Background
Carlton Mellick III started writing at the age of ten and completed twelve novels by the age of eighteen. Only one of these early novels, Electric Jesus Corpse, ever made it to print. [4] Mellick attended Clarion West in 2008, where he studied under such authors as Chuck Palahniuk, Cory Doctorow, Connie Willis, Paul Park, and Mary Rosenblum. [5]
He is best known for his first novel Satan Burger , which was translated into Russian and published by Ultra Culture in 2005. It was part of a four book series called Brave New World, which also featured Virtual Light by William Gibson, City Come A Walkin by John Shirley, and Tea from an Empty Cup by Pat Cadigan. [6]
In the late 1990s, he formed a collective for offbeat authors which included D. Harlan Wilson, Kevin L. Donihe, Vincent Sakowski, among others, and the publishing company Eraserhead Press. This scene evolved into the Bizarro fiction movement in 2005. [7]
House of 1000 Corpses is a 2003 American black comedy horror film written, co-scored, and directed by Rob Zombie in his directorial debut, and the first film in the Firefly film series. It stars Sid Haig, Bill Moseley, Sheri Moon, Karen Black, Rainn Wilson, Chris Hardwick, Tom Towles, Erin Daniels, Jennifer Jostyn, Walton Goggins, and Dennis Fimple in his final role. The plot centers on a group of teenagers who are kidnapped and tortured by a psychopathic family during Halloween after traveling across the country to write a book.
Rob Zombie is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, filmmaker, and actor. His music and lyrics are notable for their horror and sci-fi themes, and his live shows have been praised for their elaborate shock rock theatricality. He has sold an estimated 15 million albums worldwide. He rose to fame as a founding member and the frontman of heavy metal band White Zombie, with whom he released four albums.
Douglas Lain is an American writer whose books include the post-singularity novel Bash Bash Revolution from Night Shade Books, the magical realist novel Billy Moon from Tor Books, and the Philip K. Dick Award nominated novel After the Saucers Landed.
Eckhard Gerdes is an American novelist and editor.
Sidney Eddie Mosesian, known professionally as Sid Haig, was an American actor. He was known for his appearances in horror films, most notably his role as Captain Spaulding in the Rob Zombie films House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects and 3 from Hell. Haig's Captain Spaulding, and Haig himself, have been called icons of horror cinema. Haig had a leading role on the television series Jason of Star Command as the villain Dragos. He appeared in many television programs, including The Untouchables, Batman, Gunsmoke, Mission: Impossible, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Star Trek, Get Smart, The Rockford Files, Charlie's Angels, Fantasy Island, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Dukes of Hazzard, The A-Team, MacGyver, and Emergency!. Haig also had roles in several of Jack Hill's blaxploitation films from the 1970s.
Bizarro fiction is a contemporary literary genre which often uses elements of absurdism, satire, and the grotesque, along with pop-surrealism and genre fiction staples, in order to create subversive, weird, and entertaining works. The term was adopted in 2005 by the independent publishing companies Eraserhead Press, Raw Dog Screaming Press, and Afterbirth Books. Much of its community revolves around Eraserhead Press, which is based in Portland, Oregon, and has hosted the annual BizarroCon since 2008. The introduction to the first Bizarro Starter Kit describes Bizarro as "literature's equivalent to the cult section at the video store" and a genre that "strives not only to be strange, but fascinating, thought-provoking, and, above all, fun to read." According to Rose O'Keefe of Eraserhead Press: "Basically, if an audience enjoys a book or film primarily because of its weirdness, then it is Bizarro. Weirdness might not be the work's only appealing quality, but it is the major one."
John Robert Lennon is an American novelist, short story writer, musician and composer.
Alan Goldsher is an American author of 15 books, performs on bass and keyboard, and is a music and sports journalist. He lives in Chicago.
The Kafka Effekt (2001) is the debut book of American author D. Harlan Wilson. It contains forty-four irreal short stories and flash fiction and has been said to combine the milieus of Franz Kafka and William S. Burroughs. Along with Carlton Mellick III's Satan Burger, Vincent Sakowski's Some Things Are Better Left Unplugged, Hertzan Chimera's Szmonhfu, Kevin L. Donihe's Shall We Gather at the Garden? and M.F. Korn's Skimming the Gumbo Nuclear, The Kafka Effekt was among the first books jointly released by Bizarro fiction publisher Eraserhead Press.
John Skipp is a splatterpunk horror and fantasy author and anthology editor, as well as a songwriter, screenwriter, film director, and film producer. He collaborated with Craig Spector on multiple novels, and has also collaborated with Marc Levinthal and Cody Goodfellow. He worked as editor-in-chief of both Fungasm Press and Ravenous Shadows.
Richard Dean Starr is an American entrepreneur, editor, screenwriter, and author of fiction, comics, and graphic novels. He is also a former journalist and film critic who has written for newspapers and magazines.
Tim Curran is an American author of horror fiction from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Bradley Sands is an American author and editor. He is involved in the Bizarro movement in underground literature with Steve Aylett, Chris Genoa, Carlton Mellick III and D. Harlan Wilson.
Jeff Burk is an American author and editor of Bizarro and horror fiction, currently living in Portland, Oregon. His writing is characterized by the use of humor mixed with extreme violence and gore.
Jesus F. Gonzalez was an American author, primarily of horror fiction. He has written many notable novels and has done collaborations with Bram Stoker Award winners Mike Oliveri and Brian Keene. His novel Survivor has been optioned to be filmed by Chesapeake Films, and Clickers has been optioned by Cooked Goose Productions.
James Gregory "JG" Faherty is an American author who writes in the horror, science fiction, and dark fantasy genres.
Jeff Strand is an American writer, known for his works of comedy horror.
Satan Burger is a bizarro fiction novel by Carlton Mellick III, published in 2001 by Eraserhead Press. Mellick's debut novel, Satan Burger is both one of his best known works and one of the most prominent novels in the largely underground bizarro fiction movement. The novel attracted a cult following soon after its release and has been translated into Russian.
Captain Spaulding is a fictional character created by Rob Zombie. The character first appeared in Zombie's 2003 horror film House of 1000 Corpses, portrayed by Sid Haig. Haig reprised his role as Spaulding in the sequels The Devil's Rejects (2005) and 3 from Hell (2019). Haig also voiced Spaulding in the 2009 animated film The Haunted World of El Superbeasto. The character is depicted as a vulgar and murderous clown.
Zombies and Shit is a zombie filled Bizarro fiction written by Carlton Mellick III and was released in 2010 by the publishing company Eraserhead Press.
