I have been venturing beyond the realms of Horror lately. My latest excursion into other-worldly genres has resulted in an acceptance in Bizarro Pulp Press's anthology: Bizarro Bizarro.
I wrote my story 'The Colony' many years ago under the influence of a low-strain LSD trip, with a few revisions and the tightening of prose it extended itself into quite a poetic work of short fiction. In the guise of a 'manifesto,' it tells the tale of a deluded literary hack who imagines a colony of versifiers that will revolutionize the canon of western literary tradition.
You'll have to wait until the official release of the anthology to read it but, suffice to say, I think I like the Bizarro genre - it is so open-ended that anything qualifies as long as it is so whacked-out that it can't fit into any other genre classifications.
That's my understanding of it, however, if you'd like a more in-depth definition, I stole the following from the home of Bizarro Fiction - Bizarro Central:
"About Bizarro
“The Bizarro literary movement is the ultimate in outsider lit.”
- 3AM Magazine
“The literary equivalent of a David Lynch
or Tim Burton film … A rising genre that functions like the cult movie
section in your local video store.”
- Horror World
“[Bizarro is] universally intriguing, thoughtful, intelligent and, most importantly, a hell of a lot of fun.”
- The Pedestal Magazine
“Sometimes comic, sometimes violent, sometimes sexually graphic (if not all of the above) and adolescently fearless to offend.”
- Details Magazine
“Bizarro fiction is by turns repulsive,
stupid, and crude. But at its best, it is also compelling, intelligent,
and well-written. Any literary genre that can be both bad and good at
the same time is worth reading.”
- The Guardian
What Is Bizarro?
- Bizarro, simply put, is the genre of the weird.
- Bizarro is literature’s equivalent to the cult section at the video store.
- Like cult movies, Bizarro is sometimes surreal, sometimes
avant-garde, sometimes goofy, sometimes bloody, sometimes borderline
pornographic, and almost always completely out there.
- Bizarro strives not only to be strange, but fascinating, thought-provoking, and, above all, fun to read.
- Bizarro often contains a certain cartoon logic that, when applied to
the real world, creates an unstable universe where the bizarre becomes
the norm and absurdities are made flesh.
- Bizarro was created by a group of small press publishers in response
to the increasing demand for (good) weird fiction and the increasing
number of authors who specialize in it.
- Bizarro is like:
- Franz Kafka meets John Waters
- Dr. Suess of the post-apocalypse
- Takashi Miike meets William S. Burroughs
- Alice in Wonderland for adults
- Japanese animation directed by David Lynch
Even though the Bizarros are underground cult outsiders they still
have gained an incredible amount of respect in the publishing industry,
having been praised by the likes of Chuck Palahniuk, Christopher Moore,
William Gibson, Jonathan Lethem, Piers Anthony, Cory Doctorow, Poppy Z.
Brite, Michael Moorcock, and Charles de Lint, to name a few, as well as
the publications Asimov’s Science-fiction, The Magazine of Fantasy and
Science-fiction, Fangoria, Cemetery Dance, Publishers Weekly, The
Washington Post, The Guardian, Details Magazine, Gothic Magazine, and
The Face, among many others. They have also been finalists for the
Philip K Dick Award, the Bram Stoker Award, the Rhysling Award, the
Wonderland Book Award, and the Pushcart Prize."
Here is the announcement/post from the good folks at Bizarro Pulp Press:
Here it is, guys! This list is subject to
slight change between now and when the book actually releases. This is also
what we are thinking of for the order of the stories that will be featured in
this book! I am Very excited about this thing. We have a lot of great names and
great stories. If you will notice, we have a super secret story to complete the
anthology.
1.Wol-Vriey Lucy in Brain Ceiling
World
2. Jeff Burk The Satanic Little
Toaster
3. Robert Harris A Smashed Up Salmon
4. Dustin Reade Night Butterfly
5. Marcin Kiszela Dreamsource
6. James Dorr Mr. Happy Head
7. Alan M. Clark and Kevin Ward Ugly
Shirt's Quest
8. Edmund Colell Fuck
Your Death, Keep Working
9. Robert Harris Pixelated Nostalgia
10. Sean Leonard Dope-elganger
11. Emily Hundrwadel Body Snatcher’s
Remorse
12. Bruce Taylor Four Dreams in
Miniature
13. Alan M. Clark and Randy Fox Not
About Mrs. Maridu
14. Daniel Gonzales
Sitcom Hell
15. Aaron French Shoes
16. Max Booth III A Prescription for
Shut the Fuck Up
17. Vincenzo Bilof The Swamp of
Girders and Chains
18. P. A. Douglas Pussy Apocalypse
19. Danger_Slater The Monster, the
Man, the Building, the Bomb
20. MP Johnson Vagalyn’s Flying Head
21. Todd Nelsen Moon Love
22. Ethan C. Evans and Daniel J. Pendergraft
Wildberry Christ
23. Jan Maszczycsn Toy Soldiers
24. G. Arthur Brown The Pitfalls of
Modern Gardening
25. Craig Saunders Sleep and the End
26. Meghan Arcuri Plaything
27. Michael A. Rose Civics of
Consequence
28. Christopher T. Dabrowski Big Bang
29. Andrew Adams Forget Me Not, Filet
Mignon
30
William Cook The Colony
31. Robert Harris Schluck!
32. Alan M. Clark
and David Conover All His First Born
33. Tony Rauch Refugees from the
Future
34. James Reith As One
35. Gabino Iglesias Looking for Gloria
36. Nick Cato A Path for the New Bride
37. ????
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