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Hold for Release Until the End of the World
This is the last thing you’ll ever see.
Welcome to Daxton. The neighbor is crazy. The roommate is running a perpetual scam. Being degraded by the boss on a daily basis is part of the job. The children are willingly abducted. The probability of getting shot while purchasing groceries is high. And don’t forget to fill your quota of junk strategically placed in your yard to be viewed from the street.
Why would you want to live anywhere else?
Welcome to Daxton. The neighbor is crazy. The roommate is running a perpetual scam. Being degraded by the boss on a daily basis is part of the job. The children are willingly abducted. The probability of getting shot while purchasing groceries is high. And don’t forget to fill your quota of junk strategically placed in your yard to be viewed from the street.
Why would you want to live anywhere else?
ebook
First published January 1, 2018
5 people are currently reading
366 people want to read
About the author
C.V. Hunt
35 books585 followersC.V. Hunt lives in Yellow Springs, Ohio, is the owner of Grindhouse Press, and writes unpopular fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
January 4, 2018
'Muricahio, I'm speechless. The world does not end in a whimper, but with an interrobang. Creepy, disturbing and compulsively page-turning. This is the last thing you'll ever read.
February 25, 2018
An ill-defined apocalypse approaches, in which people’s ordinary jerkish-ness is ramped up to absurd and anxiety-inducing levels, concluding in a scene that had me gripping my Kindle like it were the roll bar in a stunt car. CV Hunt once again delivers on the dark and depraved with this short novella.
February 22, 2018
If you have you ever looked around you and thought your surroundings are fucked beyond repair, I assure you the locale of Hold For Release Until the End of the World is a place further gone than you can imagine. Daxton is the trashy, filthy opposite of what the world should be. Our protagonist is just trying to get through the day, but between her abhorrent neighbor, terrible boss and helpless disaster of a roommate, she really has no chance. Even the general public are askew beyond description. The peak for me was a scene at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, where simply renewing a driver’s license becomes an ordeal worse than any experience I have personally went through. While still dark in nature, CV Hunt shows a more playful side with this book, taking what is surely some of her own experiences and manipulating them into context. As it all comes to a head, the title of the book takes on a greater significance, and you won’t forget the final pages. I got a kick out of the hell that is Daxton and I think you will too.
December 3, 2024
"An old man shouted, "Can I swallow suppositories?! I'm not an ass pirate and I'm not sticking anything in my ass!"
It’s like looking into a crystal ball that contains the future.
It’s like looking into a crystal ball that contains the future.
August 1, 2018
This is a sad story. I think it was meant to be, but I didn’t know exactly what to expect from it, maybe something with more obvious horror elements, a monster, an apocalypse. This wasn’t that. It was people being awful. People just being as mean and hateful to each other as possible. Was this a sign of some impending doom, or symptom or some kind of societal collapse? I guess that’s up to the reader to decide. There were some comedic moments, some gross-out bits, and overall it felt a bit like a bizarro book, but without any of the really overt speculative aspects. I think the book could be really well-received by some, those primarily interested in comedies of manners or intentionally shocking material.
March 31, 2018
Currie lives in the city of Daxton (Are you sure you spelled that right?) and it does not sound like a nice place. She has a terrible crazy neighbor and a roommate named Kebin (Thank God you didn't spell that A-n-b-y) who pursues any monetary scam possible without consulting her. She is humiliated constantly at her job, and buying groceries seems like a good way to get shot. Oh, and there just might be an apocalypse complete with rampaging fires heading for Daxton.
Hold for Release Until the End of the World is a look at Mid-East America as might have been envisioned by Hieronymous Bosch. But what makes this one intriguing is how C.V. Hunt expresses this nightmare. It is with comic resignation and the sense it is just another day. This is maybe the author's funniest novel to date and "funny" isn't necessarily a word I would use regularly for her writings. Yet it is a "Shake your head" and "isn't that the way it always is" laughter that meets these outrageous and surreal incidents that the narrator regularly gets into. Of all the awful things that happens I am sure there is one or more that everyone can identify with. The novella is essentially black comedy and, as such, speaks to us even if we don't necessarily have a psychotic neighbor and corpses piled up in the back shed.
Oh. And CV. I still think you and you-know-who really need to consider moving.
Hold for Release Until the End of the World is a look at Mid-East America as might have been envisioned by Hieronymous Bosch. But what makes this one intriguing is how C.V. Hunt expresses this nightmare. It is with comic resignation and the sense it is just another day. This is maybe the author's funniest novel to date and "funny" isn't necessarily a word I would use regularly for her writings. Yet it is a "Shake your head" and "isn't that the way it always is" laughter that meets these outrageous and surreal incidents that the narrator regularly gets into. Of all the awful things that happens I am sure there is one or more that everyone can identify with. The novella is essentially black comedy and, as such, speaks to us even if we don't necessarily have a psychotic neighbor and corpses piled up in the back shed.
Oh. And CV. I still think you and you-know-who really need to consider moving.
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September 12, 2025“Keep yer pussy off my door, whore.”
2.75⭐️
2.75⭐️
March 12, 2018
I can't even afford the right to ask why life is sooo fuckiiing weeeird
May 13, 2018
I live in the Midwest and this sounds about right...
January 30, 2018
Welcome to the Midwest
Hold for Release Until the End of the World maintains CV Hunt’s sarcastic, cynical tone, but it’s by far the funniest thing I’ve read of hers. Like actual laugh-out-loud funny, most of the way through. There are a few slightly creepy bits, but this is more of a dark comedy than a horror story. The plot is sort of vague: it’s a few days in the life of a rapidly devolving Midwestern hellscape. It’s sort of a grimmer, less futuristic version of Idiocracy, set in Ohio. There are juggalos, bad tattoos, awful neighbors, angry conservatives in the waiting room, extreme social stratification at the grocery store, and homeless people offloading a truck of corpses into a garage. Oh, and it wouldn’t be a CV Hunt book without an uncomfortable sex scene, so that, too.
Hold for Release Until the End of the World maintains CV Hunt’s sarcastic, cynical tone, but it’s by far the funniest thing I’ve read of hers. Like actual laugh-out-loud funny, most of the way through. There are a few slightly creepy bits, but this is more of a dark comedy than a horror story. The plot is sort of vague: it’s a few days in the life of a rapidly devolving Midwestern hellscape. It’s sort of a grimmer, less futuristic version of Idiocracy, set in Ohio. There are juggalos, bad tattoos, awful neighbors, angry conservatives in the waiting room, extreme social stratification at the grocery store, and homeless people offloading a truck of corpses into a garage. Oh, and it wouldn’t be a CV Hunt book without an uncomfortable sex scene, so that, too.
February 22, 2018
This is the funniest thing I've read by Hunt. It's also the most depressing. Right now I'm smiling but it's one of those smiles that looks like it could be a frown if it were upside down.
January 19, 2021
3 ⭐️
This story is mainly bizarre, with moments of utter nastiness and some very sad. The dread and gloom is strong with this one. Who would ever want to live in a place like this? Is this story trying to say something about society and where it’s headed or is it trying to merely highlight the worst of humanity? I suppose it will be interpreted differently by each reader.
Humans can be egotistical in many ways and often only look as far as themselves but the extremes of it vary and this story portrays this in a very intense manner. But it also shows the other end of the spectrum, a sort of learned helplessness and compliance to other people’s hatred or arrogance. It shows the normalization of horrific treatment of others in general, but also people of varying socio-political and economic statuses. And it’s heartbreaking. And it should be.
This story is mainly bizarre, with moments of utter nastiness and some very sad. The dread and gloom is strong with this one. Who would ever want to live in a place like this? Is this story trying to say something about society and where it’s headed or is it trying to merely highlight the worst of humanity? I suppose it will be interpreted differently by each reader.
Humans can be egotistical in many ways and often only look as far as themselves but the extremes of it vary and this story portrays this in a very intense manner. But it also shows the other end of the spectrum, a sort of learned helplessness and compliance to other people’s hatred or arrogance. It shows the normalization of horrific treatment of others in general, but also people of varying socio-political and economic statuses. And it’s heartbreaking. And it should be.
January 16, 2018
Totally cheated and looked on here to see what genre other people had labelled this as. Seems they are just as unsure as I am. lol This is just one of those books where you get to the last page and while you couldn't possibly put into words what it was you just read, you scramble and one click more by the author. It's creepy yet fun.
September 27, 2019
A surrealist political statement on the darker and more apathetic aspects of humanity, primarily where it comes to American culture. Definitely a bit heavy handed, so I can't give this five stars, but a few sequences really hit home for me, and that stopped me from giving it a lukewarm three star rating.
January 30, 2022
Not really sure what this novella was... it was so bizarre and ultimately insane. I absolutely love C.V. Hunt's other books. But this was horrible.
The world is ending, and everyone has gone insane. But it feels like the author tried too hard, and just make fun of everything possible without an actual plot.
This felt sloppy, and pointless.
The world is ending, and everyone has gone insane. But it feels like the author tried too hard, and just make fun of everything possible without an actual plot.
This felt sloppy, and pointless.
July 29, 2018
A series of looney, deranged, wild events seem to happen over and over. Could it be from the new roomate Kebin. Or maybe it was the jerk boss. What exactly is happening in Daxton for these things to occur? This was a cool read
June 6, 2021
Pedophilia, necrophilia, child abduction, cannibalism, mass murder—go down the menu of fears and outré fantasies; they’re all here. And for what? This is a dull, needy book.
One thing about this book is clear: It has little to no plot and it will leave you feeling mindfucked.
One thing about this book is clear: It has little to no plot and it will leave you feeling mindfucked.
February 17, 2019
You know I love me my C.V. Hunt but this was a bit too much on the nose and mildly pretentious. Well, you can't always hit a homerun.
February 16, 2020
Quite interesting
Definitely an interesting read and an original story. Worth the read as long as you're not looking for a run of the mill story
Definitely an interesting read and an original story. Worth the read as long as you're not looking for a run of the mill story
July 5, 2020
If you think your life sucks this will cheer you up
Well narrated and fun as always
I received a free review audiobook and voluntarily left this review
Well narrated and fun as always
I received a free review audiobook and voluntarily left this review
January 24, 2022
I found this book pretty entertaining! Literally everyone is crazy and you just have to hold on for dear life. Looking forward to Hunt’s other books!
August 6, 2023
Sometimes it do be like that tho.
April 25, 2018
Bleak. Surreal. Hopeless. Oh, and also funny as shit.
C. V. Hunt continues a twisted trend of weaving horror into humor, and vice versa. In Hold for Release Until the End of the World, it seems as though reality is unspooling around us, as if the universe itself had given into surreal entropy and unraveled. Everything is pretty much like today, taken to its most horrifying, bizarre, and deeply hilarious extreme. The prose tilts full-speed with the driving passion of a narrator deeply sick of the whole goddamned world and everyone in it, well-acquainted with the madness of reality and more or less bored with the banal savagery and mundane evil of it all. The line-by-line writing is as bleak as it is hilarious, and every scene smacks of the surreal made mundane, a metaphorical examination of our modern absurdities.
I laughed and snorted and chortled and grimaced from beginning to end. If you're looking for a similar experience, do yourself a favor and pick it up.
C. V. Hunt continues a twisted trend of weaving horror into humor, and vice versa. In Hold for Release Until the End of the World, it seems as though reality is unspooling around us, as if the universe itself had given into surreal entropy and unraveled. Everything is pretty much like today, taken to its most horrifying, bizarre, and deeply hilarious extreme. The prose tilts full-speed with the driving passion of a narrator deeply sick of the whole goddamned world and everyone in it, well-acquainted with the madness of reality and more or less bored with the banal savagery and mundane evil of it all. The line-by-line writing is as bleak as it is hilarious, and every scene smacks of the surreal made mundane, a metaphorical examination of our modern absurdities.
I laughed and snorted and chortled and grimaced from beginning to end. If you're looking for a similar experience, do yourself a favor and pick it up.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews