This Interlude Will Change Your Life.

These Books Will Change Your Life - How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by the Charles Yu and Transubstantiate by the Richard Thomas.

Travel. Snow. Pools. Beer. Sleep. Read. Read. Read. And holy mind fucks, Batman! Which is not erudite we know, or academic, or probably an appropriate way to discuss books at all. Yet both How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by the Charles Yu and Transubstantiate by the Richard Thomas are just that, total, fucking mind fucks, yo. Maybe it's the fact that we are talking science fiction and neo-noir respectively in the first place, and all the speculative, twisty, dystopian futureness inevitably captured therein. But it's not just that. It's also their respective abilities to bend narrative, to build, even morph, towards the slow reveal, and to create graphic imagery. Mostly though, it's the telling of stories that are fractured and discursive, while still being immersive reads, that beg you to read the next page and the one after that. 

Further, while it's true that Thomas' work is more violent and sad, a narrow slice of a universe and experiment gone terribly wrong, LOST meets Vacation by Jeremy C. Shipp, high praise yo, and Yu's is more gentle, seeking to somehow explain the origins of time travel in all its fucked-upedness, though ultimately a story of how families lose one another when they forget how to communicate, and obsessiveness and mental illness, skew the dynamics at hand, they are of piece. Alternative, yet complete worlds, that fuck with the reader in ways we want to be fucked with, challenging our perceptions of place and self. And yes, that's a lot of fuck, but there was also a lot of beer, sleep, snow, kid, and pool. And so here we are. And here you are. And you can hit these books as we did. They just might change your life. And this regardless of how much snow is afoot, or how much you sleep, or drink, or kid.

This Book Will Change Your Life - Sheep and Wolves by Jeremy C. Shipp.

TBWCYL, Inc. favorite Jeremy C. Shipp author of the wildy bizzarro novel Vacation states that he lives in a moderately haunted Victorian farmhouse, but after reading his story collection Sheep and Wolves we don't believe this, not really, because it is clear to us, that where Jeremy C. Shipp resides is deep in the dark recesses of his brain, a place filled with garden gnomes, serial killers, cannibals and bloody clowns, a place where fear and terror reign, a place that isn't necessarily his own brain, not really, but our brains, where his brain has somehow taken up residence, worming its way into all of the things that horrify us in ways we can't even access, certainly not the way Shipp can, which ultimately means, that he knows our nightmares in ways we cannot conceive, something we might feel bad about if at his best he wasn't such a good and interesting writer and deserving of all that comes with that.

A massive Jeremy Shipp shout-out in celebration of his new short story collection SHEEP AND WOLVES.

Bizarro fiction master and author of the completely whacked-out novel Vacation Jeremy Shipp has a new short story collection out titled SHEEP AND WOLVES. And while we have not yet had the chance to read it - though we will let you know what we think after we do - we are big fans of the Shipp and wanted to be sure to get the press release out there - see below - for him and his publisher Raw Dog Screaming Press.

Dark fiction writer, Jeremy C. Shipp, author of VACATION, has been called many things. John Skipp proclaimed him “a very good drug.” And Jeff VanderMeer’s convinced Jeremy’s “a little bit crazy, in the best possible way.” Now, Shipp has utilized his psychotropic madness to spawn a story collection, SHEEP AND WOLVES, published by Raw Dog Screaming Press. The collection features 17 tales, including one novella and 8 previously unpublished stories. Excerpts can be read here and here.

Shipp's novel Vacation established him as one of the foremost authors in the “bizarro fiction” movement. Now he turns his attention to short fiction and literary horror. The themes of alienation and cultural homogenization on a global scale are explored in closer detail. Shipp notes, “This intimacy makes Sheep and Wolves much darker than its predecessor. Because now, the darkness is invading your homes, your dreams, your lives.” The author’s trademark quirky characters populate an otherwise bleak landscape, this time around facing horrors at home rather than evils abroad.

Feel free to explore Shipp's twisted mind at his website.