Bizarro Fiction Month Day 9: Mother Puncher

I'm up to day eight of my Bizarro Fiction Month, and I have one more author's book to review who will be reviewed here again: Gina Ranalli's  Mother Puncher. I actually reviewed her Suicide Girls in the Afterlife back on day one as part of the Bizarro Starter Kit (orange)  review. I'll be coming back to her later in the month when I review Wall of Kiss.

I think most people know that overpopulation is a fairly serious problem. In Mother Puncher Gina Ranalli has a created a bizarre future world where the government has tried to solve the problem by taking over the health insurance industry, and has passing new laws that any child not born in a hospital can't get insurance. If a child is born in the hospital, the parents are allowed to be punched in the face by the mother puncher. Since the fathers usually run off and hide, it's mostly the mothers that get punched, hence the name mother puncher.

This is the story of the mother puncher called Ed Means, who is an ex-boxer. Ed isn't actually a bad guy. While Ed does believe that bringing a baby into an overpopulated world is wrong, he doesn't really like punching mothers, and tries to avoid doing any real damage. He really doesn't like the way most fathers run off and hide to avoid their punishment. Really, the only reason he hasn't quit is because he's afraid someone who does like hitting women will take over.

Despite having a job that most people would find abhorrent, Ed comes across as a likable guy, and when bad stuff starts happening to him--because of stalker fans, psychotic rivals, and protesters--you rally can't help but feel sorry for the guy.