What do you think?
Rate this book
Vinyl Destination
The town of Bellbrook is digging a new dump. They conceived a brilliant idea for containing the toxins within; line the bottom of the dump with old vinyl LP’s that nobody listens to anymore anyways.
What they don’t know, what they couldn’t have known, it their excavation awakened an ancient evil. What happens next… is the day the music undied.
What they don’t know, what they couldn’t have known, it their excavation awakened an ancient evil. What happens next… is the day the music undied.
153 pages, Paperback
First published October 30, 2014
2 people are currently reading
313 people want to read
About the author
Adam Millard
131 books179 followersAdam Millard is the author of twenty novels, twelve novellas, and more than two hundred short stories, which can be found in various collections and anthologies. Probably best known for his post-apocalyptic fiction, Adam also writes fantasy/horror for children and Bizarro fiction for several publishers. His work has recently been translated for the German market.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 12, 2014
A Lovecraftian love letter to music in all its good, bad, and ugly forms, piling on references to artists and lyrics from pedestrian to obscure, written against the backdrop of a small English town and the lives of its comically hapless residents. Recommended for fans of horror, humor, and mashups that go beyond the novelty of randomness to produce something simultaneously clever and entertaining.
December 25, 2014
For the love of music and LP's. Millard spins a warped record of comebacks from the dead. Morphing into some of the favorites that appeared on records. Michael Jackson, Meatloaf, Beatles. To name a few in this bizarre spin dedication to the record players that get no more love.
An earthquake strikes Bellbrook and a cast of characters begin to morph into look-alikes. It's like a buffet at Jack Rabbit Slim's. A Tarantino lunch ticket of a lovecraftin, bizarro musical. Undead music lives on but the evil it brings may be a warped tune.
Want a flashback with "The Village People" or still mourning the death of "Michael Jackson" then drop the needle on your favorite LP and read this book a love letter to all those LPs that no one listens to anymore.
An earthquake strikes Bellbrook and a cast of characters begin to morph into look-alikes. It's like a buffet at Jack Rabbit Slim's. A Tarantino lunch ticket of a lovecraftin, bizarro musical. Undead music lives on but the evil it brings may be a warped tune.
Want a flashback with "The Village People" or still mourning the death of "Michael Jackson" then drop the needle on your favorite LP and read this book a love letter to all those LPs that no one listens to anymore.
November 23, 2014
I have been a fan of Adam Millard’s for some time. Millard writes novels that are always a sort of love-letter to a genre he clearly loves. Each book is meant to be entertaining in the way that a Saturday-afternoon creature-feature is supposed to be fun; aware of its own limitations, and exploiting those limitations and the limitations of the characters who are placed in absolutely ludicrous scenarios. Millard’s writing touches the heart of both bizarro and horror fiction, blending elements of both genres that make his books worth reading for fans of either.
Vinyl Destination moves very quickly, and the ideas themselves are engaging without any subtext. Millard, a UK author, reminds me of how I perceive British humor; quirky, witty, and intelligent. The humor is never juvenile, but is tongue-in-cheek; the dialogue is naturalistic, as if the reader might be able to identify with the common sense of humor that the characters use in their dialogue. This suggests that Millard writes for an audience that wants to be able to identify with its characters easily; Millard almost seems to know what a reader might expect a character to say, and then twists in into something unexpected. Lovely, deft, and skillful.
A lot of great pop-culture references that were surprising. Not many people will even admit to having watched a movie like Species 2; I think that idea best exemplifies where Millard is going with his characters. I loved the nostalgic debates about music and pop culture. I loved the action, the setting, and the talk about records. YES. Vinyl records. And how many terrible movies did the characters address in this book?
What a fun read. Millard even mentions Enya. What a crazy book. I think LOL should just be the title of this review.
Vinyl Destination moves very quickly, and the ideas themselves are engaging without any subtext. Millard, a UK author, reminds me of how I perceive British humor; quirky, witty, and intelligent. The humor is never juvenile, but is tongue-in-cheek; the dialogue is naturalistic, as if the reader might be able to identify with the common sense of humor that the characters use in their dialogue. This suggests that Millard writes for an audience that wants to be able to identify with its characters easily; Millard almost seems to know what a reader might expect a character to say, and then twists in into something unexpected. Lovely, deft, and skillful.
A lot of great pop-culture references that were surprising. Not many people will even admit to having watched a movie like Species 2; I think that idea best exemplifies where Millard is going with his characters. I loved the nostalgic debates about music and pop culture. I loved the action, the setting, and the talk about records. YES. Vinyl records. And how many terrible movies did the characters address in this book?
What a fun read. Millard even mentions Enya. What a crazy book. I think LOL should just be the title of this review.
February 20, 2015
Vinyl Destination is a blast. The core concept is pleasingly mental – evil-dead-meets-cosmic-horror which gets corrupted by the records that have been used by the council to line the refuse pit said horror is sleeping in, waking it in the process, resulting on the hapless inhabitants of Bellbrook being gradually turned into musical icons from the last half century – and the delivery is gleefully demented.
The sheer number of gags per minute are impressive. Not all of them landed for me, but enough did that I was consistently chuckling throughout, an early running joke concerning fish fingers being a particular highlight. The big advantage of such a joke heavy approach is that if any one punchline doesn't grab you, it hardly matters – two more will be along in a minute. Often, too, momentum builds, as absurdity is topped on absurdity, leading to a few genuine belly laughs. It's deceptively smart stuff - Millard has a real gift for combining the mundane and the absurd, colliding them together with poise.
The story is, as you'll have surmised, slight and very silly, but it zips along at a good pace, never outstaying it's welcome or dragging. Short chapters help with this, keeping us bouncing between different groups of protagonists in various rediculous predicaments. Millard does a very good job with this, in that I never lost track of who I was visiting with at any one time, despite the large cast and regular scene changes – again, under the hood of the silliness of the piece is some genuine writing skill.
There's a particularly fine set-piece sequence in the town nightclub around the halfway point which I really enjoyed, and I found the action from there up to the finale really enjoyable and engaging – even managing to squeeze in a dash of drama amid the ever-present jokes.
Overall I found Vinyl Destination to be a breath of fresh air – a fun, knowing romp through the tropes of horror fiction and popular music, with enough good humour and energy to keep the pages turning at a good pace. Very entertaining.
- See more at: http://www.gingernutsofhorror.com/4/p...
The sheer number of gags per minute are impressive. Not all of them landed for me, but enough did that I was consistently chuckling throughout, an early running joke concerning fish fingers being a particular highlight. The big advantage of such a joke heavy approach is that if any one punchline doesn't grab you, it hardly matters – two more will be along in a minute. Often, too, momentum builds, as absurdity is topped on absurdity, leading to a few genuine belly laughs. It's deceptively smart stuff - Millard has a real gift for combining the mundane and the absurd, colliding them together with poise.
The story is, as you'll have surmised, slight and very silly, but it zips along at a good pace, never outstaying it's welcome or dragging. Short chapters help with this, keeping us bouncing between different groups of protagonists in various rediculous predicaments. Millard does a very good job with this, in that I never lost track of who I was visiting with at any one time, despite the large cast and regular scene changes – again, under the hood of the silliness of the piece is some genuine writing skill.
There's a particularly fine set-piece sequence in the town nightclub around the halfway point which I really enjoyed, and I found the action from there up to the finale really enjoyable and engaging – even managing to squeeze in a dash of drama amid the ever-present jokes.
Overall I found Vinyl Destination to be a breath of fresh air – a fun, knowing romp through the tropes of horror fiction and popular music, with enough good humour and energy to keep the pages turning at a good pace. Very entertaining.
- See more at: http://www.gingernutsofhorror.com/4/p...
February 13, 2015
I've never quite read a book like this before. Sometimes it was funny, sometimes it was weird. Others it was just plain random. The pit dweller, demon or whatever it was.. I wish we learned a bit more about it. The end was kind of abrupt. But it was a fun read. People turning into famous singers and randomly singing and going crazy. I love how the music was the main focus. This would be perfect novel turned movie. Make it happen people!
September 7, 2015
Never has a tale of ancient evil been more likely to get at least one song stuck in your head. The story is fun and well put together, and the musical mentions worked in are varied enough to be familiar to almost any reader I can think of. I got a lot of good laughs too. Definitely an enjoyable little book.
May 24, 2015
This book was great! I love Adam Millard's work, funny, twisted, and highly entertaining!
March 11, 2023
Delirious, ridiculous, and hysterical.
July 30, 2015
This was a really fun read even if some of the song references went over my head. I loved the premise and enjoyed watching what happened to each character as the story progressed. I feel like I can't get very specific without spoiling things, suffice to say if you like bizarro you should pick up this book.
May 20, 2016
I have not read Millard in a while, and when I read through this one, I wondered, why the hell haven't I? Vinyl seemed to be a bit Bizarro, which I usually steer clear of, my personal preference, but Millard manage to capture my interest and hold it hostage until the last page. I loved the musical references and the humor, and the story. Highly entertaining!
November 4, 2014
Commenting on this thread in the Bizarro Fiction Group here on Goodreads will enter you into a drawing to win a free paperback!
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
April 3, 2015
An entertaining romp featuring the best use of an undead Michael Jackson I've encountered since seeing Evil Dead The Musical in Las Vegas
August 17, 2016
Clever and fun.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews