dark humour reading recommendations

8 Palahniuk Novels Reviewed.

Aug 06 2021

Here are eight Chuck Palahniuk books that I have read. Click on the links to read my reviews.

Choke

Choke is in essence a social commentary about our innate craving for attention and the fundamental nature of addiction.

My Review: The protagonist, Victor Mancini, is a sex addict employed at an eighteenth-century historical re-enactment park. Victor attends various sexual addiction support groups, where he …(more)

Damned

Damned is a a light-hearted satire of hell, punctuated with comical details, pop-culture references and Theological irony.

My Review: The protagonist is thirteen-year-old Madison, the daughter of wealthy alternative parents. The privileged Madison studies at an exclusive Swiss boarding school and spends her holidays alternating …(more)

Doomed

After escaping from Hell Madison Spencer (protagonist of Damned) is forced to spend a year languishing on Earth as a ghost.

My Review: Doomed is the sequel to Damned and part two of a proposed Dante inspired trilogy. It sees the return of Damned’s protagonist – the plucky, post-life, plump, periphrastic … (more)

Fight Club

The book’s narrator becomes friends with an anarchist by the name of Tyler Durden. The duo form a fight club.

My Review: The protagonist, who remains nameless, is an insomniac leading a bland corporate existence, investigating accidents for a car company, whose only concern is profit … (more)

Haunted

This series of short stories explore a variety of themes, including the media-obsessed nature of society.

My Review: Haunted is about a group of writers, who have been assembled by the conniving Mr Whittier to attend a writers group. The location of the retreat is in an isolated theatre with … (more)

Invisible Monsters

The book’s premise, the superficial vanity of the beauty industry, is used both to explore the unattractive side of human nature.

My Review: Shannon McFarland is a catwalk model, who is the centre of attention wherever she goes. That is until she ‘accidentally’ blasts her jaw shot off with a gun whilst driving down the highway. Shannon is left …(more)

Rant

Rant challenges our own traditions by demonstrating how we contort our recollection of events in accordance with our desires, motives and beliefs.

My Review: Rant is the oral history of Buster ‘Rant’ Casey, recounted by an array of people including his relations, friends, enemies and lovers. Rant’s childhood companions from the …(more)

Survivor

Survivor is an innovative and erudite social commentary, brimming with satirical observations and irreverent humour.

My Review: Tender Branson, the last survivor of the Creedish Church cult, has hijacked an aeroplane, which is now flying on autopilot. His objective: to dictate his life story onto …(more)

Mangetout Cover Reveal & A New Blurb.

Feb 05 2021

I’ve written a new book. Mangetout will be unleashed on the world on March 11th. It is a crime caper of sorts. Mangetout will appeal to fans of crime fiction and dark humour.

Trouble has a habit of finding some people.

Hope you like it as much as I do. Red seems to fit the genre. After all red equals danger. Mangetout has the same format and virtually the same word count as my last effort, The Gazebo. It consists of three dark, acerbic tales that explore crime and class.

The plan was to share the blurb too today. I unveiled it to my mailing list subscribers last week. Unfortunately, I have since been presented with some data that suggests it will not convert well. I am currently rewriting it. If only I’d tested it prior to the designer designing the book’s back matter. I should know better by now. That’s the thing about experience – it only teaches the teachable.

I have however penned a new blurb for one of my other books – Tomorrow’s World. Some of my titles are wide, but Tomorrow’s World is an Amazon exclusive work. It’s ticking along in the Kindle Library, but I don’t feel it’s converting as well as it could.

If the new blurb works, great. If it needs some further polishing that option’s always open. Anyway, here it is:

Escape to the future with this hilarious and thought-provoking read.

Englishman Terrence has had enough of accountancy. After all, it’s been his job for over six decades. He’d bow out if the government didn’t keep increasing the mandatory retirement age. At this rate, Terrence will be working until doomsday.

American plutocrat Walter has harnessed the power of age-defying medication and enjoys the life of a conceited centenarian. But many are fed up with his kind. If the situation doesn’t change fast, there could be a revolution.

With its dark humour and gripping narrative, Tomorrow’s World paints a vivid picture of a future that’s a little too close for comfort.

‘Takes our current foibles and obsessions to their logical, gruesome and absurd conclusions’ – Adam Riley, Comedian

I could include the old blurb for comparison, but this post would be pretty long if I did that, so I’m not going to. If you want to see it get over to Amazon. You better hurry though because it’s poised to swap over any minute now. Have a good weekend.

Tomorrow’s World Amazon Link

The Gazebo: Check Out The Front Cover.

Aug 07 2020

Today, I am pleased to unveil the front cover for The Gazebo, my forthcoming darkly humorous work of fiction. Release date: September 1st.

Hope you like it as much as I do. The colour scheme and contrast is I believe appealing. Purple is a luxurious colour and an appropriate one for a darkly humorous read. The designer has done an excellent job with the depiction of the gazebo, which is a sinister presence in the first of the two stories.

The Gazebo is my seventh book. It will be available in eBook and paperback form. It is a quick, humorous and memorable read. The plan is to offer it at a discount for a short time, probably 99p/99c.

Here is the back matter:

It is searing hot here today and feels like Chad out there. Have a great weekend.

Click here to see my Goodreads Author Page.

5 Dark Humour Books You Might Like

Jun 05 2020

Without further ado, here they are. Click on the links to read my reviews.

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

Choke is in essence a social commentary about our innate craving for attention and the fundamental nature of addiction.

Skagboys by Irvine Welsh

Skagboys is a work of Transgressive Fiction whose main focus is many of its characters increasing obsession with heroin.

My Review: Skagboys is the prequel to Trainspotting. Its colourful, mostly young characters hail from the Edinburgh port suburb of Leith. There is the bookish, unambitious …(more)

Spencer’s Risk by Andy Greenhalgh

Spencer’s Risk is a third person, thespian-themed work that offers an authentic insight into the mind of a compulsive gambler.

My Review: Spencer Leyton’s life is spiralling downhill. He has split from his wife, is virtually estranged from his kids, his career is in tatters, and he has a serious …(more)

Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut

Mother Night is a concise, ambiguous morality tale brimming with satirical observations and darkly humorous details.

My Review: During WWII, Howard W. Campbell was a prominent Nazi propagandist. Now he is languishing in an Israeli prison awaiting trial for war crimes …(more)

Women by Charles Bukowski

The concise, visceral story follows the exploits of ageing lowlife and Bukowski alter ego, Henry Chinaski.

My Review: Fat, ugly fifty-something Henry Chinaski is a degenerate drinker, gambler and womaniser residing in downtrodden East Hollywood.
After a lifetime spent toiling in …(more)

Dark Humour Books, Culinary Delights & More Besides

Oct 04 2019

This a breakfast I had earlier in the week. It’s called egg hash and I highly recommend it.

As for me I’ve been catching up with some reading of late. I just finished Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut. I actually preferred this quick read to the author’s seminal work, Slaughterhouse-Five. Next up is this comedy crime caper. I often drink green tea while reading.

These are the books I have left to read in 2019. Some of this pile appeared in one of my recent posts, but it has since had two additions.

For a nation traditionally blighted by substandard instant noodles, these have been a welcome arrival. Not sure what their fate will be in the face of a no-deal Brexit. I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

I am prone to doubling up on chocolate eclairs.

Like Dyson Devereux, the protagonist in the Necropolis Trilogy, I am an avid consumer of Italian delicacies. Amongst those eaten this week were these carciofi (artichokes) and prosciutto wrapped cheese.

Golgotha, the third instalment in my black comedy trilogy, will be released on Dec. 3. It will see the return of the sociopathic Dyson Devereux. Golgotha has just been uploaded to Goodreads. If you could add it to your TBR list, it would be much appreciated.

You can’t keep a good sociopath down.

Golgotha Goodreads link. Have a good weekend.

5 Dark Humour Reading Recommendations

Mar 01 2019

Here are five ‘dark humour’ books that I have read and would recommend.

Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk

Survivor is an innovative and erudite social commentary, brimming with satirical observations and irreverent humour.

My Review: Tender Branson, the last survivor of the Creedish Church cult, has hijacked an aeroplane, which is now flying on autopilot. His objective: to dictate his life story onto …(more)

Spencer’s Risk by Andy Greenhalgh

Spencer’s Risk is a third person, thespian-themed work that offers an authentic insight into the mind of a compulsive gambler.

My Review: Spencer Leyton’s life is spiralling downhill. He has split from his wife, is virtually estranged from his kids, his career is in tatters, and he has a serious …(more)

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

Fortunately for the author she has a sense of humour, and she needed it for this book.

My Review: This non-fiction work investigates the more unfamiliar scenarios involving our dead bodies. Topics include human crash test cadavers, bullet-testing cadavers, and … (more)

Rashōmon and Seventeen Other Stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

A sense of doom and despair permeates this somewhat disparate and at times darkly humorous assemblage.

My Review: The book, which is divided into four parts, begins with the sinister tale Rashōmon. Set during the Heian era (11th century) it sees a confrontation between …(more)

The Voyeur’s Motel by Gay Talese

The Voyeur’s Motel is comprised of the confessions of Gerald Foos, a former Colorado motel owner and voyeur.

My Review: Foos’s lifelong obsession began in childhood, spying on his aunt through the window of her bedroom. It was his purchase in the 1960s of the Manor Park Motel in …(more)

Tag - dark humour reading recommendations

8 Palahniuk Novels Reviewed.

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Mangetout Cover Reveal & A New Blurb.

Escape to the future with this hilarious and thought-provoking read.

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The Gazebo: Check Out The Front Cover.

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5 Dark Humour Books You Might Like

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Dark Humour Books, Culinary Delights & More Besides

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5 Dark Humour Reading Recommendations

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Tag - dark humour reading recommendations

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