Headless

by Benjamin Weissman, Dennis Cooper (Editor)

" Headless is fearless, fun, and sometimes filthy . . . an alphabet soup of -delight in language. Eat up."
—Alice Sebold

"Brilliant. Wildly inventive, profane, and hilarious."
—Bret Easton Ellis

The author of the acclaimed cult classic Dear Dead Person ("refreshing, nauseating, hilarious"— Kirkus ) returns with this long-awaited collection of brilliantly written and outrageously imaginative short stories.

Benjamin Weissman is the author of Dear Dead Person (High Risk/Serpent’s Tail, 1995). He is a contributing editor to Bomb Magazine and writes regularly for the contemporary art magazines Parkett and Artforum . A painter and a professor at Art Center College of Design and Otis College of the Arts, he now lives in Los Angeles.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

152 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2004

About the author

Benjamin Weissman is the author of two books of short fiction, Headless (2004) and Dear Dead Person (1994). His writing has appeared in Artforum, The Believer, Los Angeles Times, and McSweeney's. His collaboration with Yutaka Sone, What Every Snowflake Knows in Its Heart, was shown at Santa Monica Museum of Art. He teaches at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, and Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles.
Born: 1957, Los Angeles, California, United States

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Benjamin Weissman is one wild author and if he was the driver - you better hold on for dear life. The beauty of his short narrations is that he's an excellent driver and you as the rider should just say 'hey you drive, and I sit here.' Why he's not super famous with a death cult devoted to him is beyond me. He's great.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

One out of every hundred or so books literally makes me laugh out loud, and this one did it. Weissman is really good at hitting you out of nowhere with absurdist, crass humor stated very matter-of-fact-ly.

I can't quite give it five stars, though, because the quality is somewhat inconsistent, which is especially easy to notice because the three (in my opinion) best stories come at/near the beginning and end of the book, so the middle is a relative disappointment.

[William Thomas · Rating 1 out of 5]

i couldn't get past the fourth story. i'm sorry. i just could not finish this book and it is one of four i have ever put down before i have finished. and i mean, i finished jurassic park for christ's sake. but i could not get over the pomposity and arrogance and self-centered prose of these stories, it just bled right through, the smug little smarmy smile on hi face behind every one of the pieces. normally, i like this type of content, the quirky, the witty, the filthy. but not this time.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are advantages to coming to a book late and knowing nothing about the author or his past or current activities. Judging by other reviews on Goodreads the author, or the idea of the author they have pisses a lot of people off. I am neutral because living in the UK the author and what he represents means nothing - all I have are the stories - many of which I enjoyed immensely - I may have a streak of the adolescent but I really enjoyed his 'Hitler Ski Story' - I don't know if this is a great or important collection of stories - compared to someone like William Trevor there is no comparison. But fortunately we need all sorts of writers even those who write stories about shit. We may not need, and I don't want to read, many stories about shit but if it is going to be written about then let it be done with the wit and style of Mr. Weissman.

I think those who will read, let alone enjoy, this collection will find it but I recommend all those who are unsure to try these stories. At the worst you will hate them, at best you may discover something new and interesting. I think you will enjoy them.

[Kit · Rating 1 out of 5]

Have you ever had a conversation with a 13 year old boy who wanted to impress you? This feels exactly like that, but written down.

There will always be a full stable of lame, shock value obsessed white men who seem to think that gimmicky stuff like "OMG BODILY FLUIDS!" and big boy swears makes them OMGUNIQUE! and SOOOREBELLIOUS! who desperately wish they had the success of Chuck Palahnuik on 1/5 effort, so I am sure they will still have an audience. Numbing, samey stuff about as original as bathroom stall scrawl with the same amount of thought-provoking quality of weak, forced attempts at transgressiveness.

https://orig00.deviantart.net/6ba0/f/...

I think I might just be too big a kid for this kind of hackneyed affectation of adolescent "boldness."

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a disappointment after the great Dear Dead Person so many years prior, but there are a couple of really good stories mixed in with the so-so ones. Get Dear Dead Person for a real thrillride though--that collection is truly great.

[Kyle Likens · Rating 1 out of 5]

3 out of these 22 selections are worth a damn. the other 19 are juvenile and badly written, shock for shock value. I'm a huge fan of transgressive fiction but not every goddamn story has to do with fecal matter. to be quite honest, I only bought this book as a cover buy for the quote by Bret Easton Ellis, a writer who I greatly respect. but he was wrong with this trash.

one of the worst reads of the year.

read only for:

*Marnie
*Cliff
*Pink Slip of Wood

and maybe
* Enchanted Forest.

[Kamie Bettis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Is any book really a bad book? Maybe instead of bad, I will say 'not for me.'

This was a 'not for me book.' Technically, this is the typical type I go for and like to read, but this one is different and not in the best way. There were some good stories, but overall it just was trying to hard?? IDK.

[Juan Alvarado Valdivia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I revisited this book after reading it in my early twenties. Back then, I was blown away by this book; I loved how brazenly bizarre, absurd, and short a story COULD be, but now that I'm grizzled I just couldn't get into this book. Unless I completely missed the point, I felt like Weissman's stories were weird for the sake of being weird. Shocking to be simply shocking. No substance to them. It was mostly fluff (though "Clare" was, by far, the best story, in my humble opinion). I do appreciate the fact that stories like these could be published though I'm not sure if an independent press in 2014 would publish a short story collection like this again.

[Tippy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, there was not much in this book that was very memorable and I feel like the author is trying to be more clever than he is. I think "Clare" was the most interesting one, where his friend asks him to knock her up. "The fecality of it all" was funny but gross, as he talks about how he got feces on his computer. A lot of potty humor.

[Irus · Rating 3 out of 5]

curious, original stories. some better than others. Particularly liked "Tips from the Sensual Man;"Twins;"Enchanted Forest;" "Dear Ares-ski Forum;& "Death by Toilet."

[Kilean · Rating 4 out of 5]

This dude's a wildman. True original and hilarious. I think he's also a painter -- check out everything from this publisher and this series.

[Erin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing...It seemed like the author was trying too hard to be shocking and edgy. The stories were disjointed and just not at all interesting.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the weirdest books I've read. Deserves high marks for thinking outside the box, for sure. Deserves three and a half

[Kristina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Most of the stories in this were extremely weird. There was one, "Marnie" that was very good, but also like watching a train wreck.

[Bwiz · Rating 4 out of 5]

super funny. when they say it's dirty, it's not like sexy dirty
but more like bathroom humour. i wish the library would get his
other book so i could read it too.

[Zack · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://www.examiner.com/review/two-co...

[Matt Henriksen · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of only four or five authors that can make me laugh out loud while reading, this book did it on multiple occasions.

[Jamison Spencer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still a great writer, but didn't have any stories that really stood out and grabbed me like several in Dear Dead Person.

[Jennifer Caloyeras · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crazy! In the best way possible!