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11th out of 150 books
—
127 voters
Angel Dust Apocalypse
by
Jeremy Robert Johnson (Goodreads Author)
Meth-heads, man-made monsters, and murderous Neo-Nazis. Blissed out club kids dying at the speed of sound. The un-dead and the very soon-to-be-dead. They're all here, trying to claw their way free. From the radioactive streets of a war-scarred future, where the nuclear bombs have become self-aware, to the fallow fields of Nebraska where the kids are mainlining lightning bu...more
Paperback, 184 pages
Published
February 10th 2005
by Eraserhead Press
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Mar 14, 2012
Jackson
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Fans of literary short fiction with sci-fi/horror crossover appeal. NOT only for fans of bizarro.
Recommended to Jackson by:
the author
Here is my review of ADA from Verbicide #14 (summer 2005):
Regardless of whether short story collections are as popular or as lucrative as novels, they are my favorite literary medium. Fellow Verbicide writer Kris Sevillena recently informed me that Edgar Allen Poe — in addition to writing fiction and poetry — was also a literary critic who expressly read and wrote about short stories, as he strongly disliked the lost momentum when he wasn’t able to finish a novel in a single sitting.
I’ll agree w...more
Regardless of whether short story collections are as popular or as lucrative as novels, they are my favorite literary medium. Fellow Verbicide writer Kris Sevillena recently informed me that Edgar Allen Poe — in addition to writing fiction and poetry — was also a literary critic who expressly read and wrote about short stories, as he strongly disliked the lost momentum when he wasn’t able to finish a novel in a single sitting.
I’ll agree w...more
What a great title! And an excellent collection of weird stories that defy easy categorization. Jeremy Robert Johnson once offered to buy me a beer in Portland a few years back but like a jerk I declined (because I was on the wagon). I've regretted it ever since.
Just as one of Stephen King's best short story collections encourages the reader to work the "Night Shift," this riveting anthology from Jeremy Robert Johnson encourages the reader to enter the "Angel Dust Apocalypse." Reading this book does indeed have the feel of entering a newfound, blissful end of the world (or, more accurately, of the world as we know it). Johnson's writing clearly pulls influence from not only great horror authors such as King but also great satire authors such as Vonnegut...more
johnson thanks selby, burroughs, vonnegut, barker, king, and ellroy (among others) in the dedication of this book, and i see all of them in his writing, but the guy he most reminds me of is william gibson. he has the same kind of unlimited imagination, same unrelentingly furious forward movement, same dark interest in altered states of consciousness, and, most importantly, the same kind of complete and seemingly unshakable belief in the scientific reality of the world (most obvious in those stor...more
Electricity sparkled across the surface of his blackened flesh like so much glitter....
"Angel Dust Apocalypse" is quite possibly one of the best unusual/weird/creepy/hypnotic books of short stories out there!
At the beginning of the book, JRJ says a nice thank you to several authors including, Chuck Palahniuk, Stephen King, Clive Barker and Irvine Welsh for being his inspiration! His short stories show that he is a fan of all those outstanding writers!
There is even a blurb on the back of the bo...more
"Angel Dust Apocalypse" is quite possibly one of the best unusual/weird/creepy/hypnotic books of short stories out there!
At the beginning of the book, JRJ says a nice thank you to several authors including, Chuck Palahniuk, Stephen King, Clive Barker and Irvine Welsh for being his inspiration! His short stories show that he is a fan of all those outstanding writers!
There is even a blurb on the back of the bo...more
If there is one aspect of storytelling which Jeremy Robert Johnson has mastered, it's in creating and following memorable characters. Having read this a while back, I re-read this collection and immediately felt at home with my old gateway book. Whether it's Jake playing in the nuclear ash mistaken for snow, Curt playing surgeon on himself, or James being fed and morphed by Nurse Sebac, there's a lot to be compelled by. Hell, the latter story ("Amniotic Shock in the Last Sacred Place") happens t...more
I don't know if post Gen X/Gen Y middleschoolers still have to go through the DARE program and hear the local constabulary fum faw through how marijuana makes you forget things and crack and heroin mean certain death. At my DARE graduation, I got to hear one member of the Kingston Trio perform. He didn't even play Hang Down Your Head Tom Dooley. Several kids in the same DARE class as me laughed through it, did drugs and went about their lives as if it didn't happen. This wasn't an honest portray...more
I'm torn. I've only ever found one short story collection where I enjoyed enough of the stories to say I liked the whole book (By Blood We Live). There were quite a few stories in Angel Dust that I liked, but there were more that I just didn't care for. The stories that were more Bizarro, I tended not to like. I'll say the same for the ones that were mainly about drugs. There were quite a few that I enjoyed. Precedents starts with the character in jail. It then backtracks to show how she got the...more
This short story collection opens with a pair of tales ("The League of Zeroes" and "Dissociative Skills") which made me uncomfortable much like Chucky P's "Guts" chapter in Haunted did (especially the latter). That immediately earned my respect, as I'm far from squeamish. From there, JRJ conducts us through stories of medical experiments, nuclear winters, murderers, misfits, and drug (ab)use, all written compellingly, expertly, with dark humor rippling throughout.
The biggest compliment I can giv...more
The biggest compliment I can giv...more
When I started this book, I was just coming off of the Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars and was slightly concerned that this would be similar. (Not because I didn't enjoy the previous book, but I'm looking to explore several different directions at once, as indicated by the variety in my "currently reading" books)
I thoroughly enjoyed this book - some more than others. It felt as though it built up, mild crescendos and delicate decrescendos to the final story - which were absolutely amazing. When I...more
I thoroughly enjoyed this book - some more than others. It felt as though it built up, mild crescendos and delicate decrescendos to the final story - which were absolutely amazing. When I...more
"Angel Dust Apocalypse" is an fantastic, dark, and smart collection of short stories and flash fiction. Most of the pieces explore the human quest for acceptance, affirmation, self worth, and love. A man undergoes an insane body modification. A woman grows to rely on her abductor for companionship. A boy performs surgery on himself and wonders at the immediate effect that his actions have on his family. Each story is unique in its voice, but they all come together to create a unified book. I can...more
I really am stoked. I am stoked because I have been reading quite a few horror books lately and none of those books really caught my fancy, be they novels, novellas or short story collections.
Jeremy Robert Johnson's Angel Dust Apocalypse is truly stunning, dark, weird, grotesque and very funny. I am stoked because he's only getting started.
This is a book that made me feel like savouring it by the words it discloses. Which I did.
The League Of Zeroes - ***** - A great gross-out opener for the co...more
Jeremy Robert Johnson's Angel Dust Apocalypse is truly stunning, dark, weird, grotesque and very funny. I am stoked because he's only getting started.
This is a book that made me feel like savouring it by the words it discloses. Which I did.
The League Of Zeroes - ***** - A great gross-out opener for the co...more
Back in the 80's, Stephen King proclaimed, "I have seen the future of horror... and his name is Clive Barker." Well, there was some good stuff there (Books of Blood, The Inhuman Condition) but I lost interest after The Damnation Game, not that it wasn't a good book. I didn't have any money for any books other than textbooks back then. My friend Paul called him a "weenie" after he blew off a speaking engagement back in college without notice. But I digress....
I think that King was a bit premature...more
I think that King was a bit premature...more
This collection of short stories is now five years old, and it shows its age. The style and spirit of this book is maybe 15 to 20 years out of fashion. Really, the sensibility of this book is firmly tied into the Cyberpunk and Mirrorshades style that flourished in 80s scifi writing and reemerged in movies of the late 90s and early 00s. This doesn't bother me in the least. I love that stuff.
Johnson does not love his characters. That is interesting to me because so many of them go to extremes (ext...more
Johnson does not love his characters. That is interesting to me because so many of them go to extremes (ext...more
My first venture into Bizzaro Fiction. While I am sure that the genre as a whole isn't all about the effects of mass amounts of drugs taken by people in an attempt to achieve freedom from society, that was the major theme in most of these short stories. However, there were a few gems in it that did impress me and the authors' creativeness still shone through. Still interested to see what else he puts out.
My favorites: Precedents, Working at Home, Luminary, Saturn's Game
My favorites: Precedents, Working at Home, Luminary, Saturn's Game
I still don't remember what author/review/ad lead me to this book, but I'm utterly blown away by the author's tight, visceral way with words.
I'll warn you it borders on splatterpunk - but damn, does he walk in some beautiful nightmares... it's like the intestinal drip of a drug trip apocalypse. But it makes you THINK.
Still... best in small doses. Lest your eyeballs and brain burst.
I'll warn you it borders on splatterpunk - but damn, does he walk in some beautiful nightmares... it's like the intestinal drip of a drug trip apocalypse. But it makes you THINK.
Still... best in small doses. Lest your eyeballs and brain burst.
2 1/2 stars.
Dissociative Skills, Precedents, Luminary, Saturn's Game, and Swimming in the House of the Sea were all worth the short time it took to read. I would happily recommend these stories to anyone slightly interested in this book. Amniotic Shock in the Last Sacred Place, Stanley's Lips, Ex-Hale, Priapism, Branded, Sparklers Burning, Last Thoughts Drifting Down, and Wall of Sound: A Movement in Three Parts I disliked, completely, for a variety of reasons, the main one being the amateurish...more
Dissociative Skills, Precedents, Luminary, Saturn's Game, and Swimming in the House of the Sea were all worth the short time it took to read. I would happily recommend these stories to anyone slightly interested in this book. Amniotic Shock in the Last Sacred Place, Stanley's Lips, Ex-Hale, Priapism, Branded, Sparklers Burning, Last Thoughts Drifting Down, and Wall of Sound: A Movement in Three Parts I disliked, completely, for a variety of reasons, the main one being the amateurish...more
Crazy, sometimes hard to read--in a good way. Not many books are grotesque enough to make say "Oh, fuck" out loud several times per story, let alone accomplish that without leaving me disgusted. 'ADA' is original, engrossing, and, well, even if it's not your thing, worth checking out.
If you are looking for stories that reaffirm your faith in humanity and give you a warm fuzzy feeling.... uh, this one isn't it. But if you are looking for dark, weird, cutting edge stuff in terms of science fiction/horror... ya found it. Definitely a read-in-the-daytime book. Woo.
One of the cornerstones of the Bizarro genre, Jeremy Robert Johnson's Angel Dust Apocalypse is a powerhouse of a book. Inside this tome are stories that pay homage to Bradbury, Barker, and King as well as a trove of strange and disturbing treats. You want to know what Bizarro is? This is it baby, accept no substiutions!
Fleeting turns into some seriously fucked up musings. Some are perfect, some feel half baked (perhaps intentionally so). None make me feel good. It's all squicky diaper monkey bolt needle porn. What?
was expecting to be disturbed(reason i bought it)but was pleasantly shocked.stories were well written and full of not just shocks but laugh out loud humour.if this mans book career fails i'm sure he could be a stand up comic.
Probably shouldn't have read this in one day, I feel like I need a shower. Some of the stories showed promise, two were downright excellent, and some are just excruciating.
the book is a compilation of short stories pertaining to bizarre or supernatural fiction. The bland writing contrasted with the failed attempts at shock value, which is unfortunate because aside form that, some of the stories introduced some cool concepts that simply faltered.
Short story collection containing VERY VERY weird and dark disturbing themes. Jeremy has a great imagination, I must give him that.
this is quite simply the best collection of short stories i've ever read. i don't have the words to describe it, but i recommend it more than any book i've ever read.
This collection of short stories was just what I was looking for - cutting edge, original, my generation can easily relate to many of the premises, stories are weird enough to have you hooked on the "weird factor" alone, but also offer great plots and resolutions. In short, this book was just the right combination of originality and talent that I was looking for to get me back in to writing myself. Plus, the author is readily available - if you order the book from his site directly he will autog...more
Bizarre, bizarre book, but the short stories will stick with you - you won't be able to NOT think about them.
Great short stories for those who like the weird stuff. And by "weird" I mean wweeeeeiiiiiiiirrrdddddd!!!!!!
I couldn't finish this book, the terrible reader that I am.
Normally I am adamently against not finishing a book, especially something like this which is really not very long.
But man oh man, the writing is terrible, the ideas are adolescent, and it's just not good.
"Snowfall" is the book's one saving grace, a short story with some good imagery and a sombre twist of an ending, but even here the writing is very amateurish.
I need to find a book I can actually finish!
Normally I am adamently against not finishing a book, especially something like this which is really not very long.
But man oh man, the writing is terrible, the ideas are adolescent, and it's just not good.
"Snowfall" is the book's one saving grace, a short story with some good imagery and a sombre twist of an ending, but even here the writing is very amateurish.
I need to find a book I can actually finish!
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bizarro fiction.: ANGEL DUST APOCALYPSE Finally Hits Kindle! | 5 | 52 | Feb 11, 2013 06:52am |
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Dec 04, 2008 07:13pm