Sneak Preview: New Bizarro Author Series 2015 – Coming November 2015!
2015 marks the seventh year of annual releases from our series designed to introduce readers to work by new authors in the Bizarro Fiction genre, and with nine new authors it’s our biggest lineup to date!
This year, we brought on editor Garrett Cook to curate the series. Cook has his finger on the pulse of the Bizarro Fiction genre and has long been a champion of new writers. As a workshop instructor, freelance editor, Wonderland Award Winning author and two-time Champion of the Ultimate Bizarro Showdown, I knew I could trust Garrett not only to find us freshest voices with bizarro sensibilities but also make sure that they would satisfy bizarro fiction fans.
What can we look forward to from this year’s New Bizarro Author Series?
EXPLOSIONS! GUITAR SOLOS! FULL FRONTAL NUDITY!
Okay, fine. It won’t be those things but this year we’ve got an erotic thriller about a man falling for a spider, life inside a giant planet eating robot, a Gamergater at a high school for Japanese magical girls, Alice Cooper’s head, Van Gogh as an ice cool 80s vice cop, the terrible truth behind rainbows, living siege towers in a Kaiju ravaged future, hijinks at a Summer camp for slashers and a Brazilian giant much loved by our community tells the story of a headless boy and a yellow balloon seeking the meaning of life at an insane apocalyptic mall. We think you’ll find pretty much everything there is to love about the genre in these nine books by authors from four different countries, stories that range from bent science fiction to splatstick to psychedelia. These books are fucking cool and so are the people who wrote them.
The books will be released November 5, 2015 to correspond with the first night of the 8th Annual BizarroCon. For now, here’s a sneak peak at the covers and authors:
“Elephant Vice”
Chris Meekings
He’s the master of post impressionism. He’s the Hindu Remover of Obstacles. They’re cops.
Vincent Van Gogh is a cop with a dark past. He painted some of the greatest artistic masterpieces of our time. He cut off his ear out of love for a prostitute. He was a great painter. He isn’t anymore. He’s a tough as nails loose cannon cop who plays by his own rules. When a drug called **** hits the streets, it starts turning people into the object their essence most resembles. Van Gogh is put on the case. But this hard case has a new partner. His methods are unusual, his attitude incompatible and he has the head of an elephant. He’s the Hindu God Ganesha. Can these two put aside their differences and learn to work together? Probably. It’s a buddy cop thing.
“Slasher Camp for Nerd Dorks”
Christoph Paul
Freddy versus Jason Meets Wet Hot American Summer. Nuff Said.
Jason Voorheesberg has struggled to become the great slasher his mom believes he can be and has as bad case of Slasher Anxiety. He is sent to one of the worse ranked camps for young slashers: Slasher Camp for Nebulous Youth #987.When she drops Jason off at the camp, he gets bullied by the Jock Slashers and is attacked by the rich, snooty protagonists of the rival Final Camp across the lake. He hates the camp and is considered the worst slasher by the Pred counselors. Even though he makes a friend with Slasher Candybee Wamack and develops a forbidden relationship with a Slazer (Final Girl who slays Slashers), he struggles even more with his slasher anxiety. Can love (and homicide) conquer all and save Jason from a life of mediocrity?
“Towers”
Karl Fischer
When we are locked inside ourselves, nothing outside could be worse.
After fighting giant monsters for a thousand years, a sentient guard tower is set to go to heaven with his soulmate. But for reasons unknown, the lovers are reborn as lowly humans living inside the Towers they once operated. Separated by thousands of miles and trapped within menageries of horror, only a profound transformation of mind and body can reunite them.
“Pixiegate Madoka”
Michael Sean LeSueur
Does a Gamergater have what it takes to be part of Japan’s worst magical girl squad? Fuck no.
Julian Argento is a socially-awkward, Reddit-obsessed nerd about to start his junior year of high school. He finds his foreign exchange program request to Japan has been approved, and he’ll be joined by an “almost perfect” dream girl that looks just like his crush Jennifer Lawrence—That is, until he enters the wrong transfer rocket and is sent to Urobochi High, academy for Magical Girls. He is assigned to the “kitchen appliance” squad, and he must learn to be good-hearted, maintain friendships, and spread love in order to become a true Magical Girl… all while stopping his psychotic sister and her sea punk boyfriend from destroying Japan with their dark powers. Shouldn’t be too hard. After all, he’s a “nice guy”!
“Benjamin”
Pedro Proenca
Sometimes, hope is a yellow balloon named Benjamin. Life kinda sucks for Benjamin.
The mall shouldn’t be a dangerous place. You shouldn’t have to fear green men abducting you and feeding you to a tentacle monster. You shouldn’t have to fear the anaconda that serves as the staircase to the movie theater. And you shouldn’t have to face off against ice cream men with a strange knowledge of black holes. But if you’re Benjamin – a sentient yellow balloon – or the Boy, his headless chubby teen sidekick, you have to fear all those things. Because this mall is sick, and it’s your job to heal it, or go insane trying.
“King Space Void”
Anthony Trevino
When you love someone, sometimes they can mean the whole world to you. Or several worlds.
King Space Void is a planet-eating entity whose consciousness resides in the body of a gargantuan machine made to look like a man and powered by thousands of people. Dane Shipps is one of the best workers of in King Space Void, until the day he finds a mangled woman named Scarlet still alive and intertwined in the machine’s ductwork who convinces him to step outside of his routine. Together they plan to take down King Space Void and everyone inside.
“Rainbows Suck”
Madeleine Swann
Finally, the terrifying truth behind rainbows
Tilly, an aspiring artist has been chosen by a race of evil rainbows from space to become a work of art. Works of art are forced to entertain people and gain votes on a crazy reality program to avoid being devoured by the rainbows. What seemed like a dream becomes a nightmare as Tilly is forced to indulge in escalating acts of degradation and insanity to protect herself from these colorful abominations.
“Rock ‘N’ Roll Head Case”
Lee Widener
When Alice Cooper’s head starts telling you what to do, you probably shouldn’t listen. Chaino Durante did. And this is his story.
Chaino Durante works at the worst fast food restaurant ever. He has the worst job in this fast food restaurant. And the worst life he possibly can. When he discovers a mysterious bag in the fryer, he takes it home. The bag contains the head of rock and roll icon Alice Cooper. This is unfortunate. What’s more unfortunate is that Chaino gets the gun he’s going to use to rob his workplace stuck in the head and the head stuck on his hand. A new weapon is formed. A weapon that lets Chaino rob his workplace and subvert the order of the world around him. A weapon that blasts holes in reality itself, which does not come without consequence. A no holds barred psychedelic cartoon in the tradition of Bill Plympton and Ralph Bakshi, with Pink Floyd’s The Wall thrown in for good measure, Rock N’ Roll Headcase explores the ins and outs of expanding consciousness with a madness that never lets up.
“Arachnophile”
Betty Rocksteady
Hatred and desire collide when the girl next door is a giant spider
Alex’s arachnophobia may be old fashioned, but he’s able to live a life of relative peace despite it. That all changes when a spider moves in next door. His girlfriend is sick of his attitude and begs him to give the new neighbor a chance. He overcomes his fear, but finds a twisted sexuality in its place. His attraction to the spider affects all areas of his life, and changes everything he thought he knew.
