Review of Why I Married a Clown Girl From the Dimension of Death by Carlton Mellick III

Another bizarro novella from Carlton Mellick, who is nearing his 70th book.

This was, like a few previous ones, an un-subtle commentary on society through the fantasy lens of clown-people invading from another dimension. It tackles questions of xenophobia, homelessness, and the current destruction of natural resources, the family unit, sex, love, marriage, fatherhood, and abusive relationships. It does this through a mature method of casting flawed characters in a humiliating and disturbing light, putting them through trials and psychological torture which mirrors or satirizes real-life issues. This writing technique epitomizes the fact that the purpose of fiction is to understand life. That we can interpret books, like dreams, with both a sense of wonder and foreboding. By dredging up the subconscious struggles and desires within us, we can forge a new path through our daily existence. We can better understand our environments through empathetic means. The abusive relationship in this novel, like the one in The Girl with Barbed-Wire Hair and several of his other books, provides a deep-perspective window into human interactions, even if the so-called female is a clown-person. The fact of the matter is he does not tread lightly on these subjects and you will be more disturbed by the inhumanity of characters than the gore or the sickening imagery. The capacity of people to harm people and to harm the environment and other creatures is the most disturbing thing I can think of. The reason Mellick’s work is undeniably important is not because of his fiery imagination and the edgy, bonkers, psycho-dream vomit descriptions and video-game level world-building, it’s worth reading because it opens up the wound of our human flaws for dissection. Contemplate the world through dream-logic, transform your mind into a bizarro vessel and experience an awakening from the dull products of postmodern angst and depraved bestsellers. Embrace tentaclism, and the infinite possibilities of the alternate dimensions born from the womb of our vicious longings.