Attn fans of Carlton Mellick III and jeremy Robert Johnson

I was friends with CM3 on myspace, I don't know if I still am. I haven't read anything by him, he kind of frightened me. Is he worth reading?

[QUOTE=LeHaHi;953638]I was friends with CM3 on myspace, I don't know if I still am. I haven't read anything by him, he kind of frightened me. Is he worth reading?[/QUOTE]
If you like your novels/stories to be absolutely unstructured and weird-for-the-sake-of-weird with no real literary merit, then yes, he might be worth reading. If you prefer your stories to "go somewhere" and leave you with more than a sense of wasted time, then no.

I don't mean to infuriate anyone who is a fan of CM3, but I do think that LeHaHi deserves to know the truth. CM3--Bizarro in general, really--is such a matter of personal taste. No middle ground, there.

Though, tomstrong83, I must commend you on your guerrilla marketing techniques. The stamp thing is pretty ingenuous really. If I can ever fool a publisher into taking on one of my novels I might have to steal this idea for my own gain.

[QUOTE=thirstygerbil;953643]If you like your novels/stories to be absolutely unstructured and weird-for-the-sake-of-weird with no real literary merit, then yes, he might be worth reading. If you prefer your stories to "go somewhere" and leave you with more than a sense of wasted time, then no.

I don't mean to infuriate anyone who is a fan of CM3, but I do think that LeHaHi deserves to know the truth. CM3--Bizarro in general, really--is such a matter of personal taste. No middle ground, there.

Though, tomstrong83, I must commend you on your guerrilla marketing techniques. The stamp thing is pretty ingenuous really. If I can ever fool a publisher into taking on one of my novels I might have to steal this idea for my own gain.[/QUOTE]

No, I totally agree. If you think of books as food, then bizarro is like the Sweet Tarts. It's good sometimes, it's easy to ave too much, and a lot of people don't like it.
But as a fan, it's something I like every once and a while.

[QUOTE=thirstygerbil;953643]If you like your novels/stories to be absolutely unstructured and weird-for-the-sake-of-weird with no real literary merit, then yes, he might be worth reading. If you prefer your stories to "go somewhere" and leave you with more than a sense of wasted time, then no.

I don't mean to infuriate anyone who is a fan of CM3, but I do think that LeHaHi deserves to know the truth. CM3--Bizarro in general, really--is such a matter of personal taste. No middle ground, there.

Though, tomstrong83, I must commend you on your guerrilla marketing techniques. The stamp thing is pretty ingenuous really. If I can ever fool a publisher into taking on one of my novels I might have to steal this idea for my own gain.[/QUOTE]

Hum, I'm deffinately a "go somewhere" type guy. Thanks.

[QUOTE=thirstygerbil;953643]Though, tomstrong83, I must commend you on your guerrilla marketing techniques. The stamp thing is pretty ingenuous really. If I can ever fool a publisher into taking on one of my novels I might have to steal this idea for my own gain.[/QUOTE]

Please do. There are lots of ways you can market your book without paying for advertisement or counting on your publisher. I'm working on a really short essay on it that I was thinking of posting it for the benefit of anyone trying to market a book.

hey, does JRJ know you're doing this? i think he'd find the idea interesting...

i found cm3 unreadable, but who am i, and so many books are wretched.

[QUOTE=moe.ron;954807]hey, does JRJ know you're doing this? i think he'd find the idea interesting...[/QUOTE]

No. I guess I never thought to email him or anything. Then again, he might know about it if he frequents libraries in N. Colorado...

You should totally email him. He's such a nice guy and will be totally stoked you're promoting his stuff.

[QUOTE=moe.ron;955563]You should totally email him. He's such a nice guy and will be totally stoked you're promoting his stuff.[/QUOTE]

I agree. You can get him here or find him on myspace. He's one of my friends on myspace if you want me to link you.

I just sent him a message. I'm a little disappointed that nobody wants these stamps, though.

or you can pm him. he is a cultist.

[QUOTE=tomstrong83;956838]I just sent him a message. I'm a little disappointed that nobody wants these stamps, though.[/QUOTE]
sorry, it's not really my style. i do support you in your efforts, however

Poop

[QUOTE=moe.ron;957100]sorry, it's not really my style. i do support you in your efforts, however :)[/QUOTE]

It's cool. Not for everybody, I understand. Thanks for reading the thread, at least, and suggesting the contact.

Hey, Tomstrong,

I got back to you over at Myspace- check that so we can exchange some swag.

Apologies for the delay in response. I just got into my new house and I've been spending most my time hunkered over in the attic huffing fiberglass flakes and re-wiring fire hazards and mending my roofing nail spinal taps. It's fun, but it kills my keyboard time.

Thanks (!) again for your guerilla missions- that's make or break stuff.

Pete and Moe, nice to see you. I haven't de-lurked in seven months, so I appreciate your comments.

There are a few Bizarro writers who typically rely on a more traditional narrative arc (ahem), but they catch hell from the Burroughs junkies who just want cock/drug/alien word salad. From Aylett to me to Duza to Genoa to Mellick to Lawson to Donihe to Sands, etc. you've got a pretty broad spectrum of fiction. It's just a matter of figuring out where you get your kicks, like any other genre or bastardized offshoot.

CM3 is particularly polarizing, and I think that's a sign that he's doing something unique. It's definitely a more interesting literary sphere with him in it. That's my take, for what it's worth.

Hey Jeremy - Nice to see you back! It's been a while.

I saw on Amazon or your Myspace (actually I don't remember where) that you had some new stuff out? You care to tell us about it?

Tomstrong- Are you the guy who dressed up as a bride and potsed the pics. Also defacing Library books with stamps promoting CM3 and JRJ? if so youre the man! Great work. I would do the same but Irish libraries would bar me for asking about bizarro fiction. Im stuck with Maeve Binchy and TinTin books.

JRJ- I would love to hear about some more of your books. Last year I got ADA and loved it the only problem is I will have to order from amazon.

i told my friend jason* about this and he's gonna use it, apparently this is a tool for viral marketing, i like it.

*[url]www.perceptionexperiment.com[/url]

[QUOTE=Barca Boy;978878]Tomstrong- Are you the guy who dressed up as a bride and potsed the pics. Also defacing Library books with stamps promoting CM3 and JRJ? if so youre the man! Great work. I would do the same but Irish libraries would bar me for asking about bizarro fiction. Im stuck with Maeve Binchy and TinTin books.
.[/QUOTE]
That was old photogenic me.
and I don't like to think of it as defacing. I like to think of it as enchancing.
Well, to be perfectly honest, I do sort of like to think of it as defacing.

[QUOTE=tomstrong83;953631]So I joined this thing on myspace called avantpunk army. the idea was to promote bizarro authors with grassroots type stuff.
I went online and had two stamps made, one that said "Like this? Then try Angeldust Apocalypse by Jeremy Robert Johnson jeremyrobertjohnson.com" The second one was the same idea, just replace JRJ with Carlton Mellick and the book titles.
I stamped a bunch of the endpages in libraries close to where I live. After that, I offered to send the stamps to someone else so they could stamp books in their area. nobody replied.
Does anybody want to use these stamps? I'll send them to you.[/QUOTE]

I love CM3's books and i spoke to him on myspace a while back really great guy. I'd love your stamps but unfortunately I live in dreary old England! Got anyother great ideas for promoting their work? I tried writing on slips of paper and slipping them in books/magazines/clothing unfortunately it looks unprofessional as my writing is like a childs!

Barca Boy- Thanks for picking up ADA and digging it.

If Amazon doesn't work for you, book-wise, I ship international through my website, too. Canada, UK, Australia, wherever- just let me know... my books also find their way into big box stores around the globe, but I honestly never have any fucking idea how that happens.

Powell's is a great source, too, and a hell of a book store. I love those guys and they're big supporters of the indie press world. I try to send people their way whenever possible.

Pete- I've got lots of new stuff out right now, though most of it in magazines and anthologies. I just posted about the new anthos over at my [URL=http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A2O9IRUOXBQOTC/ref=cm_blog_dp_pdp/103-7888478-8342245]Amazon blog[/URL] and the rundown on the rest is at my [URL=http://thebasementcypher.blogspot.com/]regular blog[/URL]. And I had my first foray into music journalism a while back when I did an interview with The Mars Volta for Verbicide. That was a good time. And Extinction Journals and Siren Promised are picking up some good word of mouth, which is awesome because I haven't had much time in the guerilla marketing trenches lately.

Mostly I'm hunkered over my keyboard trying to figure out what's going to happen when I have to kick up Tuning Fork to my agent towards the end of '07. She does stellar work, and I think she'll find a great home for it, but man, this book is fucking [I]weird[/I]...

JRJ

would you call it "mind-fuck" weird?

[QUOTE=Jeremy R Johnson;983753]Barca Boy- Thanks for picking up ADA and digging it.

If Amazon doesn't work for you, book-wise, I ship international through my website, too. Canada, UK, Australia, wherever- just let me know... my books also find their way into big box stores around the globe, but I honestly never have any fucking idea how that happens.

Powell's is a great source, too, and a hell of a book store. I love those guys and they're big supporters of the indie press world. I try to send people their way whenever possible.

Pete- I've got lots of new stuff out right now, though most of it in magazines and anthologies. I just posted about the new anthos over at my [URL=http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A2O9IRUOXBQOTC/ref=cm_blog_dp_pdp/103-7888478-8342245]Amazon blog[/URL] and the rundown on the rest is at my [URL=http://thebasementcypher.blogspot.com/]regular blog[/URL]. And I had my first foray into music journalism a while back when I did an interview with The Mars Volta for Verbicide. That was a good time. And Extinction Journals and Siren Promised are picking up some good word of mouth, which is awesome because I haven't had much time in the guerilla marketing trenches lately.

Mostly I'm hunkered over my keyboard trying to figure out what's going to happen when I have to kick up Tuning Fork to my agent towards the end of '07. She does stellar work, and I think she'll find a great home for it, but man, this book is fucking [I]weird[/I]...

JRJ[/QUOTE]

Thanks for replying JRJ, I will definitley picking up another book by you.