Corndog Zen

by Wallace Mack

Mikey works at the dump. John sells stolen scrap metal from the dump for drug money. Kat is being replaced at her customer service job by an automated dog. Three down-and-out dirt people find themselves strapped to the rickety, wooden rollercoaster of American life in freefall. Together, the trio does their best to make sense of a country that seems to be changing hour by hour.

144 pages, Paperback

Published July 17, 2021

Reviews

[Nirvana · Rating 4 out of 5]

we're not marlboro people

pretty good, not to come off as a hater but i had really middle of the road hopes from it, coming from /lit/, but damn it did surpass them. winkles ily man

[T.B. Johnson]

Surprisingly polished for a book that includes a preface warning readers that it’s unpolished. I only spotted the occasional error. But, even if there were none, this book still wouldn’t be perfect. The preface also contains the remnants of something resembling a content disclaimer. An old version apparently requested readers not to take the material “too seriously.” The version I read claims that the author realized that was a shortsighted request, but still seems to attempt to soften the blows of this below-the-belt-hitting thriller/satire. They don’t need softening; the satire is frequently far too on-the-nose to pack a heavy enough punch, attacking with a veneer of gusto in lieu of hitting harder. The thrills take a backseat to the satire, making this a comedy book with a sparse number of laughs. Things are repeated frequently; there’s a trend where the characters will explain in full detail scenes that the readers already read about to characters that weren’t there. And it has one of those endings that seem like the author ran out of ideas instead of tying everything up in a neat bow.

Still, I recommend it. I finished it and don’t regret doing so. It’s a fun book. Looking forward to Wallace Mack’s next one!

[Ron Arbuckle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hardly any Corndogs, even less Zen.

Corndog Zen is a wild, fast-paced thrill ride by Wallace Mack. The varying perspectives of the deeply flawed but well-meaning characters, down-trodden by life, create an immersive emotional core. Descriptive, gripping fictions throughout make you question your own nostalgia for a bygone era of American life. Drunkenly irreverent at times, Corndog Zen is held together by a moral core seeking to challenge the self-devouring American corporate religion of the 21st century along with the increasing challenges that an AI, tech centered society holds for the regular working-class individual. Mack holds up absurdities against this reality, seemingly to make the reader question the very absurdities of modern life that we take for granted. Corndog Zen is at its best when it is character-centered & introspective. There were a couple of plot reveals that served the purpose of tying up loose ends that might have missed out on this introspective magic by being narrator driven rather than revealed by the characters themselves. Regardless, Corndog Zen is a fun-ride that will have you looking at life and society as a whole in a new way by the time you finish it (undoubtedly in one sitting, as I did).