Rotten Little Animals

New Bizarro Author Series

by Kevin Shamel

ANIMALS ARE PEOPLE, TOO!

And that is messed up. So they have independent cinema. See what happens when an animal film crew kidnap a human boy and make a movie of the abduction. Read things about Nature that just aren't natural. Fear your pets from this day forward. With zombie-cat attacks, gun-blasting massacres, drugged-out puppet shows, exploding car chases, camera-chickens, bat acrobats, wild sex, martini parties and torture-ROTTEN LITTLE ANIMALS is a crazy ride through the underground animal film scene and on to the Big Time.

Genres: Bizarro Fiction, Horror, Fiction, Fantasy, Humor

92 pages, Paperback

First published October 5, 2009

About the author

I'm a bizarro author who bounces around the world, most recently in a custom 1985 van. I like dogs (LOVE mine), peanut butter, outside, being the different one that everyone talks a bunch of smack about because they don't usually understand me, and searching for ancient ruins in any forest I find myself.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

When a human boy named Cage stumbles across a group of talking animals filming a movie, he uncovers a vast conspiracy, a conspiracy that he cannot be allowed to reveal... until the animals decide to make a fictomentary about his kidnapping. Will Cage ever escape and return to normal life?

Rotten Little Animals is my first foray into the 2009-2010 New Bizarro Author series and I was fairly pleased with it. The core concept, that animals are secretly intelligent and can talk, reminded me of Anonymous Rex a bit. Stinkin' Rat and Dirty Bird were by far my favorite animal characters. Cage was okay, a fairly standard teenage boy character. I cackled with glee when Cage and his father massacred the audience at the Animal Academy Awards with shotguns and 9 millimeters.

So why did I only give Rotten Little Animals a three? While I liked it, it felt like it went a little long, like it should have been over around page 60. The retaliation that came after could have easily been another book, though Cage's tutelage under Aargh was hilarious.

All in all, Rotten Little Animals was a satisfying bizarro experience. 3.25 out of 5.

[Christy Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first half of the book was a crude kind of adorable with Muppet Show-esque characters (sassy rats and silly chickens) being hard nosed, sexual and violent. Very funny. The second half of the book branches into a great story that gives depth to the human Cage in what comes off as a great origin story. I don’t want to create a spoiler so I’ll just say I’d like a sequal.

The book is REALLY funny, really smart, and more than it seems to be right off the bat. The story is speedy and reads like a technicolor movie; and like a movie it was fun to flip through and re-visit favorite scenes. The speciesist themes of the book are very mirror-like to our world. The disregard for human's lives among the animals and the idea of sexual relations between them to be demeaning to the animals is great paradigm shifting satire.

This book is like a phone call to North Korea that pisses them all off. This book is true zef.

[Auntie Raye-Raye · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a confession. It is not something I have admitted until now...

Back in 2009, when I first became aware of "Rotten Little Animals", I read the synopsis and dismissed the book! I believe I thought something akin to "Talking animals?! WTF-Ever!" I am terribly, terribly, terribly ashamed of that.

How about I attribute that to a lapse of sanity? After all, this was way before I started taking psych meds again. My thoughts were quite muddled and not at all right.

Months later, my GR friend, Christy Leigh Stewart recommended I read this book. Originally, I added it because I'm absolutely terrified of her. (I'd be her little bitch in offline life, believe me.) Then I noticed the reviews people left. They were all full of praise. That peaked my interest immensely.

Okay, I was finally convinced. I bought this and the other 3 NBAS books. (Hell, they were on sale 4 for the price of 3, and with free shipping!)

I started to read it. Within 5 pages, I was telling Mr. Bunny that this was a good book. Within 20 pages I was laughing like an insane idiot.(This isn't usual. I don't often "LOL" at books.) After listening to me laugh for an hour, Mr. Bunny asked me what the hell was so funny. I told him "Get out of here! I'm f**king a chicken!"

This is now one of my favorite books It's influenced me in several demented ways. On days when I feel shitty, all I have to do is think about it. It instantly makes me happy! At least once a week, I'll insanely laugh & quote from it to some poor stranger. I'm constantly trying to convince my non-Bizarro friends and family to read it. Ohh, and I have plans to make my own Zombie Cat puppet to chase people around with.

[Steve Lowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll dispense with the plot summation here and get right to it (CAUTION: mild spoilers ahead...) Rotten Little Animals is a creative, memorable and fun book. These rotten little animals live up to their names (Filthy Pig, Stinkin' Rat, etc.) and their violence and anger were not what I was expecting from a book about talking animals. That's a definite plus here and is one of the things that make this story unique. There were some parts that could have been a little tighter, and other ideas that I wished would have been more closely examined, but all things considered, this was a unique and enjoyable story.

What I Didn't Like: The middle lagged a bit and the narrative bogged down with patches of "telling-not-showing". Also, (SPOILER!!!) nearly all the main animal characters are killed off halfway through the book and replaced by new animal characters in the last 3 chapters, so we barely have time to meet these new animals before we come to the end. However...

What I Did Like: Everything else. Inventive and clever at times, sophomoric and scatological at others, I laughed through a good deal of this. When I read a book from this general genre (bizarro, humor, weird, in-between) I want these three questions answered affirmatively and anything more, for me, is gravy: Was it fun? Was I entertained? Did I come away feeling it was worth my time? In all three cases, the answers were yes. If you read RLA, you will have fun, you will be entertained and these animals will stick with you long after you’re done. Martini Party!

[William III · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kevin Shamel's ROTTEN LITTLE ANIMALS is the equivalent of John Waters directing a Pixar movie. It may as well be called PIXAR B. DEMENTED.

The animals in this story however, while cute and furry on the outside, are hard mean-ass cutthroats who will do anything to make it in the underground world of animal snuff filmmaking, even if that means kidnapping a human to star in their films - a law punishable by death.

Shamel is a new voice in the growing bizarro genre and a voice you should get used to. I have the feeling that ROTTEN LITTLE ANIMALS is simply the first rung on a ladder of full of sick, twisted fun - and that's an exciting feeling. :)

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMFG I LOVED this book and here are the top three reasons why!

1. These animals are truly rotten to the bone and I throughly enjoyed all their beastie ways. I mean what's not to love about zombie cats?

2. Arrrgh. He's a man of mystery who hates microbes, microbrews, microwaves, but not micro-bikinis and sports a dead sexy one while Cage is on his island.

3. The ending. One of the best endings I have ever, ever read in a book and I can't wait to read more from the wonderful and most certainly bizarre Kevin Shamel.

[Megan Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started the book and thought “Oh, we’re doing this?” And it only took about a chapter before I was thinking “Yeah, we’re doing this!!” Rotten little Animals is equal parts crazy funny and crazy insane. I loved it. I now have a crush on the sexiest man alive, Arrrgh, who can feed me pork and beans any day. The ending was great, I hope there is a sequel bouncing around Kevin Shamel’s evil brain.

[Kris Lugosi · Rating 5 out of 5]

One movie title comes to mind: Meet The Feebles.

Kevin Shamel's Rotten Little Animals is a short 92 page story that gives you a glimpse into the secret world of animals. The secret being; they can talk!!!! They can talk, fuck, masterbate, think, operate lighting and camera equipment, act, direct, write, drink....they can do it all and more! The most shocking act by these animals is their kidnapping of a young boy named Cage. Poor Cage was at the wrong place at the wrong time and witnessed the animal film crew shooting their upcoming movie. Well in the animal world this just won't do so the film crew set out to film a "reality" based movie showing them kidnapping and killing the boy. No human can know that animals can talk and so the only logical solution is to kill those that find out, and why not put it on film? Most of this mission is accomplished and what follows is a rather absurd, hilarious, and rather surprising.

The first part of this book (even as short as the story is, I have found it to be broken down into three parts) introduces us to the first film crew and their exploits. The rat director reminded me of Ratzo and the rat from Meet The Feebles all mushed into one horny dirty little bastard. I have to say off the bat that animals and pets make me uncomfortable. Adding any human attributions to them makes me even more uneasy and because of this I didn't even finish Meet The Feebles (HA!) but I liked the different personalities of the animals from Dirty Bird's drinking and stumbling demeanor, the meow moans of the zombie cats (their part in this book is rather awseome), the funny banter between Stripey and the other actor cat, it's all just a really good introduction to what follows. The animal film crew capture Cage and there is a real creepy part that I'm super glad the author didn't elaborate on and that's when the kid is left alone with Pig....again thank you for just alluding to the awfulness rather than detailing it out.

The second part of the story finds our victim rescued, sent away, rehabilitated (by some island hippie drug fella) and brought back home only to discover he is a now a star! You will have to read the story to find out how A Boy Named Cage becomes a human movie debut that is of course after it was already a big hit in the animal film industry. So Cage is a star and adjusts to life as such with his new false love for animals. However, the animal world has not forgotten Cage and their hatred for him only grows....

To wrap up the story we are introduced to another group of animals bent on making a sequel using Cage and making it big while at the same time extracting their revenge on the boy! The rest of the book and the "twist" at the end is just wonderful. I loved this story and glad that the animal talking aspect didn't turn me away like that damn Meet The Feebles movie.

[Matthew Revert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever wanted to convince one of your vegetarian buddies that eating meat is a good idea? We’’ maybe now there’s a way. With ‘Rotten Little Animals’, Kevin Shamel has written an antidote for anyone who thinks animals are anything other than vulgar, filthy beasties. Next time you accidentally kick your cat, don’t feel too bad.

‘Rotten Little Animals’ is like a heinous blend of ‘Meet the Feebles’ and ‘Salo: 120 Days of Sodom’. If that sounds pleasant to you, you’re really going to love it. If that makes you feel a little uneasy, you’re probably still going to love it. There’s always been something deeply subversive about the secret life of animals, and artists have been exploiting this for years. Typically the animals are rendered impossibly cute and appeal to kids and whimsy-prone adults alike. Occasionally though, something will come along that does away with these fanciful notions.

The creatures in ‘Rotten Little Animals’ are vulgar, downright hateable creations that garner nothing in the way of sympathy or even tolerable apathy. The minute Stinkin’ Rat enters the story, you want to kill him – you want to feel his dirty, little skeleton crush under the weight of your boot. As more and more of these characters begin to populate the story, you imagine the walls of your home lined with their stuffed, horrible heads. The level of abject hatred felt toward animals after reading this book would disturb PETA greatly.

The concept of ‘Rotten Little Animals’ is quite simple. It works on the notion that all animals exist as part of an elaborate double-life. There’s the side they display to humans and the ‘real’ side they display to each other. The real side involves copious consumption of alcohol, drugs, sex and violence. If a human were so unlucky as to become aware of the clandestine activities of these little critters, death would most certainly result.

Enter Cage…

Cage is your typical human boy, who most unfortunately, stumbles across an animal film crew in the midst of creating their next opus. The boy is confused and the animals grow very concerned. Although animal law dictates that a specific set of procedures must follow whenever a human becomes aware, the animals develop a different idea. They decide to kidnap the poor boy and force him into the starring role of their next film. What follows is a depraved series of scatological humiliations that Cage must endure. It’s at this stage in the book that you want to go outside and start stabbing wildlife. I’d already killed 19 gibbons and a vole at this point.

To divulge too much more would begin to ruin the storyline. Needless to say, it takes some wonderful, surprising turns as it unfolds. Kevin Shamel should be congratulated.

Once again though, I do want to burst any notions that this is a pleasant book. It’s not. I didn’t laugh at these animal escapades – I winced. Sure, I winced in a pleasant way, but I really hated them. I don’t want this to come across as a negative – I really liked this book, I just expected it to be more light-hearted. When it comes down to it, most of the reviews I’ve read have viewed the book as light-hearted though, so maybe Shamel just stumbled upon a neurosis I didn’t know I had. That said, I love coming away surprised by what I read, and with ‘Rotten Little Animals’, I most certainly did. Highly recommended.

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kevin Shamel's debut release from Eraserhead Press, Rotten Little Animals, is a bit like Animal Farm on crack. The animals in Shamel's novel, however, are trying to keep their presence unknown to humans. While filming their latest masterpiece, the animals are spotted by a young boy that lived across the street. When the boy comes to investigate what he has seen (it's not every day you see a zombie cat fight!) the film crew of animals decides to kidnap him and re-write the movie that were working on to include the boy as their newest cast member. They figure staging an abduction will be more realistic-looking than their previous project, and it might help their chances in the Animal Academy Awards. What the crew doesn't count on is some of the animals turning against each other... and when that happens, you never know what Rotten Little Animals might do next! These animals are crude, rude, and usually drunk and/or high. They aren't your typical, cuddly pets that you'd want to take home, but this is definitely a novel that you want in your collection! Shamel has created a tale that is disturbingly rude, laugh-out-loud funny, and at times, just so bizarre that you can't even wrap your head around the fact that these are animals doing these things. Of course, some scenes I couldn't even fathom humans doing to other humans! In particular, there is a scene in the book where the animals put the human boy, Cage, in a room that he had to share with Filthy Pig (obviously a pig) that is known as the "Toilet Room". As you can guess, there is a grating above the room that all of the other animals stand above and let their urine and feces come down through... right onto poor Cage. It's a powerful scene, but greatly disturbing at the same time. It makes the reader feel for Cage though and want him to pull through somehow and escape. That scene, as well as numerous others, kept me reading Rotten Little Animals, fast and furious, as I wanted to see what was going to happen at the end. As this was part of Eraserhead Press' New Bizarro Author Series, I am hoping that Shamel will have more releases in the future because I am greatly anticipating reading more by this author. Highly Recommended!

Contains: Adult Language, Adult Situations

Review also posted at MonsterLibrarian.com

[Steven Rage · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine you are a typical 13 year old boy, just glancing out of your bedroom window. Just daydreaming, drifting along, watching the neighbor lady with sugar MILF plums dancing around in your fevered little head, when something in the adjacent yard catches your eye. Something truly strange. A movie being filmed. With animals. By animals. Talking, acting, filming, directing. And just when your young mind begins to register the shock of that crazy scene, the animal production crew notices YOU. Oh, no. Humans can't know that ALL animals can talk. Nature's delicate balance will be thrown completely out of whack. It is the animal world's only real Law and the film crew just broke it.

The boy must be silenced.

Therein lies the heart and guts of this wickedly funny Bizarro novella from newcomer Kevin Shamel. With Dirty Rat, Filthy Pig, Scaredy Cat and many other marvelous animal characters, Shamel paints his imaginary (we hope!) world of liquor guzzling, dope doing, coital fiending, ultra-violent animals that will make you show a wee bit more respect and love to Fido and Fluffy than you might normally give them.

The pacing of the story is superb and the descent into this mad world was just right. My hat's off, once again, to the Bizarro folks at Eraserhead for another gem of a tale (tail?).

Kevin Shamel's "Rotten Little Animals" is more fun to read than a barrel full of drunken monkeys and randier than a lab full of stoned test bunnies.

Now, if you will excuse me. The Reverend had better take his pit bull, Bennie, out for a nice long walk. You know... just in case.

"Here, Bennie! Daddy loves you..."

[Mav Skye · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a philosophy, a way of living, a kind of bible, ironic, bizarre, strange, rotten (in cotton candy sort of way), but by no means little – Rotten Little Animals has a rabid bite you can’t resist. Animals abducting humans for snuff films. Humans reeking revenge on animals. Silver thonged psychotherapy dudes performing puppet shows-and my most favorite, zombie cats doing zombie things to nonzombie things. What the hell? One answer. Buy it. Read it. Now. You won’t be disappointed.


Kevin’s unique voice, modern storytelling skills, and radical imagination will take you on a trip you’ve always wanted, but never dared. Kevin makes it easy to go there, and you’ll never want to look back. I believe Kevin Shamel will be to bizarro as Stephen King is to horror.

[Dustin Reade · Rating 4 out of 5]

The pacing to this one is great, and the dialogue is very well done. The storyline is FUNNY AS HELL, and even a bit scary in an "Evil Dead 2" sort of way. Over the top blood, John Waters Early-Years style debauchery (performed by animals, by the way), and a solid ending which left me satisfied as I closed the book and fell asleep on a pillow made of Polar Bear hide. Check it out.

[Edmund Colell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cameron Pierce said it best when he described Kevin Shamel's Rotten Little Animals as a Pixar exploitation film. Charm and grime are definitely the bread and butter of this book, and it is a very strong debut for the author.

Literally shitting on people (among other things) to make your way to the top, having your plans backfire in the worst way possible, and indulging in vice are themes played out by the titular animals of the story, most notably by the director/producer/kidnapper (as various titles separated by forward-slashes appear from time to time) Stinkin' Rat who is looking for a blockbuster idea. On the receiving end is twelve-year-old Cage, who gets pulled into the mess when he violates the animal law of secrecy while trying to sneak a peek at his naked neighbor. Cage is then cast into a fictomentary of a film crew kidnapping a human boy, which sends shockwaves through both the animal and human film industries. All that happens after, and all the events leading to that moment, are highly-entertaining skirmishes that pull the reader through the ninety-two pages very well.

There is an issue, however, which is a bit spoiler-ific: Since Cage actively attempted to expose what happened to him (before the hallucinogenic counseling of Arrrgh - Sexiest Man Alive), why would Dirty Bird congratulate him on keeping the secret? Dirty Bird is definitely shown to be one of the few animal friends that Cage has throughout the course of the novel, but keeping a secret would definitely not have been a reason for the events at the end of the book.

EDIT: Okay, disregard most of what was said in the preceding paragraph. There was more than that secret entrusted to Cage, so to anyone reading this: don't feel bad if you miss the other one the first time around as I have.

Even with that in mind, this is definitely a fun book to pick up. The characters are memorable and the plot goes to unexpected places which I invited wholeheartedly. Considering the large reader base which Shamel has picked up for this book, I would not be surprised to see it become as much of a hit as the Stinkin' Productions hit film "A Boy Named Cage."

[Miz Babzylonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not for children or those hyper-sensitive to vulgarity. If South Park, in its brilliance, is too much for you, then this won't be up your alley. It is Bizarro Fiction after-all, combining horror with comedy, and it is about truly rotten little animals!

However, if the reader can see past foul language and vulgarity to appreciate the creative, amusing, unexpected, satirical roller-coaster adventure of this story, then this book is worth your time. A great first effort by the author.

[Jan Patrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am enjoying these bizarro authors, and none more than Kevin Shamel. I think this might be his first novel-length publication, but hope there is more from him. The book is very engaging and entertaining...I especially love the zombie cats! Although in the book, they are first seen as actors, we discover that...yes, they are zombies! Nice twist to see humans from the perspective of animals.

[for-much-deliberation ...]

Thanks for the book recommendation Christy!!

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kevin Shamel, Rotten Little Animals (Eraserhead Press, 2009)

One of the great strengths of the bizarro fiction movement (along with the fact that all of it I've read, even the horror novels, is gut-wrenchingly funny) is that the basic scenario of each book is original. And by “original” I mean “what were you on when you came up with this stuff, and where do I get some?” As another case in point, I offer Rotten Little Animals, a recent book from bizarro auteur Kevin Shamel. Shamel's thesis here is that animals have an entire world that humans don't know about. That world includes independent cinema. And when, thanks to a drunk watchbird, a human boy finds out about the animals' independent cinema (during the filming of a movie about zombie cats), the director of the flick decides to kidnap the human kid and make a mockumentary about the human kid getting kidnapped (since all their careers would be wiped out if the animal community found out the film crew had slipped up and let a human knew about the underground animal culture... you get the picture).

One of the great weaknesses of the bizarro fiction movement is that these awesome scenarios don't often have their potential realized. I love about the first half of Rotten Little Animals, the actual kidnapping and the filming of the movie (and the big blow-up at the wrap party, not only the best scene in the book, but the best-written as well, and if I seem to imply at any point in this review the book isn't worth your time, I will tell you right now: buy it for that scene). The fact that the book's climax comes halfway through sets up some amazing possibilities, actually, for an extended denouement (while I know there are a number of excellent examples of this outside Shakespeare, the only one I can think of off the top of my head is Greene's The End of the Affair, because it's far too early in the morning for me to be thinking about the plot structure of classic novels). How awesome would it be for Shamel to have come up with a narrative for the second half of the book that mirrored the first half, for example, or simply reversed the themes, with the human world gaining wide knowledge of the animal conspiracy and kidnapping some sort of exotic animal to film its own mockumentary? Instead, it kind of stalls, as if Shamel knew where the book was ending (and it does pick up steam again when we get to the end, which ends up being a second climax rather than an extended denouement), but wasn't quite sure how to get there. And when you start talking about the pace lagging in a book that comes out less than one hundred pages, you know there are some structural problems with it.

Shamel is an original writer to be sure, and when Rotten Little Animals is hitting on all cylinders, it's a barnburner. When he puts together a novel that's as solid from front to back as the bests scenes here are, it'll blow your head off. This one won't, but when it's good, it's very, very good. ***

[Vince Kramer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rotten Little Animals is an amazing, original, and laugh-out-loud funny book from new Bizarro writer and Olympian semigod Kevin Shamel. The presence of talking animals in fiction has always angered me before because it immediately signals to you that it's going to be something immature and for children. What Shamel has done with the talking animal premise - making them messed-up, perverted, flesh-eating, drug-using, alcoholic scumbags - delightfully astounded me because it's so damn creative! And that they're intelligent enough to be filmmakers, have a secret society, etc., well, you have to read it! You won't be disappointed. The story revolves around a 12-year-old boy discovering a talking animal film crew and being kidnapped by said crew and forced to be in their snuff-like film about his torturous kidnapping. C'mon, why doesn't Disney do that kind of thing? It's captivating! Rotten Little Animals is full of lots of black comedy, twists and turns, zombie cats (yes, ZOMBIE CATS), abject insanity and VIOLENCE, plus one hell of a cool final chase scene and ending. The book is exciting to the max! Kevin Shamel is an author to watch and whatever he comes up with next is surely to blow my mind! (And have some martini's mixed up and ready for the completion of the book; just trust me on this.)

[Geoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Any tale that includes characters such as alligators with swords, crack-bears, 68,412 ants named Adolf and a meth-addicted scorpion named Steven is pretty damn awesome for a start...
Full review to follow, but for now, BUY THIS BOOK AND READ IT!

[Danny Mcphillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first Bizarro book and a great introduction to the genre. I`m thinking of booking my next vacation on Arrrgh`s Island, looking forward to sampling some of his medication.

[Camille · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was just weird.

[Dawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very, Very Different....I'd hate to think what else goes on in this authors mind...and I thought my imagination was warped....

[Mike Maski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not your typical cute little animals. These animals will kidnap you and make you the star of a snuff film. Very funny book and cleverly written.

[Matthew Clarke]

Another blinder from Kevin Shamel. The story went it directions I could never have anticipated and kept me hooked at every turn.

[Rain · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was absolutely bat s*** bonkers and I loved it

[J.W. Wargo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Id says:
Awww, CUTE!!! Look at the little rats and chickens making a film, they think they're people too. What a lovely fable of neighborhood animals making a zombie-cat movie... Huh? Who's that kid? Hey kid! Get out of there!! Humans can't know the animals most guarded secret!!! Oh no, they kidnapped him! Stupid drunk bird! Why weren't you looking out for little kids who might happen by. Oh well, crisis averted. Sorta. What are you gonna do with that kid now, huh? Kill him?

...Oh. Well I suppose it is the only way to keep your society a secret. But wait, the dog has an idea. Oh shit, they're gonna film the abduction and turn the whole crime into a fictomentary! But what about the boy? Oh, still gonna kill him when you're done? Well, I suppose it's better than having the animal authorities discover what really happened, and you're sure to have a whopper of a film for entry into the Animal Academy Awards.

Poor kid, hope you find a way out of this mess...


Ego says:
It took me nearly half the book to get a feel for the main protagonist, Cage. While his story begins right away, with his kidnapping, the character himself didn't really express much to me outside of fear. Once the story spent enough time with him, however, I began to see how much his abduction had screwed with his senses and sanity.

The animal film crew is a grab bag of some of my favorite domesticates, including chickens, rats, a dog, a pig, two cats and a Steller's Jay.
Stinkin' Rat, as the director, heads up the group with his son and production assistant, Julio. While Stinkin' Rat is the epitome of greed and hedonism, Julio represents the moralistic side of animals, rarely agreeing with anything his father decides. I enjoyed the juxtaposition of father/son and reading how differently they reacted to the same situations.
Itsy the dog appears calculated and controlled at first, but his true nature comes out in a most unexpected way later in the story.
Some characters, like Filthy Pig, fill a very specific role and are not expanded upon very much. Scaredy and Stripey, male cats and hinted at lovers, are used in much the same manner, sometimes providing comic-relief during otherwise tense moments.

There are few human characters in this story, but one who stood out for me was Arrrgh, a character who doesn't show up until later in the book. Without giving too much away, I can tell you that he is a brainwasher of Bizarro caliber. A self proclaimed "Wizard of Wisdom", his job is to turn boys into men through intense drug regiments, ingestion of ungodly amounts of pork and beans, and puppet shows.


Super-Ego says:
Rotten Little Animals style is aggressive and staccato-like, never lingering too long on a scene and sometimes spending only a couple paragraphs describing events that take place over weeks or months. The book's plot progression stands out, beginning with a light and playful, but still edgy, tone and, about halfway through the book, skewering your senses as it documents the breakdown of the protagonist's family leading to a scene that literally shocked this reader.

All the animals in this story have been anthropomorphized to the point of having a separate, underground society no human is aware of. They speak English, ingest drugs, make films and do all the other things modern humans are accustomed to. One thing I appreciated about the dialogue is that it wasn't "stylized". These animals speak like everyday joes on the street, and the writing reflects this: They say "ya" instead of "yes", and "fuckin'" instead of "fucking".

I believe exploitation to be the strongest theme in Rotten Little Animals. A lot of the text concerns the exploiting of Cage's life for monetary gain, a subject quite in line with the unending piles of "reality" television shows being shit out by our real world network and cable production companies. In the book, the human film industry attempts to profit off of Cage's traumatic experience at the hands of Stinkin' Rat Productions and the only consideration given to the boy is to have him brainwashed so a sequel can be filmed.
That is a scary thought, one that made me cringe while reading. Somehow I don't believe any of the actions taken against Cage are that far off from reality.

My recommendation? Next time you walk by a group of animals congregating in your neighbor's backyard, just keep walking...

[Daniel Vlasaty · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have no idea why it took me so long to read this book. It came out two years ago! That was a mistake on my part. This book was awesome, everything I love about Bizarro. It's face-paced, funny, interesting, wild, and just a little uncomfortable.

This is a world where animals can talk. They don't around people, though - it's the biggest secret ever. Stinkin' Rat and his film crew are making a movie about zombie cats when a human sees them. No human is ever supposed to witness an animal talking. It is the one law. That person is to be put to death by the animal police. But Stinkin' Rat and crew kidnap the kid instead of calling the cops. They decide to make a movie of the experience, playing the kidnapped kid off as a CGI creation.

And then things start to get really weird. And really really awesome. There is a large-scale massacre, massive amounts of drugs, puppets, a germaphobe animal lover, an island covered in a large mosquito-type net. And on and on. There are more exciting, inventive things in this book than I ever would have thought a stack of papers could hold.

This book is almost too fun. Highly recommended for people who love to laugh, vomit, and pee all at the same time. And also fans of gory comedies and Troma movies.

[Roberto García · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I had to give a definition of bizarre, I'd use this book.

The first part of the book it's the weirdest story I've ever read it.

A film shooted by a crew of the animals? A bird getting drunk? A boy kidnaped by those animals? A big hidden world where animals take control of people?

Also, it's very fun.

[Jessica T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sex, drugs, and fucked up asshole animals? Yes please!