Customer Reviews

My Fake War

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If you like Andersen Prunty's books (if you're reading this, chances are you do), My Fake War will not disappoint. It's a bit more whimsical than Jack And Mr. Grin, more serious than The Beard, and not as dark as Morning is Dead. What we get is another of Andersen's realistic, believably-flawed characters with an odd name (Saul), who starts off in an askew but mundane setting, and progresses into the uber-weird. Don't mistake this for meaning more of the same, however. My Fake War has more social commentary elements than Andersen's previous books, but there's no preaching or any other such unpleasantness.

As with all his books, My Fake War would make an excellent starting point for Bizarro fiction. There's plenty of weird, but the writing is extremely accessible, and the focus is always on what's happening to the characters.

I've always been a fan of political/war satire, and in the last year-or-so I've become a big fan of Andersen Prunty's work. So when I saw that his next book was 'My Fake War', I instantly got the feeling that a dream had come true. And I was not wrong. 'My Fake War' has not only become my favorite book by the author, it is easily one of the bext Bizarro books I've had the pleasure to read.

The plot was surprisingly straight-forward as far as Prunty's work goes. Gone is the sprawling surreal landscape of 'The Beard' and the bizarre, encroaching dread of 'Jack & Mr Grin'. Instead, we're presented with a man, a robot, and the mysterious war, glued together with grotesque displays of power. 'My Fake War' thrives in the relative simplicity of the main character and his confusion. And like any great war satire, there are several truly devastating moments, culminating in one particular paragraph that still haunts me in its truth. Suffice to say, Prunty reveals just how real the 'Endless War' can be, in simple, heartbreaking terms.

If there were to be only two books on the complete madness and confusion of war, they would be Joseph Heller's 'Catch-22' and Andersen Prunty's 'My Fake War'. Each must be read, particularly in the world we currently live in.

Loner Saul Dressing is interrupted one night by a knock at his door. A stranger wearing military fatigues forcibly drafts him into the Army of the United States of Everything. He soon parachutes (also forcibly) into an unknown country known as Grisnos with one objective: to get one of its citizens to start with him so the U.S.E. can declare war on them. The only problem is Saul becomes friends with the first person he meets, a lizard-man named Bob Weathers (who also happens to be the ONLY inhabitant of the desert-country of Grisnos). What follows is another surreal and absurd ride that fans of the author have come to expect.

Along with its Thinking Flying Giant Robot, disgustingly long toe nails, pretend houses, people, and food, as well as one cool military-issued super rifle, MY FAKE WAR serves as a metaphor for the current state of international affairs. It also serves bizarro fans with yet another memorable read. Prunty shows no signs of slowing down.

"My Fake War" follows its protagonist, Saul Dressing, an average, middle-aged library worker with huge, taloned feet as he is drafted by the military, abducted from his home and sent on a pointless and frustrating mission in the mysterious country of Grisnos.

My first introduction to the Bizarro genre was Prunty's spectacularly surreal love/adventure story, "Zerostrata." I was instantly a fan of the book, the author, and the genre. Since reading "Zerostrata" I have read a lot of Bizarro and "My Fake War," my most recent read, was my first return to the wonderlands of Andersen Prunty. Some of the best characteristics of Bizarro fiction are exemplified in Prunty's work, and in "My Fake War" especially: a skewed, but strangely familiar universe, simple, artful prose, and an engaging and exciting story.

I strongly believe that through the surreal and the weird, authors can present the most meaningful and accurate visions of the human condition. Prunty most definitely accomplishes this in "My Fake War."

If you like Andersen Prunty's writing, "My Fake War" will not disappoint. Andersen has a knack for making realistic, believably-flawed characters, who start off in an wild mundane setting, and then it all just goes weird and bizarro. My Fake War makes some strong social commentary statements, but there's no preaching. As with Zerostrata, My Fake War would make an excellent starting point for Bizarro fiction. There's plenty of weird, but the writing is extremely understandable, and the focus is always on what's happening to the characters, no tangents (not that there is anything wrong with that).

The plot was surprisingly straight-forward. We're presented with a man (Saul Dressing), a robot, and the mysterious war, glued together by the Everything nation and its massive displays of power. The United States of Everything is striving for world domination, declaring war on everybody, and this simpleton Saul gets drafted and thrown in the thick of it. In the midst of his mission, that goes awry, Saul discovers the truth behind the wars, albeit by accident; however, he comes out smarter, stronger and wiser. The novella is very simple, as is the main character, and like any war satire, there are some tough down in the dumps devastation moments, Prunty reveals to us just how real the behind the scenes of war can be, in simple, heartbreaking terms.

Have I said before that Andersen Prunty is quickly becoming my go to guy when I want to read something I know will entertain me? If I haven't then I am saying it now.

I won't say anything about the plot because others have done that but My Far War is a quick and extremely entertaining read.

If some other book you were looking at sent you here and you are thinking about picking this one up, STOP! and buy this one now!

Welcome to the United States of Everything. The military is the dominant force and war is the new national pastime. Books are irrelevant and libraries are all but forgotten while the majority of the population is on a state sponsored welfare system. This is the world where Saul Dressing finds himself in Andersen Prunty's smart bizarro novel, My Fake War.

My Fake War is a bizzaro novel with a message. It is cautionary tale to a generation that has known almost nothing but war. Prunty chooses to tell a very straight-forward tale while still reveling in some truly bizarre occurrences. The protagonist, Saul Dressing, is an overweight librarian whose favorite activities include slowly masturbating himself to sleep and growing his toenails so long that they are now referred to as talons. He is actually the most down-to-earth character in the story and is also the vehicle for most of the novel's message. Dressing encounters the absurd as he is drafted into the military by a slop of a man known as Baxter Baxter. Baxter shows up to Saul's house wearing a less than official looking sweat suit and tells Saul that he has been drafted and will be sent to a foreign land to wage a one man war. Saul is witness to some extreme weirdness as he comes to the ultimate realization that war may not be the answer and the enemy may be those who sent him to fight.

My Fake War really establishes Andersen Prunty as one of the elite names in the bizarro genre. He keeps the readers on their toes with enough sci-fi absurdity in the peripheral, all while Prunty drives his message home. The author never comes across as preachy or overbearing- he simply lets the story take center stage. My Fake War would be an excellent starting point for those looking for an entryway into the world of bizarro while those crazy bizarro die-hards will certainly appreciate this wonderful entry into this wonderful sub-genre.

My Fake Review

I found this book in the bargain bin at a Yonder Readin' House in Pensacola, Fla. It was written in 1937 by a gypsy woman named Andersen Prunty, which was the most common name in that time for vagabonds and gypsies, according to Wikipedia. Miss Prunty was a poor girl suffering under the yoke of Communist aggression, forced daily to author tomes of propagandist literature for meager scraps. Hers was a life of toil and inhuman hardship. My Fake War was one of her many works.

It tells the story of a beautician and wolfhound breeder named Saul Dressing, who refuses to fight in Lenin's `Great Salt War' of 1899. Dressing is whipped daily and forced to spread himself across beds of lettuce and vegetables, which seed within the grooves of his marred flesh and grow, rendering him a grotesque plant man. Dressing's only respite from his tortured existence is through song - Dressing is also a world renowned accordion player. But soon this no longer offers solace, as his leafy arms snap under the weight of his instrument.

Dressing finally decides he can take no more of this torture and launches a one-man war (a FAKE WAR, dare I mention?) against his Communist captors, but he is thoroughly crushed by Lenin's army of fork-wielding troops. He is served prior to the platoon's meal that evening with a light vinaigrette.

Miss Prunty's book contains a very important message, which is this ...

SPOILER ALERT!!! STOP READING NOW IF YOU DON"T WANT THE STORY RUINED FOR YOU!!!

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I have never been to Pensacola, Fla.

Andersen Prunty is a friend of mine. I guess more of a "colleague" if you want to get pretentious considering we are both involved in the bizarro fiction scene and only see each other once a year (although we speak on the phone once or twice a month, maybe.) Andy, as he is known by people who speak on the phone with him once or twice a month, sent me this book for free, likely because he is familiar with my status as a dirt poor graduate student. So I was talking on the phone with him tonight and asked him if he wanted me to write a review, considering receiving free books makes me feel obligated to reciprocate with a review. And he said, "Ok."

I would like to add here that I strongly dislike writing reviews. I find them difficult to do well and they usually take me longer to write than ANYTHING else, so I recently vowed to never write a review again. But I asked Andy if he was ok with a review that I put absolutely no effort into, and he was, so here is a review that I am putting no effort into. Perhaps what I write below this will be helpful to the potential reader. Perhaps it will not.

Anyway, I see a lot of reviews of bizarro books by bizarro authors, and I think a potential buyer may think they lack some degree of validity, and this may be the case. But they would be less necessary if more readers were writing more reviews (the small press needs your help!).

So as a preface, I think I'm more critical of bizarro books than most of the authors who are involved in the scene (although I usually keep my mouth shut in public forums). This makes me feel like a jerk sometimes.

So let's get to My Fake War, but not just yet. First I want to mention Andy's other books: I love love love love his novella, Zerostrata. His others are decent, but do not excite me like Zerostrata.

I have also published a few of his stories in my literary journal, and one of them excited me, but not nearly on the same level as Zerostrata.

Ok, so it's time to talk about My Fake War. I usually do not like "war books." There is something about them that turns me off. I do not know what this is. But the first half of My Fake War excited me. Probably because it is a fake war book rather than a war book. The first half excited me as much as my Zerostrata reading experience. Silently in my head, I was screaming, "Andy Prunty is back! He is back!" And considering the protagonist is alone with no one to talk to throughout much of this section, this is quite an achievement. It is difficult to engage the reader with a protagonist who is mostly spending his time alone.

But then the second half comes along, and my excitement dwindled. It was too action-y for me. Like zombies, I think action is better translated in the medium of film. It usually gets boring for me, although there are the occasional exceptions, often dealing with zaniness and unreality. There was a little of this, but not enough.

So if you like action in your lit, this is a freakin' awesome book. Buy it if you're looking for a good introduction to Andy. If you're more like me, get Zerostrata, which is a surreal/absurd romance that will, pardon my cliché, blow your mind.

After my first exposure to Andersen Prunty (with Jack and Mr. Grin), I braced myself for the bizarre, psychotic horrors I'd find within this next book. I was actually fortunate enough to get this book as a bonus with my signed preorder of the Sorrow King (listed below). This book was one of the first bizarro novels one of my friends bought and read right when we came across the genre and were picking out a few titles to entertain us. I remember him telling me a bit about it and being really into it. It's not as disturbed as Jack and Mr. Grin. It's more bizarro, less horror, and all-out crazy about a war that doesn't exist.