Influences on and examples of Bizzaro Fiction (pt.2)
Explore key influences and standout examples of Bizarro Fiction in this deep dive. Discover surreal, absurd, and wildly imaginative books that define this cult genre.
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The Bizarro Starter Kit
by Carlton Mellick
Features short novels and story collections by ten of the leading authors in the bizarro genre.
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Toxicology
by Steve Aylett
Some stories in this new collection take place in Beerlight, the city of heroic criminals and villainous cops Steve Aylett introduced in Slaughtermatic. Others are set in unique worlds, creations of Aylett's twisted vision and sardonic sense of humor. "If Armstrong Was Interesting" is a series of scenarios imagining how the American hero might have jazzed up his voyage to the moon. In "Gigantic," corpses rain from the sky as payback for the massacres of our century.
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Razor Wire Pubic Hair
by Carlton Mellick, III
The surreal tale of a multi-gendered screwing toy purchased by a razor dominatrix and brought into her nightmarish world of bizarre sex and mutilation.
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Extinction Journals
by Jeremy Robert Johnson
"You can survive a nuclear blast. All you need is some luck, and maybe a customized business suit coated in cockroaches. It could work. At least that's what Dean believed before the bombs actually dropped and his suit led him to murder a very important man at the foot of a blackened obelisk. Now D.C. is looking awfully empty. Life on Earth is pretty much coming to an end. All of which leaves Dean with a single question-"What now?" The answer to that question will take him on an uncanny voyage across a newly nuclear America where he must confront the problems associated with loneliness, radiation, love, and an ever-evolving cockroach suit with a mind of its own. Dean's bizarre adventures mark the last chronicle of human existence, the final entries in our species' own ..."--Publisher description
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The Greatest Fucking Moment in Sports
by Kevin L. Donihe
Oscar Legbo is the 7-time winner of the Tour de Saucisse-Dommages, but lately he's been under stress. Having survived the Ebola virus and witnessed the death of his coach in the same 365-day period, he must now withstand the taunts and insults of riders who don't understand his two all-encompassing motivations for living... ... the sharing of Agape Love and the protection of bugs everywhere.
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15 Serial Killers
by Harold Jaffe
Exploring dangerous territory, Jafee uses illustrations, letters, monologues, interviews, and "unsituated dialogues" to bring to life some of the most infamous serial killers of all time.
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The Apocalypse Reader
by Justin Taylor
These are the ways the world ends. Thirty-four new and selected doomsday scenarios. From the personal to the global, the hilarious to the political, the experimental to the scary-as-hell, each of the writers in this enthralling, provocative new collection has looked into the future and found it missing. Canonical literary figures, contemporary masters, and a few rising stars have joined together across boundaries of place and time to celebrate the inexhaustible vitality and variety of the short story by writing their own endings to the story of the world. Obliteration never hurt so good.--Back cover.
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Not Quite One of the Boys
by Vincent W. Sakowski
One character dies, one is left for dead, and the third is kidnapped. And that's just the first chapter of this dark comedy. Sit back with Time, and watch as God and Satan gamble over everyone, following the misadventures of a couple of drug dealers. Add in a cop who has delusions of being the superhero Napkin Man, and his wife, a sexaholic junkie, a splash of Dante for a taste of not so classic literature, and you may get some idea of what this religious satire has in store for you. Strap yourself in baby-waby for some Blender Fiction at its finest. Vincent W. Sakowski is the author of the anti-epic novel of the surreal: Some Things Are Better Left Unplugged, and the short fiction collection: Misadventures in a Thumbnail Universe. Vincent lives and writes in Saskatoon, SK, Canada, where he was born and raised. "Vincent W. Sakowski is perhaps the most subversive of all the Bizarro writers working today. He knows how to write a traditional story that pulls you in all the while he's been slowly twisting it inside-out... and you find yourself in a wholly strange place, stunned and awe-struck. He's a literary acrobat, crafting smart surrealist fiction that stands on its head and spins plates from its feet, producing a captivating carnival of the mind unlike any of the other gonzo writers in his field and he truly deserves your attention. His work is unforgettable-and sometimes sicker than the sickest-and everyone who loves the surreal should be reading him right now, before he undoes the fabric of the universe and pulls you inside-out right along with it." -Michael Arnzen, author of Play Dead "With one single book Vincent W. Sakowski has completely reinvented the Christian mythology, infusing it with humor and a healthy does of blasphemy. Progressive satire of this type is a rare find and a pleasure to read, from beginning to end. The echoes of its intelligence stick with you long after the final page. If you want to know what Bizarro literature is all about look no further, because Sakowski is the real deal." -John Edward Lawson, author of Pocket Full of Loose Razorblades Cover art by Carrie Ann Baade
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Tales from the Vinegar Wasteland
by Ray Fracalossy
Tales from the Vinegar Wasteland by Ray Fracalossy One part surrealist farce, one part psychotic hallucination. The story begins with a visit from a friend, Anton, who has been slowly losing his face. We meet Gregory, whose home now includes a non-existing room, and discover the joys of purchasing photographs of events that never happened. Somewhere, within the circle of life and death, isolation and romantic infatuation, where death and the afterlife are as confusing as day to day living and dreams are as real as reality, all of life's mysteries are solved. Including the discovery of who, or what God really is. Like a modern day Alice in Wonderland for adults."Wow...this is fucking rad...who is this writer...?"?kurt k. heasley, fountainhead of acid rock legends LILYS"Though Ray Fracalossy's work has an absurdist core reminiscent of the old school, it has a decidedly modern heart that makes you laugh and think at the same time."?Kevin Donihe, author of Shall We Gather at the Garden?, editor of Bare Bone, and author of Grape City?Ray Fracalossy's ability to seamlessly blur the line between the irreal and real has made him one of the defining writers of the new absurdist movement. He possesses something rarely found in art today, a unique voice. Tales... is a novel that will more than likely outlast us all.??polycarp kusch, author, school marm, cannibal & founder of both oBook.org and the new absurdist website Ray Fracalossy is a modern day absurdist and lover of the bizarre. He holds no degrees in writing (his fingers cramp, making gripping such documents difficult), and wishes he had more time to read. Born in New Jersey, a virtual mecca of the Absurd, he lives with his wife and son, and enjoys spending his free time with them, finding it gives him that warm fuzzy feeling without any of the messy over-the-counter side effects. He is currently working on a children's book, because someone has to open up and mess with their little minds. Any interested parties may contact him at rayfracalossy@yahoo.com for further info.
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Hideous Beauties
by Lance Olsen
HIDEOUS BEAUTIES is a collection of a dozen outrageous fictions, each basedon a photograph, painting, sketch, collage, or assemblage by an equallyoutrageous artist (Hans Bellmer, Ed Kienholz, Joel-Peter Witkin, et alia),that explores the amphibious edge where language and image splice.Death is a village of mermaids, suburbia a hunchbacked dwarf at the door whojust won't go away, identity a self that can't stop cleaving, millennial sexa radical form of digestion.In other words, Lance Olsen is at it again, and with a vengeance, invitingus into his absurd, unsettling, tender, and formally disruptive fever-dreamworlds so that we might wake up, and wake up changed.