Embry: Hard-boiled

by Michael Allen Rose

A darkly comic noir about a chicken living in a world of anthropomorphic eggs who's wanted for a murder he didn't commit. Life's tough for an "embry." Considered a vestigial organ at best and a parasite at worst, chicken embryos are usually aborted by the egg folk early in life. Once in a while one survives and slips through, hatching into an embry, an ostracized, lower caste anthropomorphic chicken. They have their own ghettos, and are barely tolerated by polite society. Our hero wakes up one day to find that some upstanding citizens have been scrambled. The king, his horses and his men are now after our hero for a crime he didn't commit and proving his innocence is going to be nearly impossible. Thank goodness he's armed with spurs, or the rotten eggs prowling the alleys of this strange grocery item city would fry him good. Delving deeper and deeper into the mystery, Embry uncovers his own bizarre background and finds he is hunted by a secret society who revere the most famous egg of all time, the very egg he himself emerged from during the great fall . From the author of Boiled Americans and Party Wolves in My Skull comes a dystopian crime story that will have you Which comes first, the chicken or egg?

Genres: Bizarro Fiction, Humor, Fiction

178 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2017

About the author

Michael Allen Rose is an award-winning writer, musician, editor and performance artist based in Chicago, Illinois. His stories have appeared in The Magazine of Bizarro Fiction, Heavy Feather Review, and Tales From The Crust among other periodicals. He has published several books including Jurassichrist (Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing) which won the 2021 Wonderland Award for best bizarro novel, and The Last 5 Minutes of the Human Race, winner of best collection in bizarro fiction 2022. He is the host of the annual Ultimate Bizarro Showdown at Bizarro Con in Oregon. Michael also releases industrial music under the name Flood Damage. He lives with an awesome cat named Dr. Light, and enjoys good tea. You can find more at www.michaelallenrose.com

Reviews

[Danger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Embry: Hard-Boiled delivers exactly what the title and cover promise - a noir-style crime story scrambled up with a whole bunch of silly egg jokes. The world the characters in Embry inhabit is one which lives and breathes and clucks and crows, and while it is somewhat goofy in concept, it’s riveting and action-packed in execution. It’s even socially conscious, using the chicken/egg dynamic of Kingswall to explore concepts like classism and the racial divide before dipping it’s toes into theological and spiritual territory. Embry: Hard-Boiled isn’t just a one-note joke. It’s an original and exciting noir tale. It’s Bizarro done right.

[Seb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Embry : Hard-Boiled is offering a lot to focus on. The noir part is mixed with humor and an opening to the mystical.

The noir story is really well executed and checks all the boxes of the genre. All the markers are there and it was a thrill all along.

The egg-humor hit the spot and blends oddly in well with the noir-style story.

My only complaint is that the Ovum Tyrannis could have been a bit more developed.

All goals are met in Embry : Hard-Boiled, so spot on ⭐

[David Barbee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bizarro often tells a solidly fleshed out story first, but is dressed in strange clothes. The best bizarro comes when the clothes and the flesh melt together. Embry: Hardboiled is exactly that. The surreal, comic, and sometimes disgusting trappings of the animal kingdom are weaved seamlessly into a gritty detective noir. The story is set in an urban environment infested with vice and hypocrisy, and like good noir, there is an attitude and swagger to the story. Michael Allen Rose has seen the savagery of the urban jungle, and imbued his book with all its grimy truths. There just happen to be chickens and eggs fighting for social justice and religious superiority. Issues regarding power structures and prejudice abound, but Rose makes sure that his book is also just plain fun to read. Embry the chicken must collect the clues and discover who set him up for the murder of a powerful egg. Naturally, Embry is street smart and cynical, living in a world where he’s seen as a parasite, bombarded by racist politics and a corrupt media-entertainment complex. You can feel Embry’s outrage at the ruling class, and his weariness from the struggle just to survive. Michael Allen Rose takes the grittiness of noir and pushes it into a silly and cartoonish world where the buildings are cartons. He creates an alien environment that feels all too human. Propulsive, dark, sexy, and a little gross, Embry is a massively entertaining thriller.

[Jo Quenell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really fun. It's also much smarter than it appears on first inspection. Not only does Michael Allen Rose clearly know the noir genre, but he has a skilled understanding of how to spin a bizarro story. Despite its ridiculous concept, Embry never comes off as silly. Instead it reads like a hilarious tribute to vintage crime that turns the entire genre on its head and goes into some incredibly strange places. Strongly recommended for bizarro fans.

[Janderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not normally something I would read, but I’m so glad I did. It was silly and deep and funny and poignant and incredibly well-written. I found myself chuckling and cringing in equal parts and I feel like this could be a series, so I’m ready for the next one Mr. Rose!

[Les Gehman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an absolutely amazing book! It manages to merge the absurd with a great mystery, and so, so many funny egg puns, and chicken jokes. (I have a very warped sense of humor, so I may be biased.) To me, this is one of the best laugh-out-loud books I have read in years, while simultaneously keeping the tension and mystery maximized. Highly recommended to everyone who loves a good yolk.

[Deedra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audible:Embry is a fun filled romp through an Egg and chicken populated world.Embry is accused of murder and is trying to find out who is impersonating him. There are some nasty sex scenes....lol John Dunleavy was a fine narrator. I was given this book by the narrator,author or publisher free for an honest review.

[Soupsioux · Rating 5 out of 5]

A work of genius