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Ugly Heaven
Heaven is no longer a paradise. It was once a blissful utopia full of wonders far beyond human comprehension. But that was a long, long time ago. The afterlife is now in ruins. It has become an ugly, lonely wasteland populated by strange monstrous beasts, masturbating angels, and sad man-like beings wallowing in the remains of the once-great Kingdom of God. As two men die and awake in Heaven, they find themselves inside of new bodies with strange alien skin. They no longer remember their previous lives. All they really know is that the afterlife is a horrible, ugly place. Desperately seeking answers, allies, and refuge, these two newcomers explore this surreal world. But what they will soon find is that Heaven has become a place not that much different from Hell.
106 pages, Paperback
First published May 9, 2012
5 people are currently reading
180 people want to read
About the author
Carlton Mellick III
119 books2,174 followersCarlton Mellick III (July 2, 1977, Phoenix, Arizona) is an American author currently residing in Portland, Oregon. He calls his style of writing "avant-punk," and is currently one of the leading authors in the recent 'Bizarro' movement in underground literature[citation needed] with Steve Aylett, Chris Genoa and D. Harlan Wilson.
Mellick's work has been described as a combination of trashy schlock sci-fi/horror and postmodern literary art. His novels explore surreal versions of earth in contemporary society and imagined futures, commonly focusing on social absurdities and satire.
Carlton Mellick III started writing at the age of ten and completed twelve novels by the age of eighteen. Only one of these early novels, "Electric Jesus Corpse", ever made it to print.
He is best known for his first novel Satan Burger and its sequel Punk Land. Satan Burger was translated into Russian and published by Ultra Culture in 2005. It was part of a four book series called Brave New World, which also featured Virtual Light by William Gibson, City Come A Walkin by John Shirley, and Tea from an Empty Cup by Pat Cadigan.
In the late 90's, he formed a collective for offbeat authors which included D. Harlan Wilson, Kevin L. Donihe, Vincent Sakowski, among others, and the publishing company Eraserhead Press. This scene evolved into the Bizarro fiction movement in 2005.
In addition to writing, Mellick is an artist and musician.
Mellick's work has been described as a combination of trashy schlock sci-fi/horror and postmodern literary art. His novels explore surreal versions of earth in contemporary society and imagined futures, commonly focusing on social absurdities and satire.
Carlton Mellick III started writing at the age of ten and completed twelve novels by the age of eighteen. Only one of these early novels, "Electric Jesus Corpse", ever made it to print.
He is best known for his first novel Satan Burger and its sequel Punk Land. Satan Burger was translated into Russian and published by Ultra Culture in 2005. It was part of a four book series called Brave New World, which also featured Virtual Light by William Gibson, City Come A Walkin by John Shirley, and Tea from an Empty Cup by Pat Cadigan.
In the late 90's, he formed a collective for offbeat authors which included D. Harlan Wilson, Kevin L. Donihe, Vincent Sakowski, among others, and the publishing company Eraserhead Press. This scene evolved into the Bizarro fiction movement in 2005.
In addition to writing, Mellick is an artist and musician.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 1, 2021
Im running out of Carlton Mellick books to read and it seems like Im scraping the bottom of the barrel now.
July 22, 2012
Heaven is not at all like you've been told it is. It's not a paradise. It's broken down,somehow. God might be in a far off city, or he/she/it might not be. No one knows for sure.
There are no clear answers, only more questions. No one really knows what's going on or they're lying about it.
You don't become an angel after death, not even a masturbating one! You end up in a strangely colored and shaped, genital-less alien-like body, where you can still excrete and have sex, but not like you did in life.
Memories of your former life are mostly gone, and retrieved either by drugs or by slowly returning on their own. You won't recall your name,and someone will give you a new one, mostly by using a descriptor.
Shadows follow you around, and sometimes attach to you. This is not good,but no one will really explain why. It'll get you sent underground, and to be digested by Heaven's stomach.
This is a deliciously frustrating book, that will cause you to question everything you've been told about the afterlife.
There are no clear answers, only more questions. No one really knows what's going on or they're lying about it.
You don't become an angel after death, not even a masturbating one! You end up in a strangely colored and shaped, genital-less alien-like body, where you can still excrete and have sex, but not like you did in life.
Memories of your former life are mostly gone, and retrieved either by drugs or by slowly returning on their own. You won't recall your name,and someone will give you a new one, mostly by using a descriptor.
Shadows follow you around, and sometimes attach to you. This is not good,but no one will really explain why. It'll get you sent underground, and to be digested by Heaven's stomach.
This is a deliciously frustrating book, that will cause you to question everything you've been told about the afterlife.
April 16, 2018
Interessante Story, die man durchaus gelesen haben kann, wenn man die Bizarro Fiction mag und offen für das Thema ist. (:
September 6, 2015
Not what I expected. Mellick uses the premise of an alternate heaven to write whatever randomness is on his mind. It left me disappointed and thinking about how it could have been done better. I liked The Haunted Vagina much better.
May 10, 2015
After reading "Village of the Mermaids" I checked out Bizarro's back catalogue and Ugly Heaven was a title that just jumped out at me.
I love the concept of heaven or hell and the idea of a dystopian, post apocalyptic heaven with masturbating angels and weird alien beings was something I just could afford to miss.
For the most part I loved this book. The concept is fascinating and I appreciated Mellick's forward where his discussed his motivation for creating Ugly Heaven. It makes perfect sense.
The imagination in this is staggering - The different pockets of 'heaven' are so beautifully visual. I liked the almost symbolic characters - tree, salmon and swan. The 1st person, present tense narrative gives this a sense of immediacy and sustained my interest, even though this is not a narrative voice I usually favour.
What annoyed me however was the lack of 'story' and this book's failure to get to any point. I was getting quite excited towards the end as the characters take memory pills and begin to remember their human lives and as a reader we learn the relationships between the characters.
I also liked the subtle hints of menace - Tree's brutal murder of the bouncer (and the fact that his new body is equipped with a blade), Salmon's murder-suicide and even the idea of multiple shadows - but nothing comes of this! There's no character resolution and there's no theological point either - our characters don't find god, don't find out why heaven (if that's what this place really is) is the way it is.
Ugly heaven is merely a snippet full of marvellous ideas that tantalises the reader but never really delivers. A great shame as it's super-rich in imagination and reasonably well written. I like the poetic hyphenated word pairings: bubble-backed, flop-flying, sleep-textured, click-scurries - they make this seem like a poem or a dream.
I just wanted more somehow.
I love the concept of heaven or hell and the idea of a dystopian, post apocalyptic heaven with masturbating angels and weird alien beings was something I just could afford to miss.
For the most part I loved this book. The concept is fascinating and I appreciated Mellick's forward where his discussed his motivation for creating Ugly Heaven. It makes perfect sense.
The imagination in this is staggering - The different pockets of 'heaven' are so beautifully visual. I liked the almost symbolic characters - tree, salmon and swan. The 1st person, present tense narrative gives this a sense of immediacy and sustained my interest, even though this is not a narrative voice I usually favour.
What annoyed me however was the lack of 'story' and this book's failure to get to any point. I was getting quite excited towards the end as the characters take memory pills and begin to remember their human lives and as a reader we learn the relationships between the characters.
I also liked the subtle hints of menace - Tree's brutal murder of the bouncer (and the fact that his new body is equipped with a blade), Salmon's murder-suicide and even the idea of multiple shadows - but nothing comes of this! There's no character resolution and there's no theological point either - our characters don't find god, don't find out why heaven (if that's what this place really is) is the way it is.
Ugly heaven is merely a snippet full of marvellous ideas that tantalises the reader but never really delivers. A great shame as it's super-rich in imagination and reasonably well written. I like the poetic hyphenated word pairings: bubble-backed, flop-flying, sleep-textured, click-scurries - they make this seem like a poem or a dream.
I just wanted more somehow.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 20, 2015
Ugly Heaven is the fourth Carlton Mellick III book I've read. It tells the story of Tree, who wakes up in a wasteland of sorts, Heaven, and attempts to discover who he is, why he is there and what is going on. He meets some strange characters on his journey and encounters some peculiar traits that come with being in this weird kind of afterlife. It's possibly the strangest of Mellick's stories that I've read so far, and I enjoyed a good amount of it. It was a quick read and the characters were really good. I did feel, though, that the ending was very sudden and we didn't revisit characters of plot points that had been set up earlier in the book. Enjoyable, but not my favourite of his works.
3.5 out of 5
3.5 out of 5
August 29, 2017
Terrible. Just terrible. More accurately, it had a great premise, but the author managed to take an interesting premise and turn it into something worth less than the paper it was printed on. I feel bad for the tree that died to make this so called book. The author's writing style is juvenille, at best. He's immature and emotionally stunted. And that's all that comes through in this godforsaken piece of crap. Do not buy this book. Do not read this book. Save yourself the thirty minutes it would take to read this, because it's seriously not worth your time.
March 24, 2022
Whilst enjoyable this is a lesser Mellick piece. It's hampered by laboured juvenile psychedelic absurdity, like a 14 year old's attempt at mimicking the Lennon's acid surrealism (e.g. "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" or "Strawberry Fields Forever") with a dash of Burroughs cut up cruelty. If it had an actual ending it would have been more satisfying, but like so many of Mellick's books he builds a world, populates it, begins a story and then abandons it half way through, like a half built sandcastle awaiting the sweep of the tide.
September 12, 2021
Weird beyond weird. Inexplicable.
August 8, 2023
Interesting creative but he didn’t finish the book. WHO publishes a book incomplete?
July 21, 2024
I know Mellick mentioned in his author's note that he would like to write more Heaven books, and I want that as well!
March 7, 2025
This was hard to force myself to read. A good idea gone terribly wrong.
April 24, 2025
It's a really cute and weird story, I only wish there was more to it!
July 24, 2012
A very unnerving and bizarre book. It will rock you to your core.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews