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I'll Fuck Anything That Moves and Stephen Hawking
GET DOWN WITH THE BLACK HOLE THAT UNMAKES ALL CREATION!
In I Am Genghis Cum, Violet LeVoit explored the mysterious agonies of birth. This time, she zeroes in on the miracle of death, in fourteen stories of soul-annihilation at its most brilliant, shocking, and profoundly kick-ass.
Whether it's a so-called "second-class citizen" renting out a white man's body just to make the rent, a Hollywood stunt chimp waking up to animal injustice, a serial killer with a recipe for single moms, a bulimic lesbian werewolf in search of her pack, or a suicidal sad-sack who wants to bang infinity back, just once, then be gone forever...you will know what they know, in the end:
That death is one hell of a ride.
"Violet LeVoit's work exists at the center of a glowing nexus where fever dream punk rock poetry collides with raw emotion and vertiginous talent. It's fucked-up, frightening, frequently funny in ways that make you feel guilty for laughing, and highly recommended."-- Jeremy Robert Johnson, author of Skullcrack City and We Live Inside You
In I Am Genghis Cum, Violet LeVoit explored the mysterious agonies of birth. This time, she zeroes in on the miracle of death, in fourteen stories of soul-annihilation at its most brilliant, shocking, and profoundly kick-ass.
Whether it's a so-called "second-class citizen" renting out a white man's body just to make the rent, a Hollywood stunt chimp waking up to animal injustice, a serial killer with a recipe for single moms, a bulimic lesbian werewolf in search of her pack, or a suicidal sad-sack who wants to bang infinity back, just once, then be gone forever...you will know what they know, in the end:
That death is one hell of a ride.
"Violet LeVoit's work exists at the center of a glowing nexus where fever dream punk rock poetry collides with raw emotion and vertiginous talent. It's fucked-up, frightening, frequently funny in ways that make you feel guilty for laughing, and highly recommended."-- Jeremy Robert Johnson, author of Skullcrack City and We Live Inside You
118 pages, Paperback
First published October 19, 2014
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217 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 31, 2015
Violet LeVoit writes like a boxer throws punches. This book was incredible. It’s a quick read that, much like I Am Genghis Cum, leaves you wanting more.
Violet just has way with words that can cut like a katana, yet at the same time, soothe like lemonade. Reading a story from this book is akin to putting on black Ray Ban shades before getting hit in the face by a nuclear blast.
The stories in here vary in theme, yet are approached with the similar sort’ve nihilistic undertone. But it’s not...like...HEAVY nihilism. It's not all doom and gloom. It's more like...nihilism light? Is that a term we can coin right now? It’s that feeling when you spark up that last cigarette and think to yourself “We’re fucked, so let’s party.” Reading IFATMASH kinda made me feel brave in that way. It’s was like peeking at the darkness and then giving it the finger.
I wanted to pick a favorite story, but I really liked them all so much, it was too difficult. I’d say the one that left the biggest impression on me is ‘Live Nude Girl’. I was IN THE MOMENT while I was reading that. Between the lyricism of the prose and the pacing of the story, I was there. I was in that strip club. I WAS THE DANCER. And then it ended and I somehow survived, relatively unscathed. That is the power of good writing, I suppose. It damages you and then gives you a band-aid. I'm all wrapped up like a mummy now, but like a mummy, I am back from the dead.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Like, genuinely, truly, wholeheartedly, I loved it. I could read Violet all day.
(And if you look at the ‘thank yous’ in the back, MY NAME IS THERE! Holy crap! How cool is that?!)
Violet just has way with words that can cut like a katana, yet at the same time, soothe like lemonade. Reading a story from this book is akin to putting on black Ray Ban shades before getting hit in the face by a nuclear blast.
The stories in here vary in theme, yet are approached with the similar sort’ve nihilistic undertone. But it’s not...like...HEAVY nihilism. It's not all doom and gloom. It's more like...nihilism light? Is that a term we can coin right now? It’s that feeling when you spark up that last cigarette and think to yourself “We’re fucked, so let’s party.” Reading IFATMASH kinda made me feel brave in that way. It’s was like peeking at the darkness and then giving it the finger.
I wanted to pick a favorite story, but I really liked them all so much, it was too difficult. I’d say the one that left the biggest impression on me is ‘Live Nude Girl’. I was IN THE MOMENT while I was reading that. Between the lyricism of the prose and the pacing of the story, I was there. I was in that strip club. I WAS THE DANCER. And then it ended and I somehow survived, relatively unscathed. That is the power of good writing, I suppose. It damages you and then gives you a band-aid. I'm all wrapped up like a mummy now, but like a mummy, I am back from the dead.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Like, genuinely, truly, wholeheartedly, I loved it. I could read Violet all day.
(And if you look at the ‘thank yous’ in the back, MY NAME IS THERE! Holy crap! How cool is that?!)
January 2, 2015
I picked this up at BizarroCon and was so excited about reading it that I jumped right in on the plane ride home. After the first story it was apparent that, although enjoyable, this was not the kind of book you could read when exhausted.
In other words, it’s not “easy reading”. I went back and re-read the first few stories and found a ton of stuff I breezed right over the first time. There’s hidden gems all through this book, and I found myself stopping to think about each story when I finished it. Violet doesn’t come right out and tell you what she’s writing about. It takes some dissection to get to the root of her writing. Or maybe I’m over thinking it and analyzing this book too much like some kind of neckbeard.
Either way I found this to be an incredibly interesting and enjoyable read.
In other words, it’s not “easy reading”. I went back and re-read the first few stories and found a ton of stuff I breezed right over the first time. There’s hidden gems all through this book, and I found myself stopping to think about each story when I finished it. Violet doesn’t come right out and tell you what she’s writing about. It takes some dissection to get to the root of her writing. Or maybe I’m over thinking it and analyzing this book too much like some kind of neckbeard.
Either way I found this to be an incredibly interesting and enjoyable read.
December 7, 2015
First of all, Let's get right to that title. It is rude, crude and offensive and I loved it. Tell the truth. You laughed didn't you? You may have hated yourself for laughing but you did laugh.
I'll Fuck Anything That Moves and Stephen Hawking is fortunately more than just a clever title. The title communicates the range of weirdness and basic nonconformity in the 14 pieces of short fiction (15 if you count "Discussion Questions for Book Clubs" as fiction which I do) that make up this unusual collection. One thing for sure, I don't have to warn you this is not a book for everyone. You probably got that hint from the second word in the title.
Violet LeVoit is one amazing writer. She can carry a lot of baggage in a few short pages. Her stories are not easy reads. She can go into a word orgy that is as disorienting as finding a pickle in a dildo display yet just as tasty. I found myself having to read some of the stories a second time even a third time, fortunately they tend to be brief, and sometimes still not getting the gist. Yet they all pack an emotional punch perhaps speaking to our id or just our need to revel in a primordial soup of words poured over uncomfortable topics.
I have not read LeVoit's first collection, I am Genghis' Cum but I am told the fiction in it is centered around the perception of birth. This new collection takes on the theme of death with scenarios and set-ups that are worthy of the Grim Reaper and any self-respecting anarchist. The author has a feminist's slant on many things with stories that take on abortion, anorexia , mother-daughter relationships and more. This is not a random mixture of stories. They seem to be tailored picked to trigger all aspects of angst and dread about our personal destruction, psychologically and physically. Yet with all the darkness, they are often as darkly funny as the title that umbrellas them.
It would be difficult to give a analysis of some of these stories, so I will try to briefly tell you my favorites. "Air, Trees , Water, Animals" is a nice warning of what you are getting yourself into with the opening line, "I look like the abortion of Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra". "Warm, in Your Coat" is a story on eating disorders which is surreal and disturbing. "White Man Rental" turns the idea of white privilege on its head. "Live Nude Girls" is one of those stories where the author is in literary "word angst" right to the shocking finale. Yet two stories really stood out for me. "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" is one of the more straightforward tales yet still packs a punch. It could be called a nightmarish fairy tale. Finally "I Bite into Your Lit and Spit out Two Frank Pieces" is an examination of the creative process that tells me I would rather read about the author's mind than be in it.
Looking through these stories, I realize that they do not all work for me but they are all impressive. This is Bizarro literature at its best and most surreal. They tend to have a rock and roll take-no-prisoners feel; Patti Smith and Valerie Solanas mugging William S. Burroughs in an alley, so to speak. But they are true literary marvels and as shocking, disturbing and hilarious as they get, They will stay with you. Call them Surreal, Bizarro, or just weird. That is the best complement I can give.
Four and a half stars.
I'll Fuck Anything That Moves and Stephen Hawking is fortunately more than just a clever title. The title communicates the range of weirdness and basic nonconformity in the 14 pieces of short fiction (15 if you count "Discussion Questions for Book Clubs" as fiction which I do) that make up this unusual collection. One thing for sure, I don't have to warn you this is not a book for everyone. You probably got that hint from the second word in the title.
Violet LeVoit is one amazing writer. She can carry a lot of baggage in a few short pages. Her stories are not easy reads. She can go into a word orgy that is as disorienting as finding a pickle in a dildo display yet just as tasty. I found myself having to read some of the stories a second time even a third time, fortunately they tend to be brief, and sometimes still not getting the gist. Yet they all pack an emotional punch perhaps speaking to our id or just our need to revel in a primordial soup of words poured over uncomfortable topics.
I have not read LeVoit's first collection, I am Genghis' Cum but I am told the fiction in it is centered around the perception of birth. This new collection takes on the theme of death with scenarios and set-ups that are worthy of the Grim Reaper and any self-respecting anarchist. The author has a feminist's slant on many things with stories that take on abortion, anorexia , mother-daughter relationships and more. This is not a random mixture of stories. They seem to be tailored picked to trigger all aspects of angst and dread about our personal destruction, psychologically and physically. Yet with all the darkness, they are often as darkly funny as the title that umbrellas them.
It would be difficult to give a analysis of some of these stories, so I will try to briefly tell you my favorites. "Air, Trees , Water, Animals" is a nice warning of what you are getting yourself into with the opening line, "I look like the abortion of Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra". "Warm, in Your Coat" is a story on eating disorders which is surreal and disturbing. "White Man Rental" turns the idea of white privilege on its head. "Live Nude Girls" is one of those stories where the author is in literary "word angst" right to the shocking finale. Yet two stories really stood out for me. "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" is one of the more straightforward tales yet still packs a punch. It could be called a nightmarish fairy tale. Finally "I Bite into Your Lit and Spit out Two Frank Pieces" is an examination of the creative process that tells me I would rather read about the author's mind than be in it.
Looking through these stories, I realize that they do not all work for me but they are all impressive. This is Bizarro literature at its best and most surreal. They tend to have a rock and roll take-no-prisoners feel; Patti Smith and Valerie Solanas mugging William S. Burroughs in an alley, so to speak. But they are true literary marvels and as shocking, disturbing and hilarious as they get, They will stay with you. Call them Surreal, Bizarro, or just weird. That is the best complement I can give.
Four and a half stars.
March 17, 2015
Transgressive, gritty, bleak, and often surreal, the stories in this collection assault the reader with a barrage of sex, violence, vivid imagery, and unsettling situations. The overarching dark tone of the book is made more palatable by the presence of humor (yeah, you guessed it; the dark sort) and the jazzy, visceral-lyrical prose style in which most of these stories are told. LeVoit can turn a phrase. Highlights of the collection for me were “air, trees, water, animals,” “Warm, in Your Coat,” “Nightbomb,” and “Live Nude Girl.”
February 14, 2015
All Of The Weird Gore-Thought
This book isn't even 100 pages long and it still has everything I want. It's a bottomless well of weirdness, and I crave a lot of weirdness. There's gore a plenty, because I need to be soaked in blood and mutilated genitals and whatnot. But it also triggers my brain to start working. I start thinking about things like, for example, the lies we tell ourselves about how great we are and the facades we build and how they can be shredded by something as small as like a plate full of chicken wings, sending us careening on a path of naked self-destruction (see "Live Nude Girl," one of my favorites in this collection). There's literary experimentalism (and not in the "oh look at me I'm a writer doing things" sort of way but in the "here's a different way to tell this story and get this message across" sort of way). And there's a centaur!
This book isn't even 100 pages long and it still has everything I want. It's a bottomless well of weirdness, and I crave a lot of weirdness. There's gore a plenty, because I need to be soaked in blood and mutilated genitals and whatnot. But it also triggers my brain to start working. I start thinking about things like, for example, the lies we tell ourselves about how great we are and the facades we build and how they can be shredded by something as small as like a plate full of chicken wings, sending us careening on a path of naked self-destruction (see "Live Nude Girl," one of my favorites in this collection). There's literary experimentalism (and not in the "oh look at me I'm a writer doing things" sort of way but in the "here's a different way to tell this story and get this message across" sort of way). And there's a centaur!
July 28, 2016
Smart, cutting, nihilistic, and beautifully written. We need more literature like this.
October 8, 2017
A bizarrely whimsical book with the perfect amount of quirkiness. The writing is superb. A quite delightful read overall!
May 17, 2023
Como en toda colección de relatos, unos gustan más y otros menos. Pero el conjunto es brutal, orgánico y fascinante. Si me reencarno, mi primera palabra no será "mamá" o "papá", sino LEVOIT.
January 12, 2015
I just had to go kill my 20 year old cat today, so if I try to talk about anything right now, it's all going to be about that, and how existence (for some (for me)) is this weird attempt to find some way to continue (why) this Sisyphean masochistic thing we've found ourselves in (life) without becoming so emotionally disfigured by scar tissue and sealed off by layers of brittle chitinous exoskeleton that the scars and deflective armor (both designed to protect our inner squishy parts) end up carving away, imprisoning, deforming the inner squishy parts, the only parts worthwhile, and the key to our only chance at actual meaningful connection with any of the rest of the darkened twisted half poisoned mutants out there glaring suspiciously from under their spiky armor and probably about to gouge some bloody chunk out of us before we maybe do them, and yeah, just can't WAIT to keep going with that, even with "This Is Water" maybe on permanent loop jacked into my skull. And if DFW couldn't manage... But really, we're all we have, which is utterly horrifying because we're all such fucking assholes.
Except for animals, who we can be relatively sure aren't trying to fuck us over (other than the ones who find us tasty. and apparently walrii), so we can actually connect without fear, or even just realize that it's theoretically possible. or maybe heal slightly.
I just read The Road for the first time like a couple days ago, and the most depressing thing to me in this "oh it's totes not sci-fi" book was that we'd managed to kill off all the animals. Other than that? Yeah it seemed bleakish, but whatever. Mainly to me it seemed RELAXING. Everyone gone, no more failing against internal or external social pressures and the relentless zero sum hierarchical power play idiocy. No more or less inherent meaning to life than there was previously, just a less comfortable setting. UNTIL of course more asshole humans appeared with their dominance agendas making trust or connection nearly impossible.
So yes, I'm very sad that my kittymau Loa is dead, and with her gone my world is a bit bleaker. In 20 years not once did she try to diminish or emotionally scar me just so that she could feel better about herself. (Unlike, to greater or lesser extents, almost all humans) If I sound bitter, it's all that chitinous buildup over the years, from the other humans. I don't (generally) sound like that while talking to my pets.
Sorry, the thing I ACTUALLY wanted to say is this.
4 ratings so far? 1 review? That's it? ok, so maybe this book just became available for general purchase a day ago, but still, this is untenable. READ THIS BOOK (or her other one I Am Genghis Cum, which I love as well).
(Oh btw, LeVoit has some pretty great angles and (I so want to say "tangles") ok whatever, tangles (jesus, sorry) untangles? ohhh, entangles! (again, sorry, I need food or something, and to stfu - self-strangles) TAKES, slices, grenades, cracked-mirrors, whatever, she has them, on the pain and the dying hope and the absurd and the assholes within and without and the existing and the damage done and sometimes a window that looks different.)
(and horse cocks)
(shit should I have put that in spoilers?)
Whatever scar tissue and spiky stuff LeVoit has accrued, she's burning magnesium light out through the cracks and holes and facets at us, across the spectrum. Dark red flickering, searing flashes, a hint of glow, tesla coil whips undulating and hypnotic, flickering/flicking at us..
(ok, I'm totally torturing that poor metaphor. (but I also kinda like it?))
And she's doing this even though or maybe because we're all tromping through post-apocalyptic ashes on some stupid road or another. And unable to connect and devouring each other and ourselves like assholes. I have no idea who LeVoit eats in her spare time, but in her writing she's... idek, intelligently resonating? Self-flagellatingly effulgent?
She's good.
So read.
Except for animals, who we can be relatively sure aren't trying to fuck us over (other than the ones who find us tasty. and apparently walrii), so we can actually connect without fear, or even just realize that it's theoretically possible. or maybe heal slightly.
I just read The Road for the first time like a couple days ago, and the most depressing thing to me in this "oh it's totes not sci-fi" book was that we'd managed to kill off all the animals. Other than that? Yeah it seemed bleakish, but whatever. Mainly to me it seemed RELAXING. Everyone gone, no more failing against internal or external social pressures and the relentless zero sum hierarchical power play idiocy. No more or less inherent meaning to life than there was previously, just a less comfortable setting. UNTIL of course more asshole humans appeared with their dominance agendas making trust or connection nearly impossible.
So yes, I'm very sad that my kittymau Loa is dead, and with her gone my world is a bit bleaker. In 20 years not once did she try to diminish or emotionally scar me just so that she could feel better about herself. (Unlike, to greater or lesser extents, almost all humans) If I sound bitter, it's all that chitinous buildup over the years, from the other humans. I don't (generally) sound like that while talking to my pets.
Sorry, the thing I ACTUALLY wanted to say is this.
4 ratings so far? 1 review? That's it? ok, so maybe this book just became available for general purchase a day ago, but still, this is untenable. READ THIS BOOK (or her other one I Am Genghis Cum, which I love as well).
(Oh btw, LeVoit has some pretty great angles and (I so want to say "tangles") ok whatever, tangles (jesus, sorry) untangles? ohhh, entangles! (again, sorry, I need food or something, and to stfu - self-strangles) TAKES, slices, grenades, cracked-mirrors, whatever, she has them, on the pain and the dying hope and the absurd and the assholes within and without and the existing and the damage done and sometimes a window that looks different.)
(and horse cocks)
(shit should I have put that in spoilers?)
Whatever scar tissue and spiky stuff LeVoit has accrued, she's burning magnesium light out through the cracks and holes and facets at us, across the spectrum. Dark red flickering, searing flashes, a hint of glow, tesla coil whips undulating and hypnotic, flickering/flicking at us..
(ok, I'm totally torturing that poor metaphor. (but I also kinda like it?))
And she's doing this even though or maybe because we're all tromping through post-apocalyptic ashes on some stupid road or another. And unable to connect and devouring each other and ourselves like assholes. I have no idea who LeVoit eats in her spare time, but in her writing she's... idek, intelligently resonating? Self-flagellatingly effulgent?
She's good.
So read.
March 19, 2015
What a ride! There were some awesome stories in this collection. There were a few that I just couldn't get my head around but in a good way. I love the meta-writing in "I Bite Into Your Lit and Spit Out Two Frank Pieces"; it is innovative, humorous and self-deprecating.
"Terms and Conditions" was awesome, it had some socio-political commentary stuffed inside a very humorous (in a dark way) story. "Deadtime for Bonzo" was also a social commentary and I enjoyed it immensely. I really appreciated "Halt and Catch Fire" since I have been programming computers since my Apple ][+.
This is definitely about as far from mainstream literature as I have found and I loved it. Definitely different than most bizarro that I have been reading, much deeper & darker instead of the light fare I'm used to. That's a good thing in case I wasn't clear.
"Terms and Conditions" was awesome, it had some socio-political commentary stuffed inside a very humorous (in a dark way) story. "Deadtime for Bonzo" was also a social commentary and I enjoyed it immensely. I really appreciated "Halt and Catch Fire" since I have been programming computers since my Apple ][+.
This is definitely about as far from mainstream literature as I have found and I loved it. Definitely different than most bizarro that I have been reading, much deeper & darker instead of the light fare I'm used to. That's a good thing in case I wasn't clear.
December 27, 2015
Wait, am I in this body so I can pay my mortgage? I read and re-read many of the stories in this book because the writing deserved more mindfulness than I have available on any good day. The stories are intelligent and thought provoking. Terms And Conditions made me think, 'Hey maybe I chose this'. Live Nude Girl had a way of pulling me into close proximity for a punch in the face yet I did not deter from finishing the story. I like all the stories. I love this book. It's creative, weird, and unconventional.
November 9, 2015
Violet LeVoit does it again. If you aren't reading her, you seriously need to be. Her stories defy genre, often emphasizing role reversal and the tragedy of being alive in a universe full of entities that want to fuck with your head.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews