In sum, the Bizarro genre of literature is both alive with potential and currently experiencing a period of nascent growth, driven by legitimately talented authors and editors. Before the first review of Gigantic Death Worm (link scrolls to review), allow me to make a case for why by examining the course of another genre, Science Fiction.

At Portland Community College I teach the Literature of Science Fiction. One of our class activities is to measure Science Fiction stories along a gradient that measures the story’s world’s deviation from our own. We find that some stories are profoundly removed from the recognizable, non-fantastic world we occupy (top-honors in my opinion going to Greg Egan’s Wang’s Carpets). On the other side of the spectrum, we find stories that are for the most part standard literary Realism, save a small, perhaps incidental and superficial fantastic element, such as Ray Bradbury’s Mars is Heaven, which so perfectly simulates rural Iowa—albeit on Mars—that it may as well be rural Iowa.

What we find with modern Science Fiction (I blame Stephen Spielberg for this, so pretty much post-E.T. Sci-Fi) is that Science Fiction need not necessarily be scientific, or interesting, but simply tack-on some currently-non-existent-or-undiscovered technology or biology (as in, alien) in order to gain entry into this genre. This trivialized element of the fantastic, while definitively placing the work within the Science Fiction genre, doesn’t really help audiences develop any new ideas, a dynamic ordinarily associated with the genre, if not the genre’s raison d’être. Profit-mongering within the genre cancelled Star Trek, and brought us Mork and Mindy, cancelled Land of the Lost, and brought us Alf. Was bad Science Fiction being made prior to Spielberg’s arrival? Certainly, but it was still only meant for weirdos.

And so too is Bizarro, but you can be a weirdo, too. Because these are weird times in which we live.

What is currently happening in the much-undiscovered genre of Bizarro mirrors the late 1960’s burgeoning of Science Fiction. Authors like PK Dick, Stanislav Lem, Samuel Delany, JG Ballard, Ursla Le Guin, Madeleine L’Engle, and Frank Herbert proved that Science Fiction was not all laser blasters and shiny metal robots, but something way wilder and strongly deviated from our own society in ways never before imagined.

But we haven’t had a Stephen Spielberg bring this genre into the mainstream and inspire imitators to cash-in on its distinctiveness in similarly vulgar manner as to undermine its authenticity and gumption. Bless his heart, but we can kind of say Lloyd Kaufman almost brought Bizarro into the mainstream in the 1980’s—but let’s all be glad he did not. In many respects, like psychedelic authors proving in the 1960’s Sci-Fi needn’t be shiny metal Martian robuts, contemporary Bizarro proves that Bizarro need not be greasy grimy Troma gopher guts, or worse, a trashy aberration of filth to be poked fun at by polite society:

Can we say of this genre that it is simply strange? Surreal? Weird? Quirky? Yes, all of these things. But be it only that? Not so much. In fact, I haven’t yet met a Bizarro editor who would reduce the genre to these simple terms. Check out the following titles, all worth reading, and see just what possibilities lie in store. I’ll continue to post updates, one review per week beginning in this post, and later on this month I join these authors and editors at their annual conference in Portland, Oregon, where I hope to conduct interviews.

REVIEW #1 – Gigantic Death Worm

The Basics – Three friends are trapped on a ski lift and stalked by bears, but an accidental discharge of ancient Mayan brain parasites winds up destroying the town of Flagstaff, Arizona.

Flavor – SATIRICAL

Read Worthiness – The narrator takes center stage here, cleverly interjecting random notes here and there, but this is more precisely the author, Vince Kramer himself, whose attitude and disposition toward fiction writing, on a literal level, that is, making stuff up about stuff, quickly reveals itself as silly, juvenile, absurd, and vulgar. And that is the payoff—the manner of storytelling, let alone the content, that is a stream-of-consciousness window into Vince Kramer making shit up as he goes along. Ordinarily, this would be a terrific turn off, like listening to some little kid make ‘splosion sounds with his mouth as it becomes painfully clear just how much video games have wrecked his imagination, but like a good William Gass short story, we are in it for the ride. The pacing takes on a cinematic feel, such as when Suzanne has a Mexican Death Worm chased out of her with tequila, and, of course, the rest of the cast is drinking Margaritas because they like to party all the time:

Suzanne’s eyes rolled back in her head then popped out of her face. An eyeball landed in Scott’s margarita glass, and not noticing, he took a sip. Then he saw it and went, “Ergwh!” and threw the glass down on the floor where it shattered.” A round necklace of teeth appeared around her neck, biting deep into the skin, causing blood to bubble to the surface. The teeth climbed, biting. They revealed a bright blue, leathery tube of flesh emerging from the base of her neck. A thick, head-sized blue worm slowly ate her entire head, swallowing it whole, inch by inch, until it was gone. A big blue worm head with a gaping round mouth full of sharp, jagged teeth writhed and snapped where Suzanne’s head used to be.

The Bottom Line – Around the halfway point, Kramer begins telling a story, sort of like how an action science fiction movie will grudgingly slow down for a moment in order to justify all the ‘splosions thus far (the most egregious example that comes to mind is John Carter) and this is where the book loses its momentum, but all is not lost, the Gigantic Death Worm is not far off. Gigantic Death Worm is a fast read, and a worthy read. If this is your first introduction into Bizarro, it is a good choice.