Customer Reviews

Ass Goblins of Auschwitz

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Growing up, I watched a lot of TV. Nickelodeon, mostly. Ah! Real Monsters, Rocko's Modern Life, Ren & Stimpy. They were light-hearted and funny, sure, but deep-down they were kind of unsettling, and with your eyes glued to the tube, you felt like you were given a glimpse into truly twisted minds, minds that were trying their very best to warn their audience of the darkness of adulthood to come. These cartoons with their drab colors and their focus on offal and snot and lint and gas were just too ugly and honest to be on the Disney channel.

"Ass Goblins of Auschwitz" is what happens when those kids, so mesmerized by the cartoons of their youth, grow up and write stories of their own. AGOA is a Nickelodeon cartoon pushed to the extreme and injected with cynicism. You're born, things are good, you start to check out girls, and before you know it a goblin has his finger in your ass and is turning your friends into cider, you're mutating and growing wings and you're becoming one of them and you're rebelling and you'd do anything to get out of the prison you're in.

I promised myself I wouldn't use the word "imaginative", but AGOA is so filled to brimming with the products of a big, Mountain Dew-fueled brain that other words fail. The first half of the book is gripping, every page contains a unique, surreal image or idea, but it does not let up for a moment, and if you are not careful, by the end it could bury you under them. I enjoyed the quick pace and the brevity, but I also found the last twenty pages to be exhausting, a wild dash for the finish could have been sharper, more fleshed out.

That said, I can't wait to see what Pierce will do next. With an imagination as fertile and frenzied as his, I'm sure I won't have to wait long to find out.

After seeing the title, Ass Goblins of Auschwitz, I just had to read. I'm glad I did, while the story had quite a bizarro overtone the book was really just about the lose of childhood and the struggles of growing up. I would tell everyone to read this book, I loved every page :)

Quite possibly one of the most disgusting books I've ever read and I couldn't put it down. I got it for the title, but I finished reading it for the storyline. You will get wrapped up in the story if you aren't careful. I only gave it 4 stars because of the gross factor.

If you thought INGLORIOUS BASTERDS was a strange taste of revisionist history, wait till you check out the second novella from the demented mind who brought you SHARK HUNTING IN PARADISE GARDEN.

Okay, so this technically isn't "revisionism," but a wickedly surreal action-adventure set at a reimagined concentration camp (and it's Alice in Wonderland-ish underground). The entire book reads like an acid-trip WW2 escape-story, packed with dazzling creatures, disgusting villians, and a cool new meaning for the term S.S.

Otto and his co-joined-by-the-ribcage brother are our main prisoners in Auschwitz, a camp where all kinds of freakazoid children are being kept as prisoners and forced to work at a toy-making factory (the unlucky ones are used for experiments in the mysterious Surgery Lab). Their captors are Ass Goblins, a violent race of "soldiers" under the command of Adolf (who is away for most of the story) and also under the eye of The White Angel (a sort-of right-hand man to Adolf). When Otto and his brother are separated, Otto is turned into a giant spider creature by the Ass Goblin surgeons, and his brother learns to use his large wings (and aquired flesh-bike) to begin a revolt against the camp and its leaders.

Pierce once again shows off his amazing imagination and gift for non-stop excitement. The final battle is every bit as twisted and strange as SHARK HUNTING, and while I didn't at first quite know what to make of the ending, I came to find it perfect after re-reading the last two chapters.

If bizarro's your thing, THE ASS GOBLINS OF AUSCHWITZ is a must read.

In the first four pages of Cameron Pierce's A*s Goblins of Auschwitz, a row of child slaves are molested, one by one, by a giant a*s-shaped N*zi Goblin. But by the time the main character pulls a bicycle made of other children out of his scrotum, this will not seem shocking.

A*s Goblins of Auschwitz was a difficult book to read. It's been 80 years or so, but I think we can all say that the Holocaust still isn't funny.

A*s Goblins could see a lot of heat from "Serious Literary People" for making a disgusting spectacle of one of the most horrifying events in recent history.

This is because Holocaust literature (art, film, drama) generally falls into the category of High Art. Although the subjects and scenes are sometimes horrifying, they are gravely serious and have a very clear purpose in a story with a message and a resolution. People don't read (or write) these books or teach them in schools to terrify and disgust.

It's mostly agreed upon that books as diverse as Number the Stars and Elie Weisel's Night are inspiring, touching and beautiful. They are about the Holocaust but also about human courage and faith

The problem is that The Holocaust is not a touching and beautiful subject. I feel that you're far off the mark if, while reading about people locked up like animals and tortured to death, you feel touched and inspired.

Pierce, who didn't survive the Holocaust, is brave enough to make you feel what you should be feeling while reading about the Holocaust: disoriented, horrified, disgusted, and slightly ill.

I'm a newcomer to this genre known as 'bizarro,' so let's get that out of the way up front. That said, I'm quite the fan of twisted and off-kilter stuff; This book has that in spades. I'll save the rehash of the other reviews and offer up my critique of the book: It's horrible. Not the content, as I've got nothing against a race of ass-creatures exploiting kids for their own amusement. No, the writing is the problem. This book could have been easily written by the warped mind of any 12-year-old boy. I'm not a fan of wordy prose, and really appreciate the stripped-down writing exemplified in this book, but the ideas were so jumbled that it was a bit hard to follow. Considering that I read the book in only a few hours is a testament to the sparse writing and lack of cohesion. There is not a thing I could have possibly missed or forgotten over time, as I have done in the past with longer books. The author will often describe an event quite vaguely, then touch upon that event later on while describing huge changes which were obviously enacted but never described as such. Things like that made the events very hard to follow at times, while other times, such as the end of the book, were so out of left field that you wonder if the author hadn't started a completely new story on you.

When I first learned of the Bizarro genre I thought it would be some truly weird stuff, I read some descriptions of books and some customer reviews and there seemed to be some strange and twisted books out there. One that I was intrigued by was AGOA, I had already read Abortion Arcade and knew that Cameron Pierce was a go to guy for the truly bizarre work. After having finally got around to purchasing AGOA and reading it I've got to say this book here is what Bizarro is all about. From the Goblins themselves to the descriptions of Auschwitz landscape, Pierce's imagination seems limitless. He's crafted a morbid and disturbing world for our narrator 999 and his conjoined twin, 1001. This book is perfect for anyone interested in Bizarro, it showcases how far you can go within the genre and still maintain an interesting story.

The following is taken from my blog, The Haunted E-Zine:

Did you even know that books like this exist? The Ass Goblins of Auschwitz is one of the most bizarre, grotesque, and disgusting books I've ever read, but for the life of me, I wasn't able to put it down. I literally read the entire 104 page novella in an evening. It's a kick in the pants and a shock to your system you won't soon forget.

First of all, let me address a few criticisms I had about the piece right off the bat (so we can get to the good stuff). The use of Nazi imagery is tacked on in the worst way. It's quite probably a very self-aware decision by the author to provide additional marketability to his concept and add a sort of shock-rock factor. The ass goblins themselves have nothing to do with Nazi Germany. Swastikas are mentioned abundantly, and Adolf Hitler is the name of the most hideous and powerful of ass goblins, but Auschwitz is merely the city they live in, and it really has nothing at all to do with World War 2, the holocaust, real Nazism, Germany, etc. The story would've been just as strong without the additional Nazi imagery plastered on for added appeal. I might argue that in some ways it distracted from the otherwise impressive originality of the story because so many other authors have used the same trick.

Another critique many might have of this book is its use of children as protagonists in such a dark and violent world. The story makes no qualms about tearing children apart, having them being turned into "cider", subjecting them to forced cannibalism, mutation, and just about every unfortunate circumstance you can imagine (like eating your own organs). That being said, the word "Children" in this story is tacked on just as much as the Nazi imagery. The characters behave entirely unlike children in their maturity and complexities, and it's more correct to say that they belong to a species of children whose homeworld is called "Kidland". And that leads into the recurring theme of the novella: childhood/innocence lost.

At least, that's what I thought the theme to be. Much ado was made about the loss of childhood, about how the Ass Goblin scientist (the White Angel) was performing experiments to make the ass goblins happy like children were in their natural habitat, and about how the children, after undergoing certain (spoiler-free) changes, could never go back to really being children. Keep your eyes out for this theme if you choose to read the book and let me know if you agree or not.

The things I loved about this book though were what made it so enthralling. The imagery used was well-described and aggressively original and imaginative. The ass goblins are quite unlike any other thing that has appeared in fiction to date. The characters are also given just enough time to develop enough for us to understand them, yet at times I felt as though they were merely vessels of a much greater story.

The writing style is anything but amateur and there were some truly great lines scattered throughout the piece. The plot is very coherent despite the absurdity of the premise, and the ending, though maybe a bit rushed, is an epic scene that is to be read at least twice.

Do I recommend this book? Well, yes, definitely. But if you are not into bizarro fiction, cannot stomach gore and grossness in your stories (and there is LOTS of both), or are offended by the Nazi overtones or the graphic abuse and killings of "children", then you should pass. Those of you able to approach the book with a truly open mind are likely to come away either with mixed feelings or, like me, immediately searching Amazon for more content by the same author.

Cameron Pierce is as adept at building bold, new worlds in his fiction as he is at destroying them. He's an incendiary enfant terrible whose books suggest both a wild sugar high and a deranged mushroom trip.

Like his first novel, "Shark Hunting in Paradise Garden," "Ass Goblins of Auschwitz" has two acts. In the first, Pierce paints the picture of a bleak world where children are abducted by Naziesque Ass Goblins to build toys made of dead children and undergo unspeakably disgusting acts of sexual cruelty. In this expository act, Pierce's writing is stronger than anyone else's in the bizarro genre. A sentence as sublimely vile as "bloody frost cakes my butt" is enough to elicit a postmortem smirk from the likes of Lautreamont or Verlaine.

I won't elaborate on details about the second half of the book other than saying it's mostly devoted to an ultra-kinetic "showdown" between the protagonists and the Ass Goblins that is ten times more insane and involved than anything anyone else is writing. Forget mass market horror and its safe thrills, there's nothing there with this sort of ravenous abandon. I didn't think the outrageous "showdown" of "Shark Hunting" could have been topped, but I do believe it has. Get both books and judge for yourself.

The book bears the influence of transgressive literary artists such as Burroughs, De Sade and Bataille, but rather than being some turgid and experimental manifesto no one would want to read, it's as delectably action-packed as a double-length comic book. Cameron Pierce has hit upon a perfect template for the short bizarro novel and I hope he sticks with it for at least a few more books.

The outrageously named, 'Ass Goblins of Auschwitz' is the kind of book that a potential reader can ascertain whether or not they'll enjoy based on their reaction to the title. If the title tickles most of your funny bones, there's a pretty good chance you'll enjoy it. If not, perhaps steer clear. Being an avid fan of Nazi Exploitation films, I responded quite favorably to the title.

Gross out tomfoolery abounds as we are taken to an alternate Auschwitz, ruled by a flatulent race of beings called the Ass Goblins. They travel to a neighbouring planet and abduct children to work as slaves in their camp and when the mood strikes, they ferment them into cider. These children are subjected to all manner of unpleasantness as they try, seemingly in vain, simply to survive. The story revolves around two slaves, 999 and 1001, who are conjoined twins and their experiences within the camp. Suffice to say, in order to survive, they will have to consume their fellow slaves, construct toys out of their fellow slaves and endure various violations.

Okay, so we have ourself a story bound to appeal to those who like their fiction crazy and dripping in filth. It's a fun read, despite the sense of darkness and hopelessness that permeates throughout. Where this story maybe falls a little flat is in areas concerning character development and genuine emotional connection. These children are subjected to abject horror but as a reader, I felt distanced from it. Character development exists but not in a meaningful way. This prevented it from truly affecting me and instead, I just found it immensely fun. I'm not going to complain about that too much because having a good time while reading isn't a bad thing. And let's face it, if you're buying this book, you're probably doing so because you're attracted to OTT ideas involved.

Those who are fans of Bizarro will like this. It ticks all the boxes we've come to expect from the genre. Those unfamiliar with Bizarro but into Nazi Exploitation cinema should give this a go. These are the kind of Goblins, Ilsa herself would be proud of.