Clowns: The Unlikely Coulrophobia Remix

by Bernie Mojzes (Editor), Mari Ness, James Arias

Clowns: The Unlikely Coulrophobia Remix is Unlikely Story's first print anthology, featuring twenty-two flash fiction tales penned by many of today's rising stars of the speculative fiction genre, including Mari Ness, Cassandra Khaw, Cate Gardner, Evan Dicken, and Charles Payseur, among others. Along with a smattering of mimes and jesters, this anthology tackles clowns in all their forms. Each story is accompanied by a unique black and white illustration, and the stories are interspersed with 'true facts' about clowns. By turns funny, heartbreaking, frightening, and bittersweet, the stories gathered in this anthology showcase a diversity of styles and approaches to the theme, offering something to entice every reader.

Genres: Short Stories

137 pages, Paperback

First published January 12, 2016

Reviews

[Jacquelyne Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up. This one was fun. There were more literary stories, which utilized the clown as a really creative symbol and metaphor. And then there were scary ones, which played on the ideas that clowns cannot possibly be human; I mean, look at them! Some combined the two ideas really well! But there were a couple stories that just felt underdeveloped and flat. Maybe they just weren't my cup of tea, but it did stop me from giving this compendium a higher rating. I will, however, be looking at all the authors' other works and short stories, all the writing styles were unique and attention grabbing (even if not all the stories were).

[Sean Kottke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goodreads recommended this collection of flash fiction about clowns (and more to the point, the fear of clowns) after I read Kristen Roupenian's "Cat Person," and her contribution is by far the strongest entry here. There are other charmingly ghoulish entries, and the fun facts about clowns that intersperse the stories are a delight. There are also some seriously WTF stories, too, but Roupenian's dark send-up of an abstract and acknowledgments page for a master's thesis on killer clowns is a sinister masterpiece of economical storytelling.

[Rajiv Moté · Rating 4 out of 5]

This flash fiction anthology was born of a Kickstarter I helped fund. It was originally a mini-issue put out by the folks at unlikely-story.com on the theme of clowns in general, and coulrophobia (fear of clowns) in particular. They got enough noteworthy submissions to expand it into a printed anthology, and this was the result. I'm glad I helped fund this. Flash fiction (in this case, 1,038 words maximum) can be a mixed bag. The format lends itself to predictable twists in the tale, underdeveloped characters or themes, or disposable, read-once cleverness. But not this. This anthology has surprising richness in bite-size stories.

Some of my favorites: "Mr. Boingo Saves the World," in which an aged clown takes advantage of coulrophobia to, well, save the world. "An Argument for Clowning on the Sabbath," in which a pair of scholarly clowns debate scripture to justify their desired course of action. "Everyone's a Clown," in which a mother shoulders a terrifying burden of knowledge to give solace to her young daughter. "A Million Tiny Ropes," in which a trapeze artist has strong incentive to defy gravity. "Perfect Mime," in which the show's sinister secret is that it is not a show. "A Silent Comedy," in which the rampant clowns feast on a particular sort of prey.

[anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not into clowns.

They were funny when I was young, then they were a little creepy, and now they're just a bit sad because I'm sure I'm too old to be watching them and they're uncool and--

--and it doesn't matter because the clowns in this book are different. Some of them are the right kind of sad, the kind of sad that makes your heart ache for them a little bit. Others are more than a bit creepy, they're downright frightful. And some aren't human at all.

This is the kind of clown book I lock in the closet when I go to bed because I'm not quite sure that the clowns will stay in it at night. That's pretty top notch for a set of clown stories set in a title about the fear of clowns.

[Barrett Fuhrmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received the book through a Goodreads giveaway.

All told I enjoyed the book. Whimsy little stories that I thought were well done and interesting to read. Not sure the humor in them is for everyone (my wife didn't find the first story very funny while I thought it was amazing). But overall a very fun book.