Technicolor Terrorists

by Andre Duza

They travel the country, a colorful rag-tag crew of freaks, weirdos, and vagabonds. By day, they entertain families with rides and shows but by night a sinister side of the circus comes out to play. In these tents, the tricks are real. Step right up to see the Toxic Brothers Traveling Carnival! Slithering night stalkers, cursed icons, and killer clowns are just a few of the attractions the Toxic Brothers Traveling Carnival are bringing to town. Technicolor Terrorists is a dayglo bizarro novel of carnie-horror from Andre Duza, the cult favorite author of Dead Bitch Army and Necro Sex Machine .

Genres: Horror, Bizarro Fiction

268 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2014

About the author

Andre Duza is an actor, stuntman, screenwriter, and the author or co-author of over 10 novels, a graphic novel, Hollow-Eyed Mary, and the Star Trek comic book Outer Light, co-written with writer/producer Morgan Gendel. He has also contributed to several collections and anthologies, including Book of Lists: Horror, alongside the likes of Stephen King and Eli Roth.

Andre’s writing has been described as horrific, satirical, and fast-paced, with a unique voice and lush, finely-detailed prose.

Andre also wrote, co-produced, and starred in the award-winning short film Tagati, which is currently making the rounds on the festival circuit. You can view the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUZ6n...

Andre is also a Certified Fitness Trainer and a Kung Fu Instructor. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife and four children.

Reviews

[Bandit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Technicolor Terrorists is a dayglo bizarro novel of carnie horror. This is how it’s described on Andre Duza’s website. Sounds compelling and odd, sounds like a sort of thing that requires slow approach, where the reader is intrigued yet reluctant, kinda like approaching a piano playing zombie at a bar. But this zombie plays Beethoven so well and this book really delivers. Novel first of all isn’t exactly accurate, this book consists of 5 interconnected novellas, or 4 novellas and 1 short story if one wants to be technical. The events of the first novella set up the stage and the mood for what’s to come, yet in theory each can be read as a stand alone.
In this book you’ll attend a carnival unlike any other, the soon to be famously infamous Toxic Brothers Traveling Carnival that gets a very special attraction in, because things are tough for carnie business nowadays. The carnival’s peculiar denizens will pop up throughout the subsequent stories wreaking havoc in their wake. And really, is there any single subject more bizarro/horror ready that the circus?
Duza does wonders with juxtaposition here, really keeping the reader guessing. Wherein the first story is a wacky circus tale, the second one is of a strikingly normal, boring really, suburban cul de sac, place that’s meant to be utopian so much it’s in their name, yet throw a haunted house and a very different sort of kid’s toy in the mix, stir and watch it explode. This was a personal favorite. Great ironic ending.
Next up a detective story, practically a police procedural, where the victims and the killers are, shall we say, somewhat two faced.
Then a story of a music star, who can’t quite cope with what’s behind his popularity.
And lastly a short story of a dangerous road trip that rounds the collection up so nicely.
I first encountered Bizarro genre and Duza’s work while reading Bizarro Starter Kit. At the time I remember being mostly overwhelmed. I’ve since read some of the genre to mixed impressions. Bizarro fiction can be difficult to define and sometimes I find that the author rely too much on the shock factor to keep up the general quality and narrative. This certainly was at no point a case here. Duza’s writing, plots, dialogue, descriptions, dialogue, character developments are all consistently top shelf. There is a strong underlining cohesive solid storytelling throughout every story that gets accentuated, or punched up a notch if you will, with bizarro elements. Precisely what makes this such a good read for both horror and bizarro fans, excellent blend of genres that serve to further the story, not to distract from it. Duza has created a spectacular spectacularly disturbed universe on these pages, one that testifies to a major talent to pay attention to. Highly recommended.

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

No reason to beat around the bush: I loved this book! Now that I have that out of the way on to the details. I hadn't heard of Andre Duza before but I am definitely a big fan now. One thing I liked but that wasn't apparent until the second "chapter" was that this is a collection of five separate but related stories. You will definitely get a lot more enjoyment by reading all of the stories but in my opinion they can all stand on their own quite well also. With that in mind I thought I would review each story separately but only mention recurring characters or plot elements in vague terms to avoid spoiling the fun surprises.

The Holy Ghost Claw
The opening story introduced the Toxic Brothers' Traveling Carnival as well as Indo and Louie. The Brothers were an interesting bunch but Indo and Louie really caught my attention. I wasn't sure where the plot was going but at some point it clicked and I really liked the closing scenes. The character revealed near the end was awesome but I won't spoil it by naming names, just know that this character was really intriguing.

Papercuts
I really couldn't see how this story related to the first one until quite a ways into it. Once I realized what was going on I couldn't wait to get to the next page to see how the story would unfold. I will admit that I didn't anticipate the ending which made it all the more enjoyable. I really liked the character from the first story as more was revealed here. There was good characterization of new players here which made the story more engaging.

Technicolor Terrorists
At nearly one hundred pages this was the longest story in the book. There was more character development and back story here than in the others. Mars was an interesting character even though he wasn't in the first two stories. As you might guess from the title the Toxic Brothers make another appearance in this story and it was really fun seeing how each of them differed from the others. The plot was more involved than the other stories which one would expect with the higher page count. This one kept me on my toes and I liked the way it ended.

Indo and the Killer Rockstar
I wasn't that engaged at the beginning of this story but once it got going it was pretty interesting. After a previously introduced character reappears (gee, I wonder who it could be?) it got even better. I really like that we got to dig deeper into Indo's character and background. The special tech mentioned was a bit far-fetched but no more so than some of the characters I suppose.

Drug Runnin' Blues
This was a quick piece to wrap up the book but I really liked it. I can't really say much about it without spoiling the fun but you definitely don't want to skip it.

[NerdyReader · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh, you know, lots of potential but I feel if the author would have stuck to stories that centered on the clowns and freaks of the Circus it would have been much better. A few of these stories focused on rando's and only featured cameos of the sideshow characters.

[Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 stars

Technicolor Terrorists was an adventure! It had just the right amount of gore to balance out the bizarro, and it was a really interesting collection of stories.

It took me more time than I'd like to admit between the first and second stories to figure out that they were slightly interconnected. Reading the excerpt, I thought it was all one story, so I was really confused at the complete change in content between the two. It all made sense once I figured the connection out, but I wish there was a bit more cohesion between all the stories. It felt a little disjointed since each story was completely different from the one prior.

The stories were absolutely wild, though! Clowns masquerading as human and ripping off human faces? Genius! The creativity it took to turn the stereotypical clown on its head and come up with this plotline! Also, super creepy....I hate clowns anyway, but now I feel like I need to be even more suspicious. That one was far and away my favourite of the lot, and it felt the most finished. The others didn't quite feel complete, and I found myself with more questions than answers by the end.

I do have quite a few questions at the end. Where was Rust Resurrection going? Did Louie 2D get sucked in and murdered by the haunted stripper? Were Atieno and Indo finally reunited, or was it not that easy? What happened to Toxic Brothers after everything happened?

The whole time I was reading this, I had Five Finger Death Punch's 'Welcome to the Circus' in my head, and it's been a really long time since I've read something that fully embodies a song, so thank you, Mr. Duza, for giving me that experience with this!

[Alex McConnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Technicolor Terrorists was my first novel in the bizarro genre and while it made for some interesting scenes the disconnected nature of events in the stories became tiresome.
The book was five stories that were barely connected to each other with varying levels of success. While The Holy Ghost Claw was a grouping of strange characters in increasingly hard to follow situations, Indo and The Rock Star was the most straightforward narrative. the titular tale was a balance of both styles, with a narrative you can follow and lots of bizarre shenanigans.
Overall the book wasn’t for me but the writing style and pacing were strong. And I’ve gotta admit killer clowns with souped up murder gadgets makes for a decent, if not great time.

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

The nitty-gritty: Over-the-top violence, killer clowns with more to them than meets the eye, and a slew of carnival misfits that leave the carnival and venture out into the world, leaving chaos in their wake.

The bouncy ball named Louie had rolled further away and was watching from a safe distance and under the cover of heavy shadows. It was darker on this end of the block, but darkness suited Louie just fine. The congestion in front of Kurt Sadler’s house was as good a sign as any that it was time to move on from this place. But the limbo between haunts was the most agonizing part of being alone. Appeasing his lecherous proclivities was becoming secondary to finding a permanent haunt or, dare he dream, legitimate acceptance.

Author Andre Duza says in his bio that he is a leading member of the Bizarro movement in contemporary fiction. I’ll admit I had never heard of Bizarro until I read Technicolor Terrorists, but I won’t soon forget these odd and violent stories. This book is certainly not for everyone. The graphic violence is almost comical, it’s so ridiculously over-the-top, but it is graphic violence nonetheless, and reading it made my stomach heave more than once. What Duza does to justify this violence is frame it in a story about carnival clowns and other oddities, and seen in that light it works extremely well.

A collection of loosely connected stories, Duza starts the book with a tale about a traveling carnival, whose disgruntled clowns and the few remaining sideshow freaks are about to be thrust out into the real world. From there, we get to see the various characters out of their element and trying to survive without the constraints of the carnival. Some of the same characters pop up again and again, and I did like the fact that the first and last stories focus on the same character, a large stone statue of a weeping Jesus. I thought the stories ended rather abruptly, however, as though Duza was trying too hard to be clever by giving us a shock ending. And although each story features at least one character from the opening tale, I did miss the cohesiveness that a novel gives you. These stories are more like vignettes, snapshots of some very bizarre characters that are more mood pieces that a complete story.

But overall this is a well-written bunch of stories that will certainly go under the “new and different” category of genre fiction. Here’s a quick break-down of each one:

The Holy Ghost Claw—Harley Cooper, the head of the Toxic Brothers Traveling Carnival, has just acquired a new side-show act, one that he thinks is bound to get the carnival back on its financial feet. But the carnival’s clowns, a family group known as the Ton brothers, don’t like the way Marley’s been running things, and they want payback. The story starts out innocently enough, but soon turns horrific as the reader begins to realize that these are not your ordinary clowns.

Paper Cuts—After the terrible events at the end of The Holy Ghost Claw, the carnival freaks have been set loose on the world. One of them, an odd character named Louie 2D, turns up in a suburban real estate development called Utopia Springs Estates and begins to terrorize the people who live there. It doesn’t take long for this story to turn bloody, and after reading this you’ll never look at a rubber ball the same way again.

Technicolor Terrorists—The longest story of the bunch, this one focuses on the Ton brothers clowns, a bunch of the weirdest and scariest clowns I’ve ever met in fiction! A detective named Officer Mars gets caught up in a bizarre murder investigation and realizes—too late—that he is in way over his head. This whacked out story is crowded with murderous clowns who have more than one face, the mob, guns, and buckets of blood. Duza keeps the reader off guard by leaving us to wonder what is real and what isn’t.

Indo and the Killer Rockstar—This story features another oddity from the carnival, a creature named Indo who can turn into mist at will. Indo sets out to help a rock star named Jason Sykes, whose music causes people to turn on and rip each other to shreds. When Jason is framed for a club fire that kills everyone inside, he finds himself on the run from various demented groups of people who want to bring him to justice. No clowns in this story, but plenty of Duza’s brand of graphic violence.

Drug Runnin’ Blues—The final, and shortest, tale in the collection, this is the only story that I didn’t really enjoy. Maybe it was just too short and ended way too abruptly. A man on a drug run is contemplating whether or not to finish the job—he’s worried about getting caught and going to jail—when some key events on the road help him make his decision.

Bizarro indeed. Technicolor Terrorists will pull you out of any reading rut you happen to be in, if only by shocking you with its blend of horror, dark humor and violence. Duza’s stories are an unfocused everything-but-the-kitchen-sink mixture that seems like it shouldn’t work at all. But in the end, I looked back over the book as a whole and caught a glimpse of the author’s vision. I’m not sure I understood everything he was trying to accomplish, but it was a fun ride.

Big thanks to Andre Duza for supplying a review copy.

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Needed more clowns

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Technicolor Assassins isn't your typical horror novel. These are five novellas linked together by a single thread. The freaks from the Toxic Brothers Circus. These aren't your ordinary freaks either.

Each novella is well written and almost impossible to put down. These are all character driven stories that are sometimes dark and twisted. That's what makes these stories so good. Duza's a talented writer and this is an interesting concept and these novellas can actually be read as a stand alone piece.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review and while it's not your typical horror novel it is an interesting glimpse into the dark.

[Ben Arzate · Rating 4 out of 5]

FULL REVIEW HERE

Overall, Technicolor Terrorists is a strong novel/collection of unusual horror fiction. Each part is a fun read, the genre-hopping is well executed, and Duza’s prose is powerful and hard-hitting. Some chapters are stronger than others, but all of them are worth a read. I’d recommend this most to horror fans who want something different and to anyone looking to dip their toes into the bizarro genre.

[Adventures in SciFi Publishing Podcast]

Overall, Technicolor Terrorists is a strong novel/collection of unusual horror fiction. Each part is a fun read, the genre-hopping is well executed, and Duza’s prose is powerful and hard-hitting. Some chapters are stronger than others, but all of them are worth a read. I’d recommend this most to horror fans who want something different and to anyone looking to dip their toes into the bizarro genre.

Full review by Ben Arzate at http://www.adventuresinscifipublishin...

[Matt McRoberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good interconnected stories. I enjoyed it.