots so much more precious. Also, in the face of the universe's cold, senseless indifference, we must cherish our few connections with others and accept them for their flaws.
22	* ArcWords: "They're just flesh and blood, like we are. Just flesh and blood." Variants on 'Flesh and Blood' show up throughout the book, after a Chapter titled as such.
23	* BlackAndGrayMorality: How the Maraw Sorceresses view Jackie and Craig against Jykunne's Horde, since Jackie and Craig are at least from the same species as they are. [[FantasticRacism It doesn't stop them from referring to Jackie and Craig as "animals," "beasts" or "meat," however.]] Alternately...
24	* BlackComedyCannibalism: The [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot Cannibalistic Teenage Witches]] Talon, Screech and Fang maintain their immortality through [[ImAHumanitarian humanitarian]] means.
25	* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Jykunne briefly explains his motivations, telepathically. [[MindRape Craig says it hurts to think about.]]
26	* BookDumb: Craig gets straight C's, as the stresses of the bullying he endures takes too much of his energy for him to do well in school. Contrast with Jackie, who is implied to be BrilliantButLazy.
27	* BodyHorror: [[spoiler:The Omnisarcos, Jykunne's all-devouring amoebic mass of mangled corpses.]] Also the revolting, semi-sentient parachildren.
28	%%* TheBully: Travis Bach, though as the book goes on he's revealed to have HiddenDepths.
29	%%* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:Jackie's Inhaler.]]
30	%%* ChildhoodFriendRomance: the titular characters.
31	%%* {{Chupacabra}}: The first creature Jackie and Craig encounter.
32	%%* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Amy Black.
33	%%* CosmicPlaything: Jackie and Craig, both literally and figuratively.
34	* CrapsackWorld: Rampant bullying, idiot adults, wild monsters, obscene Lovecraftian deities and a shadowy secret society dedicated to hushing it all up. Life is hard, man.
35	* CreepyChild: Craig recalls one of the children in ''Film/VillageOfTheDamned1960''. He attributes this to why people hate and avoid him, although [[NightmareFetishist Jackie likes it enough to drag him along on all her mischievous escapades.]]
36	%%* DeadpanSnarker: The titular characters - Jackie maybe slightly more.
37	* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Late-90's homophobia shows up here and there, as do words like "retard" and other now very unacceptable terms.
38	* DisappearedDad: Craig's dad vanished when he was ten. It's implied he abandoned them because of something "wrong" with Craig, though what exactly he didn't like is never made clear.
39	* DysfunctionJunction: Jackie's parents are dead, Craig's mom works all the time, and all the other potential moral guardians are very amoral and do very little guarding.
40	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Compared to the rest of the [[Franchise/TeenageWastelands Franchise,]] this one is markedly different. This is a quirky, coming-of-age horror/comedy and the rest of the franchise is a DieselPunk UrbanFantasy about gangs of feral (sometimes supernaturally powerful) children at war with an insidious secret society. It extends even to the style - ''Jackie and Craig'' is all from Craig's perspective and ''Literature/TheRiseAndFallOfTheSkyValleyCult'' hops point-of-view to reveal more of the setting and history. Nothing about Jackie And Craig implies the world it takes place in is anything other than TheNineties with cryptids running around, while the AlternateHistory aspects of ''Sky Valley'' are completely integral to the plotline.
41	%%* EldritchAbomination: Jykunne, the 'God' of the monstrosities that have been tormenting Jackie and Craig.
42	%%* EvilSorceress: The Maraw: Talon, Screech and Fang.
43	%%* TheFairFolk: Called 'Parachildren' here, though Will identifies them as the source of Fairy lore. [[OrganicTechnology Also, biomechanical.]]
44	* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: Monsters are disemboweled, decapitated, dismembered, skull-split, set ablaze and dissected. But they're not human, and they bleed black or green, so the effect is lessened...somewhat.
45	* FreeRangeChildren: Parents seem almost nonexistent in this world.
46	* {{Foreshadowing}}: [[spoiler:Jackie's constantly 'blasting' off her inhaler, and an asthma attack is ultimately what kills her in the end.]]
47	%%* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Craig is Melancholic, Jackie's Choleric, Will is Sanguine and Amy is Phlegmatic.
48	* FramingDevice: A [[AuthorAvatar fictionalized Kent John Starrett]] frames the story as having been something Craig actually recounted to him, hence the colloquial language the book is told in.
49	* GreyAndGreyMorality: Humans vs. Monsters for territory and mere survival. There's really not much outside of biology to seperate the two, and Will makes a point of the irony of this.
50	* HellishPupils: Chupacabras have red eyeshine, while Parachildren have white ones.
51	%%* HollywoodSatanism: While Satan is never actually referenced, most of the magic in the book resembles either this or HollywoodVoodoo.
52	%%* HumanoidAbomination: Stickman, Fleshgaits, the Parachildren, and to some degree Jykunne himself.
53	%%* JerkAss: Jackie Parker, to literally everyone. [[AmazonChaser Craig takes it as good-natured ribbing.]]
54	* LockAndLoadMontage: Chapter Five, "Preparing For War," is this for Jackie and Craig, as is "Syzygy" for the friend group in general.
55	%%* LovecraftLite
56	* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: Jackie listens to hard rock and heavy metal, steals and swears like a sailor, while Craig is terribly sensitive, quiet and (when he does talk) nervously soft-spoken.
57	%%* MechanicalAbomination: The Parachildren.
58	* TheMenInBlack: The S.S.C., a shadowy organization that suppresses the truth about paranormal phenomena worldwide.
59	* MoodWhiplash: Goes from standard SliceOfLife in the 90's to LovecraftLite in literally the first page of Chapter Four.
60	* OnlyAFleshWound: Jackie, Craig, and various other characters get seriously slashed up for a book that's nominally for preteens and young adults.
61	* OurCryptidsAreMoreMysterious: Most of the creatures are pulled from Urban Legends. Chupacabras, Mothmen, a Slenderman {{Expy}} and Rods all show up at one point or another.
62	* PerkyGoth: Jackie's pretty vicious, but a bit energetic and affectionate to Craig all things considered.
63	* PeriodPiece: The 90's Nostalgia is laid on pretty thick.
64	* PoliticalOvercorrectness: The very first scene has an elderly woman sending Craig into a panic attack because [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking she screamed at him for using the Lord's name in vain]].
65	%%* PrettyBoy: It's implied that Jacqueline sees Craig this way. Fang seems to as well.
66	%%* RavenHairIvorySkin: Jackie Parker.
67	%%* SarcasmBlind: Amy Black, though this is due to the Autism.
68	* ShoutOut: ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'', ''Franchise/SpyroTheDragon'', a whole slew of 90's cartoons and various grunge bands and classic rappers all get the first-name treatment.
69	%%* StrangeSyntaxSpeaker: Fang. To a lesser degree, Amy.
70	%%* SuperPersistentPredator: Literally everything in the JAC universe.
71	* ThemeSong: Jackie's favorite song is "Bitch" by Meredith Brooks. She dances to it at one point.
72	* TomeOfEldritchLore: Talon's Diary, which she keeps chained to her wrist. A combination of a teenage girl's SecretDiary and a record of unholy black magic and mad science experiments, it's pink has a heart drawn around the Necronomicon Sigil on the front. Craig gets a glimpse of the inside and sees [[BreadMilkEggsSquick crude diagrams of people vivisected in human sacrifice.]]
73	%%* TookALevelInBadass: Craig, by the book's third act.
74	* TotallyRadical: Jackie speaks in a constant stream of stoner/skater slang.
75	* UpliftedAnimal: Some of the creatures are sentient, to varying degrees. Though we see very little of it, it is implied some of them have native cultures and are slave races to Jykunne.
76	* VainSorceress: Talon, Screech and Fang [[NightmareFetishist take great pride in their discolored skin, jagged teeth and wild hair.]]
77	%%* WorldOfWeirdness
78	* YouShouldHaveDiedInstead: [[spoiler:Craig feels this way about himself by the end of the story.]]

Context Literature / JackieAndCraig