The Steel Breakfast Era: The Decadent Return of the Hi-Fi Queen and Her Embryonic Reptile Infection (Eraserhead Double #3) (Paperback)

~ (Author), Simon Logan (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

THE STEEL BREAKFAST ERA by Carlton Mellick III (w/ tattoos by Pooch)

A nightmarishly absurd story that is like Re-Animator meets Naked Lunch during the zombie apocalypse.

The living dead conquered the Earth almost a century ago, leaving only small isolated communities of survivors spread across the shattered-earwig landscape. One such community has been locked away in a New York City high-rise. Breeding like cockroaches for many generations, their civilization has almost completely deteriorated into a mess of insane ones and those infested with parasites that mutate flesh into steel-string sculptures. There is nothing to live for, no chance for hope. Except for one man, not yet effected by the parasites, who finds hope after he creates a wife out of the human body parts that litter the hallways and gets rescued by a group of zombie-shredding warriors from Japan (where the citizens have evolved into anime-like mechazoid characters). This tattoo-illustrated avant-garde novel is cult author Carlton Mellick III at his darkest and most horrific.

THE DECADENT RETURN OF THE HI-FI QUEEN AND HER EMBRYONIC REPTILE INFECTION by Simon Logan

The Hi-Fi Queen is resurrected after almost being killed in an ambush by another gang and rises once more to claim back the territory that was once hers. Set in a world of constant gang warfare and corporate subterfuge, she must first re-brand herself then assemble a new crew to help her in her fight. Pirate radio broadcasters, graffiti artists, black-marketing men and skaters alike are all caught up in her quest for revenge, for not only must the gang be strong ... but it must have a proper marketing campaign to match.

In HI-FI QUEEN, Logan takes us deeper into his world of industrial-style fiction, expanding upon the grounding set forth in his highly successful underground hit I-O and bringing it to another level with threads of dark, bleak humour.

From the Inside Flap

"This flip book is a double-barrel shotgun blast of futuristic insanity. Both novellas are a delight, and suck you entirely into their respective unsettling universes. Mellick's is the more surreal, a cross between the mechanized horror of the Japanese film Tetsuo: The Iron Man and the apocalyptic zombie-fest Dawn of the Dead. He makes it work, and his main characters - however weird - are moving and oddly innocent. Simon Logan, the author of the stunning short story collection I-O, delivers a blackly humorous, campy-fun tale that still takes some very biting swipes at corporate mentality. In his future world, even street gangs need PR agents and fashion consultants, and the ultimate aspiration is to make it into television - in a weirdly literal fashion. One (or two?) of the most enjoyable books I've read in some time! Raw, exciting imagination run wild." - JEFFREY THOMAS, author of Punktown and Deadstock

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Product Details

• Paperback: 172 pages
• Publisher: Eraserhead Press (December 11, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972959874
• ISBN-13: 978-0972959872
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #651,565 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Japanese-style industrial wastelands, September 29, 2005

By	dykstra - See all my reviews

There are two very good stories in this book. If you like Japanese cult cinema you should enjoy both of them immensely. I'm surprised these authors aren't Japanese, because they capture the attitude of pseudo-cyberpunk Japan perfectly. The abstract post-apocalypse backdrop sets a dreary and hopeless tone for these dark tales. I really liked the descriptions and bizarre situations. Though most of the characters are inhuman and hard to relate to, they are disturbingly interesting to follow. I plan to read more books by these authors. I've already read Mellick's Razor Wire Pubic Hair, but I'm excited to get into more Simon Logan as well. These are two promising new authors. Give them a try if you're interested in reading something a little different.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars eh, June 13, 2005

By	Christopher Kampe - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Steel Breakfast Era has its faults. To its credit, it's a creative gore fest with an interesting mythology behind it-however, very little of this mythology is put to any use adding any metaphoric depth. In his Introduction that author states his divided purpose: firstly he acknowledges that this book is really just a miss-mash of ideas where he simply decided to "not think about it so much and write the stupid book." We then encounter his second purpose, his belief that "the only purpose a human being can have on this planet is to create art" followed by the belief that body transformation is the highest form of art-but also that everything in this world is art. The trouble of the book comes from this. He feels no need to validate any image, or add any depth or meaning to anything descried: his world is aesthetically purposed and based. He presents allusions but never develops or realizes any of these, and his metaphors speak loudly but don't offer any substance. He creates an interesting premise in the bio/mechanical/creative/destructive "Tik-worms" but he doesn't take them anywhere-reducing them to a means to transform the world into something gigeresque simply because they/he finds it attractive. The concepts of sexuality could have been interesting, but they tend to fetishize rather than explore: plays briefly with sexual identity as object but doesn't offer any condemnation of it-he plays with notions of pedophilia, sadism, masochism, cannibalism, mutilation, augmentation-but he doesn't develop any of them into a statement-rather he just blurts them out. In terms of his violence, it's comic-booky but it lacks the illustrations that validate the excess of the genre. His fight scenes seem drafted by a thirteen year old perpetually adding something to the battle *wouldn't this be cool!? Wouldn't this be cool!? Yeah-and after he rips the zombie in half with his laser guided spike catapult glass chainsaw, he unzips his pants, and instead of a dick he has five dicks and each of them has a sword and then he cuts zombies up with it* and sure-that's fun-but it's not deep. It's trite. I like trite stuff, but anyone trying to pawn this book off as if it has an iota of meaning is just being silly-this book does not trudge the depths of the soul or mine the horrors of the human psyche. If you want an amusing/grotesque read which will distract you for an hour or so, then buy this book-if you're expecting something intellectually/psychologically engaging... you'll be let down.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Tetsuo meets Dawn of the Dead..., August 29, 2007

By	Jordan Krall "fan of bizarro, horror, noir, a... (Noir Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews

First, I'd like to address the complaints about this book (Carlton Mellick III's Steel Breakfast Era) not having a point. The people who say this probably don't read much. Not all books have a point or at least have a point that's clear. It seems like some people feel threatened when they don't understand something.

The bizarro (or surrealist/absurdist ect) genre is a strange one. It's for people who like weird things. If you don't.. then no, you have no business reading the book and then complaining that it's too weird or that it lacks a point. I don't read romance novels and then complain that there was too much emotion and not enough action.

Okay, so on with CM3's novella. As one reviewer complained.. the syntax is different. Different from traditional writing and also from the author's later work. But don't worry, it's not at all distracting like some of Kenji Siratori's work (but that's a WHOLE different animal).

Think Dawn of the Dead meets Return of the Living Dead Part 3 directed by the guy who did Tetsuo the Iron Man. I even got a little Cronenberg vibe, too. Now, I know it may seem like I'm just name dropping. That may turn people off but let me explain. For people who are not familiar with the bizarro genre or Mellick's work, the easiest thing to do is to compare it to things that those readers may be familiar with. Fans of Tetsuo may have never heard of this book or author but may very well enjoy it.

As one reviewer complained, there is a detached feeling that doesn't bode well for people looking for an emotional attachment to the characters. I say, so what? There are plenty of books (classics and otherwise) I have read that lacked characters I cared about. Look at Cormac McCarthy. He gets raved about but his books lack any real connection to the characters. I'm not saying that they are bad books.. but just that some great books lack certain aspects that we may be used to.

Oh, and there is plenty of awesome gore and very interesting characters. Honestly, the imagery is a strong point "The Steel Breakfast Era" and is probably one of the main strengths of the author whose work I happen to enjoy a lot.

One negative thing (if you can call it that) is that I felt like it could have been longer. That's the problem I have with a lot of CM3's work.. because I enjoy each story so much, I want MORE of it. Maybe a sequel would be nice. Or a film. I can see this being turned into a film, for sure. But I think it'd have to be directed by a cutting edge Japanese director.. as they seem to have a crazier grasp on things.

Anyway, "The Steel Breakfast Era" is a gore punk sci-fi biological horror story complete with sex, zombies, and some humor, too.