Shall We Gather at the Garden? [Paperback]

Kevin L. Donihe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2001

Circus gaiety! A ring of 1,000 delights! None of this awaits you!

What awaits you: a commune of beautiful and wise circus midgets; the Love-o-tron, towering orange plants capable of joyous sexual reproduction; The Chain of Absurdity; Bottled Barbed Chains; Viso-Pants; The Commercial of Truth; a man named Mark Anders; a little doe-eyed girl; The Grand Dictator; a Zen Master; an Eastern European accented Karma Wheel; The Doughnut Kiosk; The Church of the Byrds; The Church of Lionel Richie; High Priest Lionel; High Priest Nash; a man named Herr Fraknow whose title is Godvernor, Malachai, and more.

In the end, it makes too much sense. Or does it . . .

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"Shall We Gather at the Garden? is some of the most original writing available to readers today. It blurs the line between fantasy and reality, while making sure that the author makes his point clear." --SHARPWRITER

"It is certainly the strangest novel I have ever read. Think William S. Burroughs or Philip Dick...For those who want a mind-blowing story, you won't do much better than this." --DEAD TREE REVIEWS

"I thoroughly enjoyed reading a fresh, at times merciless voice triggering warning bells in our consciousness... It might not be a book for everyone but we strongly need writers like Mr. Donihe to keep us on track. A welcomed and powerful young voice in the writing arena carving his own niche." --SIMEGEN

"Kevin L. Donihe is a fine writer, who speaks with a strong, commanding voice. He crafts scenes of lurid, vivid imagery that linger in the back of the mind long after the book has been put down." --AMAZING AUTHOR SHOWCASE

"If you want your notions of reality stretched almost to the breaking point, if you can really suspend your disbelief and if you aren't going to start a cult based on this book, then read it." --BRYN COLVIN

"Donihe flips between different time-space realities faster than a veteran channel surfer on a Sunday afternoon. The way the whole tale works together may not be immediately apparent but pretty soon that 'lost in the woods, I-know-I've-seen-this-tree-before' realization will dawn, as the depth of the layers becomes apparent... I don't think I am giving away too much when I say that if you like circus midgets you will love this book!" --THE DREAM PEOPLE

"If you're looking for something to read that will completely blow your mind--make you look at the world in a different light--and that is just out there and like nothing you've ever read before, boy have I found the book for you." --NACHO CHEESE AND ANARCHY

"Everyone, every thing is a target of Mr. Donihe's wit and off-kilter worldview....There are shades of Philip K. Dick's wonderfully inventive The Divine Invasion (minus the lurid pop singer), trading up Zen Buddhism for unconscious Gnosticism. Malachi manifests where Elijah would stand revealed; and the Roald Dahl-like midgets hold the pink laser beam shining into our hero's mind. Religion is lambasted under the scrutiny of Corporate money--crunchers, and nothing is what it seems." --JEFFREY A. STADT

From the Back Cover

"Who opened the gates and set free this slouching beast (on the proverbial march to Bethlehem, of course) called Kevin Donihe? Before you slap me for uttering such blasphemy, keep in mind that this is a good thing: the world needs more Donihes and the books these creatures give birth to. Trust me on this, and heed this advice: read this book." - MICHAEL HEMMINGSON, editor of WHAT THE FUCK

"Kevin Donihe? Yeah. That boy has problems. Buy his book. Really. If you don't, he might end up working in food service, and you really don't want his filthy hands (or mind) anywhere near your McBurger, son." - NICK MAMATAS, author of Move Under Ground and Under My Roof

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 276 pages
• Publisher: Eraserhead Press (December 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971357250
• ISBN-13: 978-0971357259
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,643,316 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kevin L. Donihe lives in Tennessee. He is the Wonderland Award-winning author of House of Houses, Night of the A**holes, The Flappy Parts, Washer Mouth: The Man Who Was a Washing Machine, The Greatest F*cking Moment in Sports, Shall We Gather at the Garden?, and Grape City from Eraserhead Press or its imprints.

His fiction and poetry has appeared in The Mammoth Book of Legal Thrillers (Carroll & Graf/Constable & Robinson), ChiZine, Electric Velocipede, Dark Discoveries, Bust Down the Door and Eat All the Chickens, The Dream People, The Magazine of Bizarro Fiction, Dreams and Nightmares, Not One of Us, Bathtub Gin, Cafe Irreal, Poe's Progeny (Gray Friar Press), The Undead (Permuted Press) and many other publications.

He was editor of the Bare Bone anthology series for Raw Dog Screaming Press. A story from the first issue was reprinted in The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 13; many others received honorable mentions in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror. Currently, Kevin L. Donihe is the editor of the Eraserhead Press New Bizarro Author Series.

He is also the world's oldest living wombat.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Bits, April 17, 2005

By 

Bradley (Portland, Oregon) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Shall We Gather at the Garden? (Paperback)

Most novels make me feel as if their main characters are taking many long, tedious, and uneventful bus trips to get to and from the interesting parts in their story. This often causes me to skim and ask myself why I'm wasting my time.

"Shall We Gather in the Garden?" doesn't fall under this category. It is an example of condensed storytelling at its best and never fails to entertain, induce laughter, and thrill with its imagination. It's the sort of book that you can start reading at any random page and still get a kick out of it.

I read the ebook edition, and it was even able to hold the attention of my bleeding eyes.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absurdity when considered one of the fine arts, February 3, 2004

By 

John Sunseri (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shall We Gather at the Garden? (Paperback)

How many artists can get away with true absurdity? Borges, Marquez, Dali, Terry Gilliam...and now Donihe. He understands the rules of surreality (and, oh yes, it has rules) and brilliantly follows them to create a work of lasting impact. A stunning (and the adjective here is used in the hit-over-the-head-with-a-blunt-object sense) romp through space and time, a fierce examination of culture in all its facets, and a blindingly funny attack on all the things that make humanity less than human, this book will stay with you...even if you don't want it to. Here there be dwarves, and spatial displacement devices, and doughnut shops and the Church of The Byrds, and one very insistent Karma Wheel, and a Garden and a Pit, and it all blends together like a graveyard sno-cone to explode against your taste buds - while barbed chains come out your throat. Read it. If you like being challenged, and if you have a working brain, you need to read this. If not, stick with television - it doesn't hurt so much.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It'll blow your mind!, February 5, 2002

By 

Jeff Stadt (North Little Rock, ar United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shall We Gather at the Garden? (Paperback)

Have you ever felt dislocateed within the world? Did you ever have "one of those days" when everything unravelling before you seems truly bizarre and you begin to question your own sanity? Meet Mark Anders, the #1 bestselling romance writer in America.

He never imagined that his little novel, detailing the lives of circus midgets would ever be published, let alone top the charts of the romance bestsellers list! But that is consumerist America for you -- anything to fill a void -- it's all in the packaging. And then overnight everyone -- EVERYONE -- recognizes him! There is an international Mark Anders Appreciation Society. Everyone wants to know Mark Anders, even the dark suited, gun-wielding agents of rival publishers, even those little people with the red foam noses and floppy shoes.

And then things really get insane, in Kevin Donihe's first full length novel. Beware the turn of the Karma Wheel, beware the dueling cults rising up to usurp the new/old gods, beware the stench of greasey donuts for one day you could wake up being Mark Anders.

If your looking to break the bonds of corporate, bland bestsellers or series fiction, if your daring enough to actually try something refreshingly NEW and Different, then try any book published by Eraserhead Press. But if you want the second coming of J. G. Eccarius' "The Last Days of Christ the Vampire," well, then buy and read a copy of "Shall We Gather at The Garden," by Kevin L. Donihe. Cult fiction has a new god, and that is Kevin L. Donihe.

Buy this book!