Black Friday Book-buying Suggestions; Go Different

It's coming, can you feel it?  At the end of this week the chaos rules supreme.  We'll be seeing the deplorable competition for cheapie televisions and gadgets.  Let the trampling begin!  There's nothing you can do about it, frankly, and why would you want to.  This is the time of year where I'll offer you - the sensible readers - plenty of Black Friday suggestions, so that you can pass along the gift of the word.  Plus, as always, you won't have to compete with the Wal-Mart set.  Instead, you'll simple navigate your browser to Amazon, click it, and...well, I don't need to tell you, do I?

If you like your books funny-as-hell and themed with the holidays, look no further than Tim Dorsey's novella, When Elves Attack.  Dorsey is an acquired caper, crime maestro tasting sort of fellow.  Personally his Serge A. Storms novels tickle me like a battery-charged Sesame Street toy.  But Elves is like nothing else. 

Simply put, this is an orgy of holiday angst and Serge humor in a very short package.  There's really no real story here.  It mostly brings the characters all to the same Tampa Bay Lane - City & Country, the Davenports, the G-Unit, et al - and let's them all act out.  So, if layoffs have got you down, if you deplore the attitudes of folks at the mall, if you've ever wanted to exact holiday vengeance...well, you'll more than likely be tickled to pieces.  However, be warned...new Dorsey-fans may want to read a few of the other books so they understand how all these characters fit together.  Otherwise, sit back and relax.  The dialogue is rapid-fire, the pacing great, and the funny...well, consider it brought.

For the reader than likes their crime a little grittier, a lot meaner, and perhaps a wee bit deep fried, you might try one of our favorite reads of the year, thus: Joe R. Lansdale's "Devil Red".  This is the latest of the Hap and Leonard adventures and does not disappoint, especially the overall impending sense of doom that accompanies it.  Weirdly, we've always known that both Hap and Leonard are gonna get "banged up a bit", but you always figure that they'll make it out the other side.  This time, it's not like that.  There is a true sense of dread.  It's an outstanding read and hope Lansdale never stops writing these.

But what if you have a reader who need a quick fix and likes the funny, but can hold the crime?  Well, Michael Spradlin has done it again.  Jack and Jill Went Up to Kill.  This is the third entry into this weird way Spradlin can bend words and bring zombies into our pop-culture scene.  It all started with Christmas Carols, then songs, now nursery rhymes.  And they're hilarious.  The art and the rhymes are the best they've been yet!  Trust me!  And at 96 pages, this could round out your stocking stuffers.  In fact, while you're at it, you might eyeball Spradlin's other two zombie rhyming books, and his outstanding YA series - The Youngest Templar.

If you're scouting for biography, look to further.  This has been an outstanding year for nonfiction (specifically bios).  I'm not going to reference anything that features a story about a politico.  What I will reference, though, are two exquisite biographies by two legends of the silver screen.

Drama: An Actors Life is John Lithgow's entry.  Suprisingly poignant, it starts when John was on stage with his father "acting".  The story lovingly pays homage to the craft of theatre, more by looking at Father Lithgow (Lithgow 1.0) than recounting John's own experience.  If that sounds like a bad thing, think again.  This showcases how Lithgow came to respect and love the theatre so much!

Marty Feldman: The Biography of a Comedy Legend is the other.  Robert Ross has put together one of the must read events of the year!  Seriously!  Apparently - and I never knew this - Feldman was planning on an autobiography.  Sadly, passing as early as he did, this never came to pass.  Ross, though, fills in the gaps and introduces us to a genuine mind and a wild world.  Taking notes from all the Feldman recordings, Ross also gets feedback and storytelling from Feldman's family and comedy legends, including, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Mike Myers, and Gene Wilder.  I've already purchased three copies of this book, and I'm sure this will be on the gift giving list for some time to come.

If you're not so much into Hollywood past, or film stars, or nonfiction in general, let's flash back to the fiction world.  If you've got that friend (or if it happens to be you) that excels at reading weird books, or grabbing things that nobody else has, well, here's your veritable goldmine.  2011 has been an outstanding year for the weird.  Call it bizarro, if you want.  Call it just weird if you must.  But do not call it anything other than what it is - GLORIOUS.  Not only did the 'genre' stay weird, it ran the gamut of topics. 

Like heartbreaking and touching.  Maybe not heartbreaking, per se.  There's always a wry humour to Matthew Revert's work.  But, The Tumours Made Me Interesting is totally unique and tonally exquisite.  Rarely do you see a book that can absurdly combine blue humour (see, in honour of Revert, I'm adding the "u" to the words) with thought-provoking morality.  It's a feat that Revert gets to pull off.  If you'd've read Revert's collection, A Million Versions of Right, you knew that this kid was going to rock your stripey socks.  He does again.

If you want your weird a little stronger, a little funnier, and a helluva a lot more graphic, take David Barbee's next book, A Town Called Suckhole.  This thing reads like Barbee's last book, Carnageland, like a video game playing out.  What's different this time around, is a much improved storyteller.  Rather than just aimless violence and a "I'm entertained, but where the hell is this going" feel, you get a A-ha feel with this one.  Plus, it's really hard not to find a giddy pleasure in the fact that you're dealing with rednecks with cybernetic limbs.  After reading this, you kind of have to surf the Internet and make sure that Barbee is Barbee.  David Barbee could easily be a pseudonym for James Gunn.  For real!

And in another, completely different style, let's eyeball Jordan Krall's latest, Beyond the Valley of the Apocalypse Donkeys.  Equal parts noir, romance, and vintage Krall weird, this one is one that is remarkably eye-opening.  I'd witnessed Krall improve from is debut, Piecemeal June, to this one.  But, truly, Apocalypse Donkeys is a little different than we've seen from Krall.  The entire book is so unique that it even includes an afterwards in 8 (count'em) parts.

And, just to be a self-promoter for a moment, if you're looking for your comedy variety of weird, take a peek at two releases I had this year: Karaoke Death Squad and The Copeland Valley Sampler (which features my story "Nyuck, Nyuck").  Copeland Valley Sampler also features stories by the authors Revert and Krall, and is a potpourri of fun.  My story Nyuck, Nyuck imagines a weird western town where the Three Stooges are a gang and Burl Ives is the undertaker.

Karaoke Death Squad is a little more accessible.  An updating of Homer's The Odyssey, Death Squad demonstrates a wild look at karaoke in Baltimore.  But when a gang of sirens invades the scene (and men start disappearing) and begin winning every round, Odie assembles a rag-tag gang to thwart them.  Praised by authors S.G. Browne and Greg Hall, William Pauley III says it may be one of the funniest reads of the year.

Happy shopping.