Product Code Database
Bizarro fiction is a contemporary literary genre which often uses elements of absurdism, satire, and the grotesque, along with pop-surrealism and genre fiction staples, in order to create subversive, weird, and entertaining works. The term was adopted in 2005 by the small press Eraserhead Press, Raw Dog Screaming Press, and Afterbirth Books. Much of its community revolves around Eraserhead Press, which is based in Portland, Oregon, and has hosted the annual BizarroCon since 2008. The introduction to the first Bizarro Starter Kit describes Bizarro as "literature's equivalent to the cult film section at the video store" and a genre that "strives not only to be strange, but fascinating, thought-provoking, and, above all, fun to read." The Bizarro Starter Kit. Bizarro Books, 2006. p. 5
According to Rose O'Keefe of Eraserhead Press: "Basically, if an audience enjoys a book or film primarily because of its weirdness, then it is Bizarro. Weirdness might not be the work's only appealing quality, but it is the major one."
In general, Bizarro has more in common with speculative fiction genres (such as science-fiction, fantasy, and Horror fiction) than with avant-garde movements (such as Dadaism and surrealism), which readers and critics often associate it with. While the genre may place an emphasis on the cult and outré, it is not without critical praise. Books by authors who have identified or have been identified as Bizarro have been praised by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Moorcock. Bizarro novels have been finalists for the Philip K. Dick Award, the Bram Stoker Award, and the Rhysling Award. A book of Bizarro criticism and theory was named Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2009 by in Paris. Put It Down in a Book by Tom Bradley, The Drill Press, 2009
In his essay, "The Nab Gets Posthumously Bizarroized", Tom Bradley traces the genre's roots back in literary history to the time of Vladimir Nabokov's "Gogolization," and his cry of despair and horror at having his central nervous system colonized: "...after reading Gogol, one's eyes become Gogolized. One is apt to see bits of his world in the most unexpected places." Bradley claims the Bizarro movement is continuing and fulfilling that Gogolization process, under the name "Bizarroization": "...we have been completing the preposterous project which Nabokov took over from Gogol nearly a hundred years ago.." Bradley further asserts that Bizarro writers can trace their spiritual roots back to the letters which Ovid wrote while exiled on the Black Sea.
The British magazine Dazed & Confused stated that "The bastard sons of William Burroughs and Dr. Seuss, the underground lit cult of the Bizarros are picking up where the left off."
2022: The Last 5 Minutes of the Human Race - Michael Allen Rose & Jim Agpalza
2021: Don't Push the Button - John Skipp
2020: Don't FBleepk with the Coloureds - Andre Duza
2019: To Wallow in Ash & Other Sorrows - Sam Richard
2018: Nightmares in Ecstasy - Brendan Vidito
2017: Angel Meat - Laura Lee Bahr
2016: Berzerkoids – Emma Alice Johnson
2015: The Pulse Between Dimensions and the Desert – Rios de la Luz
2014: I'll Fuck Anything that Moves and Stephen Hawking – Violet LeVoit
2013: Time Pimp – Garrett Cook
2012: All-Monster Action – Cody Goodfellow
2011: We Live Inside You – Jeremy Robert Johnson
2010: Lost in Cat Brain Land – Cameron Pierce
2009: Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars – Cody Goodfellow
2008: Rampaging Fuckers of Everything on the Crazy Shitting Planet of the Vomit Atmosphere – Mykle Hansen
2007: 13 Thorns – Gina Ranalli
2022: One Hand to Hold, One Hand to Carve - M. Shaw
2021: Jurassichrist - Michael Allen Rose
2020: The Loop - Jeremy Robert Johnson
2019: Unamerica - Cody Goodfellow
2018: Coyote Songs - Gabino Iglesias
2017: Sip - Brian Allen Carr
2016: I Will Rot Without You – Danger Slater
2015: Skullcrack City – Jeremy Robert Johnson
2014: Dungeons & Drag Queens – Emma Alice Johnson
2013: Motherfucking Sharks – Brian Allen Carr
2012: Space Walrus – Kevin L. Donihe
2010: By the Time We Leave Here, We'll Be Friends – J. David Osborne
2009: Warrior Wolf Women of the Wasteland – Carlton Mellick III
2008: House of Houses – Kevin L. Donihe
2007: Dr. Identity – D. Harlan Wilson
Although Bizarro is a DIY genre that gets little media attention, a notable Bizarro work is often one that has broken past the barriers of the genre and received wider attention in literature and media.
| + !Title !Year !Author !Publisher !ISBN !Pages !Notes | ||||||
| Satan Burger | 2001 | Carlton Mellick III | Eraserhead Press | 9780971357235 | 236 | |
| The Baby Jesus Buttplug | 2003 | Carlton Mellick III | Eraserhead Press | 0972959823 | 104 | |
| Angel Dust Apocalypse | 2005 | Jeremy Robert Johnson | Eraserhead Press | 0976249839 | 184 |
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