Stephen C. Bird

Hideous Exuberance Stephen C. Bird

The predecessor / doppelgänger / kindred spirit of "Catastrophically Consequential", "Hideous Exuberance" remains, in this revised edition, a character-driven, highbrow-lowbrow, post-post-modern, comic-fantasy-nightmare dissecting the unbridled egoism, narcissism, and anti-intellectualism of the present day. This work is a flamboyant, surrealistic and experimental study of abusive and self-abusing characters, as well as a trashy, grungy, poetic and phantasmagorical horror laugh-fest.

Quotes from Reviews:

"A collection of 12 highly impressionistic, hyperenergetic, scatological, stream-of-consciousness short stories ..... stories range from the frantic Harry Potter parody of 'Szczmawgwhore(ts): A Pornographick Bitch-Story' to the sardonic true-crime parody of 'Bobby Chushingura' ..... fierce send-up of small-town Middle America ..... also notable are the almost incoherent psychedelic ramblings of the linked stories 'Gothra Schvulkopf and the Daily Grind' and 'Gothra Schvulkopf and Her Pumpkin Trolls' which even at their most disconnected are saved by Bird's skilled pacing and surprisingly lovely turns of phrase ..... copious amounts of profanity ..... the narrative swagger Bird brings to stories like 'The Travails of Ginger Bocey' gives them a welcome, raunchy life all their own ..... fast-paced ..... lewd ..... extremely unconventional short stories ..... may appeal to fans of Mark Danielewski and David Foster Wallace."

-- Kirkus Reviews

"Bird's 'Hideous Exuberance' is a bird of a different color ..... the universe of 'Hideous Exuberance' is one of demented imagination and verve ..... lies somewhere between Harry Potter burlesque and Tolkien satire ..... doses of hill-country buffoonery and pop-culture mockery ..... a psychosexual storm of non sequitur ..... decidedly adult ..... unpredictable and varied ..... frenetic looping language ..... ..... a fascinating trip through a crazed postmodern world ..... countless alternative spellings ..... puns within puns ..... allusions ..... tangents ..... wordplay ..... uses creative punctuation and multiple subclauses to enrich narratives ..... plays fast and loose with point of view ..... developed and polished to appeal to mature audiences with a taste for the peculiar."

-- Foreword Reviews