Nothing Is Strange

by Mike Russell

20 mind-expanding short stories.
Inspiring, liberating, otherworldly, magical, surreal, bizarre, funny, disturbing, unique... all of these words have been used to describe the stories of Mike Russell so put on your top hat, open your third eye and enjoy: Nothing Is Strange

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Science Fiction, 21st Century

146 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 2014

About the author

Mike Russell is a British author renowned for his unique, surreal short story collections and novels.
Russell's books have been praised for their originality, inventive storytelling, rich imagery and the questions they raise about the nature of reality. Russell has a distinctive narrative voice that blurs the line between reality and imagination. His work is noticeable for its minimalist style that often contrasts with the complex themes he explores.
Russell's debut Nothing Is Strange (2014) is a highly imaginative collection of short stories that introduced readers to his peculiar and mesmerising work. Each tale in the collection is a blend of the bizarre and philosophical, inviting readers to explore the deeper meanings within the stories. Russell’s subsequent short story collections Strange Medicine (2016), Strange Secrets (2018), Strange Wonders (2020) and Strange Concentrate (2023) have continued to challenge storytelling norms and question reality in a way that is as entertaining as it is unusual.
In addition to these collections, Mike Russell has authored a number of novels and novellas. Like his short story collections, these surreal and enigmatic works are characterised by their absurd humour, eccentric characters, unexpected twists and questioning of conventional thought.
Strungballs (2017) is a fantastical, dystopian, science fiction novella that delves into themes of conformity, individuality, materialism and societal structures.
The Exploding Book (2019) is a complex, surreal novel full of dark humour and astonishing imagery. It encapsulates Mike Russell's talent for crafting narratives that are as mind-bending as they are entertaining. The novel takes an unconventional form in which the reader participates by having an out of body experience, entering the story and influencing the narrative.
Magic (2020) is a magical, often comical, novel filled with the imagery of the stage magician. Told from the perspective of a young man who believes that stage magicians can perform real acts of magic, it has been praised for its unique and uplifting story, its endearing protagonist and for being entertaining and accessible at the same time as profound and unusual. In Magic, Russell’s evocative storytelling and vivid imagery create a narrative that is as touching as it is strange.
The Man Whose Wife Was the Moon (2021) is a surreal novella set during the time of the first moon landing. It exemplifies Mike Russell's skill in weaving fantastical elements with deep emotional resonance.
Mike Russell continues to live and write in England, where he remains dedicated to exploring the unusual and unknown through his uniquely strange books.

Mike Russell was awarded a Bachelor of Arts from Falmouth University and a Master of Arts from the University of Central England.

Mike Russell’s books have been described as Strange Fiction, Weird Fiction, Weird Lit, Surrealism, Fantasy Fiction… but he just likes to call them Strange Books.

“Russell’s stories are humorous, engaging and poetically direct.” Beautiful Bizarre Magazine

“Simple yet wacky, funny and charming. Mike Russell seems to have mastered the art of throwing absurdities onto paper, while keeping his writing bright and interesting at the same time.” Cultured Vultures

“I always look forward to Mike Russell’s work – he’s so out-there that it’s refreshing.” Oddly Weird Fiction

Reviews

[Glenn Russell]

The zone of the strange.

O give me a home where the curious roam
Where the odd and the puzzling play

You are about to enter the remarkable world of Mike Russell's Nothing is Strange, a collection of twenty bizarre snappers where nothing can be anything and strange is as strange as strange can be. Reading these brief tales, I was reluctant to underline any of the passages since I had the distinct impression the British author's deeper levels of meaning were to be found in the blank spaces between the lines.

Moreover, I took my time with the book since reading each tale was like swallowing a delectable Alice in Wonderland pill. Much wiser to read one or two or three tales a day so the images and happenings contained therein are given the needed time to work their magic.

Oh, yes, each time I read the first line of a Mike Russell mind blaster I was opening the door onto a private garden where all varieties of exotic flowers bloom: a fountain of tiny white light erupts from a small hole on the top of a man's head; there's an enormous concrete building in the shape of a sun; a fifteen-year-old with a bald, pointed head gets a tattoo on the middle of his forehead that's the first letter of his nickname; two lovers have sex in a shopping mall to prove their love to the world.

Such is the nature of an absurdist prose miniature where our habitual and conventional world of what passes for normality is abandoned in favor of a morphed logic flowing into the surreal and fantastic. Among the practitioners of this unique form, we have such authors as Russell Edson, Daniil Kharms, Barry Yourgrau, Peter Cherches - and we have Mike Russell.

I encourage you to pick up Nothing is Strange and treat yourself to some serious strangeness. And speaking of strange, I'll let Mike Russell have the last word via a direct quote from his book: " My life appeared strange because it was one way and not another. Only if it had been every possibility at once would it have not appeared strange. And that is what I am now. Every possibility at once. And nothing is strange."


British author Mike Russell, born 1973

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this paperback book from Strange Books in exchange for an honest review.

Nothing is Strange is the first collection of short stories by Mike Russell. I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to read this weird and wonderful collection after having enjoyed his work in Strange Medicine. In this collection, we get to see a wider variety of his style with twenty stories. I liked all of the stories featured here, but my favorites are "The Warehouse", "The Meeting", "Barry and the Triplets", "Extraordinary Elsie", "Mask Man", "Stan and Stan", and "The Living Crown".

These uniquely surreal stories aren't for everyone, but all of them are really well put together. As for all of the stories I mentioned above, I wouldn't say no to hearing a little more from those worlds or having each of them expanded to something a bit longer. If you like Karen Russell's style from Vampires in the Lemon Grove, you may want to give strange, in the best way, tales a look.

Thanks again to Strange Books for this wonderful opportunity!

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this absolute gem of a little book yesterday afternoon and sort of just floated through it, in a good way. There are twenty stories in this small book, obviously very short (it's only 144 pages long) but definitely powerful. What I discovered is that while reading, I could actually visualize the author's bizarre characters and settings in my head and it was sort of like walking through a gallery of surrealist paintings. That's the best way I can describe it -- I wasn't blessed with the gift of eloquence in my writing (as I'm so fond of saying, I'm a reader, not a writer), so that image will just have to do.

I will say that this is not a book for everyone, for example, it probably wouldn't appeal to readers who have to have things spelled out, explained, etc., since that doesn't really happen here. This is a book for people who enjoy a good think. Its elegance lies in its simplicity, and its simplicity belies its complexity. It is dark, definitely designed for people who want something different in their reading; it's also one of those books I appreciate for its ability to go outside the box and push my own reading boundaries outside of the norm. It is beyond cool, well beyond ordinary, and just so what I needed right now.

for more, I've posted about it at my online reading journal.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well that was some mighty fine false advertising, it says on the cover that "Nothing is Strange" that is complete hooey! Everything in this book is strange, I really need to start reading the back of books before I start them, just to give myself a bit of warning for what I'm getting myself into.

The stories are wonderful, some of the most bizarre things I've ever read, I've no idea what kind of mad man Mike Russell is, but he has to be pretty crazy to come up with these stories. Each story starts off with a brief introduction, each time I had the narrator's voice from the twilight zone reading it in my head, in fact each of these stories would be perfect as episodes. There is a quirky humour throughout that had me chuckling a fair bit. I can't really explain any of the stories as they are too surreal to shorten down into a review, here are some amazing highlights:

A man cries
There is a right hand
There is a beard
Invisible bees
Balls of fire
And scones... yes you heard me, scones!

Everybody give this book a go, you won't regret it.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to the author for providing me a free copy in exchange for an honest review :)

I enjoyed this! It was a really quick, quirky read; I was so immersed in it that I actually didn’t realize there were 20 stories until looking back on the synopsis after I read it. It seems crazy to think about there being that many now because the whole thing just flew by.

Of the 20, my favourites were The Miracle, Barry & the Triplets, Lesley Visits the Barbers, and The Living Crown. If I had to choose my top one, I would say The Living Crown-it touched upon free will which really grabbed my attention.

Reading this kind of takes you to a whole other world, one which was created by the author but also by your own mind filling the gaps that he leaves open for you, which is so fun. Some of the stories I wish were a little bit longer, but other than that it was very well done and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a good introduction to this genre!

[Rebecca Gransden · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great selection of shorts. Russell works away in the background like a mystical trickster, the stories full of surreal imagery but somehow twisting them into the more plausible reading of reality.

Reading this collection reminded me of those first rushes of intellectual expansion that you own as an individual, and you spend too much time conjecturing on the nature of reality and everything is mind-blowing. What if instead of this everything was this? But then this was really this! Whoah! These stories really are that much fun.

Russell is a cajoling storyteller. There is a warm and classic feel to the tone of these unexpected tales which lulls the reader into a compliant acceptance. It’s just as well Russell appears to have good intentions as these powers could wreak havoc in nefarious hands. Instead he presents stories that have a keen mystical bent and carry the reader sage like through a pick ’n’ mix of straightforward faux innocent delights. Yes, delights. Unless I’m missing something cynicism has left the building and what remains isn’t twee or naive but unrooted, wise and generous. Perhaps some sort of surrealist parable is closest.

‘The End of Sex,’ is too funny.

It is possible that Russell is playing the fool like the classical fool, and that his stories with their deadpan tone and spiritual aspects should be taken as a simple way into personal truth. Or they are wonderfully evocative mind bending tales that draw forth rich imagery laden with heavy symbolism. Or they are a series of engrossing and entertaining pieces full of a refreshingly giving humour and lively mind’s eye world. Whatever, this was extremely enjoyable to read and I look forward to more from this author.

[Katja Vartiainen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book I read on my Kindle. Very pleasant. This book is fascinating. Strange short stories, which I realized at some point reminded me of Indian puranas, those lovely stories of Ganesha and co. Myths, which reveal a bigger truth. I don't know if that was the goal of the author, but it is a hard one - to write contemporary myths. Or maybe one could say these stories were like zen koans a bit, to bring one to a realization. Or if you don't want to dig so deep, call them surrealist to please the western mind, as à la Borges.

I found they were not strange just for strangeness's sake, and they are often funny. Some times maybe too much was tried to create a metaphor, when the reader's subconsciousness could have finished the job. The efficiency of short phrases and chapters was mostly good although at times I wished the story to go on. I would love the illustrate this kind of literature!

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enjoyable fast read. Short quirky stories of the weirdest kind. Highly entertaining.

[Melissa Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing Is Strange is one of the strangest books I have ever read in my life. That is not to say it's badly written, but you truly have to suspend reality to get through most of these short stories. They are not your average plot-driven stories but a series of short, weird, snippets of strange things happening to strange people.

The Pros:

1. The cover image. This, in my opinion, is one of the best, most creative, and eye-catching covers I've seen on a self-published book. This should be given as an example of good cover art.

2. The chapters/stories don't drag on. With a book like this, I think if they were any longer then it would become very difficult to stay interested, but the author has made it easy for even the most distractable reader to stay plugged in.

3. It delivers exactly what is promised: Strangeness. No frilly characters, no twisty complex plots. The author keeps to his quirky, oddball voice.


The Cons:

1. Hard to wrap your head around. While I give kudos for staying true to his vision and his voice, I personally had a hard time not finishing each chapter with complete confusion. Perhaps the author exists on a higher plane of intelligence than myself, as a great deal of truly strange people do, and there are hidden themes and meanings to each story but I couldn't decipher anything while reading. Not a good book choice for people who like cut and dry, tangible themes or plots.

2. Grammar and Punctuation. If you get easily distracted by punctuation and grammar mistakes, you may find yourself unable to go through this book. I am not sure if the errors are truly errors or just how the author meant to write it, but for me it was probably the hardest thing to get over in this work.

[Annemieke / A Dance with Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to Strange Books for the review copy in exchange for an honest review. This does not change my opinion in anyway. 

Nothing is Strange is a collection of 20 short stories, all by the hand of Mike Russel. They differ from a page to a few pages, from a man finding a diary to a couple finding true love. 

I though Nothing is Strange sounded really interesting. The ideas certainly were but I felt that at the end of it the author didn't quite get across the message he was sending. I caught most of what he was trying to do, because I've seen similar things before, but I don't think the text backed up the ideas. 

This was because of the writing. Most is written from a third person omniscient point of view. That is a hard one to get right when you want to engage your reader within a short time frame. And in this case it didn't work. There was a lot of description, choppy at times, and very little emotion. It was all so far away from me as a reader that I couldn't make myself care. And even though these stories were perhaps not meant to be emotionally devastating, I still need something to grab as a reader. Adding on to that is that a lot of them felt unfinished. 

I also felt uncomfortable by the story where the hermaphrodite got cut into two (implied that they were cut into a man and a woman) and the story where the mother talked about her daughter who had no senses which to me felt a lot like ableism.

Having said that I do think that some will like these. Afterwards one will think about what the meaning was of them. And I think that it is a kind of book that would do well in a book club to talk about themes and ideas and discuss what was going on. 

[Briar's Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing Is Strange or everything is strange?

Mike Russell is a master at oddball books. I always go into these books not knowing what to expect and come out with my mind blown. It's a similar feeling to watching David Bowie music videos or trying to come up with a valid WandaVision theory (Mephisto or Magneto?).

This selection of short stories is an easy to read and mind boggling adventure. You can jump in and out without the need to worry or fear that you'll forget something. Each story stands alone and will mess with your mind (in a good way, I promise). This book will grab your attention and keep in the a strange and exciting way. If you love bizarre and want to be enticed, welcome to the world of Mike Russell.

I really enjoyed these stories, if I'm being honest. Their kooky, odd, curious, bizarre, strange and all of the other synonyms you can come up with. It's the oddity of Alice in Wonderland - it's delightfully fun yet makes you question reality. The absurdity is what makes it so much fun. Is there meaning there? What is normality anymore?

My personal favourites: Cream Tea, The Diaries of Sun City, and Dunce. The entire book has stories about love, death and grief, some tentacles, miracles and insanity.

This will definitely be a niche book! It's not for every reader and that's okay. The books aren't always straight forward so it can be hard to read in that respect. Either way, these stories will make you grin or grimace in a world full of fun.

Four out of five stars.

I received the book for free from StrangeBooks in exchange of an honest review. Thank you yet again for another lovely and mind boggling book.

[Susan Hampson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my second book by this author, the first being Strange Medicine. Both books are very similar in respect of they have short sharp story blasts of pure weird and utterly crazy brilliance. There is nothing like them, none that you could possibly say I have read something similar before, just uniqueness. It is like watching mime but in words, I just couldn’t take my eyes from the pages because I felt I would miss something if I did.
Some stories are very sad, or they feel like a never-ending circle that you know will just go on after you leave, because although they are only a few pages long you don’t feel like the story will ended it will carry on when the words finish. The cover picture is perfect, the title brilliant and the stories truly fascinating.
The thing about these stories is every person that reads them will interpret them differently. I really don’t think that there is a right or wrong way to describe them and I even feel that I could read them another day and see a different story in them all again depending on my own mood at the time. It makes them personal to me.
Of course I have my favourite. The Meeting.
Do take a look for a very different entertaining read.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn’t familiar with any of this author's work before reading this book, but after reading through the entire book a couple of times and going back to a good few of the stories and thoroughly enjoying it, I will be checking out more from Mr Mike Russel in the future.

I can’t say that I have ever read anything like this before and it’s a very difficult read to actually describe!
The first thing I noticed was that the book does not hold your hand, there is a certain amount of thinking involved when reading these beautiful and bizarre short stories, it’s all about reading between the lines to find the true meaning of each tale.
When reading a tale for the second and third time I found myself noticing other meanings. The book encourages the reader to use their imagination and fill in the gaps, thinking about what the story means to you.

Weird, Wonderful And Sometimes Enchanting!

The first story that really spoke to me was ‘Dunce’ - I picked up a couple of powerful messages in this one!
The next one I really enjoyed was ‘Barry and the triplets’ and also ‘Escape from the butchers shop’. By this point my brain was constantly searching for hidden meanings and this kept me reading. I couldn’t imagine what might come next!
Then ‘Extraordinary Elsie’ came along and brought a smile to my face, this little story is so beautiful in so many ways!
‘Insensible Susan’ Is also worthy of a mention, along with ‘Harry’s quest’.

The strange worlds this book took me to were so vivid and exciting, I would have loved the characters to explore more! Some of these short stories could be set ups for longer stories and if the author ever chooses to expand on these then I will certainly be checking it out!


I’m giving this a big 5 stars! It’s not very often that you pick up a book of short stories and get something out of every single one of them!

I’d like to say a massive thank you to Jay for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Hanaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was sent a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review. Nothing is Strange is a collection of short stories that explore the strange and unusual. Although it is a bizarro book, it is definitely something beginner readers of the genre will appreciate and enjoy. As someone who has read her fair share of bizarro, I liked this collection, but I did think (as I did with Strange Medicine) that the stories could have been better realized if they were longer. Otherwise, the collection is short and sweet and a fun treat!

[Gerard Bianco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reader Beware: If you enjoy reading stories that are written with structure, stories that are comprised of a beginning, middle, and end, or stories that do not transcend the boundaries of reality, then this book is not for you. If, on the other hand, you want to read stories that will free you from the chains that are attached to the anchor of reality, then this is your must-read collection.

Nothing is Strange is a collection of twenty short stories in which everything is strange, but strange in a good way.

The twenty stories are miniature narratives. The collection is well written and highly imaginative. Each story takes you on a journey where the imaginary becomes reality. Instead of reason we have imagination. In place of the banal we have passion for liberation. Instead of the ordinary, we have magic.

By their very nature, the stories are freeing. They will take you to places within your mind you never knew existed. For those unaccustomed to reading surreal stories these stories may be hard to swallow. One might compare it to looking at modern art for the first time. I can only imagine how people felt the first time Duchamp exhibited his Readymades, or Picasso his art. A typical first reaction might raise the question of whether or not the artist is authentic, or is he simply trying to put one over on us.

The concept of these stories first appears to be too simple to be called art. Yet, as one delves into the collection, and crosses back and forth between the boundaries of real and unreal, one comes away with the feeling that there is more to them than at first appears - and you would be correct in this assumption.

Reading these stories feels as if you’re following footprints in the snow, footprints that take you somewhere and nowhere. Sometimes the footprints are deep and easy to follow, but sometimes they are obliterated and nearly imperceptible. The reader may, for a time, get lost. For some, tripping through these stories may be a harrowing experience. But for others, the journey on the wind of imagination will be a mind-blowing and rewarding experience.

But the magic doesn't end there, for once discovered and devoured, the effects of a surreal adventure multiplies the further out one travels.

My advice then, dear reader, is for you to read this collection. Take a chance you may be hooked on the reality of non reality, which, in turn, will inspire you to explore other artists of the genre, some who are long gone, and others, like Mike Russell, who are our modern guides on the surreal journey.

So go ahead: Jump into the swimming pool with your clothes on. You may very well find you won’t want to get out of the water.

I received a free copy of this book for an honest, non-reciprocal review.

[Valia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do not know what the original annotation is and if there is one. I have copied this from the back cover of a book because I think it can’t be better summarized.

“Everything that is not a thing is a thing in The Warehouse.”

To be honest, I liked not all stories (which is only normal), but the most of them were good. Eight of them are my favorite and one I didn’t understand but that’s not so important.

Stories are really weird and unusual. Actually, I’m sad I don’t know better words to describe them. Some of them leave you confused, other sad and feeling sympathy. The style is simple, unlike the stories themselves. Fast and easy to read, but leaving strong feelings. To give a valuable opinion on a collection of stories, especially as the stories are short, it is very difficult for me. I can not see what I’m looking for and what I run to the author, but I would definitely give him a chance with some other book. I gave this one 5 stars after all.

Dunce is one of my favorite stories. It is strange but also pleasant. If I say what the story is about, I will reveal the whole story, and I do not want that. But you can find out by reading it on the publisher’s and the author’s website- https://strangebooks.com/

“I think we cry because we don’t understand what is going on. Maybe if we understood what is really going on we wouldn’t cry at all, ever.”


In one of the other stories, Mike shows us a different view of what love is. (And I like it because I find some strange logic)

“Between then, on the bed, is their love. It is beautiful, colourful, soft in places, hard in others, glowing, pulsating, tentacles waving, petals and wings opening. They touch it, feeling its cavities and protrusions. A perfume emanates from it, both strange and intoxicating. It makes a sound like music. They cuddle it and stroke it and fondle it and kiss it.”

And as we talked about love, The Meeting is a strange and unusual love story, which made me feel impressed.

I generally bow to the author. The stories came to me in a strange and unusual way. Ideas are so unusual and can be interpreted in many different ways, and what better than going into the world of theories and mysteries

[William Aicher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't believe the title. In this book, EVERYTHING is strange. And it's absolutely marvelous. A collection of very short stories by Mike Russell, Everything Is Strange comes across as a kind of mix of Black Mirror and The Twilight Zone, but still something else altogether.

In my experience, writing a weird story isn't all that difficult. Just throw a bunch of things that don't make sense together and create a narrative. But what IS difficult, and what Russell does with aplomb, is to create strange stories where nothing really quite makes sense ... and turn those stories into narratives that hold a much deeper meaning than simply what happens on the page.

These are surrealistic think-pieces. And they'll take you to wholly new places, where the absurd is the ordinary, and self-discovery is just one oddity away.

I'm not going to synopsize any of these, as they're all so short that to do so would be to spoil them. But what I can say is this: This book is absolutely worth picking up. As each story stands on its own, it's a great collection to pick up for a bit of in-between reading - though I often found myself sitting down and cranking through several stories at a single read.

Contrary to the title, in Russell's world everything is strange. But it's also extremely realistic, when you really dig into the heart of the matters being discussed. A wonderful exploration of our reality through dream and metaphor, I can't recommend this collection enough.

Addendum: I should note that the writing here isn't flamboyant or overly prosaic. But instead the stories are written rather simply, which in my opinion adds to the impact of the stories. The matter-of-fact style keeps things from becoming fantastical, and all the more relatable in their telling.

[Johnny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is filled with stories will make your mind race, and think amazing thoughts. I've read it multiple times and made my friends read some of my favorite stories.

I don't want to spoil anything for readers, so I am just going to say:

If you want to read well-written short stories and as a bonus get to see the world in a different light read this book.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird and bizarre stories that are strangely compelling - I'm sure that they wont be to everyone's taste but I really enjoyed reading something that was completely different and which stretched and twisted the old brain cells.

[Amena · Rating 4 out of 5]

'I think that maybe we only cry because we don't understand what is going on. Maybe if we understood what is really going on we wouldn't cry at all, ever.'


If you want to read a book outside of your comfort zone, this might be the one for you.

Nothing is Strange are short stories, some only a couple of pages long, that are surreal and quite absurd. Yet they hit home with me and I absolutely loved them. Very, very unusual to read, I mean, I've never come across a story about humans with key holes and plugs, yet this one was a favourite of mine. The protagonist was born in a butcher's shop and manages to escape. He walks around town and everyone he meets has a keyhole with a plug, aside from one lady who has a bright light emanating from her keyhole. He wants the key to all the key holes; he wants to escape. She makes him see that everything is an illusion and all he needs to do to escape is look through his own keyhole.

We can interpret this in so many ways. Is it about freedom? Not being trapped? Trapped in  life? In our desires? Do we need to question oppressive ideas? Where do these ideas come from? I would like to see it as we are all free and able to do what we please and have free thought, as long as we believe we can. Liberating right?

Highly recommended!

Honest review in exchange for the book.

[Aakriti · Rating 5 out of 5]

"𝑴𝒚 𝒍𝒊𝒇𝒆 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓. 𝑶𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒇 𝒊𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒘: 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒂𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒄𝒆. 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆."⠀

This is a collection of 20 short stories which are as imaginative and as strange as it ever gets. 🎩 ⠀
Trust me when I say this, for the first few stories, you are going to be saying "Whaaaat??!", in every possible way, with every possible expression. 😮🤨😐😒🤔⠀
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But then, at any one of these stories, you start to see the hidden meaning and Mike Russell reveals his brilliance.
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There is no way that I can give you a synopsis of the plot because there is none. Every story is a beautifully narrated in very "Alice in the Wonderland" kind of way.
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To understand this book you have to stop merely reading it and instead step inside the world. You have to use your imagination and only when you have this world infront of your eyes, it becomes clear what the author is talking about. That's the only way, you will be agitated by walls of Sun City, you will root for Daphne and Sylvester's love, understand why the head keeps hurting and most of all what it means in terms of this world.
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This book is an experience!!!!⠀
Do I recommend it? Yes, a thousand yes.
For some reason, it kept reminding me of Black Mirror.

Honest review given in exchange of the book.

[Sasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

First thank you to the author for giving me a free copy of the eBook!

Then yes, that book was indeed strange!
I did enjoy the stories because yes you will read several short series in that book. I feel like each story had a hidden message but I don't think I got them all which confused me a bit.

I found the overall book highly entertaining and quite funny. i know some of the stories weren't that funny but I guess I have a weird sense of humour.

I've never read anything like that and I think I will definitely give his other book a try!

If you're looking for something different, weird but in a good way and with some hidden messages then go for it. Because what is even weirder with the stories is that they don't make sense but they totally make sense...

[Valerie - Cats Luv Coffee Book Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

If there were ever a misnomer for a book title, it's Nothing is Strange because in these pages, everything is strange. Twenty short stories grace these pages and I'd love to tell you what they are about, but it's something that would need to be experienced for yourself.

Read more at Cats Luv Coffee

[Liselott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is hallucinogenic.Twenty short stories, one more surreal and thought provoking than the other.
I loved everything about it and the book cover is just perfectly designed for it.

(I won this book through Good reads first reads)

[Leonora Meriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superb collection of surreal stories challenging the concepts of reality, existence and perception. Mike Russell has a delicious imagination that moves fluidly and unexpectedly in all directions. Recommend for lovers of anything surreal or readers who enjoy pushing the limits of the possible.

[Francesca · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful feast of deliciously bizzare stories that had me hooked from cover to cover.

[Runalong · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars A strange mix of micro fiction that keeps you puzzled and never bored

Full review - https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...

[Iris Alvino · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fantastic. Such odd, hilarious, bizarre, and eerie little stories. I think they were so well done and fun to read.

[Terence DeToy]

*Spoilers*

Mike Russell’s 2014 short story collection Nothing is Strange is a series of unsettling vignettes. These are not conventionally rendered stories, but a sort of written performance art. They are abstract and surreal, but strike a nice balance between being readable and thought provoking.

They have the charm of rewarding the reader according to the effort invested, rather like adjusting the load on a weight machine at the gym: the more you exert, the more you gain. These stories can be read as a charming bemusement or reduce you to a profound silence depending on how much you are willing to roll up your sleeves.

This is because they have a mirroring effect. Russell isn’t building detailed worlds and casts in this collection. These stories are sparse, stripped down. There is little character development to be found in Nothing is Strange, but this is no authorial oversight. This minimalist approach prompts a unique level of reader response. These stories are reader-activated: they read more like myths or folktales than crafted stories.

Russell’s approach isn’t for everyone, but readers looking for something outside of the ordinary will be a delighted. If the standard literary approach is disclosure, Russell contrarily positions lacunae throughout these stories. Nature abhors a vacuum and the reader, knowingly or not, fills these thematic spaces. There is something encompassing about these stories. They strike at a different level—a deep, guttural, ponderous level.
Nothing is Strange by Mike Russell. Strange Books—$9.32. Non-affiliate.

What to do with a story like “The Miracle”? Sandra Grace is mercilessly run down by a car. The owner of the car speeds off without any acknowledgement of the accident. Her body is treated contemptuously by all who come across it. Her father treats her death as an irritating inconvenience. We learn Sandra is a member of a the House of the Human Clouds, a religious organization. They monitor the situation, wondering if Sandra could be their long-awaited savior.

After visiting Sandra’s corpse, her father tears up. The House of the Human Clouds rushes forth to capture his tears. They proclaim them a miracle. The press treats the event as an inexplicable anomaly and the House of the Human Cloud, while clearly enthralled, calls for social changes to prevent future crying.

When Sandra is killed, we’re told: “She was knocked down by a car.” The story begins with Sandra’s daughter Sandy playing with her doll and a car. She hits the doll with the car repeatedly. Perhaps this child affects her will on the world at large, or perhaps the whole story springs forth from the cosmos of her imagination. Perhaps the moratorium on emotion is a reflection of her loneliness and isolation as she plays under her mother’s icy stare.

This is a Gordian knot of a story, the sort of knot you hardly know where to begin untangling. And yet, pull any lose thread and the whole ball of twine comes deviously apart. Part of what Russell is up to in these stories is to tangle up our assumptions about where our realities are anchored and then, in some, pull them apart into nothing.

The stories in Nothing is Strange are allegorical, cutting right to the forces that animate us. The effect of reading them is a peculiar one. They cultivate a unique experience: a sort of Rod Sterling twist. Many deliver the sensation of having slipped between dimensions somehow leaving you to see your formerly familiar world in a new, uncanny light.

One of Russell’s key strategies is to bifurcate some original unity. “The Meeting,” one of the collection’s standouts, is about a man and a woman who live next to each other. Their two houses, and the two buildings in which they each work, are the only four buildings in their apparent existence—a tiny island of humanity in a sea of grass. Each morning the man goes to work and passes the woman as she is returning home from work—she works the night shift and him the day shift.

Each morning, he wants to see her face, but his head is bend forward from pain. Each evening, as he is returning home from work and she is heading to it, her head is bent forward from pain, and so their faces seemed destined to never encounter one another. I’m struck immediately with the perhaps absurd comparison to Richard Donner’s 1985 film Ladyhawke about a curse that prevents two lovers from ever encountering one another despite being always in each other’s presence. In “The Meeting,” we have two would-be lovers always in close proximity, yet eternally separated by night and day.

At their jobs, they face a revolving dial and press a button when an arrow on the dial aligns with a mark on the wall. It is the woman who breaks this pattern—she follows a passageway to discover that her button releases a small hammer from the man’s ceiling that taps him on his forehead. This is the source of the pain that forces him to bow his head each morning.

Here we have two people, each alone in a very sharp way. It is their labor that both sustains them and ensures their isolation. Each unwittingly keeps the other in check and thereby ensures the continued day-to-day normalcy of their tiny world. After discovering this, she approaches the man and informs him. He is dumbstruck—“Then she says: ‘Will you kiss me please?’” The two are at last one. As is often the case in life, it takes a woman to make things happen.

Primordial unities and devilish dualities permeate this collection. Similarly, “The End of Sex” features an arrangement conjugal bliss by restoring what appears to be some long-lost unity. Brian and Bryony, also neighbors, find themselves almost by happenstance in an intimate affair after Brian emits a rather glaring Freudian slip. Perhaps picking up on a subconscious desire, Bryony approaches him. In the heat of lovemaking, Brian’s penis breaks off inside her and remains there. Brian is free to live out his days free from desire. Bryony now lives perpetually in sexual unity—we’re told both “went on to live their lives in total satisfaction.”

However, the ancestor story for this collection is “Lesley Visits the Barbers.” Lesley visits a unisex barbershop. The barber asks if Lesley is a hermaphrodite, but he insists he is a man. The barber provides an oversize saucer of tea and waits to see which gender bathroom Lesley chooses. When Lesley cannot decide, the barber catches him. With an oversize pair of scissors, he splits the hermaphroditic Lesley in twain, “thus beginning the universe.”

In Plato’s Symposium, Aristophanes tells the story that the original human beings were hermaphroditic. Men and women occupied singular bodies. When they tried to scale Olympus to reach the height of the Gods, Zeus punished them by cleaving them in half. The human creation was split into men and women. No longer unified, mena nd women are forever locked in the torment of sexual longing for one another. It’s lapsarian story, but for Russell, who values the pull of unseen forces, it is to just such a mythological split that we owe everything. Without separation, there is no need to come together.

Russell sees a grid work of mythology undergirding banality of the modern experience. In “Escape the Butcher Shop,” Russell shifts from playful to unsettling. Our main character was born in a butcher shop, as far as they can tell, anyway. “For many years [I] believed myself to be nothing more than a lump of slowly decaying meat”—quite a telling line. Our speaker escapes out of the butcher shop, but realizes the world at large is a macro confined within the micro: all the world is faux, a mere extension of the butcher shop.

Every person and object has a keyhole that emits light: some sort of true reality, the world beyond the confine of forms. Here is one of Russell’s defining tendencies in Nothing is Strange: his characters often come into contact with the transcendent, but react to it as though it were a blight. The people of this world buy plastic key plugs to block the light, desperate to block out anything beyond their world. He encounters a woman who does not block her light, but freely looks into her keyhole. She is treated as something between a drug addict and a chronic masturbator. Upon looking into the keyhole, our character finds the key expands to their own size. They were their own key, it seems. It had all only ever been an illusion—“I realized I was not trapped in a butcher’s shop at all and that I never had been.”

Russell’s writing isn’t likely to dazzle, but for aficionados of terse surrealism, his bone-picked, sparse prose will engross. For instance, “Insensible Susan” (itself comic-laconic gem of a title) begins with the following sentences: “I looked after Susan for seventeen years. It was hard work because I had to do it on my own. Susan’s dad passed away the day before she was born. I am Susan’s mum. My name is Gloria.”

What do we glean about Gloria from such an opening statement? Her name is suppressed, shoved to the very end of the paragraph, stuffed into the shortest sentence: who is the insensible one, here? Gloria, if anyone, is truly dumbstruck. Susan, despite having no sensory input and no education, inexplicably begins to produce language. She shouts words like “prisoner!” and “mission!” Susan then sculpts her father’s likeness in clay and promptly expires.

The story is so utterly absurd, and yet genuine questions abound. Susan is a bit like Russell in this collection: shouting half-mad visions from another world, and yet it amounts to something the reader is hard pressed to deny. Despite our conventions, our normalcy, what is real? Whether or not there is more to the picture of reality than what we see, Russell rightly urges us to widen our perspectives and be open to something more. What sort of voice could house such a message? Certainly, it is one that is disconnected, abstract, and direct. Nothing is Strange has the unique value of making this sort of language aesthetic: it’s Susan’s statue r lodged in the heart of our daily life to remind us of the strange.

Perhaps Gloria says it better than I can: “I go to the shops; I watch television; on Wednesdays I play Bingo. But whenever I look at the statue in my living room, I wonder: what is it that I am really doing?”

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review also on my blog : https://emmajanemason.wordpress.com/2...

I was given this book in exchange for an honest review

Once again I swan dive into the depths of the strange and alluring world of Mike Russell. I chat with satisfaction, have a little dance with paranoia and dine with diversity over a roof top view of the universe. Prepare to have you mind blown, literally. You will find pieces of your brain scattered beautifully upon the page. It’s quite liberating, to expand the mind and turn those cogs manually for once. To see behind the facade of everyday life, ask those questions and open Pandora’s box.

Thank you to the amazing people at Strangebooks for this opportunity to review Nothing is Strange by Mike Russell. As always it is a pleasure to work with such a bunch of talented people. Hats off to you. Seriously, if you haven't checked them out you should. Discover a strange and enchanting world and steel yourself to look through the keyhole. 20 extraordinary short stories await you in Nothing Is Strange. Be prepared for the odd and unusual, this material is not for the faint at heart. Dare you read on dear reader?

“The barber cut the hermaphrodite in two, thus beginning the universe.”

Russell’s writing style reminds me in ways of H. P. Lovecraft, unique and hypnotic. There are times you want to look away but can’t. Similar to when you have a scab, you know you shouldn’t pick at it but you find yourself making it bleed until it scabs over again thus beginning an endless loop. You are creating your own vicious cycle until you break the chain and ask yourself why you ever did that. Why did you deliberately make yourself bleed when you knew of the consequence? You know the answer so why ask the question? This, ladies and gentlemen is the crux of the matter.

“Maybe if we understood what is really going on we wouldn’t cry at all, ever.”

What I like about Russell’s style of writing is that it is thought-provoking. It makes you ask yourself a lot of questions; let’s throw away those rose-tinted glasses shall we folks and take a good hard look at reality and beyond. In ways it’s reminiscent of that feeling of being tipsy. A good and happy feeling in my personal opinion. Can you get drunk from reading? Is it possible to pick up a tasty liqueur of fine creativity from your local supermarket on a Friday night? Russell’s writing is similar to that, knowledgeable and comforting. The world makes sense all of a sudden and things slot into place. You wonder why you have never seen it like this before, that it is all so simple. A lightbulb moment forever frozen in time where you are looking down on yourself and finally making sense of the world. Drink anyone?

“We all already occupy the same space,” Harry whispers. “It is just our centres that are at different points.”

I strongly recommend that you check out Russell’s work. There is always more to his writing than meets the eye. His use of imagery is striking and effective. He enhances the readers senses to the max. As much as I love my imagination and the images that these stories create in my mind, I would love to see them adapted on the sliver screen. From the amount of remakes and reboots the film industry is getting at the moment, it is yearning for some talent and creativity. I believe this would be perfect. *hint hint to all the famous film directors out there, get on it.”

I give this book a five out of five star rating.

It was the perfect wine to savour after my three course meal. Think I will have another glass, make that a bottle! Cheers!

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