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All-Monster Action!
**KINDLE EDITION FEATURES TWO BONUS STORIES!
HE RECKONED THE GODS MUST KNOW ALL KINDS OF STRANGE WAYS TO EAT A MAN.
‘80s vintage horror with a contemporary edge. An exemplary wordsmith, his prose sticks a needle in your brain and gives it a twist. This stuff is Lovecraft on acid. —LAIRD BARRON, author of The Imago Sequence & Other Stories
As far as Weird fiction goes, Cody lives it. Get into it, you goddamn mummy! —SKINNER
Genetic mutation, near-future extinction events, psychoactive abuse, interspecies sex and – yes – giant monsters . . . Subtle, it ain’t. It’s like gorging on an opulent feast, or watching the collected oeuvre of Stuart Gordon in one go. An acquired taste. But if you are like me and enjoy both Naked Lunch and Rick and Morty, then these gore-encrusted stories will make your day. Highly recommended. —CROWS N' BONES
HE RECKONED THE GODS MUST KNOW ALL KINDS OF STRANGE WAYS TO EAT A MAN.
‘80s vintage horror with a contemporary edge. An exemplary wordsmith, his prose sticks a needle in your brain and gives it a twist. This stuff is Lovecraft on acid. —LAIRD BARRON, author of The Imago Sequence & Other Stories
As far as Weird fiction goes, Cody lives it. Get into it, you goddamn mummy! —SKINNER
Genetic mutation, near-future extinction events, psychoactive abuse, interspecies sex and – yes – giant monsters . . . Subtle, it ain’t. It’s like gorging on an opulent feast, or watching the collected oeuvre of Stuart Gordon in one go. An acquired taste. But if you are like me and enjoy both Naked Lunch and Rick and Morty, then these gore-encrusted stories will make your day. Highly recommended. —CROWS N' BONES
407 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 11, 2012
10 people are currently reading
260 people want to read
About the author
Cody Goodfellow
162 books384 followersCODY GOODFELLOW has written nine novels and five collections, and has won three Wonderland Book Awards for Bizarro Fiction. He wrote, co-produced and scored the short Lovecraftian hygiene films Stay At Home Dad and Baby Got Bass, which have become viral sensations on YouTube. He has appeared in numerous short films, TV shows, music videos and commercials as research for his previous novel, Sleazeland. He also edits the hyperpulp zine Forbidden Futures. He “lives” in San Diego. Find out more at codygoodfellow.com.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
November 15, 2013
This was an astounding read for me. I've read a few short stories by Cody Goodfellow, but this was my first large-scale exposure to his work. I finished it this afternoon, and I come away with fizzled synapses and a true sense of awe regarding this guy's imagination.
I see the word "insane" come up a lot in review's of Cody's stuff, and that is apt. No properly ordered mind is going to barf up the brain bending ideas on display here. But the thing is, they totally make sense. And they are often horrifying or hilarious, sometimes both at once.
At different times while reading this, Rudy Rucker, William Gibson, and Hunter S. Thompson came to mind. Cody has his own strong voice, to be sure, but while reading some of the detailed and well thought out corporate activity of the near future (Gibson), weirdo-concept sex stuff (Rucker), and his savagely psycho pummeling of similes and metaphors (HST), floated through my reeling brain.
There are enough bold ideas in here to power a dozen books, but Cody just tosses them at you one after the other, page after page, until you are just overloaded. And I have to admit, I had kind of a Sideshow Bob/Rake reaction to the main feature of the book. It was so creatively and purposefully weird and audacious -- it was amazing, then OK, then kind of tiresome, then interesting again, then unbelievably bad-ass in every way. There are so many twists and turns in the last part of the main story, and it ends on what seems like a proper note. So, so great.
Like everyone else, I will also mention the excellent artwork by Nick "The Hat" Gucker and Mike Dubisch. They provide appropriately crazy visuals for these stories. Nick's illustration for "The Venus of Santa Cruz" still haunts me a couple of weeks after I saw it, eew. Also, it takes place largely in San Jose and Santa Cruz, CA, close to where I grew up. I recognize a lot of specific streets and establishments, which adds a whole other level of surreality for me.
This was a hugely fun book to read. Freaky monsters! A good bit of the ultra violence! Weird sex! Space! 400-pound albino nerd-kings! Many drugs! A cop named Officer Friendly! Regular non-king nerds! Sea Monkeys! All of this and so, so much more is here, waiting for you to read it.
I see the word "insane" come up a lot in review's of Cody's stuff, and that is apt. No properly ordered mind is going to barf up the brain bending ideas on display here. But the thing is, they totally make sense. And they are often horrifying or hilarious, sometimes both at once.
At different times while reading this, Rudy Rucker, William Gibson, and Hunter S. Thompson came to mind. Cody has his own strong voice, to be sure, but while reading some of the detailed and well thought out corporate activity of the near future (Gibson), weirdo-concept sex stuff (Rucker), and his savagely psycho pummeling of similes and metaphors (HST), floated through my reeling brain.
There are enough bold ideas in here to power a dozen books, but Cody just tosses them at you one after the other, page after page, until you are just overloaded. And I have to admit, I had kind of a Sideshow Bob/Rake reaction to the main feature of the book. It was so creatively and purposefully weird and audacious -- it was amazing, then OK, then kind of tiresome, then interesting again, then unbelievably bad-ass in every way. There are so many twists and turns in the last part of the main story, and it ends on what seems like a proper note. So, so great.
Like everyone else, I will also mention the excellent artwork by Nick "The Hat" Gucker and Mike Dubisch. They provide appropriately crazy visuals for these stories. Nick's illustration for "The Venus of Santa Cruz" still haunts me a couple of weeks after I saw it, eew. Also, it takes place largely in San Jose and Santa Cruz, CA, close to where I grew up. I recognize a lot of specific streets and establishments, which adds a whole other level of surreality for me.
This was a hugely fun book to read. Freaky monsters! A good bit of the ultra violence! Weird sex! Space! 400-pound albino nerd-kings! Many drugs! A cop named Officer Friendly! Regular non-king nerds! Sea Monkeys! All of this and so, so much more is here, waiting for you to read it.
April 3, 2013
I once thought that I had ideas. Big ideas. And then I fell into the footprint of a colossal think that Cody Goodfellow thunk. I fell a long way, and when I hit bottom it hurt.
I say this because All Monster Action!, written by this so-called Cody Goodfellow, is bigger and crazier than even YOU believe. The only true way to know is to hop aboard and read. It begins with four twisted short stories set in worlds real and futuristic. We meet some horrific and wonderfully weird monsters in these stories, but then the novel-length main event begins and Goodfellow cranks things up. The scale of death, the perverted origins of the monsters, the budding relationship between human nature and these terrible creatures... it grows larger as you read, Goodfellow's manic narration guiding the way through a rain forest of insanity, each paragraph holding more weird concepts than most books have in their entirety.
Guillermo del Toro's "Pacific Rim" comes out this summer, and I think it will be a good monster flick, capturing the genre well. But it won't push as far as this book, and while that movie will have you cheering, All Monster Action will blow out the back of your skull.
And as some sort of rabble-rousing bonus to you, All Monster Action includes some awesome illustrations by Mike Dubisch and Nick Gucker, who draw the best and weirdest monsters around.
I say this because All Monster Action!, written by this so-called Cody Goodfellow, is bigger and crazier than even YOU believe. The only true way to know is to hop aboard and read. It begins with four twisted short stories set in worlds real and futuristic. We meet some horrific and wonderfully weird monsters in these stories, but then the novel-length main event begins and Goodfellow cranks things up. The scale of death, the perverted origins of the monsters, the budding relationship between human nature and these terrible creatures... it grows larger as you read, Goodfellow's manic narration guiding the way through a rain forest of insanity, each paragraph holding more weird concepts than most books have in their entirety.
Guillermo del Toro's "Pacific Rim" comes out this summer, and I think it will be a good monster flick, capturing the genre well. But it won't push as far as this book, and while that movie will have you cheering, All Monster Action will blow out the back of your skull.
And as some sort of rabble-rousing bonus to you, All Monster Action includes some awesome illustrations by Mike Dubisch and Nick Gucker, who draw the best and weirdest monsters around.
August 25, 2015
Bizarre happenings on The Island of Doctor Goodfellow.
Reports are in. The good Doctor has spliced Chew-Z with King Ghidorah DNA, resulting in a literary Kaiju bizarro apocalypse that will leave you hung over, yet wanting more.
Reports are in. The good Doctor has spliced Chew-Z with King Ghidorah DNA, resulting in a literary Kaiju bizarro apocalypse that will leave you hung over, yet wanting more.
January 5, 2013
If you’re into Bizarro at all then you’ve probably seen the name Cody Goodfellow. I know I had, quite a few times. But, like most of the books I have reviewed, I had not read anything from Goodfellow. That finally changed with his newest collection All Monster Action. This collection of stories is titled perfectly too, it is literally filled with all monster action, with an emphasis on the action part. Comprised of four short stories and one longer story broken down into three parts, this is the written equivalent to B-movie monster heaven.
The first half of this collection is called Coming Attractions. This is the portion that features the four short stories. These stories run the gamut of Sci-Fi, Horror, WW2, Bizarro, basically almost any genre you can think of, or sub-genre even. The first story in Coming Attractions, called Doorway to the Sky, is one of my favorites. Taking place on an island in the South Pacific, an almost forgotten group of American soldiers deal with the restless natives and what they call to the island. Another of the shorts I liked a lot is The Care and Feeding of Sea Monkeys. This is the tale of nerdy Ramdu and what his lust for the genetically altered Sea Monkeys gets him. This story is set in a twisted future and is heavy on the Bizarro factor. All of the shorts showcase Goodfellows excellent story telling capabilities and his wild imagination.
Now, the second half of this book is called Our Feature Presentation and is a three-part story sharing the title of the book, All Monster Action. This is basically an epic Kaiju B-movie in story form. It’s like Godzilla style monster action that starts off with America using their giant beast to battle the evil monsters from other countries. But the story moves on to a power play for the infamous Dr. Otaku, the world’s foremost freelance kaiju-engineer. There’s a virus that’s released and causes major cities across the U.S. to transform into their own monsters. A 400 pound Albino with Halitosis tries to become emperor of earth. And all the while one U.S. solider is forced to try and stop it all.
This may seem like a bunch of random craziness, but pretty much nothing I can say will come close to how weird, insane, and awesome this book is. Cody Goodfellow is a master storyteller. His descriptions are crystal clear, which can be a bad thing if you’re not into disgusting subject matter. If this book is any indication, Goodfellow is an author you will want to keep your eye on.
Also, I can’t forget to mention the awesome interior art by Mike Dubisch and Nick Gucker. The visuals of the monsters within this book are stunning; it’s a great added touch to complete this collection.
The first half of this collection is called Coming Attractions. This is the portion that features the four short stories. These stories run the gamut of Sci-Fi, Horror, WW2, Bizarro, basically almost any genre you can think of, or sub-genre even. The first story in Coming Attractions, called Doorway to the Sky, is one of my favorites. Taking place on an island in the South Pacific, an almost forgotten group of American soldiers deal with the restless natives and what they call to the island. Another of the shorts I liked a lot is The Care and Feeding of Sea Monkeys. This is the tale of nerdy Ramdu and what his lust for the genetically altered Sea Monkeys gets him. This story is set in a twisted future and is heavy on the Bizarro factor. All of the shorts showcase Goodfellows excellent story telling capabilities and his wild imagination.
Now, the second half of this book is called Our Feature Presentation and is a three-part story sharing the title of the book, All Monster Action. This is basically an epic Kaiju B-movie in story form. It’s like Godzilla style monster action that starts off with America using their giant beast to battle the evil monsters from other countries. But the story moves on to a power play for the infamous Dr. Otaku, the world’s foremost freelance kaiju-engineer. There’s a virus that’s released and causes major cities across the U.S. to transform into their own monsters. A 400 pound Albino with Halitosis tries to become emperor of earth. And all the while one U.S. solider is forced to try and stop it all.
This may seem like a bunch of random craziness, but pretty much nothing I can say will come close to how weird, insane, and awesome this book is. Cody Goodfellow is a master storyteller. His descriptions are crystal clear, which can be a bad thing if you’re not into disgusting subject matter. If this book is any indication, Goodfellow is an author you will want to keep your eye on.
Also, I can’t forget to mention the awesome interior art by Mike Dubisch and Nick Gucker. The visuals of the monsters within this book are stunning; it’s a great added touch to complete this collection.
April 24, 2012
This is just what the doctor ordered! An awesome collection of Giant Monster stories (and a few other critters) collected all together in one place with amazing full page art from Nick Gucker and Mike Dubisch. The cover alone is worth the price, but the art is all tied together with the intricate and poetic prose of Cody Goodfellow.
I've always been a fan of Giant monsters and this is indeed one collection that needed to happen. In a world overly swamped with vampires, zombies and like infestation it is about time that the Kaiju storm the Western Fronts once again and remind us that Godzilla is way more scary (and damn funny) then the atypical haunts of modern fiction. And after reading this I'm now a bonifide fan of Mr. Goodfellow, having only read Spores by him and John Skipp I know for a fact I'll have to now grab everything I can by him.
Now lets dive into this one (a bit), park your butt in a comfy chair and get ready for some drive-in action.
First we get the Coming Attractions...
Doorway to the Sky: A story set during World War Two as the service men stationed on some out of the way island find out a secret of the islanders as they celebrate around their camp fire.
Venus of Santa Cruz: The misadventures of Officer Friendly as he discovers his very own goddess one night.
The Wage of Dinosaurs: A Philip K. Dickesque story of one employee who chances upon the nature of snot, memory and dinosaurs.
The Care & Feeding of Sea Monkeys: In a futuristic world Ramdu Gul, who without the benefits of beauty takes it upon himself to find love at the beach; with some mighty consequences...
IMHO The Venus of Santa Cruz is the main highlight among these tales. Mostly due to the fact that I'm a bit of a sicko and this one had a nice abundance of bizarre perversion. The nature of the story is unique and the only other person I have every seen attempt it is Frank Grow with his film Love Goddess. (Well worth tracking down if you can find a copy.) Also The Care & Feeding of Sea Monkeys fed quite nicely into my keen sense of perversion.
Since I'm also a huge PKD fan the Wage of the Dinosaurs kicked some mega sci-fi ass. From talking kiosk's, time alteration and a lone man in a dead end job. It has all the fixings even if it wasn't written as an intentional ode to PKD.
Now that the trailers are over, grab yourself a few cold ones for the Main Attraction!
The main attraction is split into three tales; Kungmin Horangi: The People's Tiger, The Island of Dr. Otaku and All Cities Attack. The first two were previously published and the third All Cities Attack is (I assume) written for this collection. These three stories are the namesake of the collection and the highpoint of Giant Monster literature. I hate giving anything away in reviews, in fact reviews can many times ruin a good yarn, so with that I'm not even going to tell you a think about these three; come on the damn book is cheap! BUY IT!
This was beyond a doubt an extremely entertaining and fun read. Cody is a fantastic writer who easily blends words into a rich tapestry that let my imagination run rampant. He has a unique voice that crosses over into several genres and yet never loses the voice he started with. I don't think that is an easy feat for any author.
I only hope it doesn't start to go downhill like the zombie, with every second book going up for sale either King Kong or a child friendly Rodan. That's right folks leave the Giant Monsters to the experts, leave them to Cody Goodfellow!
Great damn stuff!!
I've always been a fan of Giant monsters and this is indeed one collection that needed to happen. In a world overly swamped with vampires, zombies and like infestation it is about time that the Kaiju storm the Western Fronts once again and remind us that Godzilla is way more scary (and damn funny) then the atypical haunts of modern fiction. And after reading this I'm now a bonifide fan of Mr. Goodfellow, having only read Spores by him and John Skipp I know for a fact I'll have to now grab everything I can by him.
Now lets dive into this one (a bit), park your butt in a comfy chair and get ready for some drive-in action.
First we get the Coming Attractions...
Doorway to the Sky: A story set during World War Two as the service men stationed on some out of the way island find out a secret of the islanders as they celebrate around their camp fire.
Venus of Santa Cruz: The misadventures of Officer Friendly as he discovers his very own goddess one night.
The Wage of Dinosaurs: A Philip K. Dickesque story of one employee who chances upon the nature of snot, memory and dinosaurs.
The Care & Feeding of Sea Monkeys: In a futuristic world Ramdu Gul, who without the benefits of beauty takes it upon himself to find love at the beach; with some mighty consequences...
IMHO The Venus of Santa Cruz is the main highlight among these tales. Mostly due to the fact that I'm a bit of a sicko and this one had a nice abundance of bizarre perversion. The nature of the story is unique and the only other person I have every seen attempt it is Frank Grow with his film Love Goddess. (Well worth tracking down if you can find a copy.) Also The Care & Feeding of Sea Monkeys fed quite nicely into my keen sense of perversion.
Since I'm also a huge PKD fan the Wage of the Dinosaurs kicked some mega sci-fi ass. From talking kiosk's, time alteration and a lone man in a dead end job. It has all the fixings even if it wasn't written as an intentional ode to PKD.
Now that the trailers are over, grab yourself a few cold ones for the Main Attraction!
The main attraction is split into three tales; Kungmin Horangi: The People's Tiger, The Island of Dr. Otaku and All Cities Attack. The first two were previously published and the third All Cities Attack is (I assume) written for this collection. These three stories are the namesake of the collection and the highpoint of Giant Monster literature. I hate giving anything away in reviews, in fact reviews can many times ruin a good yarn, so with that I'm not even going to tell you a think about these three; come on the damn book is cheap! BUY IT!
This was beyond a doubt an extremely entertaining and fun read. Cody is a fantastic writer who easily blends words into a rich tapestry that let my imagination run rampant. He has a unique voice that crosses over into several genres and yet never loses the voice he started with. I don't think that is an easy feat for any author.
I only hope it doesn't start to go downhill like the zombie, with every second book going up for sale either King Kong or a child friendly Rodan. That's right folks leave the Giant Monsters to the experts, leave them to Cody Goodfellow!
Great damn stuff!!
October 18, 2012
I have had to be very careful when reviewing books written by Cody Goodfellow, or released by Swallowdown Press's mastermind, Jeremy Robert Johnson. It may sound like hyperbole to say that Swallowdown is in the masterpiece business, but look at the releases thus far: Bram Stoker nominated Siren Promised (co-written by Johnson and artist Alan Clark), and Wonderland award winner Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars by Cody Goodfellow, are indeed worthy. Then you add the other releases, like the darkly poetic Deadheart Shelters by Forrest Armstrong, and the disturbing debut by J.David Osbourne, By the Time We Leave Here We'll Be Friends,' you have a catalog of masterpieces.
Swallowdown has a focus on horrific dark bizarro, and Goodfellow's new short story collection might be the most gonzo of releases that the press has done. That doesn't make it any less of gem and fits perfectly into Goodfellow's expanding catalog of fucked up weird-ness. All-Monster Action is a solid collection divided into two parts: Coming Attractions, which includes monster stories, two of which are science fiction, flavored with Goodfellow's gruesome special sauce. The second part is Our Feature Presentation,the title novella divided into three parts.
I personally think the highlight of the collection are the two science fiction stories, The Wage of Dinosaurs , and the truly disturbingly gross Care and Feeding of Sea Monkeys. As gross and disturbing as that story is, Goodfellow made me laugh with uncomfortable disgust in almost every story - not the least of which was the description of the monster on page 51. If Goodfellow's descriptions are not gross enough for you, Nick Gucker (Previews), and Mike Dubish (title story) provide amazing illustrations to add the depth and awesome-ness of this package. The title novella is a straight gonzo satire/tribute to classic Japanese giant monster Kaiju movies. This novella is chock full of insanity in a way that only Cody Goodfellow can make work. If I tell you that a mad scientist survives by turning himself into an influenza virus, and that the Earth's cities become monsters themselves in order to survive, you mike think that sounds a little too weird.
Goodfellow is a master at many things, but what makes his fiction special is that no one else can take ideas that are so weird, disgusting, and at times ridiculous, and make them work quite like he does.
There is no author in genre fiction that is more deserving of the title Mad Scientist. That is what he is, a straight up mongoose poop crazy mad scientist of prose. Is it perfect? Well, All Monster Action (the title novella) might be a little longer than it needs to be, but you'll be laughing and enjoying the ride along the way. I don't see Cody Goodfellow's becoming a household name (unless you live in a really cool house), or mainstream, but there is no doubt that he is one of the best things to happen to horror, science fiction and bizarro fiction in the 21st century. Are you going to be able to say you were there in the early days? Read this book.
Swallowdown has a focus on horrific dark bizarro, and Goodfellow's new short story collection might be the most gonzo of releases that the press has done. That doesn't make it any less of gem and fits perfectly into Goodfellow's expanding catalog of fucked up weird-ness. All-Monster Action is a solid collection divided into two parts: Coming Attractions, which includes monster stories, two of which are science fiction, flavored with Goodfellow's gruesome special sauce. The second part is Our Feature Presentation,the title novella divided into three parts.
I personally think the highlight of the collection are the two science fiction stories, The Wage of Dinosaurs , and the truly disturbingly gross Care and Feeding of Sea Monkeys. As gross and disturbing as that story is, Goodfellow made me laugh with uncomfortable disgust in almost every story - not the least of which was the description of the monster on page 51. If Goodfellow's descriptions are not gross enough for you, Nick Gucker (Previews), and Mike Dubish (title story) provide amazing illustrations to add the depth and awesome-ness of this package. The title novella is a straight gonzo satire/tribute to classic Japanese giant monster Kaiju movies. This novella is chock full of insanity in a way that only Cody Goodfellow can make work. If I tell you that a mad scientist survives by turning himself into an influenza virus, and that the Earth's cities become monsters themselves in order to survive, you mike think that sounds a little too weird.
Goodfellow is a master at many things, but what makes his fiction special is that no one else can take ideas that are so weird, disgusting, and at times ridiculous, and make them work quite like he does.
There is no author in genre fiction that is more deserving of the title Mad Scientist. That is what he is, a straight up mongoose poop crazy mad scientist of prose. Is it perfect? Well, All Monster Action (the title novella) might be a little longer than it needs to be, but you'll be laughing and enjoying the ride along the way. I don't see Cody Goodfellow's becoming a household name (unless you live in a really cool house), or mainstream, but there is no doubt that he is one of the best things to happen to horror, science fiction and bizarro fiction in the 21st century. Are you going to be able to say you were there in the early days? Read this book.
May 8, 2012
Cody Goodfellow is not an author I had ever read and the books never appealed to me but when I was offered a copy to review and saw the good comments from other horror authors I know it would be worth a go.
Within this book are four short stories and then one main story all of which are pretty bizarre and feature monsters of some sort. I think part of the fun of this book is not really knowing what is going to happen and literally anything can happen within these pages. They can be a little weird at times including giant female-fungus and killer sea monkeys but all are well written and are good enough to make you want to keep turning the pages just to find out what is going to happen next.
Contents
Doorway to the Sky
Venus of Santa Cruz
The Wage of Dinosaurs
The Care & Feeding of Sea Monkeys
All Monster Action! (In three parts)
So overall the book sets out to do what it should, entertain as many people as possible yet being light-hearted and in general - fun. Even if this is not the type of book you normally read it is well written and you can still enjoy the tales within.
Within this book are four short stories and then one main story all of which are pretty bizarre and feature monsters of some sort. I think part of the fun of this book is not really knowing what is going to happen and literally anything can happen within these pages. They can be a little weird at times including giant female-fungus and killer sea monkeys but all are well written and are good enough to make you want to keep turning the pages just to find out what is going to happen next.
Contents
Doorway to the Sky
Venus of Santa Cruz
The Wage of Dinosaurs
The Care & Feeding of Sea Monkeys
All Monster Action! (In three parts)
So overall the book sets out to do what it should, entertain as many people as possible yet being light-hearted and in general - fun. Even if this is not the type of book you normally read it is well written and you can still enjoy the tales within.
November 24, 2017
You could buy this one for the cover alone, even though the aesthetics don't stop there--that is one beautifully-designed interior, with all the title card chapter pages and dope illustrations. Of course, being a Goodfellow collection, you'd be dumb to not read this work of art instead of just propping it up next to your VHS collection. The title says it all, folks: this one's chock-full of monsters. The type of monsters that only Cody Goodfellow could articulate so poetically. My favorite story is probably "The Wage of Dinosaurs," about geriatric aristocrats who pay to relive memories and the impoverished, rage-filled memory-mixer who changes the world with one act of defiance. All of the stories are at least on this same level of wild entertainment, though, and there's even a Hellboy story that del Toro would totally geek out over. In short, this is high concept themes explored through kaiju madness.
May 19, 2012
RAAAAAWWWRRRR!!!
All monster action was serious fun to read. If you love movie monsters and have a hankering for destruction on an epic scale, then trust me, this book is for you.
Cody is a fantastic writer. His imagination is evident with each passing story in ALL- MONSTER ACTION. He throws everything at you and more; from a flying, god-like translucent, Man eating manta ray to a 400 pound albino! My favorite story in the collection is Venus of Santa Cruz.
Oh yes... monster sex…
Hey! And I almost forgot, the book is illustrated and they are sweet looking.
I highly recommend this book for reading consumption and enjoyment. It was like watching a bad B movie monster flick only with a better plot and better writing.
Pick it up from swallowdownpress.com or amazon.com.
Its priced to move at $11.00 bucks!
All the best,
Chuck Rios
www.chuckrios.com
All monster action was serious fun to read. If you love movie monsters and have a hankering for destruction on an epic scale, then trust me, this book is for you.
Cody is a fantastic writer. His imagination is evident with each passing story in ALL- MONSTER ACTION. He throws everything at you and more; from a flying, god-like translucent, Man eating manta ray to a 400 pound albino! My favorite story in the collection is Venus of Santa Cruz.
Oh yes... monster sex…
Hey! And I almost forgot, the book is illustrated and they are sweet looking.
I highly recommend this book for reading consumption and enjoyment. It was like watching a bad B movie monster flick only with a better plot and better writing.
Pick it up from swallowdownpress.com or amazon.com.
Its priced to move at $11.00 bucks!
All the best,
Chuck Rios
www.chuckrios.com
May 19, 2017
This book is an absolute blast, beginning to end. A non-stop monster fest filled with creeps, chills, crazy, over-the-top action, and an endless sense of invention bordering on bizarro, but with a consistency of vision that sets it apart. So dig in and find otherworldly beasts, genetic degenerates, and man-made monstrosities straight out of the pulps, all told in an intelligent, hyper-dense prose style which exposes cross-sections of its subject matter across all cultural strata and political spectrums. A very impressive feat. Highly recommended to fans of smart, weird, monster tales.
February 14, 2024
This reads like a fever dream! It constantly drops you into bizzare, futuristic, apocalyptic scenes with no set up or explanation. It's a collection of four short stories and one main story. All featuring larger than life, zany monsters (when I say larger than life I mean anywhere from a couple of hundred feet tall to miles in length). Most of the book is military focused and whilst I enjoyed a couple of the short stories in here, I didn't enjoy the military stuff. I can't help but feel the author throws so much randomness at the wall and the majority of it just doesn't stick. Unfortunately this is especially true for the main story which accounts for a little over half of the entire book. Picture the power rangers when they're in the Megazord fighting the latest monstrosity of the week. Sounds good, right? Well no, because it's just that repeated multiple times and instead of a Megazord it's something much more ridiculously stupid. One final positive though, the cover is freakin' awesome!
April 4, 2021
I am flat on my back from the runaway imagination that Cody Goodfellow has. Holy shit. It's not often that I'm already buying new books by an author before I finish the first one I've read by them, but in this case I was only halfway through before I knew I had to snap up everything else this guy has written. So weird, so over the top, so absurd - so GOOD!
July 27, 2016
“All-Monster Action!” is a mind-blowingly sophisticated battle royal of noble heroes, diabolical villains, and gigantic menaces slugging it out from here to the moon — it’s Wrestlemania with monsters in ultraliterate prose.
What amazes me is how Brobdingnagian-weird the story gets while maintaining its focus and authenticity. The novella hangs on believable characters and develops its ideas in internally consistent progressions even while soaring out into a stratosphere of deviancy and bizarreness.
The result is that it all seems alluringly possible, a feat of imagination and language that reminds me of my favorite works by Alfred Bester, William Gibson and John Shirley.
And, as a bonus, you not only get an additional handful of tightly written horror tales, but a literary nod to the butt-rockin’ power ballad behemoth known as Creed. In the words of the rock mega-kaiju, Scott Stapp, Cody Goodfellow’s “All-Monster Action!” will take you to “a place where blind men see!”
What amazes me is how Brobdingnagian-weird the story gets while maintaining its focus and authenticity. The novella hangs on believable characters and develops its ideas in internally consistent progressions even while soaring out into a stratosphere of deviancy and bizarreness.
The result is that it all seems alluringly possible, a feat of imagination and language that reminds me of my favorite works by Alfred Bester, William Gibson and John Shirley.
And, as a bonus, you not only get an additional handful of tightly written horror tales, but a literary nod to the butt-rockin’ power ballad behemoth known as Creed. In the words of the rock mega-kaiju, Scott Stapp, Cody Goodfellow’s “All-Monster Action!” will take you to “a place where blind men see!”
June 20, 2021
I bought this book on a whim based on the cover. The art in question is what looks like an old Betamax tape with the title and author written in sharpie. It instantly spoke to my love of pulpy movies with questionable content. For better or worse that's what I got. If this book was actually a movie, it would be the type of film that I would pop in to watch while looking over my shoulder to make sure my parents weren't in the house.
I wasn't in love with any particular story but I'll be damned if I didn't want to know what happened next. The stories are well written and f***ing bizarre! You never quite know what direction a story will take and the imagery will sear itself into your mind. Even the main story, the titular All-Monster Action!, starts as pretty standard fare when it comes to kaiju action. By the end of the story, its taken so many turns that it makes you wonder how in the hell you got there.
Wouldn't necessarily recommend this book for everyone but if you're into bizarre pulp with a bit of sleaze, this is definitely worth checking out.
I wasn't in love with any particular story but I'll be damned if I didn't want to know what happened next. The stories are well written and f***ing bizarre! You never quite know what direction a story will take and the imagery will sear itself into your mind. Even the main story, the titular All-Monster Action!, starts as pretty standard fare when it comes to kaiju action. By the end of the story, its taken so many turns that it makes you wonder how in the hell you got there.
Wouldn't necessarily recommend this book for everyone but if you're into bizarre pulp with a bit of sleaze, this is definitely worth checking out.
October 18, 2023
Este libro también es la compilación de 5 historias cortas y una más larga dividida en tres partes. Todas ellas son muy extrañas y bizarras, con monstruos de lo más retorcidos. Es el primer libro que leo de este autor, y se me figuró alguna película ochentera serie B. Los cuentos en general están entretenidos y tienen ilustraciones de los monstruos que aparecen en cada cuento. Mis favoritos fueron:
- Doorway to the sky: Un grupo de soldados estadounidenses durante la segunda guerra mundial, descubren un inquietante secreto en una isla habitada por nativos.
- Venus of Santa Cruz: Un policía descubre una deidad antigua que desata su lado más lujurioso y perverso.
- All - monster action: Este es el cuento largo dividido en tres partes. Monstruos gigantes al más puro estilo de Godzilla y Mothra se enfrentan, mientras un virus transforma esta situación en un escenario aún más caótico y extraño.
Me gustó este libro, está muy entretenido y super loco, primero que leo de este autor.
- Doorway to the sky: Un grupo de soldados estadounidenses durante la segunda guerra mundial, descubren un inquietante secreto en una isla habitada por nativos.
- Venus of Santa Cruz: Un policía descubre una deidad antigua que desata su lado más lujurioso y perverso.
- All - monster action: Este es el cuento largo dividido en tres partes. Monstruos gigantes al más puro estilo de Godzilla y Mothra se enfrentan, mientras un virus transforma esta situación en un escenario aún más caótico y extraño.
Me gustó este libro, está muy entretenido y super loco, primero que leo de este autor.
November 13, 2017
If you're a Goodfellow fan, then you know what to expect. This is top-notch weird fiction with the power to hurt your brain. The half-dozen short stories that start this collection serve as appetizers for the main course, which doesn't fail to deliver its titular promise. Man, that's a lot of fucking monster action.
For fans of Kaijus, political thrillers, weird sex, mad scientists, more weird sex, but this time involving floating cities, gore, Wayne Newton, chihuahua arms, treachery, self-loathing protagonists, communism, space elites, etc. You get the gist.
For fans of Kaijus, political thrillers, weird sex, mad scientists, more weird sex, but this time involving floating cities, gore, Wayne Newton, chihuahua arms, treachery, self-loathing protagonists, communism, space elites, etc. You get the gist.
January 22, 2020
What an absolute barrage of bizzaro action that final novellete is! Very inventive, thrilling and funny, wielding heavy metaphor like a BFS and really channelling that anything-goes vibe that the genre suggests. However, I cannot overlook that as the scope widens, Goodfellow injects more plot and structure into the work, which I think weakens it overall.
The short stories I had read at quite an earlier time, so I can only note now that they are very strong (with the exception of the Hellboy one, to my chagrin), never nasty and generally top-shelf stuff.
The short stories I had read at quite an earlier time, so I can only note now that they are very strong (with the exception of the Hellboy one, to my chagrin), never nasty and generally top-shelf stuff.
October 22, 2018
The shorter stories were fine, kind of like a gonzo Tales from the Darkside, but the longer story dragged on in places. Really rad illustrations, though.
October 19, 2016
This book = insanity; insanity = good. This book is not for everyone, but if you have a penchant for the twisted and bizarre, give this book a taste. Over-the-top monstrosities abound to frighten and entertain.
April 5, 2017
Wayne Newton is in this. Now we wait and see if Wayne has google alerts.
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