“The Bizarro literary movement is the ultimate in outsider lit.”
– 3AM Magazine
“Books that aim to be both strange and entertaining, with hefty doses of absurdism, satire, and the grotesque.”
– Entertainment Weekly
“The literary equivalent of a David Lynch or Tim Burton film … A rising genre that functions like the cult movie section in your local video store.”
– Horror World
“[Bizarro is] universally intriguing, thoughtful, intelligent and, most importantly, a hell of a lot of fun.”
– The Pedestal Magazine
“Sometimes comic, sometimes violent, sometimes sexually graphic (if not all of the above) and adolescently fearless to offend.”
– Details Magazine
“Bizarro fiction is by turns repulsive, stupid, and crude. But at its best, it is also compelling, intelligent, and well-written. Any literary genre that can be both bad and good at the same time is worth reading.”
– The Guardian
WHAT IS BIZARRO?
- Bizarro, simply put, is the genre of the weird.
- Bizarro is literature’s equivalent to the cult section at the video store.
- Like cult movies, Bizarro is sometimes surreal, sometimes avant-garde, sometimes goofy, sometimes bloody, sometimes borderline pornographic, and almost always completely out there.
- Bizarro strives not only to be strange, but fascinating, thought-provoking, and, above all, fun to read.
- Bizarro often contains a certain cartoon logic that, when applied to the real world, creates an unstable universe where the bizarre becomes the norm and absurdities are made flesh.
- Bizarro was created by a group of small press publishers in response to the increasing demand for (good) weird fiction and the increasing number of authors who specialize in it.
- Bizarro is like:
- Franz Kafka meets John Waters
- Dr. Suess of the post-apocalypse
- Takashi Miike meets William S. Burroughs
- Alice in Wonderland for adults
- Japanese animation directed by David Lynch
Even though the Bizarros are underground cult outsiders they still have gained an incredible amount of respect in the publishing industry, having been praised by the likes of Chuck Palahniuk, Christopher Moore, William Gibson, Jonathan Lethem, Piers Anthony, Cory Doctorow, Poppy Z. Brite, Michael Moorcock, and Charles de Lint, to name a few, as well as the publications Asimov’s Science-fiction, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science-fiction, Fangoria, Cemetery Dance, Publishers Weekly, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Details Magazine, Gothic Magazine, and The Face, among many others. They have also been finalists for the Philip K Dick Award, the Bram Stoker Award, the Rhysling Award, the Wonderland Book Award, and the Pushcart Prize.
Bizarro isn’t just weird fiction, it is DAMN GOOD weird fiction. And it grows exponentially every single day, so, love it or hate it, you’ll be seeing a lot more of it in the years to come.
A SAMPLING OF THE BIZARRO GENRE: THE BIZARRO STARTER KIT
- Red
by J. David Osborne, Brian Allen Carr, Shane McKenzie, Kirsten Alene, David Barbee, Douglas Hackle, Nick Antosca, Robert Devereaux, Violet LeVoit, Eric Hendrixson - Purple
by Cameron Pierce, Jeff Burk, Cody Goodfellow, Athena Villaverde, Russell Edson, David Agranoff, Matthew Revert, Andrew Goldfarb, Kris Saknussemm, and Garrett Cook - Blue
by Steve Aylett, Jeremy C. Shipp, Bradley Sands, Jordan Krall, Ray Fracalossy, Andersen Prunty, Christian TeBordo, Tony Rauch, Eckhard Gerdes, and Mykle Hansen - Orange
by Carlton Mellick III, Jeremy Robert Johnson, John Edward Lawson, D. Harlan Wilson, Steve Beard, Vincent Sakowski, Bruce Taylor, Kevin L. Donihe, Gina Ranalli and Andre Duza
WONDERLAND AWARD WINNERS
2023
Best Collection: All I Want is to Take Shrooms And Listen to the Color of Nazi Screams by John Baltisberger (Planet Bizarro Press)
Best Novel: Edenville by Sam Rebelein (William Morrow)
2022
Best Collection: The Last 5 Minutes of the Human Race by Michael Allen Rose and Jim Agpalza
Best Novel: One Hand to Hold, One Hand to Carve by M. Shaw
2021
Best Collection: Don’t Push the Button by John Skipp
Best Novel: Jurassichrist by Michael Allen Rose
2020
Best Collection: Don’t F[Bleep]k with the Coloureds by Andre Duza
Best Novel: The Loop by Jeremy Robert Johnson
2019
Best Collection: To Wallow in Ash and Other Sorrows by Sam Richard
Best Novel: UNAMERICA by Cody Goodfellow
2018
Best Collection: Nightmares in Ecstasy by Brendan Vidito
Best Novel: Coyote Songs by Gabino Iglesias
2017
Best Collection: Angel Meat by Laura Lee Bahr
Best Novel: Sip by Brian Allen Carr
2016
Best Collection: Berzerkoids by Emma Alice Johnson
Best Novel: I Will Rot Without You by Danger Slater
2015
Best Collection: The Pulse Between Dimensions and the Desert by Rios da la Luz
Best Novel: Skullcrack City by Jeremy Robert Johnson
2014
Best Collection: I’ll Fuck Anything that Moves and Stephen Hawking by Violet LeVoit
Best Novel: Dungeons & Drag Queens by Emma Alice Johnson
2013
Best Collection: Time Pimp by Garrett Cook
Best Novel: Motherfucking Sharks by Brian Allen Carr
2012
Best Collection: All Monster Action by Cody Goodfellow
Best Novel: Space Walrus by Kevin L. Donihe
2011
Best Collection: We Live Inside You by Jeremy Robert Johnson
Best Novel: Haunt by Laura Lee Bahr
2010
Best Collection: Lost In Cat Brain Land by Cameron Pierce
Best Novel: By the Time We Leave Here We’ll Be Friends by J. David Osborne
2009
Best Collection: Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars by Cody Goodfellow
Best Novel: Warrior Wolf Women of the Wasteland by Carlton Mellick III
2008
Best Collection: Rampaging Fuckers by Mykle Hansen
Best Novel: House of Houses by Kevin L. Donihe
2007
Best Collection: 13 Thorns by Gina Ranalli
Best Novel: Dr. Identity by D. Harlan Wilson
