Bizarro Fiction month Day 6: The Brothers Crunk

It's day 6 of Bizarro Fiction Month, I've got another review. As has been the case with the reviews on days 2-5, this one is also by an author who's written another work I'll be reviewing later on. In this case, It's William Pauley III, whose  Slime Night! I'll be reviewing later. For now though I'm reviewing  The Brothers Crunk.

It was an exciting, weird story set in a post-apocalyptic version of Japan. In this world, video game peripherals, like the old NES Zapper or Power Glove, work like actual weapons, and video game cheat codes can affect the real world.

The story is about two brothers, Divey and Reynold Crunk, who run a breakfast burrito truck, which breaks down in the middle of the desert. Then Divey gets possessed by a sort of techno-demon thing, and stuff starts getting really weird. This being Japan, they all end up in Tokyo for a final showdown with the forces of evil

It's a really exciting bizarro adventure story set in a cool, post-apocalyptic world.I think it would be a good choice for anyone who's old enough to remember the good old days of the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Bizarro Fiction Month Day 5: The Pickled Apocalypse of Pancake Island

Well now it's day 5 of Bizarro Fiction Moth here, an it's time to review another book. As with the other authors I've done so far, this one has another book that I'll be reviewing later on in the month, but in this case I've actually also reviewed one of his books previously. It's Cameron Pierce,  whose Cthulhu Comes to the Vampire Kingdom I reviewed back in January. Later on in the month, I'll post my review of Ass Goblins of Auschwitz, but for now, I'm reviewing The Pickled Apocalypse of Pancake Island.

This is one of the weirder bizarro books I've read. There's a world called Pancake Island, which is inhabited by sentient pancakes. Everyone is happy there, presumably because of the maple syrup. There's another planet that's inhabited by sentient pickles where everyone is miserable and unhappy, presumably because of the brine.  One day, a pickle called Gaston Glew builds a rocket ship to escape his life of misery, and ends up crashing on Pancake Island, where his briny nature threatens to bring about the titular "Pickled Apocalypse."

This story is just goofy. The pickles are all so whiny and miserably and the pancakes are so mindlessly happy, that it just makes me laugh. Also, if you've ever wondered what pickle/pancake sex would be like, this book will tell you. There is a surprising amount of violence for a book whose main characters are all animated foods. I really enjoyed it, and I'm certainly going to be picking up the rest of Pierce's books sooner or later.

Bizarro Fiction Month Day 4: Jimmy Plush: Teddy Bear Detective

It's day 4 of Bizarro Fiction week here an the blog, and once again, I'm posting a review of a piece of bizarro fiction written by an author who I'll be reviewing again sometime later this month. This time, it's Garret Cook, whose Archelon Ranch I'll be reviewing sometime before the month ends. This time though, I'm taking a look at Jimmy Plush, Teddy Bear Detective.

Back when I was a kid, I used to love detective stories. These days, I don't read them so much except, for some cross genre stuff, like the Dresden Files. This makes  Jimmy Plush a good choice for me, because it is a bizarro detective short story collection (or at least an episodic novella posing as one). It's a good story, too. There's a lot of humor in it, even on the copyright page, which includes imaginary 50s era pulp magazine appearances for the stories.

The book is about a teddy bear detective named Jimmy Plush who used to be a human being named Hatbox. The two switched bodies in exchange for the original Jimmy Plush covering the original Hatbox's gambling debts.  Of course, the original Plush is actually evil and becomes the new Plush's archnemesis.

The whole world of this book is strange. It's full of criminal furries, living versions of normally inanimate objects, giants, martians, zuvembies, and that kind of thing.  The stories tell the story of how Jimmy plush battles various weirdos and like a Fu Machu-wannabe crime boss, who isn't really Chinese, or another crime boss who is a living Kewpie Doll, or a mad scientist with an army of zuvembies.

This book is funny enough that I actually laughed out loud several times while reading it.