Merciful Flush

by Lance Manion

Merciful of Flush is a collection blogs written over the past 5 years. Sometimes funny, often thought-provoking, and occasionally rude they seek to act as a catalyst for creativity. Details are kept to a minimum so the reader can fill in their own blanks and take from the stories something unique to them. A perfect book for commuters, people in need of a little inspiration and anyone who likes to read on the toilet. A self-help book for those looking to think weirder.

Genres: Bizarro Fiction

191 pages, Paperback

First published April 26, 2012

About the author

Lance Manion was not born a poor black child. That was Navin R. Johnson. Neither was he born to run, to be wild and the last thing he needs is to be born again. I'm certain his mother would have none of it. and pardon him if he got it right the first time (as did Dennis Miller who I must credit with that line).

Reviews

[Martin Gibbs · Rating 2 out of 5]

Here we have a collection of strange little tales, fully of the wacky and the wild. Now, some are hilarious ("the amazing spider man" for instance, when the gives them a moth and spider a right bloody what-for), others are quirky and strange, like the author says, it's like a video montage.

The e-book version it really needs some tweaking for formatting (see below) on Kindle. Additionally, the entire collection needs some editing and proofreading. There were numerous mistakes and usage issues—not enough to kill the story, but enough to really push it down the ranking scale.

The stories are not bad, some are funny, others so-so. It's not everyone's cup of tea and that is OK. As I say in my guide, I'm not going to give poor reviews based on taste—you may be on the floor laughing while I just sit there and stare at you. But with the editing/proofreading issues aside, much of this writing is somewhat puerile (and gosh I hate to say that, but, well...)—there is always room for disjointed, casual, colloquial writing in bizarro. This story has it in bundles, and it often detracts from the story. Again, this is my opinion, your mileage may vary.

I feel really, really bad at having to mark something so low, but that is part of the bargain when soliciting reviews. Lance needs to tighten up his work and maybe go back through and clean some of the passages up. It can get four stars, it really can. This iteration just doesn't have it, but the potential is there.

[melydia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A rambling collection of essays, anecdotes, and assorted madness. The punctuation leaves a lot to be desired, but despite that it's still quite readable. The humor often borders on the demented, sort of a cross between David Sedaris and Happy Tree Friends. There were parts where I laughed, parts where I cringed, and even a few parts where I was tempted to skim - but most of it was quite unforgettable either way. I may think of one story in particular every time I take a shower for the rest of my life. If you're looking for something well outside the mainstream, this will probably amuse you. I'd like to read more of Manion's blather because much of it is really quite funny, but I think I'll wait until it's visited a proofreader first.