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Anomaly Flats
Somewhere just off the interstate, in the heart of the American Midwest, there’s a quaint, quirky town where the stars in the sky circle a hypnotic void….where magnetic fields play havoc with time and perception…where metallic rain and plasma rivers and tentacles in the plumbing are simply part of the unsettling charm. Mallory Jenkins is about to experience the unique properties of this place for herself – she’ll have no choice, considering the collapsed bridge that rerouted her urgent and mysterious trip to Saskatchewan, forcing her straight into the heart of town, where her Impala has an inexplicable breakdown. She intends to stay overnight - just until the auto repair shop can make the fix in the morning and send her on her way. But Mallory will soon encounter Dr. Lewis Burnish, a scientist who’s studied the town for a dozen years and knows more about its strangeness than even the locals do. And when she accidentally-on-purpose creates his evil clone, she’ll set off a series of events that could unleash the ultimate evil upon the town and wreak havoc on the world at large.
Life in a small town is like that sometimes.
Welcome to Anomaly Flats. Have some waffles, meet the folks, and enjoy the scenery…and if you happen to be in Walmart, whatever you do, don’t go down aisle 8.
Don’t EVER go down aisle 8.
Life in a small town is like that sometimes.
Welcome to Anomaly Flats. Have some waffles, meet the folks, and enjoy the scenery…and if you happen to be in Walmart, whatever you do, don’t go down aisle 8.
Don’t EVER go down aisle 8.
273 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 21, 2015
153 people are currently reading
714 people want to read
About the author
Clayton Smith
22 books149 followersClayton Smith is a writer, teacher, and entrepreneur based in Chicago. He is an assistant professor of instruction in the Business and Entrepreneurship Department at Columbia College Chicago, and he is the co-founder of Media Empire Media. His work includes the novels Apocalypticon, Anomaly Flats, and Na Akua and the comedic plays Death and McCootie and The Depths.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 123 reviews
September 11, 2016
There once was a lovely tv show Eureka about a regular guy who happens upon a small town where wildly abnormal things and potentially lethal things occurred on near daily basis. Sure, it went on for far too long as tv shows are wont to do and the scales occasionally tipped from adorable to predictable, but generally it was good fun and quite possibly the best thing Syfy channel ever produced. Anomaly Flats is kinda like that, but way screwier and darker. There is a damsel in distress, distress caused by something in her backpack that has led to going on a lam with Canada as the ultimate destination (because in her own words Mexico is hot, dirty and everyone speaks Spanish) and she ends up taking a detour in a small town of Anomaly Flats, MO. Missouri is a strange place, like many in the south (many apologies for this East Coaster perspective and I'm sure some locales are exceptional, particularly St. Louis) , known primarily for its dumb/hilarious regulations, general quaintness/backwardness and so on, but Show Me State has really outdone himself with this magnetically challenged dimensionally loopy town. Anomaly Flats is not merely strange, it's also utterly disturbing, quite disgusting and occasionally positively frightening. The night skies will drive you off the road, the coffee will make you sterile (though decaf is safe), there are tentacles in the sewers, time/space portals, no modern technology (which is probably the most horrific thing to most readers) and don't even think about going near the corn. The corn will F you up. And it is this town that our heroine must survive with help of local scientist aka mad scientist (only one here, unlike the plethora in Eureka) because who but the mad would choose to spend a decade or so (time is relative here) in a place like that. Oh, there is also ancient evil, in Walmart, aisle 8, behind the canned goods. If you're picking up what I'm putting down, you should by know have a pretty good idea of how fun this book is and that's even before I mention how funny it is. It is very funny. An offbeat bizarre delight of idiosyncratic characters and outlandish situations. Anomaly Flats is a place you'd never want to visit in person and should definitely visit in literary form. Charming and enormously enjoyable read. Enthusiastically recommended.
May 28, 2017
Read 10/24/15 - 11/4/15
3 Stars - Recommended to readers who don't try to anticipate where a book will lead them
Pages: 238
Publisher: Dapper Press
Released: October 2015
Welcome to Anomaly Flats, a strange little town out in the middle of nowhere that's tough to find and even tougher to leave behind. From the all night diner that only serves waffles and clumpy coffee to the hypnotic night sky and corn fields of insanity, why would you ever want to leave?
Well, Mallory Jenkins can think of a million reasons. On her way to Canada with a Jansport bag filled with something worth running away for, she gets detoured down a back road and finds herself stranded in Anomaly Flats when her car dies as soon as she enters the town. Forced to hang out for a few days til the drooling, brain damaged mechanic can rebuild her alternator, Mallory quickly befriends Lewis, a nerdy scientist who's made the Flats his home after having been sent a letter from his future self.
Lewis exposes her to the things that make the town, well, an anomaly. Oddities like a working traffic light in the middle of the woods; a creek of flowing plasma that manipulates organic matter; two square feet of Mars just chilling out over the ridge. That's right. Part of the planet Mars, nestled quietly within the town's boundaries. Oh, and let's not forget about the horrors that live behind the canned goods in Aisle 8 of the Walmart.
During one of their outings, Mallory pulls a prank on Lewis that ends up having dire consequences and puts everyone in the Flats, and the rest of the planet, in imminent danger. Will Mallory quit being a self centered disbeliever long enough to help save the world from the evil she's unleashed? Or will she attempt to high tail it outta town and leave Lewis to clean up her mess?
One part Wayward Pines, and many parts Twilight Zone, Anomaly Flats is just about the creepiest town I've had the pleasure of reading about. From the secretive towns-folks to the constant and strange goings-on, readers are left with no choice but to keep turning the pages to figure out just what the heck is happening there.
And really, hats off to Clayton and his publishing company Dapper Press for coming up with one of the best promotional campaigns I have ever seen for a book. From the "Department of Tourism" travel posters and book trailer to the community updates via its twitter account and Review Lab exclusive giveaway, the hype was quite impressive. So impressive actually, that I worry the book doesn't quite hold up under it all.
I was an immediate fan of Clayton Smith after having read his zombie-novel Apocalypticon. And though I enjoyed Anomaly Flats, I felt it just wasn't in the same league. Sure, his characters were infused with similar witticisms and our protag Mallory wasn't without Smith's trademark sarcasm, but the story telling in Anomaly Flats just seemed.. rushed, for lack of a better word. I wish Clayton had spent more time delving into the uncanny mysteries and eerie anomalies of the town. This is a book that requires its location and setting to be as big of a character as those who actually populate it.
That aside, Anomaly Flats is fun, fast paced, and fabulously funny in its foreboding darkness.
3 Stars - Recommended to readers who don't try to anticipate where a book will lead them
Pages: 238
Publisher: Dapper Press
Released: October 2015
Welcome to Anomaly Flats, a strange little town out in the middle of nowhere that's tough to find and even tougher to leave behind. From the all night diner that only serves waffles and clumpy coffee to the hypnotic night sky and corn fields of insanity, why would you ever want to leave?
Well, Mallory Jenkins can think of a million reasons. On her way to Canada with a Jansport bag filled with something worth running away for, she gets detoured down a back road and finds herself stranded in Anomaly Flats when her car dies as soon as she enters the town. Forced to hang out for a few days til the drooling, brain damaged mechanic can rebuild her alternator, Mallory quickly befriends Lewis, a nerdy scientist who's made the Flats his home after having been sent a letter from his future self.
Lewis exposes her to the things that make the town, well, an anomaly. Oddities like a working traffic light in the middle of the woods; a creek of flowing plasma that manipulates organic matter; two square feet of Mars just chilling out over the ridge. That's right. Part of the planet Mars, nestled quietly within the town's boundaries. Oh, and let's not forget about the horrors that live behind the canned goods in Aisle 8 of the Walmart.
During one of their outings, Mallory pulls a prank on Lewis that ends up having dire consequences and puts everyone in the Flats, and the rest of the planet, in imminent danger. Will Mallory quit being a self centered disbeliever long enough to help save the world from the evil she's unleashed? Or will she attempt to high tail it outta town and leave Lewis to clean up her mess?
One part Wayward Pines, and many parts Twilight Zone, Anomaly Flats is just about the creepiest town I've had the pleasure of reading about. From the secretive towns-folks to the constant and strange goings-on, readers are left with no choice but to keep turning the pages to figure out just what the heck is happening there.
And really, hats off to Clayton and his publishing company Dapper Press for coming up with one of the best promotional campaigns I have ever seen for a book. From the "Department of Tourism" travel posters and book trailer to the community updates via its twitter account and Review Lab exclusive giveaway, the hype was quite impressive. So impressive actually, that I worry the book doesn't quite hold up under it all.
I was an immediate fan of Clayton Smith after having read his zombie-novel Apocalypticon. And though I enjoyed Anomaly Flats, I felt it just wasn't in the same league. Sure, his characters were infused with similar witticisms and our protag Mallory wasn't without Smith's trademark sarcasm, but the story telling in Anomaly Flats just seemed.. rushed, for lack of a better word. I wish Clayton had spent more time delving into the uncanny mysteries and eerie anomalies of the town. This is a book that requires its location and setting to be as big of a character as those who actually populate it.
That aside, Anomaly Flats is fun, fast paced, and fabulously funny in its foreboding darkness.
June 8, 2016
REVIEW: ANOMALY FLATS by Clayton Smith
How do I love ANOMALY FLATS? Just let me count the ways. First, the title. For a reader who is fascinated with science, science fiction, horror, and the English language, the title alone is sufficient to excite my admiration and quicken my heartbeat. Twilight Zone, Missouri: here we come!!
Second, the blurb: One of my favorite books of recent years [a novel which always reminds me of an Outer Limits version of Los Alamos and the Manhattan Project: "what if?"] Is Robert Jackson Bennett's AMERICAN ELSEWHERE: a small Southwestern community which is--different, in oh so many ways.
So too is little Anomaly Flats, Missouri. Tucked away beyond primevally immense forests, Anomaly Flats Is a most special locale. Its ongoing charm is hypnotic. So magnetic--I hope to be moving there shortly. [Smile]
How do I love ANOMALY FLATS? Just let me count the ways. First, the title. For a reader who is fascinated with science, science fiction, horror, and the English language, the title alone is sufficient to excite my admiration and quicken my heartbeat. Twilight Zone, Missouri: here we come!!
Second, the blurb: One of my favorite books of recent years [a novel which always reminds me of an Outer Limits version of Los Alamos and the Manhattan Project: "what if?"] Is Robert Jackson Bennett's AMERICAN ELSEWHERE: a small Southwestern community which is--different, in oh so many ways.
So too is little Anomaly Flats, Missouri. Tucked away beyond primevally immense forests, Anomaly Flats Is a most special locale. Its ongoing charm is hypnotic. So magnetic--I hope to be moving there shortly. [Smile]
September 21, 2016
This is what you'd get if Welcome To Night Vale was filmed in Eureka to the tune of Twin Peaks by a primary school band. Except without character you actually give a rat's about. This is a bunch of weird - way too much weird - badly held up by characters that are barely there. The thing Night Vale does so well is give you characters you really, really care about. You worry about the intern in the dog park. You fret about Cecil & Carlos' relationship. You cheer Tamika. They have feelings, they're not one-note sketches.
I didn't care what happened to Mallory and Lewis at all. Now, I get why Mallory was so angry and wanted to get the hell out - I would feel that way too. But it wasn't enough to hang all that weird on, and by the time I found out what was in her bag (which was blatantly obvious from the start), and what the thing in Walmart was, you'd just run out of arsedness, frankly. Lewis was just whiny and annoying. Sorry. I really wanted to like it, too, but it fell completely flat (ahaha) for me.
I didn't care what happened to Mallory and Lewis at all. Now, I get why Mallory was so angry and wanted to get the hell out - I would feel that way too. But it wasn't enough to hang all that weird on, and by the time I found out what was in her bag (which was blatantly obvious from the start), and what the thing in Walmart was, you'd just run out of arsedness, frankly. Lewis was just whiny and annoying. Sorry. I really wanted to like it, too, but it fell completely flat (ahaha) for me.
November 10, 2015
Anomaly Flats focuses on a town with many quirks, some of fate, a few anthropological and many topological. We first encounter the place through the cantankerous eyes of Mallory, a woman who got out of bed on the wrong side and decided to keep running. She is annoying and off-putting and I would not like to be stuck in any kind of lift with her, especially in this town where it would probably glow, emit some kind of mind-altering effect and take you to a floor between floors that is a gateway to some fancy-pants netherworld.
This book is light hearted and fun and if you treat it as such its throwaway nature and cavalier attitude will while away some hours. We are taken on a whistle-stop tour of Anomaly Flats, where there’s just enough time to click that mental snap before being hurried to the next destination on the sightseeing jaunt. This is okay but I didn’t feel I got to know the place. The book does rattle along at pace but perhaps this has sacrificed the opportunity to craft a more rounded world, and I did feel a little short changed in this aspect.
The tone is one of snappy dialogue, wacky situations and madcap shenanigans. All good if that is your thing. The most obvious reference point is The Twilight Zone and there are lots of knowingly retro touches that should appeal to fans of lighthearted sci-fi and souped up self-conscious weirdness.
This was not completely my sort of thing but I still had a fun time. Up until the end I was ready to give this a solid 3 out of 5, but the final few chapters had enough fluff and japery to justify a 3.5 rating. Some great ideas that begin to mesh together just as the book is nearing its end, but the writing is inviting and has a taut quality that leaves me intrigued enough to investigate what else this author has been up to.
This book is light hearted and fun and if you treat it as such its throwaway nature and cavalier attitude will while away some hours. We are taken on a whistle-stop tour of Anomaly Flats, where there’s just enough time to click that mental snap before being hurried to the next destination on the sightseeing jaunt. This is okay but I didn’t feel I got to know the place. The book does rattle along at pace but perhaps this has sacrificed the opportunity to craft a more rounded world, and I did feel a little short changed in this aspect.
The tone is one of snappy dialogue, wacky situations and madcap shenanigans. All good if that is your thing. The most obvious reference point is The Twilight Zone and there are lots of knowingly retro touches that should appeal to fans of lighthearted sci-fi and souped up self-conscious weirdness.
This was not completely my sort of thing but I still had a fun time. Up until the end I was ready to give this a solid 3 out of 5, but the final few chapters had enough fluff and japery to justify a 3.5 rating. Some great ideas that begin to mesh together just as the book is nearing its end, but the writing is inviting and has a taut quality that leaves me intrigued enough to investigate what else this author has been up to.
May 18, 2022
Anomaly Flats has an insane amount of positive reviews and....
I hated it, unpopular opinion but this was not for me at all
I tried but it was silly and so much drooling in it, I read some dark stuff but the drool had me gagging. It was like twin peaks, Disney and the X files wrote a book but it's too much of each of their quirkiness to be a compelling story, for me at least.
Also I do not want to beat a dead horse but the drool and spittle was too much.
I hated it, unpopular opinion but this was not for me at all
I tried but it was silly and so much drooling in it, I read some dark stuff but the drool had me gagging. It was like twin peaks, Disney and the X files wrote a book but it's too much of each of their quirkiness to be a compelling story, for me at least.
Also I do not want to beat a dead horse but the drool and spittle was too much.
May 4, 2017
No! No! No! The story should not have ended like this! I enjoyed this SO much. It was bizarre at every turn. Every inch of Anomaly Flats wants to kill you, change you or ruin your day. But it's also got a subtle charm and as one of the characters says, it's fascinating. I wanted to learn more about the weirdness that packs every corner of the town and the people who live there. I did NOT expect to come to despise, beyond belief, the main protagonist, Mallory, like I did. I knew she wasn't that nice of an person even before it was revealed why she was making a run for Canada but not only did I come to hate her the end of the story ticked me off like you wouldn't believe. It's like the author couldn't come up with a really good ending which was staring him in the face but either he or someone reading the book as he wrote it whispered in his ear "No, it's been really weird it's got to end weird instead of satisfying!" Maybe he had a couple drinks in him. Maybe he wanted to aggravate the reader. Maybe he wanted room for another stupid sequel. I don't know what he was thinking but he took a book that was fun and weird and strange and scary and ruined it. The first three quarters of the book were great, amazing, a blast to read. And then, if it weren't on my Kindle, I would have tossed the book across the room. I can't believe how much I hated the ending.
October 24, 2015
As a fan of Mr. Smith's previous works, Apocalypticon and Mabel Gray, I couldn't wait to tuck into this book. The twitter feed, videos, posters and other fun bits of media had me chomping at the bit, so last night when I heard that it had finally been released, I promptly downloaded the book to my wife's kindle.
I am not disappointed.
Anomaly Flats is equal parts Twilight Zone, Night Vale and Eerie Indiana, which makes for an incredibly fun ride. Sometimes scary, sometimes hilarious, always entertaining, the people, places and events kept me awake well past my bedtime without me even realizing it.
The language is descriptive without slowing things down, clever without trying so hard that it takes away from the story...
Mr. Smith, this is your best work yet. Congratulations. Everyone else...what are you waiting for?! Download it now and let it's tentacles crawl into your brain...er.. worm it's way into your heart. I think that's how you people say it these days. Don't just take my word for it (or do)...go read the Amazon preview and see if you aren't hooked (tentacled?).
And remember, if someone gives you chalk and asks you to draw a chalk circle for protection...just humor them.
I am not disappointed.
Anomaly Flats is equal parts Twilight Zone, Night Vale and Eerie Indiana, which makes for an incredibly fun ride. Sometimes scary, sometimes hilarious, always entertaining, the people, places and events kept me awake well past my bedtime without me even realizing it.
The language is descriptive without slowing things down, clever without trying so hard that it takes away from the story...
Mr. Smith, this is your best work yet. Congratulations. Everyone else...what are you waiting for?! Download it now and let it's tentacles crawl into your brain...er.. worm it's way into your heart. I think that's how you people say it these days. Don't just take my word for it (or do)...go read the Amazon preview and see if you aren't hooked (tentacled?).
And remember, if someone gives you chalk and asks you to draw a chalk circle for protection...just humor them.
March 31, 2024
See - this is what happens when someone drops some LSD into your Martini.
Anomaly Flats is like no other town. It isn't even on a map. It isn't even in our dimension. Nothing is normal in this town. It's very much like the TV show "Eureka" but crossed with "The Twilight Zone".
I found the writing humorous at times, and I even laughed...once. Mostly, the writing is about as funny and predictable as watching a Seinfeld rerun for the fifth time. At least there were no typos or grammos to annoy the shit out of me. I found myself rereading certain chapters to make sense of them, which could have been because of the high density of WTF moments, or the quantity of gin I had consumed. Probably both.
I like this author's writing style and I managed to finish the book, but it's not his best. That title goes to Apocalypticon, but this is well worth the three stars I gave it.
Anomaly Flats is like no other town. It isn't even on a map. It isn't even in our dimension. Nothing is normal in this town. It's very much like the TV show "Eureka" but crossed with "The Twilight Zone".
I found the writing humorous at times, and I even laughed...once. Mostly, the writing is about as funny and predictable as watching a Seinfeld rerun for the fifth time. At least there were no typos or grammos to annoy the shit out of me. I found myself rereading certain chapters to make sense of them, which could have been because of the high density of WTF moments, or the quantity of gin I had consumed. Probably both.
I like this author's writing style and I managed to finish the book, but it's not his best. That title goes to Apocalypticon, but this is well worth the three stars I gave it.
September 18, 2020
A trop vouloir en faire, l'auteur a eu l'effet contraire sur moi Il m'est arrivé d'avoir envie de rire au lieu d'avoir peur de ce village infernal où tout est cauchemardesque .
Est-ce une vision de l' Enfer tel qu'il pourrait être ? ou des métaphores volontairement excessives du monde déconnecté et mercantile dans lequel la plupart d'entre-nous survivons ? est ce un rite de passage pour une possible rédemption dans un monde multi dimensionnel ?
à vous de tirer vos propres conclusions
Personnellement, je préfère les livres d'horreur centrés sur l'atmosphère oppressante plus que sur les délires plus ou moins sadiques ou fous.
Le début et la fin sont à mes yeux les meilleurs et plus terrifiant moments ... si vous avez le courage de lire jusqu'au bout
Wanting to do too much, the author had the opposite effect on me. I happened to want to laugh instead of being afraid of this hellish village where everything is nightmarish.
Is this a vision of Hell as it could be? or deliberately excessive metaphors for the disconnected, mercantile world in which most of us survive? is this a rite of passage for possible redemption in a multi-dimensional world?
it's up to you to draw your own conclusions
Personally, I prefer horror stories that focus on oppressive atmosphere more than on more or less sadistic or crazy delusions.
The beginning and the end are in my opinion, the best and most terrifying moments ...
only if you have the courage to read to the end !
May 27, 2020
A more blatant ripoff of Welcome to Night Vale cannot be envisioned. The wacky announcements, the town hidden from the rest of the country, the excitable outsider scientist....I never review a book without finishing it but I could not get through how spectacularly derivative it was. I read that the author was inspired by WTNV. His inspiration should have led him much farther afield. Two stars instead of one because the writing is decent.
December 15, 2015
I have bags under my eyes. I'm cranky and irritable. I'm short with my family. Some may say this is my fault because I stayed up too late reading this book. But I think it only fair to blame Clayton Smith because I had to know what was in that purple Jansport! I'm a jerk and he needs to own that.
Bonus point for a P'Zone mention and reference to 1980's movie Rad.
Bonus point for a P'Zone mention and reference to 1980's movie Rad.
January 27, 2020
75% of this was painfully derivative of Welcome to Night Vale.
5% of this literally just WAS Welcome to Night Vale.
But the last 20%? That, my friends, was fucking gold.
Or should I say... diamond?
5% of this literally just WAS Welcome to Night Vale.
But the last 20%? That, my friends, was fucking gold.
Or should I say... diamond?
March 24, 2022
3.5 stars
Fun book. It tries a little hard.
If you've read The Hike, Tales From the Gas Station or Night Vale this won't have any real novelty to it. All of those books handle the "place out of time/twilight zone-ish" genre better. Though this did get a couple solid chuckles out of me and was well narrated.
99% of the problems in the book could have been avoided by adding "because x" to the end of any sentence where a character said "don't do x" and I feel like that's bad writing.
Fun book. It tries a little hard.
If you've read The Hike, Tales From the Gas Station or Night Vale this won't have any real novelty to it. All of those books handle the "place out of time/twilight zone-ish" genre better. Though this did get a couple solid chuckles out of me and was well narrated.
99% of the problems in the book could have been avoided by adding "because x" to the end of any sentence where a character said "don't do x" and I feel like that's bad writing.
December 11, 2024
This was actually a crazy fun book with all sorts of unexpected surprises! I enjoyed the ride.
October 24, 2015
Somehow, Clayton Smith finds a way to ramp up the fun quotient exponentially with every next title he puts out. This time, he skewers the strangeness of a small town that makes Twin Peaks look like Mayberry! With his trademark imaginative wit and gleeful snark in full effect, he brings one Mallory Jenkins into Anomaly Flats via a detour on her way to Something Secretive and Urgent and drops her squarely in the center of the oddest assortment of weirdos and whatnots this side of the Mississippi—literally, since the town just so happens to be in America’s Heartland. There, she encounters townsfolk who’ve settled into their own aberrance, and meets up with Lewis, an awkward scientist whose nerdish predisposition is a perfect foil for Mallory’s super-contemporary irreverence…and when Mallory pulls what she presumes is an innocent prank on the unsuspecting soul, she twists both of their fates in a most irreversible manner and sets them on a path toward the ultimate evil—and, of course, hilarity ensues among the weirdness, with swaths of true heart shining through it all. This is Clayton Smith’s book, after all; true-hearted hilarious weirdness is what he does best, and he does it here like a total master.
Quite honestly, I’ve never had as much fun reading anything as I had reading Anomaly Flats. It’s a perfect successor to Apocalypticon, and a brilliant add to Mr. Smith’s ever-more-impressive canon! I only hope he decides to visit the town again someday and bring us more of the wonderful strangeness only he can deliver (yes...I want a sequel).
Quite honestly, I’ve never had as much fun reading anything as I had reading Anomaly Flats. It’s a perfect successor to Apocalypticon, and a brilliant add to Mr. Smith’s ever-more-impressive canon! I only hope he decides to visit the town again someday and bring us more of the wonderful strangeness only he can deliver (yes...I want a sequel).
March 16, 2022
I haven't listened to the (Welcome To Night Vale) podcast for five or six years now...
This book is 75% WTNV... not inspired by but blatantly ripped off from the podcast with some slight changes here and there to make it seem quirky.
15% is loony toons to where I was expecting someone to draw a tunnel and go meep meep as they ran through it!
10% is just general pop-culture from the game portal to RPG bosses to even the movie Psycho.
Unfortunately the characters are annoying, lack dimension and charm so I don't care about them. The author also set it up so they're more like tourist rather than part of the place lowering the stakes. Giving it two stars instead of just one because the writing style and flow were decent.
This book is 75% WTNV... not inspired by but blatantly ripped off from the podcast with some slight changes here and there to make it seem quirky.
15% is loony toons to where I was expecting someone to draw a tunnel and go meep meep as they ran through it!
10% is just general pop-culture from the game portal to RPG bosses to even the movie Psycho.
Unfortunately the characters are annoying, lack dimension and charm so I don't care about them. The author also set it up so they're more like tourist rather than part of the place lowering the stakes. Giving it two stars instead of just one because the writing style and flow were decent.
November 22, 2015
This is some of the most imaginative and eloquent story telling from author Clayton Smith. I was entertained and enjoyed the story from start to finish...and then some ;)
The novel follows Mallory, a woman on the run, who finds herself stuck in the town of Anomaly Flats. However, this town is anything but normal. From the diner to the aisles in the large grocery store, things want to transmute, eat, or otherwise kill you.
Smith does a fantastic job of telling his tale while weaving in his sense of humor, playful dialogue, and a bit of the things that go bump in the night.
A fun filled read.
The novel follows Mallory, a woman on the run, who finds herself stuck in the town of Anomaly Flats. However, this town is anything but normal. From the diner to the aisles in the large grocery store, things want to transmute, eat, or otherwise kill you.
Smith does a fantastic job of telling his tale while weaving in his sense of humor, playful dialogue, and a bit of the things that go bump in the night.
A fun filled read.
October 4, 2019
Okay, so I finished the book, which suggests it was not terrible. Indeed, the writing was easy to read. The problem is that I do not know what this was intended to be. The book is silly, and not in a good way. Though, if it was intended to be humorous, it missed on that level as well. So, too silly to be serious, and not funny enough to be comedy. It reminded me of "The Hike" by Drew Magary. So, if you liked that book, I'd suspect you'll like this one (and vice versa). Both were silly and nonsensical, yet not really funny. Personally, I would skip them both, but depends what you like.
September 12, 2016
4.5 out of 5 - Imaginative, quirky, and thoroughly enjoyable. Could make a great graphic novel series.
Anomaly Flats was a wonderful diversion for a summer's read. Far from being predictable, formulaic, or full of cliches, Clayton Smith has written a very imaginative tale that draws the reader into the very strange place that is Anomaly Flats. I enjoyed the many twists and turns that were woven into the plot as well as the humor, which never felt forced or contrived.
Well worth a read. Recommended.
Anomaly Flats was a wonderful diversion for a summer's read. Far from being predictable, formulaic, or full of cliches, Clayton Smith has written a very imaginative tale that draws the reader into the very strange place that is Anomaly Flats. I enjoyed the many twists and turns that were woven into the plot as well as the humor, which never felt forced or contrived.
Well worth a read. Recommended.
November 3, 2015
My first time reading 'speculative fiction' though it was more sci Fi. This book is like an episode of Doctor Who, but even weirder. It's pretty well written and quite funny. Mallory was the worst character I've ever come across in my life. Annoying, sarcastic beyond belief, selfish. Just couldn't stand her. I loved Lewis. All in all I enjoyed it despite myself but it's not something I'd pick up again.
November 20, 2015
My favorite book of 2015. Perhaps my one of my top 10. I'm not quite sure what speculative fiction is, but this book filled me with joy. It's a bit scary, sorta like Steven King, with a tongue-in-cheek humor like Erma Bombeck. A smooth read, perhaps like a fine scotch. (I don't really know that much about scotch, but I hear a good one can't be beat.) I plan to buy several more copies as gifts.
September 16, 2016
Tough outsider with shady past wanders into a small town where everything is not quite what it seems - and finds it difficult to leave. How many books, movies, TV shows have been created with this premise? I can think of 20 off the top of my head. Anomaly Flats may be derivative, and some of the writing and character interaction is clunky, but it's not the worst of its genre. I may read the follow-up.
September 14, 2016
I'm not sure how to rate this. It seems like it wants to be "Welcome to Night Vale" but doesn't quite make it. It felt at times that random stuff was just thrown in for the sake of being quirky. I also knew what was in the backpack from the very beginning. But it does have some good parts, and the ending was perfect. So, a solid three stars.
September 17, 2016
Very imaginative!
Very good read. You know things like this a not real but you can't put this book down. There are so many strange things that start happening, you don't know where it will lead you on this strange journey. Very good Mr. Smith, I enjoyed you adventure through Anomaly Flats.
Very good read. You know things like this a not real but you can't put this book down. There are so many strange things that start happening, you don't know where it will lead you on this strange journey. Very good Mr. Smith, I enjoyed you adventure through Anomaly Flats.
September 20, 2018
Generally engaging through the beginning and the middle, as it was fun to read the utterly ridiculous events that came nearly nonstop. This lost much of its appeal as the book went on. The problem that arose in the middle of the book and the resolution at the end were uninteresting. The writing was generally good.
July 5, 2019
Too many detailed events came from Night Vale. There are no likable characters. The writer uses sarcasm and wit to grace over interactions where he could have added more insight into the story, characters, and situations. The story tries too hard to be funny and shocking but doesn't quite pull it off in my opinion.
August 14, 2016
Reminded me a lot of the TV show Eureka, especially in that it was a little repetitive and nobody ever gave anyone a straight answer. Really well written though.
February 14, 2025
There's a particular kind of novel that announces itself loudly, as if waving a neon sign reading LOOK HOW WEIRD I AM while performing a backflip into a vat of surrealist nonsense. "Anomaly Flats" is that novel. It is a book so enamoured with its own quirkiness that it forgets to include anything resembling emotional depth, thematic weight, or, crucially, a reason to care.
At the centre of this caffeine-fuelled fever dream is Mallory, who has all the warmth and charm of a damp sock. She's meant to be sharp, quick-witted, the kind of protagonist who can throw out a well-timed quip even as the universe unravels around her. Instead, she's just unpleasant, an endless loop of sarcasm with no grounding in actual personality. Her frustrations are understandable, but watching her snipe her way through the book is like being stuck in a lift with someone who thinks passive-aggressive commentary is a form of high art. Then there's Lewis, whose main function appears to be whining. His grievances are delivered with such consistency that you begin to suspect he's a sentient Reddit thread given human form.
The writing, to its credit, maintains a certain rhythm, snappy, self-aware and relentlessly ironic. It is the literary equivalent of a stand-up comedian who refuses to drop the mic, ever. Dialogue is constructed with the sole purpose of being clever as if each character exists only to participate in a perpetual battle of wits. This might work if they had inner lives beyond 'sardonic and exasperated', but they don't. There is no emotional core, no moment where the characters stop talking like they know the audience is watching and actually become real people. It's all surface, no substance.
Then there's the strangeness. "Anomaly Flats" certainly delivers on the promise of oddities, bizarre events, unsettling mysteries, and deeply unnatural occurrences. The problem is that none of it feels like it means anything.
Strange for the sake of strange is not, on its own, compelling. The weirdness piles up, growing in volume but not significance, until the entire book starts to feel like an abandoned warehouse full of ideas the author thought might be fun but never quite knew what to do with. The Walmart incident? Transparent from a mile off. The mysterious contents of Mallory's bag? By the time it's revealed, you'll be too weary to care. It's like watching a magician drag out a card trick long after you've figured out how it works.
Let's talk about the ending. Or rather, the distinct absence of one. After spending an entire novel flinging weirdness in every direction, the book declines to offer anything resembling a satisfying conclusion. Instead, it opts for a non-ending, a flimsy 'to be continued' that seems more concerned with setting up a sequel than resolving the mess it has created. Imagine investing hours into a film only for the screen to cut to black while the lead character shrugs at the camera. That is the experience of reaching the final page of Anomaly Flats.
To be fair, it isn't unreadable. The pace is brisk enough to keep you going, if only out of sheer curiosity about what inexplicable oddity will appear next. It's not a bad book in the sense that it's structurally incompetent, just frustratingly shallow. It wants to be Twin Peaks meets Welcome to Night Vale, but without the unsettling tension of the former or the eerie lyricism of the latter. Instead, it settles somewhere closer to Family Guy if Seth MacFarlane was really into David Lynch but didn't quite get what made him good.
Two stars, then. One for the effort, another for the fact that, despite everything, I still finished it. I regret the time, but not quite enough to be angry about it. A mild disappointment rather than a full-blown catastrophe. Much like "Anomaly Flats" itself.
⭐ ⭐
At the centre of this caffeine-fuelled fever dream is Mallory, who has all the warmth and charm of a damp sock. She's meant to be sharp, quick-witted, the kind of protagonist who can throw out a well-timed quip even as the universe unravels around her. Instead, she's just unpleasant, an endless loop of sarcasm with no grounding in actual personality. Her frustrations are understandable, but watching her snipe her way through the book is like being stuck in a lift with someone who thinks passive-aggressive commentary is a form of high art. Then there's Lewis, whose main function appears to be whining. His grievances are delivered with such consistency that you begin to suspect he's a sentient Reddit thread given human form.
The writing, to its credit, maintains a certain rhythm, snappy, self-aware and relentlessly ironic. It is the literary equivalent of a stand-up comedian who refuses to drop the mic, ever. Dialogue is constructed with the sole purpose of being clever as if each character exists only to participate in a perpetual battle of wits. This might work if they had inner lives beyond 'sardonic and exasperated', but they don't. There is no emotional core, no moment where the characters stop talking like they know the audience is watching and actually become real people. It's all surface, no substance.
Then there's the strangeness. "Anomaly Flats" certainly delivers on the promise of oddities, bizarre events, unsettling mysteries, and deeply unnatural occurrences. The problem is that none of it feels like it means anything.
Strange for the sake of strange is not, on its own, compelling. The weirdness piles up, growing in volume but not significance, until the entire book starts to feel like an abandoned warehouse full of ideas the author thought might be fun but never quite knew what to do with. The Walmart incident? Transparent from a mile off. The mysterious contents of Mallory's bag? By the time it's revealed, you'll be too weary to care. It's like watching a magician drag out a card trick long after you've figured out how it works.
Let's talk about the ending. Or rather, the distinct absence of one. After spending an entire novel flinging weirdness in every direction, the book declines to offer anything resembling a satisfying conclusion. Instead, it opts for a non-ending, a flimsy 'to be continued' that seems more concerned with setting up a sequel than resolving the mess it has created. Imagine investing hours into a film only for the screen to cut to black while the lead character shrugs at the camera. That is the experience of reaching the final page of Anomaly Flats.
To be fair, it isn't unreadable. The pace is brisk enough to keep you going, if only out of sheer curiosity about what inexplicable oddity will appear next. It's not a bad book in the sense that it's structurally incompetent, just frustratingly shallow. It wants to be Twin Peaks meets Welcome to Night Vale, but without the unsettling tension of the former or the eerie lyricism of the latter. Instead, it settles somewhere closer to Family Guy if Seth MacFarlane was really into David Lynch but didn't quite get what made him good.
Two stars, then. One for the effort, another for the fact that, despite everything, I still finished it. I regret the time, but not quite enough to be angry about it. A mild disappointment rather than a full-blown catastrophe. Much like "Anomaly Flats" itself.
⭐ ⭐
June 20, 2022
This book has an amazing premise, but doesn't really deliver fully on its potential.
This book has some really interesting characters. The main character is fairly complex and has a journey, of sorts. However, I never really felt as if I knew her. She was written fairly close to the chest, story/motivation wise and because of this I never felt connected to her.
The secondary character was interesting, as well. However, he was 1 dimensional, and frustrating, as most of the plot of the book was a result of him not providing ANY info to the main character, until it was too late.
The setting was really where this book shines. The town is interesting and complex. It always throws something new out there and it was really cool to visit. The mystery of why this town is and what all the different things are, is what drove me to finish this book.
The biggest issue is that, this books could have been so much more. Most of the anomalies are not explored, explained or elaborated on. An idea is floated out there, let drift and then past by. The ending kind of rules out the series that this book should be, and it is all a bit disappointing. I would have liked to see this book play out differently, where things went more in depth, the characters have more dialog, and develop a series around this town and the things in it.
The voice narration, by Teri Schnaubelt, was well done. Her male voices were good enough and her female range had enough voices to round out the cast of the story. It was well done.
All in all, this was a good book that could have been a great series. There in lies my disappointment. It has a great premise and good voice acting. I recommend reading it, I just wish there was more of it.
This book has some really interesting characters. The main character is fairly complex and has a journey, of sorts. However, I never really felt as if I knew her. She was written fairly close to the chest, story/motivation wise and because of this I never felt connected to her.
The secondary character was interesting, as well. However, he was 1 dimensional, and frustrating, as most of the plot of the book was a result of him not providing ANY info to the main character, until it was too late.
The setting was really where this book shines. The town is interesting and complex. It always throws something new out there and it was really cool to visit. The mystery of why this town is and what all the different things are, is what drove me to finish this book.
The biggest issue is that, this books could have been so much more. Most of the anomalies are not explored, explained or elaborated on. An idea is floated out there, let drift and then past by. The ending kind of rules out the series that this book should be, and it is all a bit disappointing. I would have liked to see this book play out differently, where things went more in depth, the characters have more dialog, and develop a series around this town and the things in it.
The voice narration, by Teri Schnaubelt, was well done. Her male voices were good enough and her female range had enough voices to round out the cast of the story. It was well done.
All in all, this was a good book that could have been a great series. There in lies my disappointment. It has a great premise and good voice acting. I recommend reading it, I just wish there was more of it.
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