David W. Barbee

Poor David Barbee. He has the decidedly bad luck to have his book come up for review when I am bizarro-ed out. I don’t think I can be as enthusiastic about this book as I would have had I not been reading so much bizarro that not even the strangest bizarro trope seems the least odd or outre anymore. But even as I am thisclose to eliminating bizarro from my reading diet until I can enjoy it again, I can say that I found Barbee’s novel amusing. I have a fondness for southern-culture-on-the-skids and this book totally delivers on that front.

Excuse me as I try to summarize this book, because it’s pretty heavy, plot-wise: Suckhole is a degenerate Southern town. It’s pretty much The Hills Have Eyes, Two Thousand Maniacs! and The Dukes of Hazzard with a dash of Matlock if Matlock was a genetically mutated abomination. It’s white trash, Mad Max and the Land the Civil War Forgot. So it’s going to be nasty and offensive. Sheriff Jesco Ray Bledskoe becomes the law in Suckhole upon his father’s death/murder. Suckhole’s denizens have been falling victim to a killer and what with the Hell-Yeah Heritage Jamboree coming up, he has to find the killer and quickly. Because he is an inbred simpleton, Bledskoe knows he must get help to solve these murders so he finds a horrifying mutation named Dexter Spikes ,who is the only creature smart enough to be of any use to him. Together, these two characters explore a really foul, post-apocalyptic landscape to find a killer. There are subplots with feral children that seem to hark back to Children of the Corn and there are succubi that are out to thwart Bledskoe and Spikes, but mostly you want to focus on the sheriff and his strange buddy-cop configuration

You can read my entire discussion here: http://ireadoddbooks.com/a-town-called-suckhole-by-david-barbee/… (mais)

This is basically a sort of buddy cop, post-apocalyptic, redneck, murder mystery sort of thing. In the town of Suckhole, which was founded by "George W. Foxworthy" there are a bunch of half-witted rednecks who believe in a twisted version of history wherein the world ended when that Yankee "Abraham Hussein Lincoln" went to war against the south. Luckily even though the world blew up, St. Hank (Williams Jr.) assassinated the evil man.

Many years later, someone is murdering the male residents of Suckhole and cutting off their penises. The sheriff knows he's not smart enough to solve the crime, so he convinces a swamp mutant called Dexter Spikes to take on the case. From there things start getting weird.

This is a great funny, weird book with lots of action and laughs. It's well worth a read.… (mais)

Carnageland tells the story of Invader 898, a priapic little alien sent to a strange backwoods planet in order to prepare it for invasion. When I say he is priapic, I mean that he wants more or less to have sex with all vaguely feminine creatures but he has undergone strict training that has taught him to curb those sorts of urges. But he comes unglued at one point. You sort of knew he would. You’re just waiting to see how bad it’s gonna be when it happens. Believe me, it’s gross. Read my entire review here: http://ireadoddbooks.com/carnageland-by-david-w-barbee/… (mais)