Eraserhead Press
VS 
A contest for Book Title of the Year was held over at Infomaniac. The contest was between The Haunted Vagina by Carlton Mellick III and Ass Goblins of Auschwitz by Cameron Pierce.
Click here to see the results.
The Bizarro Western, Fistful of Feet by Jordan Krall has been reviewed on two different blogs this week.
One review is by an avid fan of the Western genre, Matthew Revert over at “Clockwork Father“:
“I went into Jordan Krall’s latest novel, Fistful of Feet, with a certain bias. I am an avid fan of the Western, be it the traditional Hollywood kind or the Spaghetti kind. This same bias could have ultimately worked against it however, if it wasn’t pulled off very well. It might have fallen into a Western pastiche, stealing the associated aesthetics and bastardising them superficially. Fistful of Feet doesn’t do this. It is a triumph and clearly written by someone with a deep respect for everything a Western stands for. The characters one would expect to populate a Western abound; the mysterious stranger, the busty brothel owner, the town crazies, a corrupt sheriff, hardened cowboys, gamblers, whores and storeowners. They’re all touched upon, and touched upon beautifully. Wrap this up in a gooey, Bizarro shell and it makes for a wild, touching and unforgettable ride through the dusty landscapes of a surrealist hell.”
And one by Michael Allen Rose who isn’t typically a fan of the Western:
“The story follows the archetypal lone wanderer, Calamaro, a rough and tumble stranger with many mysteries following behind him (my favorite mystery by far is the wooden donkey he drags along, which holds many secrets of its own). Calamaro drags himself to the local brothel in the small town of Screwhorse to set himself up with a room, but of course, as the genre demands, nobody’s comfortable with the new stranger in town (save a madam with a heart of gold and a few others). From there, things get perverse and hilariously wild, and that’s good: Krall is at his best when he taps into the reader’s prurient interests. This book is delightfully filled with sexual depravity and otherworldly references to unspeakable acts. The descriptions of the various delights at the town’s whorehouse are alternately stimulating and grimace-inducing, and that’s exactly how Krall holds the reader’s attention. A careful balancing act of alien starfish and four-footed prostitutes on one side with all the classic tropes of the old Clint Eastwood films on the other.”
Rose O'Keefe's Mustache
What if everyone in the world had a mustache?
Carlton Mellick III's Mustache
That’s exactly what happens in The Faggiest Vampire
Not only people, but everyTHING has a mustache!
What’s your favorite type of mustache?
While I am in the mood to talk about shopping I might as well mention that we have several quality titles available for Kindle (or iPhones with the Kindle app).
Help! A Bear Is Eating Me! by Mykle Hansen
A black comedy about a corporate dickhead who gets trapped under his SUV in the Alaskan Wilderness and is being slowly eaten by a bear.
Shatnerquake by Jeff Burk
Action packed farcical story where all the characters that William Shatner has ever played on film get sucked into reality at the same time. Their mission: to hunt down and kill the REAL William Shatner.
Jack and Mr. Grin by Andersen Prunty
A ticking clock tale about a man who has to save his girlfriend from a sadistic killer in a style that’s Hitchcock meets Terry Gilliam.
So if you’re looking for a gift for yourself or a friend with a Kindle, these are a good place to start.
It’s Christmas shopping season again and once again I am doing all my shopping online. It’s easy, I can read reviews and research items, I can check people’s wish lists, and have things shipped directly to my friends and family.
I thought some of you might be interested to know that Amazon.com is running a 4-for-3 promotion. Buy four eligible items and get the lowest priced item free. This combined with the free super saver shipping (on orders over $25) is saving me a bunch of money.
Also, I recently learned that a fan of Carlton Mellick III purchased twenty copies of The Faggiest Vampire to give out as gifts to his Vampire: The Masquerade friends for Christmas. He got a sweet deal through Amazon, so I created a list of all 21 of the Eraserhead Press books that qualify for this deal in case anyone is interested.
Eraserhead Press 4-for-3 Promotion
http://flooddamage.wordpress.com/2009/12/03/zerostrata-review/
A review of Zerostrata by Anderson Prunty
by Michael A Rose
If Zerostrata was a tea, I would call it “bracing, with a hint of undeniable sweetness.” I would drink it on Wednesday mornings at work to make me feel on edge with anticipation of the day to come, and awaken me to the possibilities while simultaneously clearing my sinuses. But Anderson Prunty’s Zerostrata is not a tea – it’s a book – and a damn good one.
Zerostrata follows the story of Hansel Nothing as he returns to his childhood home in an effort to find himself and give his life some sense of meaning. He has no memory of where he’s been for the last decade or so. In a normal story, the plot would quickly become a tiresome cliche in which the focus is getting back lost memories, but in Prunty’s capable hands, the story stays firmly planted in the present – a present where a beautiful girl runs naked in the rain and a mysterious therapist named Doctor Blast prescribes a strange series of events that shake Hansel Normal’s world up completely.
One of the best things about reading Zerostrata is the juxtaposition of bizarro humor and strange events with a real sweetness. Sure, there are gang members who make the world’s most delicious salad from their own flesh, and liquid-like airspace complete with magically mobile trampolines to keep falling victims safe for their therapy, but at its core, Zerostrata seems to be a love story. Not in the traditional sense, but in the sense that once we find the right person, nothing else matters outside of that, no matter how difficult or mundane. There is a beautiful scene which I will not ruin for you involving raindrops toward the end of the book that contains a monologue I may ask Prunty for permission to use in my wedding vows some day. That’s the kind of experience this book gives a reader – being carried through the strangest of places, only to come out on the other side and find some sort of magic.
This is a quest story where the protagonist doesn’t know what the ultimate goal is, and as it is revealed to him, the reader sees it as well. That conceit alone makes this truly worth the read; highly recommended.
http://10kbullets.com/features/ass-goblins-of-auschwitz/
Ass Goblins of Auschwitz
Written by: Michael Den Boer on December 1st, 2009
Title: Ass Goblins of Auschwitz
Written By: Cameron Pierce
Published by: Eraserhead Press
87 pages, Copyright 2009.
ISBN 978-1933929934 (US – $9.95)
This book’s provocative title “Ass Goblins of Auschwitz”, immediately had me intrigued. The story which lies within more than lives up and in many ways exceeds this book’s subversive title. Right off the bat, the book incorporates into its plot two things that are bound to offend some readers. Nazi like ‘bad guys’ referred to in the book as ‘Ass Goblins’ and their prison camp Auschwitz, which also happens to be the name of the most notorious Nazi death during World War 2. Despite this book’s title and twist on two touchy subjects, the overall tone of the subject matter and the way in which it is approached are far from offensive.
So what is “Ass Goblins of Auschwitz” about? The story is told via a first person narrative in which one half of a conjoined twin leads us through a grotesque labyrinth of atrocities. The nemesis of the story, are disfigured entities referred to as ‘Ass Goblins’ and their leader ‘Adolf’ who is temporary away on a sex odyssey. The occupants of the ‘Ass Goblins’ prison camp Auschwitz, are children who have been taken away from the serenity of kid land and they are slowly being transformed via experiments into ‘Ass Goblins’. The ‘Ass Goblins’ are a vile race of beings that fly in apple-shaped space ships, they make apple cider from fermented children’s flesh and they make bicycles and sex toys out of the body parts of dead children. These are just a few of the despicable acts that are perpetrated by the ‘Ass Goblins’.
As vile as the ‘Ass Goblins’ are in this book, they are portrayed in such an absurd way that makes them all the more easier to digest. From the opening chapter up until the poetic melancholy coda, this book is a relentless journey. At the core of this book, is a story about the shift from childhood to adulthood and the loss of one’s innocence. Without a doubt the most enjoyable and strongest asset of this book is its author’s fluid, descriptive, prose and his limitless imagination.
Kevin Shamel, Cameron Pierce, Jeff Burk
Once again, Eraserhead Press sold books in the dealer’s room at OryCon.
We hung out with friends
And artist Alan M. Clark considered how he might use Jeff’s hair as a paintbrush
My favorite costumes of the weekend were these two
The Doctor and Jamie
See you again next year!
Bizarro Author Jeff Burk is offering a free download of SHATNERQUAKE today on his website.
About the book:
It’s Shatner VS Shatners!
William Shatner? William Shatner. WILLIAM SHATNER!!! It’s the first ShatnerCon with William Shatner as the guest of honor! But after a failed terrorist attack by Campbellians, a crazy terrorist cult that worships Bruce Campbell, all of the characters ever played by William Shatner are suddenly sucked into our world. Their mission: hunt down and destroy the real William Shatner.
Featuring: Captain Kirk, TJ Hooker, Denny Crane, Rescue 911 Shatner, Singer Shatner, Shakespearean Shatner, Twilight Zone Shatner, Cartoon Kirk, Esperanto Shatner, Priceline Shatner, SNL Shatner, and – of course – William Shatner!
No costumed con-goer will be spared in their wave of destruction, no redshirt will make it out alive, and not even the Klingons will be able to stand up to a deranged Captain Kirk with a lightsaber. But these Shatner-clones are about to learn a hard lesson…that the real William Shatner doesn’t take crap from anybody. Not even himself.
It’s Shatnertastic!
Praise for Shatnerquake:
“It’s like Lloyd Kaufman and Sam Rami’s mutant offspring wrote a book.”
- Wil Wheaton, Star Trek: the Next Generation’s Wesley Crusher
“…getting a lightsaber-wielding Captain Kirk in the same room with “Boston Legal’s” Denny Crane is definitely worth the cover price in comedic gold.”
- Jim Gibbons, Wizard Magazine
“If you’ve ever sat tripping on acid surrounded by a hundred tv’s playing various William Shatner programming all at once, you might not need to read Shatnerquake. But if you have not, then there is no excuse for you to miss this absurdly hilarious meta-satire of celebrity, identity, and completism.”
- Whitney Streed, Stand-Up Comedian
“Talk about off the wall!”
- Edward Lee, author of The Bighead and Flesh Gothic
The Second Annual BizarroCon (October 21-25, 2009) was a huge success. Five days of Bizarro writers, artists, publishers, and fans came together as one big happy family.
This event was of great significance to Eraserhead Press as it marked our 10th Year in independent publishing. Each year, the Bizarro community continues to grow and BizarroCon provides us the special opportunity to get together in a very unique setting, spend time together creatively and really get to know one another. We are grateful to every person that came out to BizarroCon this year, many of you traveled long distances and overcame financial obstacles and it wouldn’t have been the same without all of you here. Everyone at this event contributed in some way. As one participant, Nicole Cushing, put it, “What I loved is that this just wasn’t a Con where we talked about being creative. This was a Con where we were creative”.
Eraserhead Press would like to send out a hearty THANK YOU to everyone who came to BizarroCon and those of you who were there with us in spirit, THANK YOU to everyone who participated in the writing workshops that Carlton Mellick III and Eckhard Gerdes presented, THANK YOU to all our panelists and those who attended, THANK YOU to all of the readers and those who attended the readings, THANK YOU to everyone who stayed in the Ad House and took care of each other, THANK YOU to everyone who participated in The Ultimate Bizarro Showdown and to the judges who did not get drunk and mistake the Kevins like I did, THANK YOU to everyone who came to our party on Friday night and drank our beer. An atmosphere of creative energy was created and for five days we lived in a different world together. A beautiful, wild, messy, bloody, wonderful world. BizarroCon is not just an event, it’s an experience. The contribution of each person was felt by all. In particular we would like to extend special love and thanks to the following people:
Thank you to KEVIN L. DONIHE for his tireless work editing the New Bizarro Author Series. The first four releases on this line debuted at BizarroCon along with their authors. Thank you also for arriving early to help with preparations, participating on panels and and keeping us all greatly entertained during the now legendary “Ask Kevin L. Donihe” session. Congratulations to Donihe for winning the Wonderland Award for Best Novel of 2008 with House of Houses.
Thank you to JEREMY ROBERT JOHNSON author and editor of Swallowdown Press and idiot savant for a truly outstanding job hosting the Ultimate Bizarro Showdown and for presenting the Wonderland Award for best novel, participating on panels, shuttling people to the airport and for your support and attention to detail.
Thank you to ANGIE MOLINAR and CHRISSY HORCHHEIMER, the stand out Bizarro artists who are regular illustrators for The Magazine of Bizarro Fiction and cover artists for Eraserhead Press. Angie and Chrissy designed the fabulous centerpieces for the Wonderland Book Awards Dinner (nine head sculptures themed after Bizarro books) and generously donated their original artwork from the Magazine to the Bizarro Raffle. Hearty thanks for the mimosas, hosting people at the bunker, giving rides from the airport and for generally having my back.
Big thank you to ECKHARD GERDES for his fantastic workshop Defense Against the Dark Arts: Preparing for criticism. In this class students were asked to create an artistic statement of purpose and share with each other. This provided a context for relationships that continued into the rest of BizarroCon as we learned more about each other’s goals and interests. Additional thanks for judging the Ultimate Bizarro Showdown, participating in panels and hooking us up with “The Good Stuff” (and by that we mean Templeton Rye Whiskey).
Thank you to KEVIN SHAMEL author of Rotten Little Animals. Shamel really went the extra mile for BizarroCon, shuttling people from the airport to Edgefield, holding down the bunker, and pitching in whenever he found himself needed. Extra special thanks to Shamel for all of the gorgeous photos he took of the event (including most of the photos that appear in this blog post). Congratulations to Shamel for winning 2nd Place in The Ultimate Bizarro Showdown.
Thank you FAMOUS AUTHOR MYKLE HANSEN for contributing to an intense schedule of panels and readings with flair and for helping out with rides. Many thanks to you and Jeff Burk for putting together a kick ass presentation of Bizarro short films late/early Saturday/Sunday morning. Congratulations to Hansen for winning the Wonderland Award for Best Collection of 2008 with Rampaging Fuckers of Everything on the Crazy Shitting Planet of the Vomit Atmosphere.
Thank you GINA RANALLI winner of the Wonderland Award for Best Collection of 2007 for presenting the award to the winner for 2008 and for judging The Ultimate Bizarro Showdown.
Thank you TROY CHAMBERS, ZACK GOWEN and ERIC ROBINSON (aka CannibalCheese). These underage darlings of bizarro really earned their beer on Friday night decorating for the Eraserhead Press party. I knew right away that these stylish fellows would do a bang up job and they transformed the Ad House into a truly Eraserhead Press space. Special thanks to Troy Chambers for generally being my bitch that weekend and taking charge of a good share of the grunt work with a great attitude.
Thank you ERIC MAYS author of Naked Metamorphosis. We just met, but you really stepped in and made yourself a part of the team taking initiative to help where needed. Thank you!
Thank you ANDREW GOLDFARB for being your awesome self. Goldfarb is the type of person who has a distinct vision that he expresses in everything he does. A snake oil voodoo surrealistic weeping willow slub glub lump lump world of wonder and magic. He is not only the author of multiple books and comics but he is also a one man band The Slow Poisoner. Thank you for your outstanding entertainment on Friday night, participating in panels and judging The Ultimate Bizarro Showdown. Thank you for giving me a reason to dance, the seance, and your completely unique perspective.
Thank you ZOE WELCH #1 Bizarro Fan from TX. We weren’t expecting fans to show up at this event but you came and you provided something that no one else could have. Thank you for your feedback as a reader. Bizarro fiction is created for people like you, we are glad to call you our friend.
We would also like to send out special love and thoughts to Chris Genoa and Bruce Taylor who were in our thoughts and to all of the Eraserhead Press authors and readers all over the world. We hope we see all of you again next year!
