THE AFTER-LIFE STORY OF PORK KNUCKLES MALONE by MP Johnson

There's been a subgenre floating around in fiction for a few decades now, possibly longer I guess, though I only heard the term Bizarro about six or seven years ago. I feel like I've read plenty of Bizarro from as far back as the 60s with some William S. Burroughs novels, but I think back then they were just called Weird Books. Essentially, this still holds true for today's Bizarro Fiction: it's weird, and that's the point. Whether or not a Bizarro author writes a book that makes sense is sometimes immeterial next to whether or not it entertains and/or illuminates. Unfortunately, for me, this is where I disconnect from the movement--most bizarro titles neither entertain me nor make me think much other than the author is just trying to be strange.

The After-Life Story of Pork Knuckles Malone follows the exploits of a farm boy, Daryl, and his dead pet pig, who quickly ceases to be a pig in the first few pages when he is slaughtered by the young boy's father and cooked up as a ham for dinner. Daryl refuses to part with his best friend, ultimately stealing the ham and running away to his aunt's apt in Green Bay, WI. This is just the first of his many stops on a strange soul-searching trip as he runs from location to location, prompting everyone around him to continually remark that they smell ham. The story also cuts to the POV of both the father, and later the pig (ham?) itself--and even the POV of a fly aplty named Zzz.

As the novel progresses the situations keep turning up the knob on the bizarre scale until we're way past 11... to the point that we're introduced to demons, other worlds, monsters, space, what have you. There's no real solid conclusion to the book other than to make it clear this adventure continues beyond the final pages, which works well because I think a reader's own imagination is the only thing that can outdo Johnson's final scenes.

With all this talk of traveling down the road of weirdness, you're probably wondering if there's really a story. Thankfully, MP Johnson is wise enough to provide some meat to his tale beyond just a dead pig, and ultimately at the heart of our journey is a strained father/son relationship trying to rectify itself. Perhaps this is what I liked best about the book, that Johnson took a pretty cliche story of a farm boy in love with with one of his father's livestock, which is killed, and gave us an entirely fresh way of exploring the fallout and rectification.

Is the book entertaining? I almost laugh as I say this but YES, it is very entertaining. Is it for everybody? Certainly Not. And to be honest, had it not gone so far into left field as it progressed, and contained endearing characters, I might have gotten a bit tired of the journey. But by the end I was dug in and enjoying the ride. As I read the last line I sort of felt like my head had been put in a blender.

Johnson's writing is good, with a nice sense of prose and style, and a pacing that never lets the story get mired down. That characters are interesting and the pathos is just right. In lesser hands, this type of story would suffer greatly, but Johnson knows his audience, and he knows how to use the language that speaks to them.

I enjoyed this book quite a bit, even though I tend to lean away from bizarro fiction. So if you are a bizarro fan, you'll want to maybe add a bit to my final tally, but suffice to say I was nothing if not entertained and I recommend this to anyone looking for a short, strange trip.

3.5 OUT OF 5 Worms

VAMPIRE GUTS IN NUKE TOWN by Kevin Strange

Remember those Troma movies from the 80s? The ones that were done on the cheap, had weird monsters, were really gross, and full of gratuitous boob shots? They were not high art by any means, but we watched them over and over because....well, because of everything I just mentioned.

Such is the vibe of Vampire Guts in Nuke Town, a novel that prides itself on existing in grindhouse culture. It's equal parts violent, gross,and pornographic, all the while telling a pretty engaging story about a post-virus future where all humans have mutated in some way due to an atmosphere full of nuclear fallout. Most became vampires, and live in the shadows and underground tunnels. Some became Pogs, little frog men that can brave the sun and provide a unique experience for anyone willing to drink their blood. This blood drug is  Poog, and people take it because they think it might keep them immune from vampyrism, but really it just makes them high. And in the middle of all this is Guts, a man who's lost everything but know hows to fight back. With lots of guns. And well....with his guts....literally.

When we first meet Guts he's holed up in a seedy motel. A girl knocks on his door and asks for help. She's in the next room with her brother, who's sick. Guts knows this is not a good idea, because people don't just run around in the open air any more, and it could be a set up. But he chooses to help, and before long finds himself pulled through a hole in the motel floor, down into dark tunnels where vampire beasts, even bigger beasts, and even bigger weirder beasts try to kill him. Oh, and there's an office down there too, which is where the story gets a bit more interesting.

Suffice to say Guts has to fight his way through several more big baddies until he reaches his mega boss fight, but he must also try to unravel the mystery of what this new world means to him and why it's treating him like some kind of god. I won't give away the twist or the end, because if you like this kind of stuff you'll do yourself a favor to read it.

But therein lies the rub with Vampire Guts in Nuke Town--this is not for everyone. If you're a casual horror fan this might be a bit too much for you. Put it to you this way, there's enough violent graphic sex in this book that goes beyond about anything I've read before that I sort of think Mr. Strange needs some real therapy. Were it not for the fact the sex scenes are obviously dreamt up for shock value, I'd call the men in white coats to take him away. But I'm sure he knows that's a compliment. Case in point, I actually had to stop reading for a second after the scene where our hero orgasms into a girl's mouth as she is slowly decapitated by a man with a knife. I dunno...it certainly had an effect on me, and had I not grown up on Surf Nazis from Hell and similar films, I might have stopped reading.

But I'm glad I finished it. Kevin Strange knows his grindhouse mentality and the book achieves its goals. While his writing can be a bit wordy at times, it never lets up its pacing or insane imagery; it's easy to blow through this one laughing maniacally the whole time. Because if you can't find it in yourself to laugh at this one, you might miss the point.

Overall, this disturbing little book was a fun time and a gross-out experience I will recommend to people who think American Psycho is boring. (And if you are that type of person, be sure to check out the other books on Strange's imprint. With titles like Cannibal Fat Camp and Beer Run of The Dead, you can bet they're a blast. I, personally, would like to read more.) Get it here: http://www.strangehousebooks.com/

3.5 OUT OF 5 Worms.