Books published by Eraserhead Press

Being a teenager is awkward. Being a teenager when you're attracted to your aunt is even more awkward. Being a teenager when you're attracted to your aunt who happens to be a seventies pin-up poster hanging in your uncle's bathroom is almost unbearable. Aunt Poster is a coming of age story like you've never seen before, a tale of guilt, lust and obsession with no easy answers. Can love conquer all this awkwardness? Probably not. ABOUT THIS SERIES For eight years, the New Bizarro Author Series has highlighted up-and-coming voices in the Bizarro Fiction genre with annual releases by new authors. For many of these authors, it is their first book ever published. We invite you to take a chance on an author you may never have heard of and we hope you enjoy what you find. If you like what you read here and want more from this writer, go to www.eraserheadpress.com and let us know.

A wolf with guitar strings. A turtle turned into drum. An alligator girl transformed into a synthesizer. A golden retriever converted into a theremin. These animals are the lifeblood of prog/noise group 2666. The beasts live in slavery until a sentient golden ax teaches them that they can be free. Their human masters are ruthless, cruel and desperate for fame but for these creatures, life and freedom is at stake. The instruments of 2666 will fight and die for it. ABOUT THIS SERIES For eight years, the New Bizarro Author Series has highlighted up-and-coming voices in the Bizarro Fiction genre with annual releases by new authors. For many of these writers, it is their first book ever published. We invite you to take a chance on an author you may never have heard of and we hope you enjoy what you find. If you like what you read here and want more from this writer, go to www.eraserheadpress.com and let us know.

Here is us. We are here in the Orphanarium. Think: a city in a massive box, vacuum-sealed tight. No one is allowed outside. Here, people are born out of the air or made like computers and put together. Daff is me and Dil is you and together we are twins pulled from the same vacuum of space. Cyberia is our friend android and she has a window in her head, a sphere like a crystal mind monitor. Our pet is called Killy, a cyborg dog who was born out of the air like you and me, but has since been built up with robot parts so she can live longer. This is the way things are. And the way things are right now is all about the situation with the Elementals. Some people are calling it a war. For others, it's more of a slaughter. Us or them, it's never specified. We try so hard to stay alive but the chaos spills through the walls onto us. There is no control. But there's always talk of what's going on outside the Orphanarium. Whispers of what's happening out there, while we're over here surrounded by candylions grazing on their holographic grass. Truth is we don't know until we find out. The Orphanarium is a surreal dystopian novel reminiscent of early bizarro works like Lost in Cat Brain Land by Cameron Pierce and Sea of the Patchwork Cats by Carlton Mellick III, as well as the poetic dreamscapes of Richard Brautigan and Hayao Miyazaki.

A darkly comic noir about a chicken living in a world of anthropomorphic eggs who's wanted for a murder he didn't commit. Life's tough for an "embry." Considered a vestigial organ at best and a parasite at worst, chicken embryos are usually aborted by the egg folk early in life. Once in a while one survives and slips through, hatching into an embry, an ostracized, lower caste anthropomorphic chicken. They have their own ghettos, and are barely tolerated by polite society. Our hero wakes up one day to find that some upstanding citizens have been scrambled. The king, his horses and his men are now after our hero for a crime he didn't commit and proving his innocence is going to be nearly impossible. Thank goodness he's armed with spurs, or the rotten eggs prowling the alleys of this strange grocery item city would fry him good. Delving deeper and deeper into the mystery, Embry uncovers his own bizarre background and finds he is hunted by a secret society who revere the most famous egg of all time, the very egg he himself emerged from during the great fall. From the author of Boiled Americans and Party Wolves in My Skull comes a dystopian crime story that will have you asking: Which comes first, the chicken or egg?

My mother always said, "Nothing as sad as a moth that thinks it's found the moon in a candle flame." And that is who I am, or who I am meant to have been. I whisper under my breath, "Moon in a candle flame, moon in a candle flame." And it's true. It's sad but also beautiful.

For fans of Garth Ennis' CROSSED and THE EVIL DEAD comes a new novel of savage terror.There was no warning. No chance to escape. They came suddenly. Naked. Bloodthirsty. Sadistic. They descended upon the Pine Village Apartment Complex, relentlessly torturing and killing anyone they could find.Fearing for their lives, the residents of the complex must band together. A young trans woman, a suicidal middle-aged writer, a lonely Vietnam vet, a newlywed couple, an elderly widow, a single mother and her son, two on-the-run criminals and the serial killer known as The Exit. Eleven strangers. The only thing they have in common is the unstoppable horde that wants to kill them. If they are to make it through the night, they must fight back.From World Horror Grandmaster Award winning author, Brian Keene, comes an ultra-violent and action-packed horror thriller.

Known for his cute, disturbing, and utterly absurd novels, cult author Carlton Mellick III returns with a tale of childhood love and spontaneous face explosions. Ethan is in love with the weird girl in school. The one with the twitchy eyes and spiders in her hair. The one who can't sit still for even a minute and speaks in an odd squeaky voice. The one they call Spiderweb. Although she scares all the other kids in school, Ethan thinks Spiderweb is the cutest, sweetest, most perfect girl in the world. But there's a problem. Whenever they go on a date at the Dairy Queen, her whole fucking face explodes. He's not sure why it happens. She just gets so excited that pressure builds under her skin. Then her face bursts, spraying meat and gore across the room, her eyeballs and lips landing in his strawberry sundae. At first, Ethan believes he can deal with his girlfriend's face-exploding condition. But the more he gets to know her, the weirder her condition turns out to be. And as their relationship gets serious, Ethan realizes that the only way to make it work is to become just as strange as she is. From the award-winning author of Sweet Story and The Haunted Vagina, comes a twisted love story that is as creepy as it is heart-warming.

For almost 20 years, Carlton Mellick III has been writing some of the strangest and most compelling novels the bizarro fiction genre has to offer. Described as one of the top 40 science-fiction writers under the age of 40 by The Guardian and "one of the most original novelists working today" by extreme horror legend Edward Lee. In his 56th book, Mellick has created a surreal love story that explores the ugly and beautiful nature of relationships.Stacking Doll is the story of Benjamin Hammond, a young man who is in love with a Russian nesting doll. But in this world, nesting dolls are not just antique wooden toys. They are a race of people known as Matryoshkans, a subspecies of human who are born with a very peculiar abnormality-they have a collection of smaller people living inside of them.Benjamin never thought he'd ever fall in love with anyone, let alone a Matryoshkan, but from the moment he met Ynaria he knew she was the only one for him. Although relationships between humans and Matryoshkans are practically unheard of, the two are determined to get married despite objections from their friends and family. After meeting Ynaria's strict conservative parents, it becomes clear to Benjamin that the only way they will approve of their union is if they undergo The Trial-a matryoshkan wedding tradition where couples lock themselves in a house for several days in order to introduce each other to all of the people living inside of them.No human has ever gone through The Trial before, so Benjamin has no idea what's in store for him. He assumes that he'll love each of Ynaria's inner selves just as much as he loves her, but as she peels off her layers he realizes that each one is more neurotic and difficult to deal with than the last. And if they're ever going to be together, Benjamin must fall in love with each and every one of his fiancé's inner personalities, no matter how strange or disturbing they turn out to be.From the author of Quicksand House and The Terrible Thing That Happens, comes yet another one-of-a-kind bizarro story that only Wonderland Award-winning cult author Carlton Mellick III could tell.

"Madeleine Swann tinkers with the familiar until it no longer comprehends itself. In Fortune Box, a parade of people with weakness uncomfortably similar to our own confronts the disintegration of reason as though it were just another bothersome day. Swann drags classic absurdism into the current day with an effortless sense of dry, cheeky fun and, in so doing, earns a seat at the table with greats such as Kafka, Gogol and Kharms. Swann is an absurdist in the truest sense of the word and I can think of no greater praise than that."--Matthew Revert, author of Human Trees and Basal GangliaNo one knows where or what Tower Ltd Surprise Packages is or why it's sending gifts to complete strangers across The City. All they know is that each package is the best thing that's ever happened to them...or the worst.In one box is a packet of seeds that allows you to grow your perfect date. In another there's a cupcake that causes anyone who eats it to grow eyeballs all over their skin. There's also a parcel with a mousetrap that turns all your enemies tiny. Or you could receive your autobiography, which when signed, makes your every thought famous. Or maybe even a key to a secret door that leads to another dimension where all your unfinished and abandoned projects exist. But with each package received comes both fortune and misfortune that will surely result in unexpected consequences.Like a season of episodes from The Twilight Zone or Friday the 13th The Series, comes a collection of dark and humorous stories from the premier British female author of bizarro fiction.

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.

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.

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?

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.

Go back to the beginning of the end of the world...Hell has come to earth as sadistic zombies rampage and massacre the human population. Reverend Thomas Martin has lost his congregation to the chaos but he found two wayward survivors to protect - Becky and John. The three of them have holed up in Martin's church in a desperate attempt for survival. But as supplies run low and civilization crumbles around them, Martin must come to a realization - God has abandoned them. But why? Is there any chance of hope in this new world? Is there any chance for deliverance? Modern horror legend, Brian Keene returns to his fan-favorite universe of The Rising with a tale of faith, loss, and zombies.This special edition also includes two short stories that expand and explore The Rising mythos - "The Resurrection and the Life" and "The Siqquism who Stole Christmas."

Bizarro fiction's most prolific author takes the serial killer genre to a whole new level.Oksana Maslovskiy is an award-winning artist, an internationally adored fashion model, and one of the most infamous serial killers this country has ever known. She enjoys murdering pretty young men with a nine-inch blade, cutting them open and admiring their delicate insides. It's the only way she knows how to be intimate with another human being. But one day she meets a victim who cannot be killed. His name is Gabriel-a mysterious immortal being with a deep desire to save Oksana's soul. He makes her a deal. If she promises to never kill another human being again, he'll allow her to kill him as much as she wants, using whichever methods she desires. He would become her eternal murder victim. At first, this seems like the perfect relationship for Oksana. She doesn't have to worry about hunting down her prey or getting caught by the police. But there are only so many ways you can kill a man before the process gets mechanical and boring. When she starts killing other men behind Gabriel's back, he becomes insanely jealous. She tries to break off the relationship with him, but Gabriel refuses to let her go. He has become obsessed. Now she has to deal with a crazed stalker who is infatuated with being killed by her, a man who knows all her secrets, who cannot be killed, who cannot be turned in to the police, who is willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants. And no matter how hard she tries, there's nothing Oksana can do to get rid of him. As She Stabbed Me Gently in the Face is a metaphor for a bad relationship, told in the form of a sociopathic killer's affair with an even more sociopathic victim. From the mind of Wonderland Book Award winner Carlton Mellick III, author of Apeshit and Quicksand House, comes one of the strangest and most gruesome love stories ever put to print.

They call it Gloom Town, but that isn't its real name. It is a sad city, the saddest of cities, a place so utterly depressing that even their ales are brewed with the most sorrow-filled tears. They built it on the back of a colossal mountain-sized animal, where its woeful citizens live like human fleas within the hairy, pulsing landscape. And those tasked with keeping the city in a state of constant melancholy are the Stressmen-a team of professional sadness-makers who are perpetually striving to invent new ways of causing absolute misery. But for the Stressman known as Fernando Mendez, creating grief hasn't been so easy as of late. His ideas aren't effective anymore. His treatments are more likely to induce happiness than sadness. And if he wants to get back in the game, he's going to have to relearn the true meaning of despair.Like James and the Giant Peach combined with one of David Cronenberg's early body horror films, The Tick People is a charming children's fable that quickly devolves into a grotesque sexual nightmare.

Sally is an odd little girl. It's not because she dresses as if she's from the Edwardian era or spends most of her time playing with creepy talking dolls. It's because she chases rainbows as if they were butterflies. She believes that if she finds the end of the rainbow then magical things will happen to her-leprechauns will shower her with gold and fairies will grant her every wish. But when she actually does find the end of a rainbow one day, and is given the opportunity to wish for whatever she wants, Sally asks for something that she believes will bring joy to children all over the world. She wishes that it would rain candy forever. She had no idea that her innocent wish would lead to the extinction of all life on earth.

Be careful where you masturbate...Grady learns this the hard way when he rubs one out in the bathroom and ends up knocking up his toilet. When the swollen latrine gives birth, Grady finds himself saddled with a toilet baby-a half-human half-porcelain monstrosity that yearns to be loved. But being a new father isn't easy when your child is a toilet girl that feeds on human excrement and must be kept a secret from the rest of society.Grady soon learns he isn't the only one with this problem. There's a hidden community of toilet people where fathers can live with their toilet children in peace. Unfortunately, their tranquil isolation cannot last forever. Kids will be kids and the toilet children are eager and curious to learn about the world and experiences that were always kept from them - no matter how dangerous they may be.From the same deviant mind that brought you PUS JUNKIES and MUERTE CON CARNE comes a comedy about family and love born from the toilet bowl.

From master of bizarro fiction Carlton Mellick III, author of the international cult hits Satan Burger and Adolf in Wonderland, comes a gritty urban fantasy unlike anything you've read before.In a world where magic exists, spell-casting has become a serious addiction. It ruins lives, tears families apart, and eats away at the fabric of society. Those who cast too much are taken from our world, never to be heard from again. They are sent to a realm known as Hell's Bottom -- a sorcerer ghetto where everyday life is a harsh struggle for survival. Porcelain dolls crawl through the alleys like rats, arcane scientists abduct people from the streets to use in their ungodly experiments, and everyone lives in fear of the aristocratic race of spider people who prey on citizens like vampires. Told in a series of interconnected stories reminiscent of Frank Miller's Sin City and David Lapham's Stray Bullets, Carlton Mellick III's Hungry Bug is an urban fairy tale that focuses on the real life problems that arise within a fantastic world of magic.

A bizarro parody of the movie Tron.Technology has advanced to the level where electronic alternate worlds can actually be created and colonized by humans. The first such world to be developed was originally supposed to be based on the electronic world from the movie Tron, but due to legal complications with the Disney Corporation the developers decided to base it instead on a B-grade ripoff film called Cybernetrix. Although the movie was a failure, the electronic world of Cybernetrix has become so popular that it has changed our culture forever. There is only one problem: the Cybernetrix world and the real world seem to be slowly bleeding together into one reality. Carlton Mellick III's Cybernetrix is a bizarro satire set in a future world where '80s fads never went out of style, where society has completely lost interest in art and creativity, where reality is so damned boring that fantasy is the only thing left worth living for.

Santa isn't the jolly old elf as portrayed in Children's stories. He's a bit more grotesque than that. His eyes are pimento-stuffed olives,his teeth are walnuts, and his body is made of sausages.One snowy Christmas Eve, while visiting the Fry family, Sausagey Santa is attacked by an evil force that is driven to destroy Christmas forever. It is an anti-Christmas spirit that loathes everything having to do with children and Jesus. His name is Frosty the Neo-Nazi Snowman. After Frosty steals his magic bag of presents, Santa calls upon Matthew Fry and his wife, Decapitron (a brutish warrior woman with a peculiar Christmas fetish and a candy cane sword), to help get it back and save Christmas for everyone.It's the greatest sausage-spewing, elf-raping, zombie-killing, Transformer-fucking, reindeer-exploding, snowman-battling, adventure-rocking, bizarro Christmas story OF ALL TIME!!!