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Pancakes and Poor Life Choices
If the universe had a “least likely to save existence” award, Liam would win by a landslide. He’s broke, depressed, and barely holding it together when his small-town life implodes into cosmic horror and government incompetence. Overnight, reality starts glitching like a cursed VHS tape, the fabric of existence starts tearing at the seams, and his dead-end town becomes ground zero for nightmares with too many teeth and agents who shoot first and redact later. Survival means battling wizards, mascots, and demons (both literal and personal), all while trying not to lose the only people he cares about. The multiverse is collapsing, but Liam’s biggest challenge might just be figuring out whether he actually wants to keep living in it.
Chaotic, unhinged, and unexpectedly heartfelt, Pancakes and Poor Life Choices is what happens when cosmic horror gets blackout drunk with absurdist comedy. It’s about friendship, trauma, and laughing in the face of oblivion, because sometimes the only way to fight the darkness is to be louder, weirder, and dumber than it is.
Fans of Douglas Adams, Jason Pargin, Jack Townsend and Everything Everywhere All at Once will feel right at home—if “home” is on fire, haunted, and somehow still funny.
Chaotic, unhinged, and unexpectedly heartfelt, Pancakes and Poor Life Choices is what happens when cosmic horror gets blackout drunk with absurdist comedy. It’s about friendship, trauma, and laughing in the face of oblivion, because sometimes the only way to fight the darkness is to be louder, weirder, and dumber than it is.
Fans of Douglas Adams, Jason Pargin, Jack Townsend and Everything Everywhere All at Once will feel right at home—if “home” is on fire, haunted, and somehow still funny.
434 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 17, 2025
7 people are currently reading
14 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 17, 2025
Astonishing. Unlike anything I’ve ever read before.
I came across Parker through a comment on Reddit, found his book on Amazon and took a chance. I’m utterly blown away by what I found.
It’s eccentrically printed and starts with one of the most absurd and comically strange characters I’ve ever witnessed. I had no idea what I’d stumbled into. If it weren’t for the wit and literate writing style, I would’ve thought it was written by someone in an institution.
Then I laughed. And I laughed again. I laughed out loud, by myself, often. That’s rare when reading a novel, at least for me.
The wit, the absurdity, the creativity, the confidence. I loved it all.
Parker James also writes with a verve and splendour that you don’t see very often. It’s beautiful and strange and baffling. There are scenes of dread and horror that stayed with me. Such madness could have become repetitive, but he found ways to progress the story, develop his characters, and lead to a satisfying conclusion.
I loved it, and I’ll look out for more by Parker James over the years to come.
I came across Parker through a comment on Reddit, found his book on Amazon and took a chance. I’m utterly blown away by what I found.
It’s eccentrically printed and starts with one of the most absurd and comically strange characters I’ve ever witnessed. I had no idea what I’d stumbled into. If it weren’t for the wit and literate writing style, I would’ve thought it was written by someone in an institution.
Then I laughed. And I laughed again. I laughed out loud, by myself, often. That’s rare when reading a novel, at least for me.
The wit, the absurdity, the creativity, the confidence. I loved it all.
Parker James also writes with a verve and splendour that you don’t see very often. It’s beautiful and strange and baffling. There are scenes of dread and horror that stayed with me. Such madness could have become repetitive, but he found ways to progress the story, develop his characters, and lead to a satisfying conclusion.
I loved it, and I’ll look out for more by Parker James over the years to come.
December 23, 2025
A very fun debut!
I can easily see the Jason Pargin influence throughout the novel in the character dynamics, themes, comedy, and absurdity. Starting it, I thought it would be silly and immature throughout (and it was), but it surprised me with a lot of emotional depth and self reflection. I really enjoyed the story and the humour, but ultimately gave it under a 4 because of the rushed pacing and at times rudimentary writing style. Additionally, there were occasional typos and grammatical errors. Honestly, if it were able to get a pass with an editor, it’d probably be an easy 4.
Overall, if you want a very quick read that will keep you engaged, but also has a lot of heart, I’d recommend it. Looking forward to the next one!
I can easily see the Jason Pargin influence throughout the novel in the character dynamics, themes, comedy, and absurdity. Starting it, I thought it would be silly and immature throughout (and it was), but it surprised me with a lot of emotional depth and self reflection. I really enjoyed the story and the humour, but ultimately gave it under a 4 because of the rushed pacing and at times rudimentary writing style. Additionally, there were occasional typos and grammatical errors. Honestly, if it were able to get a pass with an editor, it’d probably be an easy 4.
Overall, if you want a very quick read that will keep you engaged, but also has a lot of heart, I’d recommend it. Looking forward to the next one!
November 27, 2025
insert weird review here
It’s about time somebody was brave enough to write what they were thinking about. It’s rather light hearted in a world that t takes itself way too serious.
I can’t say much about my favorite parts, but there was an undeserved death I enjoyed, and one deserved death I felt bad about- wait. Did he die? I have a shot memory. I’ll have to reread that.
I’m not a fan of endings like that, but I’ll let it go. Some people deserve it.
Can’t wait to see more from this author, I believe he has something deeper and bigger waiting to come out.
It’s about time somebody was brave enough to write what they were thinking about. It’s rather light hearted in a world that t takes itself way too serious.
I can’t say much about my favorite parts, but there was an undeserved death I enjoyed, and one deserved death I felt bad about- wait. Did he die? I have a shot memory. I’ll have to reread that.
I’m not a fan of endings like that, but I’ll let it go. Some people deserve it.
Can’t wait to see more from this author, I believe he has something deeper and bigger waiting to come out.
December 27, 2025
A wacky reddit find. Diamond in the rough honestly. Immature middle school humor meets deep trauma philosophy in a fast-paced horror comedy adventure. Had me crying with laughter and whipping through every page. Metaphors and jokes are deep cuts and I was there for all of it. Got turned onto it due to its similarity to the works of Jason Pargin and I think that's the best comp. 5/5 and will be re-reading.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews