Customer Reviews

Sunset with a Beard

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is a collection of fourteen stories that try and blur the lines between surrealism and science fiction. It is an enjoyable book that extemporizes the breadth and imagination that CM3 possesses. It is through this collection of eclectic works, touching on everything from the surreal to horror to science fiction, that his true genius as a write comes through. Laying off of the blatant attacks on Christianity, as well as toning down his sexual and violent references from his earlier works, makes this book an extremely accessible work, rife with his strong captivating powers. A great novel for everyone to read, and a great place to start when looking into CM3's work.

Carlton Mellick III is undoubtedly amongst the most imaginative authors working today, and despite all his anarchy, has produced a perfectly civil book of stories that everyone can read and love.

His claims to blend both the genres Science-Fiction and Surrealism to create a paradoxical book of Surreal Science-Fictions has been realised. Indeed, without weeks of analysis one would be unable to seperate the two genres in his book.

There's a story for almost all tastes in this book, which simply shows how broad Carlton's range is, even though most of these are written in a bleak, dystopian tone.(that is quick becoming authentic to Carlton alone) The story "High-Strung Heroes" takes place in a fantasy world, and so does "Creatures of Heaven". "The Earwig Flesh Factory" is an amazingly creative apocolytic story, which could also be called subtle horror. Stories like "Kiss the Sun" are for romantics. "Drunk and King" is for the faceticious lot, and the entire book comes to a heart-wrenching conclusion in "An Era of Liquid Streets", explaining the titling of the book and leaving me in tears.

[...What I'm trying to say is, buy the book. It's great stuff. Probably the best $12.55 I've ever spent in my life.

Lavaix]

by Sashaemillee Myhrom

Without a doubt, Carlton Mellick's book "Sunset with a Beard" lives up to the author's claim that the reader will be unable to tell science fiction from surrealism in his stories. Perhaps this is due in part to the fact that the entire collection calls for almost unreasonable stretches of the reader's imagination.

Mellick tries incredibly hard to achieve surrealism in his writing, though in places the obvious effort simply comes across as overkill. In the short story "The Earwig Flesh Factory" the oxymoron "beautiful ugliness" is overused and a bit of a stretch even for a surrealistic future. The phrase and others like it are used throughout the book and make it seem as though Mellick is trying too hard to achieve surrealism.

Aside from a few weak subplots that lead nowhere, Mellick's writing is outstanding. With a style all his own, the author uses hyphenated descriptive words to precisely depict a motion or feeling. "Slap-brushing," "droop-staring," "scream-hissed" and "tickle-crawling" are but a few examples of this incredibly effective writing technique.

Mellick is a master of painting with words; particular lines lead the reader into the story, vividly drawing a mental picture with little effort. Creative lines such as "Watching the ghostly New Yorkers walk like smoke down the icy sidewalks" and "...sky, which seems to hang a little too close above me, like I am finely printed words that it is trying to read" draw the reader into the narrator's world in a way that few authors can successfully do.

Though much of Mellick's book displays a flare for the dramatic, it is at times poignantly short. Sentences such as "he is a very decorative man" are just precise enough to make a point; some lines have no need for garnishing.

"Sunset with a Beard" is a fantastic (and fantastical) read that improves with every story. Though unnecessarily disgusting in parts, the overall effect is sensational.

This collection of short stories is an imaginative, weird read. If you like horror and science fiction, and are looking for an author who really stretches boundaries well past the breaking point, look no further. Anti-mainstream, vivid, head shakingly weird - This book is a great intro to CM3. Highly recommended.

This was my first exposure to Carlton Mellick III, so I don't know if I was to come at this from another angle, maybe after being familiar with other works of his, but what I found most unfortunate about this collection was its most basic mismanagement of its own genre.

After a rather basic intro that presents a rather short-minded distinction between science fiction and surrealism, Mellick poses a challenge to the reader to be able to distinguish surrealism from science fiction--whether Mellick offers this challenge in earnest or not notwithstanding, he then puts together fourteen tales that don't really smack much of science fiction at all, but surrealism that doesn't really challenge sensibilities or ultimately reveal much about human character, which is something that both genre seem to strive for.

Mellick also falls into a pretty typical trap of surrealistic writing that gets even the most naive newbie--the fault of letting his language get as vague as his settings. In surrealism, precision of language becomes key to dilineate and situate and establish in the work. Instead, Mellick stays vague with his language, hyphenating terms to make people 'almost-laugh,' for example, rather than offer a crisp and distinct hand through these turbulent images of civilizations that live in carpets and beards, and Jesus with a Chuck Berry fetish.

Perhaps one could counter and say that Mellick's language is meant to be as surreal and between worlds as the worlds of the stories themselves, but in the end his weak hand with language makes his moments of pathos rather thin and unidentifiable. Besides, Mellick seems more out to paint surrealistic strokes galore rather than allow his narrators and characters to accept their surroundings, to allow the real stories to take over. Instead, Mellick excuses his worlds by trying to explain them, and his characters become mere reporters than reactors to their situations, which would normally present the perfect opportunities to reveal how they appeal to us and why we might be intrigued to follow them to their (sometimes) sticky ends (see almost any Calvino and of course Donald Barthelme).

A collection of some occsional glimmers, but on the whole out to prove a point rather than breathe on its own.

This is the first book I read from author Carlton Mellick III, and I was blwon away. Upon buying it for obscene amounts of money from a friend I thought it was going to be a struggle to get through, seeing that the titles of the short stories were surreal/science fiction. Indeed I was wrong, this book is extremly easy and unbelievably fun to read, Each short story was filled with strange situations ex:(faceless characters, gardens growing hands)that i found it easiest to read one story at a time and let it sink in before moving to the next. I recommend if you have never heard of the author CM3 that you purchase this book first.

This is a great place to start for anyone who is unfamiliar with the author Carlton Mellick. There is a certain undeniably appealing element about all his work, and "Sunset With a Beard" is no exception. This book of surreall/science fiction stories ranks up there with any classic short story collection, and I do mean any. Like Ray Bradbury's "Martian Chronicles", or J.D. Salinger's "Nine Stories", all the stories are different, but the collection as a whole seems to have a similar thread strung throughout. There is an overall feel that permeates every page, no matter how unrelated each individual story seems. They are strange, beautiful, sometimes haunting, and often funny. If you like interesting new reads that will still be just as good (if not better) in 50 years, then this is definitely a book that you should own.

Each time I read a story in this book, vividly colored liquid oozed out of my ears. Mellick writes in a very personalized style, often using fabulously descriptive hypenated adjectives that flavor the work. The imagery his words create will be permanently imprinted in your brain, and you can enjoy the flashbacks when you close your eyes. These stories present a unique marriage of sci-fi and surrealism unavailable elsewhere. Adventurous readers who find the idea of sci-fi surrealism intriguing should buy this book immediately. It's a legal drug for the literate mind.

If anyone can pull off a perfect combination of Science Fiction and the Surreal Genres, it be Carlton Mellick III. This is defineatly a "must have" for anyone interested in the mind-boggling and amazing world of Surreal Fiction, in which Carlton reigns supreme. Imagine Vonnegut on acid. Imagine Letham on speed. Now imagine Carroll in a state of dark insanity. Add these three up and you'll come up with a close second to Carlton Mellick. Need I say more.

Part of the fun of this collection of short stories is taking the challenge the author poses at the beginning of the book....guess which stories are sci fi, and which are surrealism. Oh, you can make arguments either way, but I'm not entirely sure which is which, BUT that's the genius of Carlton Mellick's writings. He is a craftsman of wordplay, and blends the best of both genres into each story, making it a blast to read, and even more fun to argue amongst other readers over which story falls into what category. I just love this guys style....Now when will we get to see one of his books or stories translated to screen?