After a painstakingly thorough survey of the field (i.e., asking writers and fans on Facebook), the following authors and titles surfaced as some of the best contenders if you’re looking for a good introduction to the bizarro genre.
The first seven names received multiple votes, but the books mentioned may not have. Laura Lee Bahr’s Haunt was by far a standout favorite. After that, the entries are in no particular order. The parentheses indicate titles I added because I love them and could not leave them out. (Which doesn’t mean I don’t love some of the others, just that I had the honor of nominating these particular books.)
If there are any other titles or authors you think should be here, please leave your suggestions in the comments and I’ll add them. Now, without further ado, the list:
Laura Lee Bahr, Haunt
Jeremy Robert Johnson, Entropy in Bloom
Danger Slater, I Will Rot Without You; (He Digs a Hole)
Mykle Hansen, I, Slutbot; (HELP! A Bear is Eating Me!)
Kevin L. Donihe, House of Houses
Brian Allen Carr, Edie and the Low-Hung Hands
Carlton Mellick III, The Haunted Vagina; I Knocked Up Satan’s Daughter; Fantastic Orgy; Cannibals in Candyland; Quicksand House; Apeshit
Bradley Sands, Rico Slade Will Fucking Kill You, (Dodgeball High)
Karl Fischer, Towers
Sean M. Thompson, Hate from the Sky
Autumn Christian, Ecstatic Inferno
Garrett Cook, Time Pimp
Cameron Pierce, Ass Goblins of Auschwitz
Caris O’Malle, The Egg Said Nothing
Ed Wageman, The Panty Thief of Bridgeport
Emma Johnson, Bezerkoids
Zoltán Komor, Flamingos in the Ashtray
Jeff O’Brien, Bigboobenstein
(Andersen Prunty, Fuckness)
Tiffany Scandal
Violet LeVoit
Cody Goodfellow
Rios de la Luz
Collections
Best Bizarro Fiction of the Decade (ed. Cameron Pierce)
Any of the Bizarro Starter Kits
Collaborations
Sixty-five Stirrup Iron Road, by Brian Keene, Jack Ketchum, Edward Lee, J.F. Gonzolaz, Brian Smith, Wrath James White, Nate Southard, Ryan Harding, and Shane McKenzie
If you’re still looking for great titles to read after these, check this out. It’s my virtual bizarro bookshelf, featuring covers and favorite sentences from all kinds of books in this crazy ass genre.
Amy M. Vaughn 