Horror Book Reviews
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Title: The Bizarro Starter Kit (Orange) |
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Review of The Bizarro Starter Kit (Orange)
- There's a new genre rising from the underground. Its name: BIZARRO. For years, readers have been asking for a category of fiction dedicated to the weird, crazy, cult side of storytelling that has become a staple in the film industry (with directors such as David Lynch, Takashi Miike, Tim Burton, and even Lloyd Kaufman) but has been largely ignored in the literary world, until now. The Bizarro Starter Kit features short novels and story collections by ten of the leading authors in the bizarro genre: D. Harlan Wilson, Carlton Mellick III, Jeremy Robert Johnson, Kevin L Donihe, Gina Ranalli, Andre Duza, VIncent W. Sakowski, Steve Beard, John Edward Lawson, and Bruce Taylor.
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Comments for The Bizarro Starter Kit (Orange)
- Posted on 2008-04-25
Great "Starter Kit"
If you don't know about authors like D. Harlan Wilson, Jeremy Robert Johnson, and Carton Mellick, III, you need to get this anthology. If you are well aware of their exploits and some others, you still need to check it out. I have become a fan of sorts over a couple of the authors mentioned above, and I like reading the other one, too. The anthology starts out strong and ends strong, and I thought it would be a tour-de-force, but alas, the middle sags a bit. This is the only reason I give it 4 stars. Otherwise it would be all aces. If you're in to fragmentation, absurdity, simulation, vomiting in your mouth a little, and strong narrative threads that can tie all of this together, buy this book. I will warn you, though, it will lead to further purchases. The Bizarro Starter Kit (Orange)
Score: 4
- Posted on 2008-02-16
Beware all who enter ....
If this is a "Starter Kit", I can't wait to see what comes next! This is a shocking, disturbing, in some cases sick, but fun read - just what they intended. If you can make it through this, you, like me, are pretty weird!
The longer stories are: Mellick's "Baby Jesus Butt Plug"; Johnson's "Extinction Journals"; Donihe's "Greatest F*cking Moments in Sports"; Ranalli's "Suicide Girls in the Afterlife"; Duza's "Don't F(bleep)k With the Coloured"; Beard's "Survivor's Dream"; Lawson's "Truth in Ruins". Shorter pieces are by Wilson, Sakowski & Taylor.
Beware: Most (if not all) of the longer pieces have been published as stand alone books - each costing more than this book.
Score: 4 - Posted on 2007-12-17
Some Books are Too damned weird
I managed to get this anthology right from the website that produces it. The best story in there is Mr. Identity. It has a different set up than most anthology, but then again this is one of those anthologies as much you want to read it in one sitting, you don't because it is too damn weird. You don't want to go into sensory overload here. I have a related anthology to this and it was signed by Brutal Dreamer.
I am familar with Carlton Merrick 3's work from being on Authorzone, and some of hte stories he wrote on there capture the imagination then leave you all weirded out at the end. This is a kind of writer you know had kicked in a few dents. Not bad for a guy who is just a year younger than me, and I will say this is the direction that will inspire a number of writers to come. This anthology stemmed a few writers who write this style called bizarro, I know it because in some ways I've penned the weirder stuff. Tundra Sands was a bizarro story, and I did the style clean.
The Bizarro Starter Kit is an ineresting read to say the least but if you really want to enjoy the book try to get it signed by one of the authors then start from there. The weirdest story in here has to be Baby Jesus [...] Plug. My favorite story overall is At The Funeral By D. Harlan Wilson. (This is the one I will end up getting the most books of in this genre.)
I plan to get a copy of this book for my former room mate who likes all the weird stuff. He likes to watch all these weird movies, and one of them that come to mind with the level of surrealism is Natural Born Killers. This is one anthology I grabbed though this it's been out a year. One other anthology you'll like if you like this one is Sick: An Anthology of Illness.
Coming from a publisher's standpoint, it is an interesting little book to start with -- do I think it's a must have. Yes and No, yes if you want to get weirded out and no because it might be too weird for some. I got it to peak my curiousity. The artwork is pretty damn cool, and this is a very small genre right now but I think it will take off. It's still a very young genre, but at the same time I've seen very obscure stories over the years when running my mag.
Other Recommended Reads if you like this are Coach's Midnight Diner: The Jesus Vs. Cthulhu Edition because there is a story in there that is a bizarro story in some ways too. The Gift Of The Magi If The Magi Had Been Big Idiots By Paul Luikart would have been a good fit for this particular anthology becuase it is so weird and sarcastic, it can be coined a bizarro story. Then The Way Station by Kevin Lucia, then if you want more meat from Mr. Lucia -- there is an anthology out there that is a contempoary to the Bizarro Starter Kit. He's got a story in there titled The Sliding.
Quoting Vincent Price on The Last Man on Earth, "You're all freaks." I have a picture of this book up with my boom box so everyone can see it. It is a work of art but disturbing as all hell.
Score: 4 - Posted on 2007-11-27
Introducing Bizarro!
Never heard of Bizarro fiction? Well if you like wacky, twisted, surreal, funny, strange, totally absurd stories than this is the book for you.
I was already a fan of Carlton Mellick III, so I wanted to discover other bizarro authors. Someone online recommended this book to me but I have never been a fan of anthologies. Still I would recommend this book which has short works by 10 authors and is a great introduction to a new genre.
I have now read other books by Jeremy Robert Johnson and Kevin Donihe. I haven't finished reading all the stories in this book but I have it in my car and find that it's great for lunch hour reading because the stories are wildly entertaining and just long enough to read in small bites.
Score: 5
- Posted on 2007-09-16
Weird stuff!
I'll start by saying that I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning what Bizarro fiction is. My summation after reading this book is that Bizarro is a hell of a lot of fun!
Packed full (and I mean packed)of some of the funniest, grossest, weirdest, most surreal stories I have EVER read! What I liked the most about Bizarro is that it's fun to read. It's less like experimental writing (which I find mostly hard to read) and more like a good B horror movie or a cult film.
After reading this collection I am definitely going to check out other books by these authors!
Score: 5
