Before Crazytown

by Duane Pesice

The original versions of stories that will appear in the upcoming full-length collection "Crazytown." Science fiction, horror, dark fantasy, and Lovecraftian elements meet at a strange borderland.
Learn how birds educate themselves, how the plateau of Leng is populated, what happens when you mess with an avatar of "Mother Nature", ponder cosmic accidents.

Kindle Edition

First published November 5, 2014

About the author

Duane is the author of a small army of stories under a slew of pseudonyms. Under his own byline he has published pieces in a number of of hitherto-unrelated places. He writes weird fiction and baseball articles and has a book available.
Duane also records under the band name "moderan", and is indebted to the late David R. Bunch for the use of that name and concept.
He lives in southern Arizona with his guitars, books, and cats.

Reviews

[Janie · Rating 4 out of 5]

before Crazytown, there were 14 short stories that were individually issued. All 14 are are collected here in this volume. Categorization is difficult, so rather than focusing on genre, leave your mind open for speculation. Free yourself to explore the author's contemplative permutations of reality.

You will find that pet shoggoths are capable of indefinite replication. An alluring woman's garden is growing around you while pitcher plants laugh. Computers are making alien connections, and a cardboard extraterrestrial bids you peace. A bookstore reveals it's mysterious tomes. Inhale a certain gas and you can travel in time. Rifts are widening between worlds. Somewhere, a man falls off his barstool, generating a whole new field of gravity. A voice says to you: "Greetings. Welcome to my universe."

This is before Crazytown. I am prepared for the forthcoming publication of Crazytown. I hope it happens soon. The possibilities are endless.

[Elf · Rating 4 out of 5]

'before Crazytown' is an odd little book with an equally odd title. There is an implication that somehow 'Crazytown' exists but not here. This is a good lens to look through whilst reading this mini-tome of the weird and hilarious. The 'before' in the title refers to the fact that these stories, flashes, and thoughts are seminal to the much larger and still unreleased short story collection 'Crazytown' (Which I'm really looking forward to) and in fact these stories are printed directly from the author's work on various internet writing forums and groups without much editing and several bits of rough carbon hanging onto the gloriously shiny diamonds contained within. I find I'm good with that and unless you are a reader who really NEEDS the work you read to be mirror polished and greasy with slick perfection, you should be too. Pesice begins this strange grouping with a particularly odious pet and ends it somewhere not quite in the same world with a group of ghouls hanging out with some human. The whole of the middle is filled with an assortment of strange, funny, and black as coal tales that stand quite proud in their current incarnations, but really make me wish that the expanded and worked up versions that are hinted at and and confessed to exist were available in this strange realm we sometimes refer to as reality. That said, this is a truly fascinating book that allows the reader a glimpse into this place, this Crazytown where the rules are not exactly the same as the ones we follow here in boring ol' every day land. I recommend this one highly, and not just because of 'Green' but if I had to choose a single story to hang the whole thing on it would be that one. Fortunately for us, however, there is no need to do such a thing and the whole of the book is great. I withhold one star from the rating only because this is only a hint, a whisper of what is to come, and oh my goodness I do hope it comes soon.

[Michael Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining debut collection of flash-fiction and short stories from emerging author Duane Pesice. There are stories ranging from bizarro sci-fi humor, noir-horror, and elegant dark fantasy, many featuring overt and subtle Lovecraftian elements peppered throughout. Some of the pieces; Green, Parchment, Ghoul Picnic, and Ghost Tracks, are strong standouts, and show a real flair for the strange and supernatural. Each tale has some interesting 'liner notes' included on its publication history and inspirations. From those it can also be gleaned some of these stories & settings will appear again in future collections, including a follow-up volume titled simply 'Crazytown,' and I'm looking forward to more in the 'Message in a Magnetic Bottle,' and 'The Whispering Trees' settings. All-in-all this is a strong collection from an emerging new voice in the field of weird fiction.

[Suki St Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot! It is a mix of short stories and flash fiction, weird and science fiction. According to the liner notes, these are earlier incarnations of many of the stories, some have been combined to form new stories which will appear in later collections, others have been reworked and enlarged, and still others are story fragments which left me very curious about how they will grow and develop. My favorites in this volume are Parchment (I love the imagery in this story), and The Man Who Fell (the premise of this story grabbed me by the imagination and wouldn't let go). I am very much looking forward to reading more by Mr Pesice.

[Dan McKeown · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent collection of short stories from a talented author. Each piece is extremely well-written, but also intriguing and entertaining to read, populated by characters that run the gamut from ordinary, to whacked out of their gourds.
The language flows from page to page, rich passages intermixed with impressive dialogue, and each piece has something for fans of any genre.
My personal favourites include Green, Parchment, and Ghost Tracks.
I will be on the lookout for more from Duane, and I urge you, in the strongest possible terms, to give it a read. You won't regret it.

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a charming booklet filled with finely wrought stories. Some are short and anecdotal, two are longer stories with gripping plots and characterizations.

I'll have a review on my blog by the weekend.

[Russell Smeaton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: Duane and I swapped books for this review

It's taken me a long time to get round to this review, but that's partly because I wanted to savour the book as long as possible. Each story give you something new, but each is connected by Duane's lyrical word play. I can't stress this enough - you're reading a story and then out of nowhere he throws in a curve ball and you're sat scratching your head trying to work out how did that happen so seamlessly. But don't think this is all just about word play. There are real stories, with real characters here to keep you wanting to read more.

An easy 5 from me!

[Sam Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book doesn't have a clear point of entry. That's because Duane Pesice published this one as an experiment, and this shows in the ambition. There are glimmers of something here, brilliant glimmers. Duane mixes fantasy, horror and science fiction with no small amount of humor to create the shifting worlds of crazy town. It provides insight into a creative process, a melding and mixing. While the collection is unlike anything I have read in a while, that serves in its favor. Duane's style is the only constant in the stories, and this alone is worth your attention.

[Carson hall · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea

[Duane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed my book very much. I read it periodically to be sure that I found all of the typos and awkwardnesses.
The stories strike me as somewhat underdeveloped, especially the longer ones. The flash fictions are more or less self-contained. The professionally-sold pieces had to be truncated because of editorial requirements and were later expanded.
That said, there are plenty of ideas and good writing contained therein, if I do say so myself.