Burnt Tongues

Starred review from September 29, 2014
Twenty fictional vivisections shock, disgust, and unsettle in this hallucinatory anthology. The devastation of malicious gossip inspires attempted suicides and helplessness in Neil Krolicki's "Live This Down," featuring a miscarriage at a pool party. After a shower, readers will be thrown off balance by the paradoxical culpability and hope of an animal abuser's redemption in Chris Lewis Carter's "Charlie." Matt Egan's "A Vodka Kind of Girl" and Tony Liebhard's "Mating Calls" face the pain of relationships, while Jason M. Fylan's "Engines, O-Rings, and Astronauts" blurring lines between victim and victimizer amid the terror of school shootings. And flickering pumpkins leer at human frailty and (again) suicidal tendencies on Halloween in Terence James Eeles's "Lemming". Attacking morality, formula, and "political correctness," these acts of literary terrorism provoke, belittle, challenge, and confound, satisfying Palahniuk's demand for " a way of saying something, but saying it wrong." Irritating and uncompromising, they force readers to "read close, maybe read twice," as they slaughter sacred cows left and right.

August 1, 2014
Twenty stories of embattled brothers and twisted sisters hand-selected by Palahniuk and two comrades from his online community The Cult. Transgressive fiction is a much broader label than many readers realize, encompassing everything from Hubert Selby Jr.'s gritty Last Exit to Brooklyn to Alissa Nutting's much-debated Tampa. Palahniuk (Doomed, 2013, etc.) is arguably the most capable modern practitioner of the style and certainly its most visible champion. "We return to troubling films and books because they don't pander to us-their style and subject matter challenge, but to embrace them is to win something worth having for the rest of our lives," he proclaims. "The difficult, the new and novel establish their own authority." That said, these creative endeavors remain mostly male and uniquely grotesque, inhabiting their own peculiar orbit in the universe of American lit. Many are about self-harm, resembling some of the stories-like the infamous nausea-inducing "Guts," for example-from Palahniuk's Haunted (2005). In Neil Krolicki's "Live This Down," a clique of teenage girls find themselves humiliated after a botched suicide attempt. There's also the disgruntled retail clerk in Richard Lemmer's "Ingredients," scarred inside and out after a dare goes wrong. Other stories, including Matt Egan's "A Vodka Kind of Girl" and Brandon Tietz's "Dietary," explore the fear and loathing between women and body image. Almost always there's a tendency to examine the dichotomy between the damage we do to our bodies and the strange secrecy of our inner monologues. That's certainly true in Phil Jourdan's "Mind and Soldier," about a disabled vet, and Keith Buie's "The Routine," recounting the sins of an overworked graveyard shift pharmacist. Some stories are subtle, like Chris Lewis Carter's "Charlie," recounting the cycle of animal abuse. Others are not-see the casual zoophilia of Brien Piechos' "Heavier Petting" and the collection's closer, "Zombie Whorehouse" by Daniel W. Broallt. No, it's not a metaphor.Dark, subversive and disquieting fiction for readers ready to go all the way down.

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July 1, 2014

In this collection of transgressive fiction selected by novelist Palahnuik (Doomed) from his fan website, a group of amateur authors and Palahnuik readers have submitted stories, which, according to the introduction, "run the gamut from horrific and fantastic to humorous and touching, but each leaves a lasting impression." From teenage suicide to pranks gone horribly wrong, from the pain of purgatory to classroom shootings, this is definitely not for the faint of heart. The book's introduction, which seems to serve as warning, is spot on; these curious stories will stay with you long after you read them. While many of the selections are humorous and fantastic, a few--one featuring bestiality and another with zombie rape in particular--could cause some issues in a more conservative readership. VERDICT Fans of transgressive fiction authors such as Palahnuik will enjoy this selection, but it is certainly not for everyone.--Brooke Bolton, North Manchester P.L., IN

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2014
Despite its little-heralded status in literary circles, the counterculture genre known as transgressive fiction, wherein the author and/or protagonist bucks social conventions by violating one or more taboos, actually has a rather illustrious history. Classic novels such as Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, featuring the murderous Raskolnikov, for instance, can be categorized as transgressive fiction. In this collection of 20 contemporary short stories, lead editor Palahniuk makes certain each piece qualifies as an example of both first-rate craftsmanship and something that pushes the envelope of social acceptability. In Neil Krolicki's opening tale, Live This Down, three humiliated high-school girls plot their suicides using a poison-gas recipe gleaned from the Internet. An animal-shelter technician in Chris Lewis Carter's Charlie recognizes the tortured cat someone drops off as one he himself abused when it was a kitten. Matt Egan's A Vodka Kind of Girl recounts the sad fate of a calorie-counting, bulimic woman. Anyone looking for boundary-breaking tales that also pack a haunting, powerful punch will find hours of entertainment here.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)