Mellick
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Review of Warrior Wolf Women of the Wasteland by Carlton Mellick III
One of his longest works, something labored over for longer, it seems, and continued in an equally long sequel, I found myself at times missing the brief length of his accustomed method and not necessarily wanting it to go on as long as it did. It had its moments, but…
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Review of The Big Meat by Carlton Mellick III
A fever dream. A journey into a superorganism. Mellick delivers another disturbing post-apocalyptic scenario with fantastic imagery and survival tale constraints. The sheepish main character joins a crew in charge of excavating the remains of a kaiju. It might remind you of Kaiju No. 8. But unlike the manga, this…
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Review of Bio Melt by Carlton Mellick III
I can still remember all 50+ CM3 books I’ve read, which is more than I can say about Orhan Pamuk or other more critically acclaimed slingers of words. I prefer to remember the books I read, instead of letting them fade into a pleasant blur of impressive but barely perceptible…
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Review of Goblins on the Other Side by by Carlton Mellick III
A memorable read. CM3 seems fond of depicting twisted afterlife scenarios, as in his Boy with a Chainsaw Heart and Ugly Heaven. He may be another atheist borrowing heavily from Christian imagery, but he has a unique imagination which is always striking, managing to revitalize tired tropes with elegant imagery…
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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,…
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Review of You Always Try to Kill Me in Your Dreams by Carlton Mellick III
Solid storytelling in this novella, with some slasher concepts a la Nightmare on Elm St. His books of late have all had a Goosebumps for Adults vibe, which is not a disparagement. In YATTKMIYD, CM3 satirizes the distinctly American college-age pursuit of perpetual drunkenness. He is a good writer in…
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Review of Glass Children by Carlton Mellick III
A book to finish in one sitting. One with a purposely transparent message. CM3 airs a lot of grievances about today’s generation gaps, while lobbying for some semblance of understanding between divided Americans. He includes a bloodbath for the sake of the Bizarro label. It seems more like an episode…
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Review of The Girl with the Barbed Wire Hair by Carlton Mellick III
Some CM3 books are not really bizarro. This falls into that category. There is the usual horror, gore, sex and supernatural stuff, but none of it is particularly avant-guarde punk. The barbed wire hair visuals are slightly bizarro, but not really. Aside from faltering when it comes to conjuring a…
L. S. Popovich 