Books

What a Bizarro World We Live In

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So, it’s kind of becoming a thing for me to head straight to the WordPress reader after publishing a new post to do a search on whatever it is I have just posted about so I can see what others have written about it.

I like to do this especially after posting reviews since I don’t like to read other reviews regarding whatever it is I’m reviewing prior to writing the review…

Huh?.

Anyway, I did exactly that yesterday after posting my review of AND THE HIPPOS WERE BOILED IN THEIR TANKS .

First I did a search on the title and pretty much came back with zippo, except for my review.

Then I did one on Jack Kerouac and a ton of stuff came back on him of course, but nothing regarding the book I just reviewed.

Next came the search for William S. Burroughs.

I found nothing on his relationship with the book, as expected, but I found a whole slew of information about him that I didn’t no otherwise, which was easy because I really didn’t know much about him except that he was an OG Beat, the author of Naked Lunch, a junkie, and a murder.

Quite the portfolio of virtues, no?

So I had fun reading up on him for a while.

But then, all of a sudden, I scrolled upon a post by Zé Burns entitled How I Discovered Bizarro Fiction, and which I have reblogged here (way) down below for your entertainment and instruction…

And a whole new world opened up to me.

I cannot believe I have never heard of Bizarro Fiction before.

After reading Ze’ informative and highly interesting article about how he got turned on to the genre and where he trumpets the virtue of one bizarro writer in particular — Danger Slater, whose book now adorns my Want to Read list — I spent the next several hours digging deeper and deeper into the subject as a result.

What a ride that was.

Here are some description of the genre direct from Bizarro Central:

  • Bizarro is like:
    • Franz Kafka meets John Waters
    • Dr. Suess of the post-apocalypse
    • Takashi Miike meets William S. Burroughs
    • Alice in Wonderland for adults
    • Japanese animation directed by David Lynch

So, to be honest (Now, I’m not saying that I haven’t been honest up to the point… or am I?), I don’t really think the genre is for me.

I mean, I like the idea of it…

Just like I like the idea of low-grade cult movies, which is another comparison of bizarro fiction I found…

But I never, ever watch cult movies.

At least not any more.

Which takes me to where yesterday’s adventure eventually ended up.

When I was a kid growing up in Ashtabula, a lake-front town an hour or so east of Cleveland, there were some pretty bizarre dudes on TV back in the 70s and early 80s that would “perform” severely bizarre/warped skits interspersed and sometimes overlapping with seriously low-grade cultish movies, and/or Three Stooges skits, and/or cartoons.

These bizarre dude were Hoolihan & Big Chuck, The Ghoul, and Superhost… and their sole purpose in life was to lovingly pollute the hearts and minds of every adolescent in the Greater Cleveland area.

And they did.

At least they did of yours truly.

Poor Froggy never had it easy…

But that was long, long ago and I have long since pretty much turned up my nose to such bizarre, cultish entertainment…

And I expect I may end up doing the same with bizarro fiction.

I didn’t know it at the time when I read Brian Evenson’s Last Days [about] that he is regarded as a bizarro author (at least he is included in the long list of them on Bizarro Central’s website).

As you can tell by my review, I didn’t think too highly of his work…

Not because of its highly bizarre, cultish story (it really is a story about bizarre cults)…

But because it was poorly executed in my opinion, one which, as evidenced by the high praise it receives from others elsewhere, seems to be in the minority.

But who knows…

Maybe I’ll like Danger Slater’s work better.

In Zé’s interesting and informative post, of which I reblogged here down below for your entertainment and instruction, hé highly recommends Slater’s HE DIGS A WHOLE [about].

But I’ll probably start off with his novella ROADVOLUTION [about] since its available with Kindle Unlimited.

Hey, I’m not cheap…

I’m cost conscious.

Anyway, I’ll report back to you after I finish the read.

I promise…

🤞

TL;DR: There’s a thing called Bizarro Fiction. I may or may not like it.

AND THE HIPPOS WERE BOILED IN THEIR TANKS — A Rapid Review

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BOOK | FICTION | LITERARY
AND THE HIPPOS WERE BOILED IN THEIR TANKS
BY JACK KEROUAC AND WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS
FORMAT: AUDIOBOOK
RATING: ★ ★ ★

In the summer of 1944, a shocking murder rocked the fledgling Beats. William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, both still unknown, we inspired by the crime to collaborate on a novel, a hard-boiled tale of bohemian New York during World War II, full of drugs and art, obsession and brutality, with scenes and characters drawn from their own lives. Finally published after more than sixty years, this is a captivating read, and incomparable literary artifact, and a window into the lives and art of two of the twentieth century’s most influential writers.

Book description, grammar errors and all, as found at Amazon

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THE CONTORTIONIST’S HANDBOOK — A Rapid Review

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BOOK | FICTION | LITERARY
THE CONTORTIONIST’S HANDBOOK
BY CRAIG CLEVENGER
FORMAT: AUDIOBOOK
RATING: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

This is the book’s description, as diminutive as it may be, and as it may be found on its Amazon page…

John Dolan Vincent, a forger who suffers from migraine headaches and mental illness, invents a new identity for himself in order to be released from a mental hospital and build a new life.

And this is my review of the book, as diminutive as it may be, and as it may be found as follows (huh?)…

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LAST DAYS by Brian Evenson — A Reluctant Review

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Subsequent to this seemingly short-sighted review, I was at least long-sighted enough to read more of Evenson’s work and happily I have found him to be one of the most interesting and smart and original voices writing today. Obviously I need to re-read Last Days because, obviously, the fault in its failure to successfully entertain me seems to lie with me and not Evenson.

However, until I do re-read the work, the original impression I have of it remains, so, so too shall the following review with its original two stars. – June, 2024

BOOK | FICTION | HORROR
LAST DAYS BY BRIAN EVENSON
RATING: ★ ★

I had been looking hard for a killer horror noir novel ever since reading FALLING ANGEL by William Hjortsberg, a stellar benchmark of the sub-genre that is in close competition for greatness with ANGEL HEART, its movie adaptation starring Mickey Rourke.

I eventually came across a couple of pretty good lists of horror noir books and found that LAST DAYS was high on both of them.

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In Last Days I thought for sure I had a ringer.

And then when I began reading Peter Straub’s introduction for it there was absolutely no doubt in my mind that it was going to be the absolutely best horror noir book I had ever read.

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FACTOTUM — The Worst of America At Its Best

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BOOK | FICTION | LITERARY
FACTOTUM
BY CHARLES BUKOWSKI
RATING: ★ ★ ★ ★

 
Heinrich Karl (Charles) Bukowski – image courtesy of Wikipedia

I’ve never been much of a Charles Bukowski fan…

Not because I don’t like him…

But just because I never got around to reading that much of his work.

However, I’ve always liked the idea of Charles Bukowski…

The legend of Charles Bukowski.

Of him being someone who just did not give one single fuck care about society and its oppressive norms.

Bukowski, or the idea I have of him, appeals to me because he is so opposite of who I am…

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Harrowed Insight

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I was inspired to write my first novel Inside the Skin (formerly The Sea Trials of an Unfortunate Sailor) by life experiences I earned back in the late ’90s, early ’00s while working as a navy Equal Opportunity specialist, experiences the focus of which centered around the harassment, abuse, injury, and sometimes sadly even death as a result of the hatred for and confusion of the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy which had recently been implemented throughout the military.

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THE GOOD KILL – A Storyline Checklist

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    • Battle weary Navy SEAL    ✓
    • Fearless, kickass women    ✓
    • Corrupt corporate moguls    ✓
    • Conniving Russian agents    ✓
    • Ruthless ISIS terrorists    ✓
    • Cold-hearted pimps    ✓
    • Low-life sex traffickers    ✓
    • Evil henchmen    ✓
    • Traitorous scum    ✓
    • Dark Web hackers    ✓
    • Cool cars    ✓
    • Luxurious yachts    ✓
    • High-speed chases    ✓
    • Heartless violence    ✓
    • Brutal redemption    ✓
    • Love    ✓
    • Romance    ✓
    • Kittens        

#mysteries #suspense #thrillers

The Lullaby Effect of Carter & Lovecraft versus When Nietzsche Wept

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I’m only a so-so fan of HP Lovecraft. I guess I’ve read as much of him as I have more out of a sense of allegiance to the horror genre than a sense of loyalty to his literary acuity.

Which is why I was somewhat surprised when I found myself selecting Jonathan L. Howard’s CARTER & LOVECRAFT the other night when cruising my Overdrive app looking for an audiobook fix for which to fall asleep to…

Which, to me, is the primary purpose of audiobooks – literary lullabies.

And most of the audiobooks I listen to do a great job of it.

In fact, they do such a great job of it that most audiobooks I listen to, I don’t finish because each night I always have to go back to the last point in the book I can remember before drifting off to sleep the night before, which is, more often than not, only a minute or two after I started listening.

And the books I do manage to get through before the loan ends I often only remember in sketchy patches…

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Slowing Down the Synapses

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Or, Speeding Up the Reviews

Not the primary reason but one of the reasons I decided back in April to take a hiatus from the web was because I wanted to give my brain a break from all the nonsensical chatter that was cluttering it so.

I have been having what I collectively call chemo brain issues for quite some time so I thought it may do me some good to lay off for a while all the hyper-clicking and attention-span deflating skim-reading that the web so sweetly and successfully induces us into doing and which studies have told us is altering our brain and its ability to focus on and process information.

To counter what seemed to me to be my lack of focus and ability to process effectively process information (perhaps less a result from all my web time and more a result from all the chemo and prednisone I used to be strung out on years ago (and, in the case of chemo, which I still take daily dose addiction of)), I decided to turned off the web for a while.

Which, for the most part, I did surprisingly enough.

To fill the time I no longer spent on the web, much of which had been dedicated to this blog, I mobilized the pen and cracked open the books pretty hard.

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