Humor can be a lot of things- insightful, instructive, intriguing... but all that doesn't count for nothi' if it isn't funny. It has to be funny. So let's address that point first and foremost. This book is FUNNY AS HELL!! I was reading this in the grocery store, pushing the cart behind my wife- who takes a long time to shop- and I was laughing so hard, it was embarrassing her, so she asked me to go read in the cafe/food court area at the front of the store. The humor here reminded me a lot of The Simpsons. There is a ton of great one-liners and minor story points which were not necessarily important to the plot, but which almost had me in tears, laughing. I love the journalists salivating over the boy trapped in the well... until they find out it's "just a hobo" and drop the story. Or the cannibal cops in L.A. and the basketball team. Or how the news anchor doesn't interview the scientist who actually invented the "time/space reverse polkafying device", but instead interview the scientist who doesn't know what's going on, but "has great cheekbones." Later, on page 141, when the CRNAA explains why he isn't certified... I think anybody who's worked in medicine will appreciate that one! This is pretty smart humor. It's obvious that "bizarro" fiction isn't just random or shocking. Mykle Hansen has something to say, and these three stories make you want to listen.
Monster Co*ks
Tech Support drone Jack Stalker has a miserable life, and decides to turn his fortunes around by enlarging his member. He sends off for a mysterious treatment, which turns out to be more effective than he expected, when his growing organ develops a mind of its own. First it implicates him in a potential homicide... yadda yadda yadda ...one thing leads to another... and the planet's ecosystem is destroyed, with the last surviving humans floating on makeshift rafts in the ocean. So... okay, there's a little bit of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde going on here, but maybe it's not all as supernatural as it looks. Don't most guys have at least one embarrassing story about being called to the blackboard at an inopportune moment, or a high school slow-dance that reveals one's feelings just a bit too much? My point is just that this "bizarro" stuff doesn't come out of nowhere. The same goes for imagery of monstrous members battling each other, and laying waste to the landscape, like Godzilla and Mothra. It isn't such an insane allegory, when a nine-year war and "too big to fail" banks are destroying the country. This should somehow be linked to a bizarro version of Lysistrata.
I cannot leave this discussion without making special mention of the humor. The Tech Support humor Hansen comes up with is genius, and actually steals the show from the more obvious humor potentials. When Jack wants to hit the cop, his tech buddies hold him back, saying "Dude, It's okay.. Just calm down... Reboot! Reboot!" When Phil goes crazy, he tells everybody "You're on the Devil's network now! And he's uploaded me!" (you have to read the story to get the context there) ...or when Jack compares the Phil's brains to so many "trouble tickets"... that's good stuff!
Journey to the Center of Agnes Cuttlebottom
A little bit like Fantastic Voyage, except the miniaturized team is going up the rectum of a comatose prostitute. There is a lot of funny commentary about journalism, as well as capitalists for whom nothing is sacred, and pop culture. I was particularly entertained by the character of Marine ski-doo brigade Commander Jock Thrustworth, who reminded me of Buck Turgidson from Dr Strangelove. The whole bit with the Live Aid-type concert in the woman's colon, where the National Guard has to be called in, had me rolling on the floor. Also, the time-share development in her transverse colon! As with the previous story, it's not hard to see that this is a highly-allegorical flavor of "bizarro", which is actually incisive social commentary.
Crazy Sh***ing Planet
Sorry to keep comparing these stories to other works, but here you have a time far in the future where the descendents of the rich live in beautiful cities in the clouds, and the ignorant poor live on the surface, bewildered by the assault of sewage and discarded consumer products which rain down on them. A comparison to The Time Machine is kind of hard to avoid. I enjoyed this story, but would like to have seen the character of Martha Trump-Hilton XII and the ship full of nuns developed more!
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Top reviews from other countries
CapedCrusader
Nicht perfekt, aber sehr amüsant.
Reviewed in Germany on January 26, 2014
M Buckley
Delightful little romp!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 12, 2014kaelie
Perfect for reading on the bus
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 12, 2019Mr. A. Healy
Giant anatomies, minute proctology et al
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 1, 2014
