bizzaro

I've only read Baby Jesus Butt Plug and honestly, I just don't get it. I don't understand the appeal. It's just absurd and deranged and foul for the sake of it. I'd be happy to give something else a chance. I thought Satan burger sounded okay?

I've read two or three of his boooks.

The Menstruating Mall was a fun read.

I just think there's a huge difference between a fun, funny, darkly humoured piece that isn't to be taken to seriously as far as existential theories and what not go and just plain weird and creepy words splattered on a page with no real intention to make any logical sense, let alone be taken seriously as a piece of literature. You know?

It just seems like fucked up shit for the sake of fucked up shit. Let's all use our imaginations
kind of rubbish. Granted, it's fiction. Maybe I'm just missing "the point" if in fact there is one. If any one can point me in the direction of any other bizarro stories I may like then by all means. It seems to be a pretty broad genre so chances are there may be something of some worth amongst it. I've nearly bought that Angel Dust Appocolypse a couple of times. I think it's by a guy called Robert Jeremy Johnson.

Mellick can definitely rub people the wrong way.

Three better starting places for Bizarro are "Foop," "Help, A Bear is Eating Me," and "Sex Dungeon for Sale!". All three are put out by the same publisher as Mellick's work, but are a little more accessible.

"Foop" is by Chris Genoa and is kind of like Christopher Moore meets time travel book. It's funny and weird, but not pointlessly violent.

"Help A Bear is Eating Me" is by Mykle Hansen and is a first-person story of the world's biggest jerk being eaten by a bear in Alaska. Definitely dark humor.

"Sex Dungeon for Sale!" is by Patrick Wensink and is a collection of funny short stories dealing with topics ranging from optimistic realtors with a sex dungeon on their hands, 90s pop star Gerardo (of Rico Suave infamy) selling his kidney to support a doo-rag habit, misguided children who think they're French and something called "Chicken Soup for the Kidnapper's Soul."

I think these are smoother entry into Bizarro.

-Patrick
[Full disclosure: I wrote Sex Dungeon for Sale!]

okay. right. thanks Patrick.

i'll have to pick up your book. i love supporting fellow culties. i guess in the hope that one day when i publish you will all by my book.

i still am not sure if i can get sold on the whole "bizarro" craze. but we'll see. i just think, shit can get weird but it has to be believeable. you know?

Good call, Matthew. I completely agree with you.

Weird is fun, but there has to be a reason for the weirdness. It has to add depth to the story, not BE the story.

That Bear story looks awesome. Guess I gotta add something new to the list. I also like the quote the Amazon editor used.

"I believe all God's creatures have a soul...except bears, bears are Godless killing machines!" -STEPHEN COLBERT

I'm almost certain I wholly agree with you. My tone for that 'imagination' sentence was meant to be a tad facetious. I like to give everything a bit of a go though. Even badly developed childrens books.

It's just absurd and deranged and foul for the sake of it.

You're missing the point. It's exactly like the people who don't get South Park and only see shock for shock's sake. Bizarro writers love to poke fun at "Literary" fiction and psuedo-intellectual snobbery, which is why they often focus on low-brow obscenities. The bizarros don't take the literary world or themselves very seriously, but are actually quite brilliant writers in a lot of ways. Even people like Christopher Moore and Chuck P himself dig bizarro fiction. Some people just don't get it.

Baby Jesus Butt Plug is not a good introduction to bizarro or Mellick (but I do have to say that there's a lot more going on in there than you probably realize...it is clever in less obvious ways than you're probably used to). I recommend reading Jeremy Robert Johnson or Mykle Hansen first. As for Mellick, check out his more recent books like Warrior Wolf Women of the Wasteland, The Egg Man, Apeshit, Cybernetrix, or even The Faggiest Vampire. They are weird but the plotting and characterization comes first.

I'm just saying that you probably could love bizarro fiction. You've just got a bad impression of it so far. Some people will never like it, though. If you are sensitive to gore or obscenities then you probably won't get past that to see the value in a lot of the works. If you can't read anything that isn't "Literary" with a capital "L" then it's definitely not for you.

I've never read anything "bizarro." They strike me as barely more than a 13 year old filling out a 200 page Mad Libs book. What makes it so ironic is that for all the weird, outlandish things, it would seem to take less imagination to write that way.

You are incredibly off with this statement. You might want to actually read some of it before making this kind of assumption. It's like a nine-year-old with A.D.D. picking up The Great Gatsby, reading a single paragraph, and saying "this is boring and stupid." I'm not trying to offend with that statement. You have the right to your opinion. It's just very far from the truth...for the most part.

I recommend everyone read the story "Candy Coated" by Mellick that was published in Vice Magazine.

It is online here:
http://www.viceland.com/int/v15n12/htdocs/candy-coated-401.php

okay. you seem like a fan, and that's cool with me. but i'm not convinced. did you, honestly, read that fist paragraph? fuck. baby jesus butt plugs, fish bowl heads, fucking lollipop heads. what the fuck? even if it is somehow symbolic, metaphoric or even humorously ironic, i ain't sticking 'round to find out how, sister. seriously. it is plain, immature and downright amateur-ish writing. it read like it hasn't even had a re-write. and i wouldn't be suprised if it had very little revision. from what i've read of his so far, it is all over the place and it just feels like he's banged it out on the pc, looked over it, chuckled to himself at his latest installment or "bizarro" sent it to his clueless editor and then he's gone, Yup, right. fucking funny dude and sent it off for print. maybe i'm being a bit blunt and exagerating a tad but, come on! everything i've read of his reads like this, and it has nothign to do with chucking out the "literary" with a capital "L". because there is some fantastic genre fiction out there. but i'm affraid this isn't part of it.

i'm happy to give some other "Bizarro" authors a go. and i think i will. maybe i just detest this guys writing. i only recently heard of "bizarro" through coming here. i read some "bizarro" stories from an author here, and i loved them. but they had some substance to them.

anyway...

rant over.

Okay, I understand now that you'll probably never get this kind of thing or see any value in it. Whether you get it or not, I have to say that a lot of people do think this is clever, funny, and stylistically a breath of fresh air. Some of those people might even be writers you respect (perhaps even Chuck Palahniuk, who I believe does read CM3 books). Just because it doesn't fit your definition of good writing that does not mean that it actually is bad or amateurish writing. It's just not your thing, which is perfectly fine. I'm sure there's nothing I can say that would sway you, but here are a couple of quotes from his website that I wanted to include regarding his "immature" writing style...

"Mellick is smarter than the dumbness he tries to coat his writing in; you feel like you're reading a comic or watching MTV - but that underneath there is something deeper and smarter than the cartoonish presentation before your eyes."
—Euchrid

"There is depth behind his simplistic prose, and humor all around it. What at first seems unsophisticated quickly becomes a firm identity to the characters, and you realize the intelligence behind the naivety. Yes, it's all on purpose, and you've just been had!"
—Schtinky

By the way, I also wanted to mention that the editor who published "Candy Coated" also published stories by Chuck Palahniuk, Richard Price, William T. Vollmann, Barry Gifford, Will Self, and Yoko Ogawa, so he's far from clueless.

who or what the heck is a Euchrid or Schtinky?

who or what the heck is a Euchrid or Schtinky?

Not sure. I just googled them and Schtinky seems to be a top amazon reviewer. Euchrid seems to be a band, maybe? A magazine? I don't know.

So it seems that you, razorgirl, have been had.

What does that mean? Are you talking about the quote? Because if you are, then it was referring to you, the person who doesn't get it.

PS - I admit that the "you've been had" part of that quote is kind of lame.

oh, razor, come on!

simmer down. it's not to be taken seriously, remember?

like i said, i'll give some other stuff a go. maybe in time i will see the brilliance that lies under the rubbish. oh, and as far as authors i like liking him, that is completly trivial. i don't base what i like on other people likes and i certainly hope you don't either.

oh, razor, come on!

I'm sorry if I was getting heated. I assumed you were on the offensive with your comments. Perhaps I misinterpreted them.

as far as authors i like liking him, that is completly trivial.

I agree for the most part. I wouldn't like a book just because my favorite author liked it. But I would probably at least respect the work to some small degree. I surely wouldn't call his writing amateurish just because I couldn't get into it myself. I would trust my favorite writer to know more than I what is amateurish writing and what is not. Perhaps it doesn't matter. The definition of "good writing" differs from person to person, so this is kind of a pointless argument.

I didn't even realise it was an arguement.

Is that what it was?

I bought the bizarro starter kit, so we'll see what that has to offer. But right now, it's back to penny dreadful by Baer. Too good.

I didn't even realise it was an arguement.

It was a discussion involving differing points of view, which is the definition of an argument.

I bought the bizarro starter kit, so we'll see what that has to offer.

Both starter kits have good stuff in them. Unfortunately, Mellick's entry is Baby Jesus Butt Plug, so your opinion of his work won't be changing.

penny dreadful by Baer. Too good.

I agree.

You're a cheeky little one aren't you!

I have nothing more to add to this conversation/discussion/arguement.

I bid you good day. I SAID, good day. That is all.