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Shithole USA
Welcome to Florida!
A syphilitic plague has ravaged the Sunshine State, transforming its residents into sex-crazed mutants. All is well, however, within the World Village, a walled-in retirement paradise that stretches across central Florida.
But something stinks in the World Village-literally. The seniors have started worshipping their excrement. Enter Hank Shatley, a retired police detective with an unnatural fear of feces. To repay a life debt, Hank must go undercover in the World Village to investigate Alfred Peora, the community's enigmatic leader. Hank's fate is linked with that of Ryan Herro, a corporate lackey whose mother has fallen under Peora's spell. As Hank and Ryan's stories converge, the universe begins to unravel. Realities collide. Hell invades Earth. And at the center of it all is a mysterious young woman with a purple mohawk and unimaginable powers.
Mark Zirbel, the Wonderland Award-nominated author of Cyberpunk Zombie Jihad, takes you through a cyberpunk-bizarro world filled with turd terrorists, nanite technology, corporate Satanism, shit golems, a syndicate of supervillains, bickering puppets, and an alien city modeled after 1980s crime movies. When you're on a journey like this, be sure to book your stopover in Shithole USA.
A syphilitic plague has ravaged the Sunshine State, transforming its residents into sex-crazed mutants. All is well, however, within the World Village, a walled-in retirement paradise that stretches across central Florida.
But something stinks in the World Village-literally. The seniors have started worshipping their excrement. Enter Hank Shatley, a retired police detective with an unnatural fear of feces. To repay a life debt, Hank must go undercover in the World Village to investigate Alfred Peora, the community's enigmatic leader. Hank's fate is linked with that of Ryan Herro, a corporate lackey whose mother has fallen under Peora's spell. As Hank and Ryan's stories converge, the universe begins to unravel. Realities collide. Hell invades Earth. And at the center of it all is a mysterious young woman with a purple mohawk and unimaginable powers.
Mark Zirbel, the Wonderland Award-nominated author of Cyberpunk Zombie Jihad, takes you through a cyberpunk-bizarro world filled with turd terrorists, nanite technology, corporate Satanism, shit golems, a syndicate of supervillains, bickering puppets, and an alien city modeled after 1980s crime movies. When you're on a journey like this, be sure to book your stopover in Shithole USA.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 16, 2022
I read Mark Zirbel's other book, Cyberpunk Zombie Jihad, a year or so ago and was frankly blown away by the originality and the unique voice of the author. Suffice to say, when this tale landed in my inbox, I nearly pooped the bed.
A grotesque, hilarious take on the future of America, this had me alternating between feeling sick and laughing.
Just want to mention that cover as well....Jim Agpalza is nuts!!
A grotesque, hilarious take on the future of America, this had me alternating between feeling sick and laughing.
Just want to mention that cover as well....Jim Agpalza is nuts!!
December 4, 2022
I believe this is Mark's debut novel, although he has several stories out there in the wild! And what a fun, fucked up debut it is! 😂
Theres an outbreak of ANSIS (syphillitic people, fucking each others brains out in hordes basically!) and people are trying their best to contain it and protect themselves, in some ingenious ways….including Operation Chocolate Starfish!!
Hank has a severe aversion to poop! Like, ridiculously so! So, his latest assignment really doesn't appeal to him in the slightest! He will be forced to face (and more!) his worst fear!
Ryan works for TekCircle, he is picked on somewhat, until the chip inside his head, his PAL, takes charge! This leads to some unexpected events, and the resurgence of an old family member, who has a huge lasting effect on things!
This was hilarious, cheesey, dad jokey, gross, vile, bizarre and so much craptastic fun! Pure insanity from start to finish, including, Stevie the Stoma (take a bow Stevie!), The World Village…a crap cult, literally! Dump runners! Coprophilic chaos and carnage! A shit demon! And so much more! Who knew poop was so diverse!?
This will have you laughing and regurgitating in equal measures!!
I do believe Mark is bringing #slobbypoopoo back!! 🤘💩🤘
Theres an outbreak of ANSIS (syphillitic people, fucking each others brains out in hordes basically!) and people are trying their best to contain it and protect themselves, in some ingenious ways….including Operation Chocolate Starfish!!
Hank has a severe aversion to poop! Like, ridiculously so! So, his latest assignment really doesn't appeal to him in the slightest! He will be forced to face (and more!) his worst fear!
Ryan works for TekCircle, he is picked on somewhat, until the chip inside his head, his PAL, takes charge! This leads to some unexpected events, and the resurgence of an old family member, who has a huge lasting effect on things!
This was hilarious, cheesey, dad jokey, gross, vile, bizarre and so much craptastic fun! Pure insanity from start to finish, including, Stevie the Stoma (take a bow Stevie!), The World Village…a crap cult, literally! Dump runners! Coprophilic chaos and carnage! A shit demon! And so much more! Who knew poop was so diverse!?
This will have you laughing and regurgitating in equal measures!!
I do believe Mark is bringing #slobbypoopoo back!! 🤘💩🤘
December 16, 2023
Equal parts gross out comedy, social satire, and sci-fi/fantasy romp, this novel is Zirbel at his most unhinged yet!
January 3, 2023
This book reminded me why I love bizarro fiction. It may be one of the weirdest books I’ve read in the genre (which I consider high praise). At the same time, it was quite profound, especially for a book with so many poop jokes. The second half of the novel felt like a fever dream (in a good way) as Zirbel leaps between different methods of storytelling. I was a fan of his collection Cyberpunk Zombie Jihad, and this book takes that winning combination of cyberpunk and bizarro to a whole new (much weirder) level.
May 10, 2026
This book is nasty - in more senses than one: it's gross, vulgar, insolent, grotesque, absolutely disgusting - and did I mention gross? It's also the best satire on USA politics (in a very general sense) of the last decade, fast becoming more and more relevant every day. It's also great fun - if you can handle toilet humor, crap jokes, and scatological comedy! But most of all it is undeniably original: honestly, the imagination gone into this book could easily fill volumes - and to think it's mostly about..., well, excrement, feces, and bowel movements.
It couldn't be otherwise, however, since it's essentially about a huge retirement resort in Florida, where everyone worships crap and noone wipes, a place set up by a mysterious cult leader backed up by corporate people who act like major shitheads. To solve the mystery of the leader's identity, a former detective is sent there by his pal, a permanently injured military man with a talking stoma; while a corporate employee (and caring son) needs to go there to bring his mom back from the resort. Plus, totally out of the blue, there's talk of a very strange young woman who apparently has superpowers! And I haven't even mentioned ANSIS, a syphilis plague turning Florida's population into hordes of sex-crazed zombies!
I started the book thinking I'd stay with it for ten or fifteen minutes before sleep, and ended up reading it in one sitting! It gets weirder and weirder and more and more complicated as the plot moves forward, with a feverish second part and an absurd ending - but despite the coprophagia and the coprophilia and the coprophobia, it's utterly addictive. Highly recommend!
May 1, 2023
Full review on https://www.uncomfortablydark.com/bla...
Mark, I’m so sorry it took me so long to get to SHITHOLE USA. It is something else.
Zombies are fucking each other to death while the rest of the USA is eating poop. That’s right, poop. Lives converge, well, some lives and some mind projections converge to try to end the terror that is happening. Will there be a stay on poop or will shit run in the streets?
Why did I love this books so damn much?! I’m confused by it. The characters have depth and the reader becomes attached, social commentary is astounding, and the story is extremely well written. I listened to the audiobook and it was amazing. But what I loved most about this book is that Zirbel mixes writing styles. We have your typical novel, then a play section, and a video game cheat style. It all works and I’m kinda in need of more like this.
I’m officially a Zirbel fangirl and I think you will be too. Don’t let the poop scare you away. I know this is the craziest thing I have said this year (and I say some crazy stuff) but this is a top 10 read for me this year. I’m not going to try to figure it out, I’m just going to let it happen.
An obvious 10/5 for me. I HIGHLY recommend.
Mark, I’m so sorry it took me so long to get to SHITHOLE USA. It is something else.
Zombies are fucking each other to death while the rest of the USA is eating poop. That’s right, poop. Lives converge, well, some lives and some mind projections converge to try to end the terror that is happening. Will there be a stay on poop or will shit run in the streets?
Why did I love this books so damn much?! I’m confused by it. The characters have depth and the reader becomes attached, social commentary is astounding, and the story is extremely well written. I listened to the audiobook and it was amazing. But what I loved most about this book is that Zirbel mixes writing styles. We have your typical novel, then a play section, and a video game cheat style. It all works and I’m kinda in need of more like this.
I’m officially a Zirbel fangirl and I think you will be too. Don’t let the poop scare you away. I know this is the craziest thing I have said this year (and I say some crazy stuff) but this is a top 10 read for me this year. I’m not going to try to figure it out, I’m just going to let it happen.
An obvious 10/5 for me. I HIGHLY recommend.
November 30, 2022
A great bizarro story set in a poop-obsessed world. The story slowly unfolds with clever stupid things and ideas, and lots of flawed characters struggling to fight the crazy system. With poop gags galore, and total unpredictability in play I loved it all, even the weirder chaotic disjointed second half where reality fractures somewhat with meta-narrative devices playing out. Nice. Lots of great gross things as well all covered in BMs. Loved it. Cheers for all the craziness.
October 24, 2023
I read a book: Shithole USA, by Mark Zirbel
When I started drafting this review, this book has a single ⭐️ rating. Several months later, the average is up to 3 stars but there is only one additional rating and I just can’t let that stand. I just know it’s better than that. I am unfamiliar with Mark Zirbel, but Planet Bizarro published this one and I have loved everything that I’ve read bearing their name so far so I just know this one will be great as well. I received an eARC from the publisher but eventually purchased the audiobook because I like to read and listen at the same time.
I don’t put content warnings on every review because I read a lot of extreme horror and sometimes those warnings would take more time than the actual review. But I will say this: if you are squeamish about poo, you know what to do. Close this book and go read something about cannibal killers or whatever floats your boat. There’s a lot of poo. So many poo jokes. There is also a lot of crass language, words and phrases that we don’t use anymore. It works in context, so I won’t hold it against the author. But seriously, there is a lot of poo. And coprophagia. You have been warned.
Shithole USA takes place in America’s shithole, Florida. A plague that turns people into sex-crazed zombies has broken out and the entire state is a nightmare. Well, except for a retirement community called World Village, not that the village is immune from the insanity that seems to have taken the state by storm. People in the World Village have gone coo-coo for poo-poo. While the residents of the village are not literally fucking each other to death, they have become something of a poo worship cult. The story unfolds from the perspectives of two men who couldn’t be more different. Ryan is a mild mannered fellow who is just trying to preserve his peace in an increasingly strange workplace. Hank is a retired detective with poo ptsd who has to face his demons to help an old colleague figure out wtf is going on in World Village. The descriptions of the sculptures and Hank’s inner dialog had me rolling. Every new character has a hilarious poo punny name. Belphegor, shit demon. Every new development is more bizarre than the last.
I really enjoyed this. It’s funny as hell and packed with social commentary that I won’t go into, but come on. Old people congregating in a retirement community in Florida who worship shit and don’t know that the person running the place is a shit demon? Corporations paying tribute to the shit demon? The subtext is pretty obvious. This was great. Go read it.
When I started drafting this review, this book has a single ⭐️ rating. Several months later, the average is up to 3 stars but there is only one additional rating and I just can’t let that stand. I just know it’s better than that. I am unfamiliar with Mark Zirbel, but Planet Bizarro published this one and I have loved everything that I’ve read bearing their name so far so I just know this one will be great as well. I received an eARC from the publisher but eventually purchased the audiobook because I like to read and listen at the same time.
I don’t put content warnings on every review because I read a lot of extreme horror and sometimes those warnings would take more time than the actual review. But I will say this: if you are squeamish about poo, you know what to do. Close this book and go read something about cannibal killers or whatever floats your boat. There’s a lot of poo. So many poo jokes. There is also a lot of crass language, words and phrases that we don’t use anymore. It works in context, so I won’t hold it against the author. But seriously, there is a lot of poo. And coprophagia. You have been warned.
Shithole USA takes place in America’s shithole, Florida. A plague that turns people into sex-crazed zombies has broken out and the entire state is a nightmare. Well, except for a retirement community called World Village, not that the village is immune from the insanity that seems to have taken the state by storm. People in the World Village have gone coo-coo for poo-poo. While the residents of the village are not literally fucking each other to death, they have become something of a poo worship cult. The story unfolds from the perspectives of two men who couldn’t be more different. Ryan is a mild mannered fellow who is just trying to preserve his peace in an increasingly strange workplace. Hank is a retired detective with poo ptsd who has to face his demons to help an old colleague figure out wtf is going on in World Village. The descriptions of the sculptures and Hank’s inner dialog had me rolling. Every new character has a hilarious poo punny name. Belphegor, shit demon. Every new development is more bizarre than the last.
I really enjoyed this. It’s funny as hell and packed with social commentary that I won’t go into, but come on. Old people congregating in a retirement community in Florida who worship shit and don’t know that the person running the place is a shit demon? Corporations paying tribute to the shit demon? The subtext is pretty obvious. This was great. Go read it.
November 28, 2022
This book is wild, haha. It is gross; but not so gross you have to stop reading. The writing is also pretty funny, and had me fucking cackling at some points!
I appreciated how good Zirbel is at writing in different styles for different character (POV's). It's something I think must be quite hard to pull off!
The storyline actually went a lot deeper too, than I initially thought it was going to be. That was a huge plus! The writer is extremely creative; it really translates into their work.
The ending was unfortunately a bummer to me though. I didn't enjoy that at all.. But I wouldn't say I wouldn't recommend the book due to it. It was just a bit of a letdown.
I appreciated how good Zirbel is at writing in different styles for different character (POV's). It's something I think must be quite hard to pull off!
The storyline actually went a lot deeper too, than I initially thought it was going to be. That was a huge plus! The writer is extremely creative; it really translates into their work.
The ending was unfortunately a bummer to me though. I didn't enjoy that at all.. But I wouldn't say I wouldn't recommend the book due to it. It was just a bit of a letdown.
January 13, 2026
My first bizarro read. Florida is infected with super syphilis and a fecal demon has created a retirement community. Really fun read, and the ending was super well done.
January 4, 2023
I am not entirely sure where to begin with this one. Shithole USA by Mark Zirbel is hilarious, it’s sick, it’s grotesque, ad it is absolutely, embarrassingly engrossing. I read the first half in an hour because I could not put it down.
I enjoy the occasional well-crafted bizarro story, and I am still wrapping my head around cyberpunk, but this skillful blending of the two blew me away. It is unlike anything I have ever read in the best possible way. The masterful combination of underlying social commentary, excrement, humor, excrement humor, demons, and violent horrors is beyond impressive and impactful. It’s a good story, and entertaining story, a gross and hilarious and horrifying story, but it also has something to say.
The dialogue alone will slay you—“Have yourself a nice pee.”—but at the same time, the illustration of corporate America, societal corruption, and occult-like thought indoctrination will have you physically nodding your head in recognition. This story is brilliant. But it’s also full of poo … in the literal sense. It’s violent, witty, gross, funny, and I loved it.
Gather your intestinal fortitude and hang on, this is wild ride!
I enjoy the occasional well-crafted bizarro story, and I am still wrapping my head around cyberpunk, but this skillful blending of the two blew me away. It is unlike anything I have ever read in the best possible way. The masterful combination of underlying social commentary, excrement, humor, excrement humor, demons, and violent horrors is beyond impressive and impactful. It’s a good story, and entertaining story, a gross and hilarious and horrifying story, but it also has something to say.
The dialogue alone will slay you—“Have yourself a nice pee.”—but at the same time, the illustration of corporate America, societal corruption, and occult-like thought indoctrination will have you physically nodding your head in recognition. This story is brilliant. But it’s also full of poo … in the literal sense. It’s violent, witty, gross, funny, and I loved it.
Gather your intestinal fortitude and hang on, this is wild ride!
March 15, 2023
Weird, funny, demented and gross. Makes me thankful that America isn’t a liberal shit show, yet…
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews