Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.

Start by marking “Impossible James” as Want to Read:

Other editions

Enlarge cover

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Open Preview

Impossible James

Danger Slater (Goodreads Author)

4.44 · Rating details · 50 ratings · 32 reviews

My father was dying. There was no hope. Then he took a screwdriver to the brain. Got pregnant. And found the cure for death.

Impossible? That's my dad.

IMPOSSIBLE JAMES

Get A Copy

Paperback, 224 pages

Published June 15th 2019 by Fungasm Press

More Details... Edit Details

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Reader Q&A

To ask other readers questions about Impossible James, please sign up.

Be the first to ask a question about Impossible James

Lists with This Book

Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea by Sarah Pinsker

Most Anticipated Small Press Books of 2019

66 books — 19 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

Showing 1-30

Average rating 4.44 ·

Rating details

· 50 ratings · 32 reviews

More filters

Sort order

Start your review of Impossible James

Apr 25, 2019 Eddie Generous rated it it was amazing

Unnerving Magazine Review

Listen to my interview with the author here: https://www.unnervingmagazine.com/sin...

Absolutely nuts. Hilarious with a pace set so quickly you have no time to question what remains of your sanity. Wild. Frantic. Oddly motivating.

flag 9 likes · Like · see review

Jun 04, 2019 Frank rated it really liked it

I can't review this right now. I have to interview Danger about this book for a fourth coming episode of Bizzong!
All will be revealed then.
And then I'll leave a better written review here.

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Jun 17, 2019 Ben Arzate rated it it was amazing

Shelves: books-i-own, ebooks

Full Review

Impossible James is an absurd and hilarious story about family and relationships with a lot of heart. It tells a ridiculous story while exploring the difficult and painful aspects of romantic and familial relationships. It's an excellent example of what the bizarro genre is capable of in terms of storytelling and exploring truths both beautiful and ugly.

flag 7 likes · Like · see review

Aug 22, 2019 Leo Robertson rated it liked it

Amusing and amusingly grotesque comedy body horror about life, death and the death of death!

Slater is a great and original storyteller. His skills undoubtedly being in place, in future I’d like to see his prose stand on its own merit without certain quirks: varying chapter length, lengthy digressions, poioumena, many flashes both forward and back, third person narrative told by largely absent first person narrator--sparingly, these all work--all of them together was a bit much for me.

I'm quite ...more

flag 5 likes · Like · see review

Jun 04, 2019 Steve Stred rated it really liked it · review of another edition

** Edited as the review is now live on Kendall Reviews!! **

Danger Slater was my first foray into true, full-on Bizarro fiction last year, when I read ‘I Will Rot Without You.’ I didn’t really know what to expect and at the time I said I’d probably not read more Bizarro. My brain actually functions very closely to how Danger’s books read, but overall I’m a horror fan through and through.

Saying all of that – Danger Slater is an author and Twitter user whose hustle I admire. He’s honest, upfront ** Edited as the review is now live on Kendall Reviews!! **

Danger Slater was my first foray into true, full-on Bizarro fiction last year, when I read ‘I Will Rot Without You.’ I didn’t really know what to expect and at the time I said I’d probably not read more Bizarro. My brain actually functions very closely to how Danger’s books read, but overall I’m a horror fan through and through.

Saying all of that – Danger Slater is an author and Twitter user whose hustle I admire. He’s honest, upfront and I respect that if he says to message him about something, he’ll message back. There’s no smoke and mirrors with him – what you see is what you get.

Impossible James synopsis is misleading. Actually, scratch that – it is accurate because what Slater says will happen, happens. It’s inaccurate in its marketing approach. Why’s that?

Danger Slater is (gasp, cough, choke) maturing. Maybe not as a person, but as a writer, definitely.

Buried within the totally insane and crazy going-ons in this book are three other narratives. One such arc Slater (when writing as the narrator) breaks the forth wall and tells us directly – it’s a different take on the Frankenstein tale. A mad scientist, a test tube product and a trustworthy assistant. The second arc that really stood out was the sci-fi tale of The Grey Tide. The ‘amazon’ style work place and what happens as Jimmy Watson Jr. finds the cure for death and the world begins to melt down. I was stunned with the depth and fleshing out Slater poured into this part of the tale. He has the writing chops to produce a world-class sci-fi story sitting there already. If he were to expand upon that idea and run with it, I’d be a first day buyer.

The third side arc or plot line that I found utterly fascinating was the mature Danger Slater musing about life and death. There were some of the most breathtaking lines included. It felt foreign to me, that I was reading a book about a man who had a screwdriver impaled in his head and decided to impregnate himself and that I would re-read whole paragraphs regarding philosophy and Slater’s insight into someone with a terminal diagnosis.

And this becomes the crucial part to me as to why I ultimately gave this read a 4-star rating versus a 5-star rating. The stuff that would normally annoy me – I looked passed it, because of both author and genre. I need to remember to suspend my real life feelings towards how professionals should act and societal norms etc when reading Bizarro. I chuckled aloud when James Watson was given only 50 more years to live when finding out about the black spot on his brain. If Slater would have dropped that to 5 years instead of 50 I think he could get some folks emotional and some tears would have been shed while reading this book.

No, what ultimately dropped this down for me was seeing Slater’s capability of writing one of the best sci-fi or even a philosophical dialogue on man’s fragility and then it would be frequently disrupted by the Frankenstein tale. Look, I loved the Frankenstein tale, but now I know what Slater is capable of and whenever he dangled that literary carrot in front of my face, it would be dragged away into an Adam Sandler-esque scene. If the whole book had been just the James Watson storyline of screwdriver-impregnation and aftermath I would have been just fine, but DAMMIT DANGER why’d you have to offer up so many extra feels? Why did you have to make me think about what’s to come, so much?

Overall this book has so much going for it. Fast, bonkers chapters, which I really dug. Slater is so proficient that at times some chapters were merely a paragraph long but the amount of depth it added to the overall story was stellar. The story unravels like a Michael Bay – Hollywood blockbuster with more and more insane twists happening.

Slater never lets up and the ending works well to finish off this totally bonkers story. Slater has elevated himself from his peers with this release and I’m looking forward to seeing what he has in store coming up. I received this book as a pre-release digital ARC so I’m not dinging any stars or anything for some editing issues, I’m going to assume those will be dealt with long before the release date!

Cheers to Slater for writing this book and sending it out into the world. I think this book works well if it’s your first Bizarro read, first Slater read, or if you’ve been a long-time fan of the man known as Danger. ...more

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

Aug 26, 2019 Luke Kondor rated it it was amazing

It's as if Danger sat down and thought "What would Luke like to read?" and then set out to do just that.

Thanks, Danger!

Also, it isn't often that a book can make me howl with laughter but this book did it more than once.

flag 4 likes · Like · see review

May 20, 2019 Lori rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, signed-by-author, arc-reviewers-copy, indie-must-haves, bizarro, a-big-steaming-heap-of-wtf-ery

Listen up people. This is the shiznit right here! I've been a big fan of Danger's writing for a while now. He continues to get better and better with each novel he puts out and you gotta believe me when I tell you he is fucking killing it right now. Impossible James is undoubtedly his finest novel to date. Not only is the story absofuckinglutely fabulous but the storytelling, and pacing... it's simply top notch!

No. Wait. Don't believe me. Go read it for yourself. And then come back so I can ...more

flag 6 likes · Like · see review

Jun 24, 2019 Amy Vaughn rated it it was amazing

Impossible James is a very good time in which very bad things happen. I enjoyed it immensely. The tone is light, the laughs are many, and before you know it you’re completely engulfed in a scene so vile or perilous or just plain weird—but mostly just so huge and all-encompassing—that there’s no way to stop reading until a modicum of resolution has been reached.

And a modicum is all we’re going to get. This book hurtles from a nearly recognizable present, through a delightfully preposterous set ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jun 19, 2019 Christopher Lesko rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I couldn’t stop reading this book! Each chapter was short enough to swallow whole, and addictive enough to keep wanting more more more. I loved how the story expanded my mind without leaving any brrrrraaayyyin damn damn dammmmage.

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jun 08, 2019 Tracy Robinson rated it really liked it

“It wasn’t ineptitude that was his burden, merely left-handedness.”

Impossible James afforded me the chance to step outside my comfortable reality to a world where anything can and will happen. The first chapter had me in tears, the doctor James’ father sees is a master at dry humor. He’s a terrible doctor and I like the way Slater uses this opportunity to set the tone for the rest of the book.

Because while this doctor is imparting devastating news, the delivery is irreverent and leads the “It wasn’t ineptitude that was his burden, merely left-handedness.”

Impossible James afforded me the chance to step outside my comfortable reality to a world where anything can and will happen. The first chapter had me in tears, the doctor James’ father sees is a master at dry humor. He’s a terrible doctor and I like the way Slater uses this opportunity to set the tone for the rest of the book.

Because while this doctor is imparting devastating news, the delivery is irreverent and leads the reader to confront the death sentence behind the safety of humor. I don’t want to give away too much here, part of the enjoyment surrounding this scene is discovering it for yourself. Themes of death (we all die), time (clocks are prevalent throughout), and family are set up in a non-traditional way and I dig it.

I haven’t read a lot of bizarro fiction, so I decided the best way for me to experience this book was to just let go of control, of everything that dictated the way I thought it should happen, and I took a leap of faith. This is what I tend to do with most reads, place my head and my heart wholly in the author’s hands, but bizarro can push us to resist that – to say “well this is nonsensical and I’m out.”

I appreciated the challenge and I’m glad I did it. At one point the narrator says something about just skipping to the end because reading the end first wouldn’t matter SO I DID. And I survived, and nothing was ruined for me. I trusted.

“…what should exist, either natural or not? By any metric one could measure such things, life on Earth is improbable at best. And yet here we are, me and you and everyone else. It’s a miracle. But it’s a miracle that comes with a price.”

By now this author-reader trust was well established for me. Insane, batshit crazy things happen that just blast out from the page. Screwdriver in the head? What if that is JUST what the character needed? Male pregnancy with NO female egg? Sure thing, let’s do this. Impossible Room? Yep, makes sense. I think the key for why I enjoyed this so much is that once I accepted the bizarre as normative, the underlying threads pulled all the harder. The above quote is one example of nuggets spread throughout the novel – the rest is up to the reader. And I’m here for that.

Slater has a back catalog that I can’t wait to get into. If there is no larger meaning, fine. If there is? Great. Whatever happens, I’m here for it. ...more

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Jul 07, 2019 Isaac Thorne rated it really liked it

If there be such creatures in the world of bizarro fiction, Danger Slater's protagonists often caution readers to not seek meaning in what they've just ingested. Jimmy Watson Jr, son of the Impossible James of this title and narrator of this novel, tells you the same thing. If there is meaning, he says, it's been lost already. You can reread the book if you want, but the words and sentences do not change.

He has a point.

However, there is no denying that Danger Slater's Impossible James is a ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jun 24, 2019 Ben Fitts rated it it was amazing

Shelves: horror, science-fiction, dystopia, post-apocalyptic, humor, bizarro-fiction, epistolary-fiction

I Will Rot Without You may be Danger Slater’s most heartfelt book, Love Me may be his funniest and Puppet Skin may pack the most thrills, but Impossible James is certainly his SMARTEST book to date. Filled with nuanced, philosophical musings and skewering social satire, Impossible James is the kind of book that makes you simultaneously feel both smarter and dumber for having read it.

But is it Danger Slater’s best book? Well, I guess that depends entirely on what you’re looking for in your ...more

flag 2 likes · Like · see review

Jun 19, 2019 Kevin Berg rated it really liked it

“What can one say when confronted with the irrevocable certainty of their own doom?”

flag 3 likes · Like · see review

Sep 08, 2019 Jo Quenell rated it it was amazing

Danger Slater is one of those writers that manages to get better and better with each book. Impossible James is his best yet, veering further into the weird horror direction of his particular style. This one gets GROSS.

When somebody is curious as to what bizarro is, Danger is the direction I point them to. This book is a perfect example of how chaotic yet smart the weird little genre can be.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Aug 29, 2019 Brendan rated it it was amazing

Danger does it again! His latest is a meditation on death that manages to be hilarious, heartwarming, and horrifying all at the same time. Imagine if David Cronenberg directed Junior and then combine that with Atwood’s Oryx and Crake. A strange combination, I know, but this is one hell of a strange book. I loved every page and I’m continuously impressed by Slater’s ability as a wordsmith and storyteller. A must-read.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Aug 28, 2019 John Watson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: paperback

If I was a smarter man, I would dig deeper into the yarns that Danger Slater spins to find some hidden meaning. Instead, I allow the strangeness to wash over me, much like the killer Gray Tide in this one. If you haven't read anything by Mr. Slater yet, this is a great place to begin.

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jun 20, 2019 Shane Blackheart rated it it was amazing

This book was a ride from beginning to end. There were many twists and turns, and back and forths, but in the end, they all came together and, somehow, it all worked. And it was something I can't really properly put words to, but I'll try. Possible spoilers ahead, maybe.

James is a nobody with nothing and no one. He's not successful by any stretch and leads the world's most boring, unfortunate life possible. His wife wasn't even nice to him, and he's infertile. Of course, when he walks into his This book was a ride from beginning to end. There were many twists and turns, and back and forths, but in the end, they all came together and, somehow, it all worked. And it was something I can't really properly put words to, but I'll try. Possible spoilers ahead, maybe.

James is a nobody with nothing and no one. He's not successful by any stretch and leads the world's most boring, unfortunate life possible. His wife wasn't even nice to him, and he's infertile. Of course, when he walks into his doctor's office one day, he finds out that everything will just get worse. Everything always did for James. That is, until the end, which I'm not even sure how to describe, other than the fact that James finally becomes something much bigger than what he ever thought he was capable. Quite literally.

And all because of a screwdriver. All because of pure, near impossible luck does he find a purpose and more meaningful outlook. And that's where Impossible James finds his life's goal.

I'm a sucker for philosophy, and this book was filled with it. I stopped a few times and went into thought about a lot of it, and it made me think deeper about myself as a person, what it means to be alive, and what it means to have goals. What it means to have fears, and what fears are even there for. I'm an irrationally fearful person of about, well, everything, so this was an unexpected and interesting trip during my reading of Impossible James.

Also, the twisted quantum physics-like science? Super interesting. (If I'm even thinking of the right kind of science here. I know scant about quantum physics, but I think that's what I'm going for. I could be completely in left field and people are scratching their heads at me right now.)

Danger has a very interesting mind, and I found myself unable to stop turning pages. Even though we know the outcome, and we know inevitably how everything happens before it happens -- sort of -- you still want to read more. You must know the little details in between, and they help to paint such a grotesque picture that it's almost impossible to conjure in your mind. Thankfully, Danger's vivid and disturbing descriptions do the work just fine. And they are grotesque. For example, imagine a flesh room. A room with bones growing out of the wood. Rooms that act as organ gardens to keep a house consumed by a man's deformed, growing body alive.

I will admit, I haven't read much in this genre yet, but based on what I have read so far, this book made me realize that I really do love bizarro fiction. I read this in one day, taking a break in between. I knew I wanted to process something like this all at once instead of splitting it up, and I'm glad I did. At least, the philosopher in me wouldn't let me put it down. Can I mention enough how that was one of my favorite things about this book?

It was definitely written in a curious way, with 116 chapters (I believe they were chapters) and three parts. I won't look too deep into it, unless there's a deeper reasoning, which my brain always wants to find. I could have missed something there, but that's not important.

What is important is if you love books that make you think, definitely give this a read. If you have a weak stomach, though, be prepared for some pretty wicked imagery, such as body parts being detached and sewn back on, and amateur surgery to disembowel poor James, although it didn't really seem to bother him too much. In fact, in this world, people (and animals) seem to survive some pretty crazy and awful body horrors.

Lastly, the ending? This isn't a bad thing, but it... just is. It is what it is. Maybe that's a part of the philosophical message of the whole thing, in which case, message delivered.

This is something you have to read for yourself to get the full effect. No review is probably going to be able to properly convey how interesting, and kind of brilliant, this book is. So give it a read. ...more

flag Like · see review

Dec 19, 2019 A. Sneve rated it it was amazing

Impossibly entertaining; an excellent read. "Impossible James" is the story of a put-upon average Joe who stands up and says NO: NO to death, NO to the mind-numbing monotony of his former life, and NO to whomever and whatever no longer serves him (fake friends, a-hole exes, etc). After a shattering medical diagnosis, he shucks his former life like a pair of soiled pants and proceeds to raise hell, embarking on a world-altering metamorphosis which involves flooding the world with carbon copies of ...more

flag Like · see review

Nov 11, 2019 Samantha rated it really liked it

This book reads like a fever-dream or LSD trip. It is my first Bizarro read ever. It jumps around, but is easy to keep track of where you're supposed to be in its crazy grasp. It feels like it addresses the concept of human existentialism constantly without solving it, which is exactly what being alive feels like every day - just put into a context that is extraordinary. At first, I didn't like that there were no page numbers. Then I came to the realization that like life, we don't really know ...more

flag Like · see review

Jul 01, 2019 J. Peter W. rated it really liked it

Cloning is described as a process that can be used to produce genetically identical copies of a biological entity. The copied material, containing the exact same genetic makeup as the original, is referred to as the clone.

There are four different types of cloning: gene cloning, reproductive cloning, therapeutic cloning, and James Watson cloning.

Gene cloning produces copies of genes or segments of DNA. Reproductive cloning produces copies of whole animals. Therapeutic cloning produces embryonic ...more

flag 1 like · Like · see review

Jul 14, 2019 Zach rated it it was amazing

Shelves: satire, speculative-fiction, horror, bizarro-fiction, humor, science-fiction

This technically qualifies as a biopunk novel. I will not be taking questions at this time.

Seriously, though, there's a lot going on in this book -- narratively, philosophically, viscerally. Impossible James is sort of like if Kurt Vonnegut and David Cronenberg co-wrote an early 90s Nickelodeon cartoon. It gets gross at points, but does so to draw attention to the absurdity of your own temporary meatparts. Artful grossness.

The narrative paces its weird revelations well, alternating between the ...more

flag Like · see review

Jun 24, 2019 Justin Day rated it it was amazing

Impossible James is a fantastically bizarre meditation on the self and what it takes to exist in the world today as well as our relationships with family. I know that is broad, but I'm not really into spoiling books. Told in an engaging way, this book will open your eyes to some existential understanding while at the same time being laugh out loud funny. It's a weird juxtaposition, but I think it is Danger Slater's greatest strength! Just read it!

Sniff Test:

When you first sniff it, this book ...more

flag Like · see review

Jul 14, 2019 Wayne W rated it really liked it

This my first book full length book in this category. I'm impressed. Danger Slater, does it right. I was reading this with my jaw dropped the whole time. What a great concept. You know it'll never happen, that's why it's impossible but, at the same time you're thinking. What if it did? This grey tide is scary.

flag Like · see review

Aug 18, 2019 Steven rated it it was amazing

Shelves: danger-slater

Excellent!!! What a weird and twisted read. All I can say is it's quite the experience and I would recommend it. Slater has quite the imagination.

flag Like · see review

Jul 02, 2019 David rated it it was amazing

This is a weird, wild, fun book. Exactly the sort of thing I read Danger Slater for, though still quite new. Definitely one to check out.

flag Like · see review

Sep 16, 2019 Jeremy Wallendjack rated it really liked it

I'm hoping this is the second part of a trilogy and the last book will be about the Flatly family and tie everything together.

flag Like · see review

Dec 21, 2019 Carrie Laben rated it really liked it

Bartleby as done by Cronenberg, this is Bizzaro in all its absurd, half-allegorical, sketchy, logic-light glory.

flag Like · see review

Nov 01, 2019 Iain MacCallum rated it really liked it · review of another edition

WTF

WTF did I just read? This is a weird and wonderful story that I finished in one sitting. I hadn't read any bizzaro fiction before but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this.

flag Like · see review

Oct 14, 2019 Ola Elnaggar rated it it was amazing

Not a lot of writers are as brave as Danger Slater.

flag Like · see review

Jun 15, 2019 Cassie Lola (holo.reader) rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-2019, best-of-2019, arcs-provided

“If desire itself is scarcely more than a spark, what’s an arsonist to do when everything around them is already burning?”

Danger Slater is one of my favorite writers, and I don’t even know how to categorize his genre. I guess, according to the internet, it’s “bizarro fiction” – which I suppose probably just means kind of weird and fucked up and maybe… impossible? See what I did there? Whatever, I love it & I love him & I love this book.

“Mean love was better than no love at all.”

The “If desire itself is scarcely more than a spark, what’s an arsonist to do when everything around them is already burning?”

Danger Slater is one of my favorite writers, and I don’t even know how to categorize his genre. I guess, according to the internet, it’s “bizarro fiction” – which I suppose probably just means kind of weird and fucked up and maybe… impossible? See what I did there? Whatever, I love it & I love him & I love this book.

“Mean love was better than no love at all.”

The summary for this book tells you everything and nothing, and I feel that’s probably the best way to approach reading it. There aren’t any page numbers, and with extremely fast pacing, I spent the my entire read feeling sort of like I couldn’t get my feet on the ground properly – which I mean in the best way possible. The chaotic feeling kept me on my toes, and I loved the race to the finish – I read the whole thing in two sittings, and kept thinking about it after putting it down.

“What is a rainstorm if you’re already wet?”

Despite being about things that will absolutely never happen, Slater’s writing and book is poignant and feels true to life. An absurd amount of realism lies between the lines, and I found myself leaving little highlighter marks and sticky page arrows every couple of pages (I’m the kind of person that writes in my books, I’m sorry to the book community as a whole). I loved too many lines and quotes from it to choose one, so you get several throughout the review!

“This is one of the secrets of how the world works. In the moment, it all seems so dire. And then everything just… kind of moves on.”

There were several moments when reading that I almost completely forgot what the book was actually about because of how introspective and relatable some of it felt, which I think is a pretty cool thing to happen in any book – especially one about totally nonsensical things. Then, I’d get slammed back into the “book reality” of a man growing other, tinier men within himself, and I was completed taken aback by Slater’s brilliance. Being able to find things to relate to within the seemingly unrelatable is no small feat (I’d assume? I’m no writer!), and I just really like reading his writing “voice” and the sort of fourth-wall-breaking bits throughout.

“We are all born broken. It’s part of the design.”

This book is great, as are all the others I’ve read by him (and, I’m assuming, all the rest he’s written). Buy it, read it, thank me later! It’s out today, 6/15! ...more

flag Like · see review

« previous 1 2 next »