A lonely man gets more than he bargained for after ordering a hand-in-a-can from an old magazine.
Enter a world where face pareidolia is deadly, and one mistake can lead to a horrifying death.
Join a traumatized woman as she returns to the place of her son’s death, looking for something to fill the hole in her life.
Featuring tales Robert Guffey, Shaun Avery, Sergi G. Oset, T.M. Morgan, Kevin J. Kennedy, Irene Ferraro-Sives, Cliff McNish, B. Patrick Lonberg, Todd Love, Melanie Atkinson, and Gerard Houarner.
This is a fantastic collection of really dark, haunting, chilling, brutal and eerie bizarro! Basically, it does what it says on the tin! It also comes with some amazing artwork, which is best appreciated in colour, but is still fantastic! My fave art was the one for the story Little Crawler 🖤
Every story was great, some were awesome, standouts for me were Little Crawler, Umbilicus, Pussy Cock and Face It!! The whole book reads like one big, nasty, brutal fever dream! Fever nightmare? Is that a thing? It is in this book!!
As always I will write a few words for each story….
*THE PATHOLOGY OF HANDS BY ROBERT GUFFEY* This is a 2in1 story, in the first one, after leaving his wife, and losing his girlfriend, Steve starts a new life, on his own, just him and his hands…. he finally returns home, but he will never find peace! In the second story, Clarence finds himself alone after his Dad disappears and his Mum dies….his porn mags just aren't cutting it for him anymore, he wants a real woman….until then, the 'canned hand' will have to do (think of it as a kind of antique fleshlight 😉) He ends up on a jealous rampage, pretty much reenacting one of his favourite video games, and he comes to terms with his sexuality the hard way…. Both of these were savage and chilling tales!
*LITTLE CRAWLER BY CLIFF MCNISH* After the, death? Manslaughter? Murder? of her baby boy, and a stay in a psychiatric hospital, his Mother is left to wander the local park and think on what could've been. This results in a trip to the place where he died, and horrific secrets are revealed. Grief can make you do the strangest things…… This was a haunting, sad tale, with a brilliantly unexpected and sick twist! 🖤
*BLOOD BUILDINGS BY SHAUN AVERY* Art and Kathleen are both "Fame Sexual", but in different ways and to make it work for them as a couple is going to need some magic. Meanwhile, celebrities Dave and Sandy, are experiencing some weird goings on that end up leading to some steamy yet drastic measures.. This was pretty nasty and creepy!
*THUNDER JOHN BY IRENE FERARRO-SIVES* It's Xmas, and it's snowing, and with the snow comes dancing balls of light, pretty right? Wrong! And when Thunder John is brought back from the dead, the race is on to claim his creepy treasure…. This was like a vividly bizarre nightmare!!
*I LOVE OCTOPUS BY B. PATRICK LONBERG* Things have changed, they've moved on. A weird brain experiment in a basement laboratory, that is intriguingly bizarre right up until its horrifying end!
*DANJONKOMY-INITI. THE SEVEN DEATHS OF ITCHY NO ITCHY BY SERGI G. OSET* WTF???? 🤯😂 An arena of bizarreness, hosting weird, bloody battles, that are played out over and over with ever increasing weirdness! Each “level” a different track from an album, the character rebirthing over and over……and when finally, it ends, things are even more messed up!! I found this one completely baffling, but fun! 😁
*UMBILICUS BY MELANIE ATKINSON* Alexander is a TV addict, he likes nothing more than lazing in front of it with a load of snacks….until he feels excruciating pain and finds there's something different about himself…… This one was brutal, bloody, evil, gross….greatly satisfying with a darkly funny ending!!
*THE HOUSEKEEPERS ROOM BY GERARD HOUARNER* Belton and Dryden are “housekeepers” for a living, but this is not your average housekeeping job, far from it…. I found this one to be the most chilling and disturbing story in this collection.
*PUSSY COCK BY TODD LOVE* They say you're either a cat or dog person, George is most definitely a cat person…. After being bullied all through his childhood, his therapist suggests he confronts his past, so he has some intense surgery to “improve” his body and then does just that! An awesome tale of revenge, with that famous Todd Love twist!
*FACE IT BY T.M. MORGAN* Post apocalyptic, horrifying and brilliant! You know that thing where you see faces in everyday objects, yeah, well that's this story but completely terrifying, and now Im gonna have to walk around with my eyes closed for the rest of my life!!!! 🥸
AND FINALLY…..We end with a little poem called A Wee Troll That Needs His Hole! A cute little poem about a troll losing his virginity, to end this collection on a "good" note! 😁
Sorprende la labor del antologador encontrando autores tan dispares y, sin embargo, encontrando una oscura veta en común que remite tanto al existencialismo del early bizarro como a las influencias del manga. Es por esos dos motivos también que el relato de Sergi G. Oset funciona como un tiro del videojuego que representa y casi parece que dialoga con "i love octopus" de B. Patrick Lonberg.
This collection is weird, creepy, and disturbing. All of the stories were enjoyable, but I’ve highlighted my favorites below. I must mention the amazing artwork that goes with each story. I loved them all and they really complimented the book. Fans of horror and bizarro need to grab this one!
The Pathology of Hands by Robert Guffey A two-part story about hands. In part one, Steve has a frightening experience with hands in the bathroom. Why won’t they leave him alone? Part two involves Clarence, who has become very withdrawn after his father took off. Longing for the touch of a woman, he discovers an ad in one of this father’s adult magazines for a canned hand job. Fate delivers something Clarence wasn’t expecting.
Little Crawler by Cliff McNish A mother returns to her previous home where her son died to face her ghosts. I felt bad for her at first, but that quickly changed when the truth came out. This one was creepy and disturbing as hell.
Umbilicus by Melanie Atkinson Alexander was living the life until some terrible stomach cramps interrupted his TV time. Even a visit to the doctor didn’t solve anything. Once Alexander figured out what was happening, he took matters into his own hands.
Pussy Cock by Todd Love George was bullied in school and suffered some trauma because of it. He decided to work on himself transforming into what he wanted to be. Then the lessons came as he sought out those that made his life hell. Great revenge story and my new favorite by Love.
Do you want something weird, horrific, that sometimes feels like a fever dream? Then this anthology is made for you! I especially liked Little Crawler, Thunder John, and Face It
Well to begin with this book is aptly named. From the very first story it is the perfect way to describe each and every one. You will be left feeling traumatised, unsettled and generally creeped out. My favourite was the hands. It was such a feeling of despair and claustrophobia. I still think about it now. And to be fair it gets more terrifying with each story. Even though you think it can’t.