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The Inflatable Volunteer
Welcome to Eddie's world, where grave fillers throng the pavements, where ants are plotting to slash and burn us before we do it to them, and where it doesn't pay to have too many dealings with John Satan. .
232 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
About the author
Steve Aylett
48 books166 followersSteve Aylett is a satirical science fiction and weird slipstream author of books such as LINT, The Book Lovers and Slaughtermatic, and comics including Hyperthick. He is known for his colourful satire attacking the manipulations of authority. Aylett is synaesthetic. He lives in Scotland.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 1, 2026
Good thing to have in your bag when you're sitting in an ER waiting room and the woman next to you wants to give you her stock market tips as you can weaponize these sentences until she gets fed up with the string of surreal nonsense responses and eventually wanders away never to be seen again.
August 10, 2016
I'd like to think that everyone enjoys a good non-sequitur once in a while, a random line of nonsense artfully, even carelessly chucked in there to momentarily throw a dialogue or narrative off stride, mess with the reader's head and amuse or confound just for the fun of it.
But a whole novel of them?
That's precisely what Aylett has done in this 'story' about a violent Droog and his dance with the devil, an incomprehensible and mostly tedious rant about skulls, shrieking, lard, and punching people in the face.
I had been looking forward to reading something by Aylett for a while before I finally took the plunge, attracted by the comparisons to the likes of Burroughs, Vonnegut and Philip K. Dick that often announce themselves from the blurbage on his book covers.
There was certainly some Burroughs here, only where the Literary Outlaw liked to take the odd well-aimed pistol shot at selected targets, Aylett comes across like a Gatling gun with a depressed trigger. What you get is an uninterrupted stream of this:
'He was surprised as my real fetish at the time was tying up snort-laughing barmaids with bundles of my own nerves - a restraint the thickness of cotton so naturally their struggle was all pretend. Meanwhile I'd tog up as a camel and set fire to my arse. I was surprised to discover years later that this was considered normal. Apparently if there weren't at least a dozen silver-painted midgets and a chariot involved the experiment was a non-starter round there.'
Yep, Burroughs could have written any one of those sentences. But he wouldn't have placed more than two of them adjacent in a paragraph, let alone waste over a hundred and fifty pages of perfectly good paper on scores of them strung together.
Anyone who has ever read Bob Dylan's 'novel' Tarantula and dropped a tab of acid at some point in their life can belch out a dozen non-sequiturs a day for a few months, then cobble them together and call it a story for a laugh.
It's a lot of effort for a very short laugh though.
But a whole novel of them?
That's precisely what Aylett has done in this 'story' about a violent Droog and his dance with the devil, an incomprehensible and mostly tedious rant about skulls, shrieking, lard, and punching people in the face.
I had been looking forward to reading something by Aylett for a while before I finally took the plunge, attracted by the comparisons to the likes of Burroughs, Vonnegut and Philip K. Dick that often announce themselves from the blurbage on his book covers.
There was certainly some Burroughs here, only where the Literary Outlaw liked to take the odd well-aimed pistol shot at selected targets, Aylett comes across like a Gatling gun with a depressed trigger. What you get is an uninterrupted stream of this:
'He was surprised as my real fetish at the time was tying up snort-laughing barmaids with bundles of my own nerves - a restraint the thickness of cotton so naturally their struggle was all pretend. Meanwhile I'd tog up as a camel and set fire to my arse. I was surprised to discover years later that this was considered normal. Apparently if there weren't at least a dozen silver-painted midgets and a chariot involved the experiment was a non-starter round there.'
Yep, Burroughs could have written any one of those sentences. But he wouldn't have placed more than two of them adjacent in a paragraph, let alone waste over a hundred and fifty pages of perfectly good paper on scores of them strung together.
Anyone who has ever read Bob Dylan's 'novel' Tarantula and dropped a tab of acid at some point in their life can belch out a dozen non-sequiturs a day for a few months, then cobble them together and call it a story for a laugh.
It's a lot of effort for a very short laugh though.
November 27, 2008
Aylett at his most unhinged. Usually peppers his books with scifi, fantasy, or noir elements and lots of satire so you pretend you understand what is happening. Here it’s a bubbling stew of mind mutilating anti-rational psychedelic rant after psychedelic rant. Probably better in small does, so keep by your bedside if you want this creepy babbling echoing in your head while you attempt to get some peace. Iain Sinclair’s blurb (a writer, fans of Aylett should search out and vice versa) is right on.
“Prodigiously paranoid routines delivered with a toxic fizz. A catalogue of synapse-scorching similes any bankrupt Martian poet would kill for. Watch them scatter like buckshot through the works of all self-respecting thieves and plagiarists”
“Prodigiously paranoid routines delivered with a toxic fizz. A catalogue of synapse-scorching similes any bankrupt Martian poet would kill for. Watch them scatter like buckshot through the works of all self-respecting thieves and plagiarists”
June 30, 2018
"D’you think I’ve no better way to spend m’time than listening to some stancing disaster recycle his snot for hours on end?" It feels that way but in the end everything makes sense. I guess.
Take notes, it will be easier to follow.
Take notes, it will be easier to follow.
April 10, 2013
WHAT I TOLD THE READER
This book will have a different meaning (or lack thereof) for each and every reader. With an absence of either a conventional plot or narrative structure, it might prove too anarchic for some, but it is worth sticking with for several reasons. One is the humour. At times this book is hilarious simply because of the surreal juxtaposition of words and of ideas. I wasn’t always sure whether this hilarity was intentional or not, though I think for the most part Aylett wants us to chuckle. Another reason to read this work is for its sheer chutzpah. The free-flowing nature of the (frequently opaque) prose never loses momentum and remains engaging all the way through. It never shows any lack of conviction and never falters. It’s true to say that this book will not appeal to everyone, and it’s not the sort of work I could read endlessly, but it has made me interested enough in Aylett’s work to read more (I understand that TIV is his most arcane piece, so it should be a doddle after this!). Read on, fearless reader, read on!
This book will have a different meaning (or lack thereof) for each and every reader. With an absence of either a conventional plot or narrative structure, it might prove too anarchic for some, but it is worth sticking with for several reasons. One is the humour. At times this book is hilarious simply because of the surreal juxtaposition of words and of ideas. I wasn’t always sure whether this hilarity was intentional or not, though I think for the most part Aylett wants us to chuckle. Another reason to read this work is for its sheer chutzpah. The free-flowing nature of the (frequently opaque) prose never loses momentum and remains engaging all the way through. It never shows any lack of conviction and never falters. It’s true to say that this book will not appeal to everyone, and it’s not the sort of work I could read endlessly, but it has made me interested enough in Aylett’s work to read more (I understand that TIV is his most arcane piece, so it should be a doddle after this!). Read on, fearless reader, read on!
September 1, 2007
This is by far and away the most insane piece of literature I've ever laid my hands on. Nothing, but nothing comes close insofar as headspin goes - honestly if it's pure mania you're after then look no further.
Firstly there's the dizzying vernacular and once you've grown accustomed to that you can have a go at figuring out the plot, and good luck with that by the way. It took me 4 attempts to even vaguely work out what the plot was and I'm still not sure. Guess I'll have to give it another go - I'm sure there's something in there... just what it is, who knows. What else can I say? Has to be worth 3 stars alone just for sheer balls. I've not read any of Aylett's other books and quite frankly I'm scared to.
Firstly there's the dizzying vernacular and once you've grown accustomed to that you can have a go at figuring out the plot, and good luck with that by the way. It took me 4 attempts to even vaguely work out what the plot was and I'm still not sure. Guess I'll have to give it another go - I'm sure there's something in there... just what it is, who knows. What else can I say? Has to be worth 3 stars alone just for sheer balls. I've not read any of Aylett's other books and quite frankly I'm scared to.
June 5, 2009
This book is a sinister brain-screw. It's one of those that I'm still not sure if I loved it or hated it. The onion-like layering was a nice effect but the text seems more like a stream of made-up idioms being hurled fervently from character to character--much like the 3-stooges on crack, standing on a street corner, pestering you with their nonsense while you wait for the bus to hell.
But I think I'll re-read it soon to see if the text shifts the second time around.
But I think I'll re-read it soon to see if the text shifts the second time around.
March 30, 2009
This is one of those books that I'm not sure if I loved or hated. The onion-like layering was brilliant but the overall chaos of seemingly random bar-room babble threw me for a loop. This book probably screwed me up more than Finnegan's Wake.
May 7, 2011
Steve Aylett opens your skull and bashes your brain with a potatoe masher, he has this way of writting that makes you want to read more.
I have no idea the plot of this book, maybe something about an election, but I will say you will laugh and wonder on every page.
I have no idea the plot of this book, maybe something about an election, but I will say you will laugh and wonder on every page.
December 19, 2011
A zip gun loaded with the macabre, lyrical, psychedelic keys that unlock your head and stash something truly original in your gray goo. Aylett is a true original and also kind of funny.
March 12, 2013
Not a book for everyone but if you'd like surrel aphoristic rollercoaster ride with stuff you'd written and want to quote forever then this is for you ...
April 13, 2013
A bit funny for its quirky lyricism, but for the life of me I could not understand what the heck was going on.
March 29, 2023
This was ~70% utter non sequitur and ~30% Grandpa Simpson retelling the works of Beckett. It was a lot of work but worth it. However, I don't think I will be giving any of Aylett's other books a try.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews