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Snuggle Club
For almost 20 years, Carlton Mellick III has been writing some of the strangest and most compelling novels the bizarro fiction genre has to offer. Described as one of the top 40 science-fiction writers under the age of 40 by The Guardian and “one of the most original novelists working today” by extreme horror legend Edward Lee, Mellick returns with a short horror comedy that takes the art of communal snuggling to a whole new extreme.After the death of his wife, Ray Parker decides to get involved with the local “cuddle party” community in order to once again feel the closeness of another human being. Although he’s sure it will be a strange and awkward experience, he’s determined to give anything a try if it will help him overcome his crippling loneliness. But he has no idea just how unsettling of an experience it will be until it’s far too late to escape.
Snuggle Club is a ridiculous cosmic horror story for fans of Mellick’s short, fast-paced novellas such as Spider Bunny and Parasite Milk.
Snuggle Club is a ridiculous cosmic horror story for fans of Mellick’s short, fast-paced novellas such as Spider Bunny and Parasite Milk.
- GenresHorrorBizarro Fiction
88 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 7, 2023
5 people are currently reading
203 people want to read
About the author
Carlton Mellick III
119 books2,169 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 - 30 of 31 reviews
March 6, 2022
CM3 is one of the best story tellers out there. He is the King Of Bizarro Fiction.
Plot ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (who thinks of this stuff)
Horror⭐⭐⭐😂
Writing ⭐⭐⭐
Characters ⭐⭐⭐
Fun⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
You follow a gentleman who is struggling in the aftermath of his wife passing away. This is what kind of sets this book apart in my eyes from other CM3 books he kind of delves into loss and has more of an emotional side to the story. This man is trying to rebuild his life and doing well in all other aspects other than human touch. He decides to go to the local cuddle club that is like a chain location where you can go and cuddle strangers. The main character is apprehensive to get into such a thing but does so nevertheless. I am going to leave the rest of the story up to you to figure out for yourself because it is insane.
I'd you haven't read this authors work... Please do! Haha any book with the strange looking cartoon girls, are all good. 👍
Plot ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (who thinks of this stuff)
Horror⭐⭐⭐😂
Writing ⭐⭐⭐
Characters ⭐⭐⭐
Fun⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
You follow a gentleman who is struggling in the aftermath of his wife passing away. This is what kind of sets this book apart in my eyes from other CM3 books he kind of delves into loss and has more of an emotional side to the story. This man is trying to rebuild his life and doing well in all other aspects other than human touch. He decides to go to the local cuddle club that is like a chain location where you can go and cuddle strangers. The main character is apprehensive to get into such a thing but does so nevertheless. I am going to leave the rest of the story up to you to figure out for yourself because it is insane.
I'd you haven't read this authors work... Please do! Haha any book with the strange looking cartoon girls, are all good. 👍
April 6, 2020
Review to follow...
April 27, 2020
Absolutely hard to put down! Both my wife and I read this one and really enjoyed it. Carlton is such a creative guy, with an imagination that won't quit...thankfully. In my opinion, he can tell a story about anything, he can make the boring exciting and interesting, and creates such strange worlds that, if adapted to graphic novel or film would draw a huge audience. The fact that Snuggle Club was a warm up/practice exercise for him, that wasn't even meant to be published (thankfully it was), and to be a 5 star read, says a lot about his skills as an author. I highly recommend this title.
November 16, 2020
I was really enjoying the first half of this book but mentioned to someone it wasn't as mental as a lot of Mellick's other books and then bam, I hit the second half of the book and it goes crazy. Loved it!
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May 18, 2022File this one under Classic Mellick. A high-concept idea executed with aplomb. Totally weird and yet totally accessible. There's a reason why we call him the Godfather of Bizarro.
August 31, 2020
The Eyes Wide Shut of Snuggling.
November 28, 2024
Newly widowed and deeply missing his wife, Ray is lacking sleep and incredibly lonely. He decides even an embarrassing concept like a snuggle party is worth a try if it means the possibility of getting a good nights rest. But snuggling comes with rules and Ray quickly becomes unsettled and a bit uncomfortable with the snuggle club ways.
This book made me laugh out loud. Made me smile. Made me feel a little sad and anxious with Ray at times too.
I think we would all be able to relate to Rays emotions throughout the book from sad, to lonely to horrified to flustered. He is venturing into unknown territory and he’s nervous the whole time. Honestly, he had a much more open mind than I probably could have in his situation 😂
While this story is silly and fun, there is also a hidden undertone about grief. How does one move on when the love of their life is snatched from this world? How far will they go to feel closer to that person who is no longer there?
I’ll probably say this about every Mellick book I read but the concept and story is just so original. Not only do you not ever know where the story is going, there are also laughs along the way. This book, like many other Mellicks, had great writing. Simple yet charismatic. Really out there, yet somehow relatable. I read this in a few hours and never wanted to put it down. It was truly a fun ride the whole time and the snuggle club rules are just icing on the cake! Won’t you try a day at the Snuggle Club?
This book made me laugh out loud. Made me smile. Made me feel a little sad and anxious with Ray at times too.
I think we would all be able to relate to Rays emotions throughout the book from sad, to lonely to horrified to flustered. He is venturing into unknown territory and he’s nervous the whole time. Honestly, he had a much more open mind than I probably could have in his situation 😂
While this story is silly and fun, there is also a hidden undertone about grief. How does one move on when the love of their life is snatched from this world? How far will they go to feel closer to that person who is no longer there?
I’ll probably say this about every Mellick book I read but the concept and story is just so original. Not only do you not ever know where the story is going, there are also laughs along the way. This book, like many other Mellicks, had great writing. Simple yet charismatic. Really out there, yet somehow relatable. I read this in a few hours and never wanted to put it down. It was truly a fun ride the whole time and the snuggle club rules are just icing on the cake! Won’t you try a day at the Snuggle Club?
August 27, 2022
But what in the fuck did i just read? This was a hallucinogenic induced terrifying trip gone terribly wrong, and I loved every second of it.
In Snuggle Club, we follow Ray after the unexpected death of his wife Julie in a tragic accident, fall into a grief inspired hole of loneliness and desperation. Whenever he shows up at Cuddle Me!, the town’s hidden spot for people who are desperate for physical touch, he finds himself in the most bizarre situation you could ever imagined
This book took grief and twisted the way someone deals with an unexpected death in a way I could have never imagined. It’s extremely short, but I was intrigued until the very last page, and that’s whenever I gasped, closed the book and stared off into space just to process what the hell was going on. Five fucking stars.
In Snuggle Club, we follow Ray after the unexpected death of his wife Julie in a tragic accident, fall into a grief inspired hole of loneliness and desperation. Whenever he shows up at Cuddle Me!, the town’s hidden spot for people who are desperate for physical touch, he finds himself in the most bizarre situation you could ever imagined
This book took grief and twisted the way someone deals with an unexpected death in a way I could have never imagined. It’s extremely short, but I was intrigued until the very last page, and that’s whenever I gasped, closed the book and stared off into space just to process what the hell was going on. Five fucking stars.
February 2, 2025
The best part about this book was the comic strip at the end. I will say this was creative way to look at grief and how it can make a person do some fucked up shit.
February 14, 2021
Quick and breezy read, with not too much to say. As the author said in his preface, he wrote this at a time dealing with mortality and grief so I can understand part of what he was going for. But his last true strong one was Stacking Doll.
October 20, 2022
It’s a tough call to give this 4 or 5 stars, but I think just barely it hit the 5 star mark for me. The story is quite short and if you’re not having a chaotic week you can certainly read this in one setting.
At the very beginning of the book in an Author’s note, Mellick admits this is the first book he wrote post his father’s passing. That initially there was no intention of actually letting this one see the light of day, but here we are with the author’s 60th release. Granted, this is only the second book I’ve personally read by Carlton thus far, but his early note I feel perhaps explains the inspiration along with the very sad tone the story starts off with.
The pace of the story moves fairly quickly, especially as it evolves into this bizarro fiction genre. A genre that is widely not as accepted as it perhaps should be in the literacy world.
Our protagonist, Ray Parker, is struggling with how to handle his grief after the passing of his wife. Grief is a messy process that can certainly make us feel vulnerable and perhaps that’s what leads Ray into a rather bizarre scenario seeking comfort at a local cuddle party. His journey leads to an ending that can be interpreted as either being happy or terrifying - depending on how your imagination as the reader opts to take it. This is a note that is even pointed out by the author in a light hearted comic strip printed in the book that immediately follows the story.
Admittedly though, even as I finished the story myself I kind of stared a bit wide eyed like ‘what is this guy really about to walk into?’ - Kudos to Carlton Mellick III for inspiring the imagination of readers to continue on Ray’s, dare I say, misadventure guided by a desperation only grief can inspire.
At the very beginning of the book in an Author’s note, Mellick admits this is the first book he wrote post his father’s passing. That initially there was no intention of actually letting this one see the light of day, but here we are with the author’s 60th release. Granted, this is only the second book I’ve personally read by Carlton thus far, but his early note I feel perhaps explains the inspiration along with the very sad tone the story starts off with.
The pace of the story moves fairly quickly, especially as it evolves into this bizarro fiction genre. A genre that is widely not as accepted as it perhaps should be in the literacy world.
Our protagonist, Ray Parker, is struggling with how to handle his grief after the passing of his wife. Grief is a messy process that can certainly make us feel vulnerable and perhaps that’s what leads Ray into a rather bizarre scenario seeking comfort at a local cuddle party. His journey leads to an ending that can be interpreted as either being happy or terrifying - depending on how your imagination as the reader opts to take it. This is a note that is even pointed out by the author in a light hearted comic strip printed in the book that immediately follows the story.
Admittedly though, even as I finished the story myself I kind of stared a bit wide eyed like ‘what is this guy really about to walk into?’ - Kudos to Carlton Mellick III for inspiring the imagination of readers to continue on Ray’s, dare I say, misadventure guided by a desperation only grief can inspire.
June 16, 2020
First rule of Snuggle Club: You do not talk about Snuggle Club
Second rule of Snuggle Club: You do not talk about Snuggle Club
No actually the first rule is: Everyone gets snuggled at Snuggle Club. This was another crazy story from CM3. I really enjoyed it. In his author's note at the beginning he talked about writing this as a way getting back into writing after his father's death. A way of dealing with his grief. I can definitely see that influence in the story. He also said he really only wrote this for himself and he wasn't going to publish it at first. I'm so glad he did!!
As a way of dealing with his wife's death, Ray decides to go try a new group called Snuggle Club. It allows people to have physical human contact without the constraints of a relationship. He will find some interesting characters at the club. Some are there to hit on the women, some because they've never been in a relationship before, and others are there to find the ultimate snuggle. The snuggle that transcends all other snuggles. He will also find that some people will do whatever it takes to relive that feeling and bring others into their snuggly little club.
I definitely recommend this one if you like bizarro horror. It's not as extremely bizarre as some of his other books so it's a good stating point if you've never read bizarro before. And for the bizzaro aficionados it's a fun, fluffy, snuggly trip into hell that you may never want to leave.
4.5 snuggly stars!
Full review on Instagram www.instagram.com/lastbookontheleft
Second rule of Snuggle Club: You do not talk about Snuggle Club
No actually the first rule is: Everyone gets snuggled at Snuggle Club. This was another crazy story from CM3. I really enjoyed it. In his author's note at the beginning he talked about writing this as a way getting back into writing after his father's death. A way of dealing with his grief. I can definitely see that influence in the story. He also said he really only wrote this for himself and he wasn't going to publish it at first. I'm so glad he did!!
As a way of dealing with his wife's death, Ray decides to go try a new group called Snuggle Club. It allows people to have physical human contact without the constraints of a relationship. He will find some interesting characters at the club. Some are there to hit on the women, some because they've never been in a relationship before, and others are there to find the ultimate snuggle. The snuggle that transcends all other snuggles. He will also find that some people will do whatever it takes to relive that feeling and bring others into their snuggly little club.
I definitely recommend this one if you like bizarro horror. It's not as extremely bizarre as some of his other books so it's a good stating point if you've never read bizarro before. And for the bizzaro aficionados it's a fun, fluffy, snuggly trip into hell that you may never want to leave.
4.5 snuggly stars!
Full review on Instagram www.instagram.com/lastbookontheleft
August 4, 2025
4.24 stars
The cover looks and sounds cute and adorable but I don’t know how much I would want to be snuggled by these cuddle buddies. What an interesting and odd, slightly awkward but also cute and fluffy read.
I still can’t decide if feel happy at the end or horrified because he very well could be in his happy place, but also.. that’s a terrifying way to get to your happy place.. at least they make it comfortable for you like being cuddled by the best cuddly thing ever, that’s how they lure you in, like an angler fish with the only seemingly comforting light in a dark abyss.
Also, Edna creeps me the fuck out.!
Haven’t been disappointed yet by a CM3 book, these are definitely a genre all on their own from what I’ve read and it’s definitely a trip and an adventure every time I do.
Satisfyingly awkward and cuddly, definitely recommend.
The cover looks and sounds cute and adorable but I don’t know how much I would want to be snuggled by these cuddle buddies. What an interesting and odd, slightly awkward but also cute and fluffy read.
I still can’t decide if feel happy at the end or horrified because he very well could be in his happy place, but also.. that’s a terrifying way to get to your happy place.. at least they make it comfortable for you like being cuddled by the best cuddly thing ever, that’s how they lure you in, like an angler fish with the only seemingly comforting light in a dark abyss.
Also, Edna creeps me the fuck out.!
Haven’t been disappointed yet by a CM3 book, these are definitely a genre all on their own from what I’ve read and it’s definitely a trip and an adventure every time I do.
Satisfyingly awkward and cuddly, definitely recommend.
April 6, 2021
There is a surprising depth to every CMIII book I've read so far. Snuggle Club deals with grief and loss and the need for human contact. The descent into the bizarro elements has Carlton's signature all over it.
May 20, 2022
A two star book elevated by a cartoon at the end. Honestly was underwhelmed throughout. By his pre-book note the book was never supposed to be released. Its short...simple...The ending? The cartoon turns the whole ending on its ear and makes the story way more interesting.
November 27, 2023
I've been working a lot over the past few months, so it's unfortunately been pretty difficult to find both the time and energy to read anything. Thank you, CM3, for writing books that are creative, easy to read, and consistently entertaining.
November 6, 2024
What originally felt as an odd part tribute, part pastiche to Fight Club quickly turned into psychological thriller and then into Lovecraftian horror. And the afterword (or rather after-comic)? Holy crap, man!
February 22, 2025
"We're trying to open the gate to the Snuggleverse.”
My favorite part is where they all started sayin “it’s snug time!” and they just started snuggling all over the place.
Definitely a fun read but not the best he has to offer.
My favorite part is where they all started sayin “it’s snug time!” and they just started snuggling all over the place.
Definitely a fun read but not the best he has to offer.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 13, 2025
I've always felt like Carlton Mellick's books were a unique bunch. But after reading both The Boy With The Chainsaw Heart and Cuddly Holocaust, I have the impression that Snuggle Club was a recycling of ideas, themes and characters previously explored.
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March 24, 2020Not my favorite CM3 book. But if you've made it this far into his 60 or whatever to-date releases, you know what to expect from this.
December 28, 2020
Not his best work
May 26, 2021
I liked it! It was super creepy the way that guy got drugged and brainwashed so quickly!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 15, 2022
As always the author writes brilliantly and def fun. This quick tale is fabulous!!! Check out his other 60 plus books he has given the world to read. (with a slight fee)
Enjoy!!!
Enjoy!!!
December 4, 2022
More tame than I would have liked, maybe I just wanted more grotesque kink in it but still worth the read.
December 28, 2022
This book was so damn weird. Read it, you'll love it.
April 12, 2023
Unconventional horror in the best way.
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December 8, 2023Laugh out loud
September 11, 2025
So freaking weird. I loved it!
January 24, 2023
This was a throw back to my childhood for sure. Creepy 80's Jim Henson muppets that want to cuddle then consume you. Yep... that totally happened and I loved it.
This story starts out kind of sad and serious. Our MMC is a widower and is missing human contact. He does some research and decides to dip his toe into the cuddle community only to find himself thrown into a super weird paranormal cuddle cult.
Very enjoyable read.
This story starts out kind of sad and serious. Our MMC is a widower and is missing human contact. He does some research and decides to dip his toe into the cuddle community only to find himself thrown into a super weird paranormal cuddle cult.
Very enjoyable read.
June 25, 2020
I really need to stop reading CM3 books to try and get to sleep, it doesn't work. I got sucked into the book and it's now half 5 in the morning, I've finished it and I went from thinking it was a really lovely human story about dealing with grief, to a parasitic fever dream, finishing with a lovely ending. One of the favourites I've read so far.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews