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Tumor Fruit
Island survival has never been this strange.
Eight desperate castaways find themselves stranded on a mysterious deserted island. They are surrounded by poisonous blue plants and an ocean made of acid. Ravenous creatures lurk in the toxic jungle. The ghostly sound of crying babies can be heard on the wind.
Once they realize the rescue ships aren't coming, the eight castaways must band together in order to survive in this inhospitable environment. But survival might not be possible. The air they breathe is lethal, there is no shelter from the elements, and the only food they have to consume is the colorful squid-shaped tumors that grow from a mentally disturbed woman's body.
From the crazy imagination of bizarro fiction master Carlton Mellick III comes Tumor Fruit--an intense survival story full of eccentric characters, nail-biting suspense, and the kinds of twists and turns that you'll only find in a Mellick novel.
It's what the television series LOST would have been if it had been darker, weirder, and a hell of a lot more insane.
Eight desperate castaways find themselves stranded on a mysterious deserted island. They are surrounded by poisonous blue plants and an ocean made of acid. Ravenous creatures lurk in the toxic jungle. The ghostly sound of crying babies can be heard on the wind.
Once they realize the rescue ships aren't coming, the eight castaways must band together in order to survive in this inhospitable environment. But survival might not be possible. The air they breathe is lethal, there is no shelter from the elements, and the only food they have to consume is the colorful squid-shaped tumors that grow from a mentally disturbed woman's body.
From the crazy imagination of bizarro fiction master Carlton Mellick III comes Tumor Fruit--an intense survival story full of eccentric characters, nail-biting suspense, and the kinds of twists and turns that you'll only find in a Mellick novel.
It's what the television series LOST would have been if it had been darker, weirder, and a hell of a lot more insane.
314 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 20, 2012
8 people are currently reading
248 people want to read
About the author
Carlton Mellick III
119 books2,174 followersCarlton Mellick III (July 2, 1977, Phoenix, Arizona) is an American author currently residing in Portland, Oregon. He calls his style of writing "avant-punk," and is currently one of the leading authors in the recent 'Bizarro' movement in underground literature[citation needed] with Steve Aylett, Chris Genoa and D. Harlan Wilson.
Mellick's work has been described as a combination of trashy schlock sci-fi/horror and postmodern literary art. His novels explore surreal versions of earth in contemporary society and imagined futures, commonly focusing on social absurdities and satire.
Carlton Mellick III started writing at the age of ten and completed twelve novels by the age of eighteen. Only one of these early novels, "Electric Jesus Corpse", ever made it to print.
He is best known for his first novel Satan Burger and its sequel Punk Land. Satan Burger was translated into Russian and published by Ultra Culture in 2005. It was part of a four book series called Brave New World, which also featured Virtual Light by William Gibson, City Come A Walkin by John Shirley, and Tea from an Empty Cup by Pat Cadigan.
In the late 90's, he formed a collective for offbeat authors which included D. Harlan Wilson, Kevin L. Donihe, Vincent Sakowski, among others, and the publishing company Eraserhead Press. This scene evolved into the Bizarro fiction movement in 2005.
In addition to writing, Mellick is an artist and musician.
Mellick's work has been described as a combination of trashy schlock sci-fi/horror and postmodern literary art. His novels explore surreal versions of earth in contemporary society and imagined futures, commonly focusing on social absurdities and satire.
Carlton Mellick III started writing at the age of ten and completed twelve novels by the age of eighteen. Only one of these early novels, "Electric Jesus Corpse", ever made it to print.
He is best known for his first novel Satan Burger and its sequel Punk Land. Satan Burger was translated into Russian and published by Ultra Culture in 2005. It was part of a four book series called Brave New World, which also featured Virtual Light by William Gibson, City Come A Walkin by John Shirley, and Tea from an Empty Cup by Pat Cadigan.
In the late 90's, he formed a collective for offbeat authors which included D. Harlan Wilson, Kevin L. Donihe, Vincent Sakowski, among others, and the publishing company Eraserhead Press. This scene evolved into the Bizarro fiction movement in 2005.
In addition to writing, Mellick is an artist and musician.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
January 6, 2022
Eight castaways end up on a mysterious island. The air is lethal, there are weird sounds in the wind, and never mind the things coming up with the waves. Carlton weaves a strange, toxic world like no other. Even when things are outlandish, you simply shrug it off because it really works with what is going on in the story. Highly recommend!
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August 24, 2021
Hmm...this book was so close to being terrible. The blurb on the back says think of the TV series Lost on steroids. Not even close. The plot was nonsensical but not in a campy entertaining way. The characters were unrealistic and kept acting out of character page after page. And overall it was just not very interesting. But I was able to finish it and I chuckled a few times. However, it seems asinine to say Apeshit was a better read...but that's what I'd have to say.
February 14, 2016
Superb storytelling, with Mellick again confirming his place as a hero.
October 28, 2016
How do I feel...
Tricked. Sort of.
While not as bizarre as Mellick's other books, I gotta say this one had parts that were emotionally resonant. Which I guess shows my own bias, that I'm having trouble saying that I felt emotions while reading a book by the author of The Baby Jesus Butt Plug, but so be it.
So while I feel like it didn't deliver hardcore on the bizarre elements, it's a pretty good read.
My question about his books right now is, what's with having a bikini babe on all the covers? Why is that a thing? Because there are some of the books that have older covers with no babe, and then newer editions that have the bikini babe covers.
For example, let's look at the Menstruating Mall:
Original cover, weird as hell, but there you have it.
And then the new cover:
I guess...maybe it says more about me as a person that I'm less comfortable carrying this second version around. Or maybe that's part of the deal with reading bizarro. It's not supposed to be comfortable. It's just that I feel like people are going to get the wrong idea. It's not that I'm reading grotesque pornography. Not ALL THE TIME, anyway, not at a Starbucks on a Wednesday. Tumor Fruit had some naughty bits, although maybe not as much as the cover would suggest.
And I suppose the book IS called The Menstruating Mall. I mean, who's going to see that and think, "Eh, who wrote that? Franzen? Was it Jonathan Franzen?"
And it's not a slam on the cover art either. I think it works just fine.
But there's something about it...I bought The Baby Jesus Butt Plug at a Barnes and Noble. I can't say the clerk looked too pleased. But somehow that was easier than it would have been had the cover been adorned with a sexy lady.
When you get right down to it, I guess I'm just a prude. I like my malls to menstruate with a minimum of sexiness and my baby jesus to plug butts with as little nudity as possible. I'm old fashioned that way.
Tricked. Sort of.
While not as bizarre as Mellick's other books, I gotta say this one had parts that were emotionally resonant. Which I guess shows my own bias, that I'm having trouble saying that I felt emotions while reading a book by the author of The Baby Jesus Butt Plug, but so be it.
So while I feel like it didn't deliver hardcore on the bizarre elements, it's a pretty good read.
My question about his books right now is, what's with having a bikini babe on all the covers? Why is that a thing? Because there are some of the books that have older covers with no babe, and then newer editions that have the bikini babe covers.
For example, let's look at the Menstruating Mall:
Original cover, weird as hell, but there you have it.
And then the new cover:
I guess...maybe it says more about me as a person that I'm less comfortable carrying this second version around. Or maybe that's part of the deal with reading bizarro. It's not supposed to be comfortable. It's just that I feel like people are going to get the wrong idea. It's not that I'm reading grotesque pornography. Not ALL THE TIME, anyway, not at a Starbucks on a Wednesday. Tumor Fruit had some naughty bits, although maybe not as much as the cover would suggest.
And I suppose the book IS called The Menstruating Mall. I mean, who's going to see that and think, "Eh, who wrote that? Franzen? Was it Jonathan Franzen?"
And it's not a slam on the cover art either. I think it works just fine.
But there's something about it...I bought The Baby Jesus Butt Plug at a Barnes and Noble. I can't say the clerk looked too pleased. But somehow that was easier than it would have been had the cover been adorned with a sexy lady.
When you get right down to it, I guess I'm just a prude. I like my malls to menstruate with a minimum of sexiness and my baby jesus to plug butts with as little nudity as possible. I'm old fashioned that way.
September 8, 2024
I had fun reading this, but the book has some serious pacing issues. I wish Carlton had added at least another 50-100 pages to resolve this issue. Despite being one of his longer works, it feels unfinished.
Part of this is due to almost all of the main cast getting their own backstory sequence. The sequences are incredibly short and quickly flip between the past and present events of the book. Sometimes this pacing makes sense, but other times it just feels jarring.
There's only one “main” character who doesn't get a backstory, and that's because her presence is hardly acknowledged throughout most of the novel. It would've made more sense to just kill her off than have her occasionally make a cameo. She's more of a plot device than a character.
But moving on from the negatives, the “puppy flowers” are a funny concept. There are some entertaining anime-esque fight scenes. I really enjoyed the backstory for the programmer of the group, because it actually revealed some important information about the plot and mysterious planet on which they're stranded.
Part of this is due to almost all of the main cast getting their own backstory sequence. The sequences are incredibly short and quickly flip between the past and present events of the book. Sometimes this pacing makes sense, but other times it just feels jarring.
There's only one “main” character who doesn't get a backstory, and that's because her presence is hardly acknowledged throughout most of the novel. It would've made more sense to just kill her off than have her occasionally make a cameo. She's more of a plot device than a character.
But moving on from the negatives, the “puppy flowers” are a funny concept. There are some entertaining anime-esque fight scenes. I really enjoyed the backstory for the programmer of the group, because it actually revealed some important information about the plot and mysterious planet on which they're stranded.
January 28, 2024
Yup, it wasn't good. Wasn't good at all ...
I've read my share of CM3's by now and I quite know what to expect. This one ticks nearly all the boxes I expected a CM3's to check. There were no surprises about it.
Moreover, it seemed rushed. Some of the characters had promise and we could've been taken by the hand to come and meet them, see what they've been through and have some great character building. But it fell flat for the most part, as the information was diluted all along the novel.
It felt more like a collection of short stories but all mixed up and with no real intrigue.
This is probably the CM3's I've liked the least of all I've read. It was pointless and poorly executed.
I've read my share of CM3's by now and I quite know what to expect. This one ticks nearly all the boxes I expected a CM3's to check. There were no surprises about it.
Moreover, it seemed rushed. Some of the characters had promise and we could've been taken by the hand to come and meet them, see what they've been through and have some great character building. But it fell flat for the most part, as the information was diluted all along the novel.
It felt more like a collection of short stories but all mixed up and with no real intrigue.
This is probably the CM3's I've liked the least of all I've read. It was pointless and poorly executed.
August 23, 2021
This is Carlton Mellick at his worst. Im a huge fan of this author, but it seems like he has two distinct styles of storytelling. One is when he thinks of a great concept and excecutes the premise and word building perfectly, and then he has books like......these, where he just writes a bunch of wacky characters, sticks them all together in a confined space and writes wherever the wind takes him with no real direction or purpose.
Hard pass for me.
Hard pass for me.
September 13, 2019
Okay just finished and I really enjoyed this.
So obviously this book was pretty weird. Like, super weird.
It was fast paced and unique. There was quite a few gag worthy moments and the character flaws were excellent.
Overall this was a great intro to bizzaro and I will totally be picking up more of his work.
So obviously this book was pretty weird. Like, super weird.
It was fast paced and unique. There was quite a few gag worthy moments and the character flaws were excellent.
Overall this was a great intro to bizzaro and I will totally be picking up more of his work.
February 21, 2013
Tumor Fruit is Carlton Mellick’s island survival story. It’s also a science fiction novel. Set on another planet passing through our galaxy, a space shuttle full of Earth tourists crash lands in the acid-ocean of planet Barrack. Mellick’s writing is too bizarre to be real, but in Tumor Fruit (and Cuddly Holocaust) Mellick plays the devil’s advocate as if to say “obviously it couldn’t actually happen, but what if it does?” This is what you get when you have a story that is set in the real world and the world has since been transformed into bizarro. He plays this to his favour, evoking a visceral horror that is part strange and surreal, and part real.
There is a wide range of characters with fascinatingly strange backstories which carry on while the survival situation just gets worse and worse. It is out of this world, which makes the situation far more grim than your average island survival story. Everything is more deadly, more poisonous, more apocalyptic. And the survivors are going all sorts of crazy.
It’s a massive bizarro novel. It’s terribly grim and violent. It’s packed with mutant alien monsters and psychotic characters. It’s explosive. I loved it.
There is a wide range of characters with fascinatingly strange backstories which carry on while the survival situation just gets worse and worse. It is out of this world, which makes the situation far more grim than your average island survival story. Everything is more deadly, more poisonous, more apocalyptic. And the survivors are going all sorts of crazy.
It’s a massive bizarro novel. It’s terribly grim and violent. It’s packed with mutant alien monsters and psychotic characters. It’s explosive. I loved it.
August 28, 2012
I have been a fan of Carlton Mellick III for several years and it seems that his writing gets better with each book. In his latest bizarro tale, which checks in at over 300 pages, we find Peter, a friendly/simple "space pirate", Zana, a prostitute with puppy flowers (aka tumor fruit), and several others trapped on an island after crash landing on the planet Barack. As you might expect, this is no ordinary planet: seas of acid; toxic air; poisonous plants; and dangerous alien life. Unlike some of his shorter works, this book fleshes out the characters quite a bit and getting that back-story made their actions and decisions that much more understandable and potent. Another nice aspect of this book is that you are never quite sure who will live or die, or if they will even make it off the island.
There are some disturbing moments, but if you're up for a page turning bizarro island tale, you should check this one out. You won't be disappointed.
There are some disturbing moments, but if you're up for a page turning bizarro island tale, you should check this one out. You won't be disappointed.
October 1, 2018
Loved this!
I cant think of a single thing i disliked about this story... maybe because it had to end? I could have easily kept reading more. In fact if Mellick is reading this, can we have a follow on novel? haha
Pleeeeease!
I cant think of a single thing i disliked about this story... maybe because it had to end? I could have easily kept reading more. In fact if Mellick is reading this, can we have a follow on novel? haha
Pleeeeease!
December 21, 2015
Amazing, that's all I have to say.
April 20, 2022
A great read. Filled with typical Mellick madness. You can't go wrong with this author.
October 1, 2018
Wow
This was a mix of bizzaro and Lost. The back stories were heartbreaking. The writing again amazing. Mellick turned the weird into beauty and his storytelling makes you not want to stop reading.
This was a mix of bizzaro and Lost. The back stories were heartbreaking. The writing again amazing. Mellick turned the weird into beauty and his storytelling makes you not want to stop reading.
October 23, 2013
The weirdest book I have read so far.Loved it. It got me through some dark times.
July 27, 2025
A group of people excited to see a new planet get in a plane crash and land on an island surrounded by acid water. Once on the island, things get weird. Will you eat the fruit to survive? Solid read
December 26, 2018
2.5 stars
August 1, 2023
Carlton Mellick II has an incredible imagination!
January 9, 2026
This book had a potential but never lived up to it. Also too much rapist shit.
January 24, 2013
This was good.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews