What if your mother was a wedge of lemon? Would you still be a mess? The first Lazy Fascist double features two original works, Messes of Men by Michael J Seidlinger and Lemon Heart by Matthew Revert.
MICHAEL J. SEIDLINGER is the Filipino American author of The Body Harvest, Anybody Home?, and other books. He has written for, among others, Wired, Buzzfeed, Thrillist, Goodreads, The Observer, Polygon, The Believer, and Publishers Weekly. He teaches at Portland State University and has led workshops at Catapult, Kettle Pond Writer's Conference, and Sarah Lawrence. You can find him at michaeljseidlinger.com.
I fondly remember double books of yesteryear, but I never saw any like this one. Seidlinger is in fine form in this one with "Messes of Men," bringing that strange blend of abstraction and specificity that he does so well. It's an odd one for him, but I end up saying that about each new book of his (and it's always true). It's calm, it rages, it's a mess...but a skillfully written and a shadowedly compelling one. I enjoyed "Lemon Heart" just as much. I've never had a chance to read Revert's fiction before, and I was impressed. I found it surreal, crassly humorous, and delightfully fable-like. It has a playfulness that still suggests at a seriousness. All in all, this is an interesting combination.
Lemon Heart was one of the more bizarre novellas I've ever had the pleasure of reading. I reviewed Messes of Men elsewhere but would say again here that it's worth your consideration.