Archive for the absurdism Category

QUICKSAND HOUSE – Signed Limited Edition Hardcover

Posted in absurdism, Bizarro Fiction, surrealism with tags , , , , , on December 1, 2025 by carltonmellick

QUICKSAND HOUSE

Two children leave the safety of their automated nursery to explore a vast, dreamlike mansion in hopes of finally meeting their parents for the first time in Carlton Mellick III’s most critically acclaimed novel to date.


COVER ART BY CORO COFEROSA

INTERIOR ART BY LAIA BALDEVEY


CASE LAMINATE HARDCOVER

366 PAGES

LIMITED TO 500 COPIES

SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR

RELEASED IN NOVEMBER 2025

$80 plus shipping


USA ORDER

INTERNATIONAL ORDER

CLOWNFELLAS – Signed Limited edition Hardcover

Posted in absurdism, Bizarro Fiction, Limited edition hardcovers with tags , , , , on August 19, 2025 by carltonmellick

CLOWNFELLAS: TALES OF THE BINZO FAMILY

In a topsy-turvy world where clowns are killers and crooks, Little Bigtop is a three-ring circus of crime, and no syndicate is more dangerous than the Binzo family. From the wildly original mind of Carlton Mellick III comes the short-story collection ClownFellas—an epic mob saga where life is cheap and the gags will slay you.

For years, the hard-boiled capos of the Binzo family have run all of the funny business in Little Bigtop, from the clown brothels to the illegal comedy trade. But hard times have befallen the Binzos now that Le Mystère, the French clown Mafia, has started moving in and trying to take over the city. If that weren’t enough, they’ve got to deal with the cops, the Feds, the snitches, the carnies, the mysterious hit man Mr. Pogo, and the mutant clowns over in the Sideshow district. With the odds stacked against them, the Binzos must fight to survive . . . or die laughing.


COVER ART BY RICCARDO LA BELLA AND ADA PICCOLO

ILLUSTRATIONS BY RICCARDO LA BELLA


CASE LAMINATE HARDCOVER

568 PAGES

LIMITED TO 500 COPIES

SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR

RELEASED IN AUGUST 2025

$120 plus shipping


USA PREORDER

INTERNATIONAL PREORDER


SAUSAGEY SANTA – Signed Limited Edition Hardcover

Posted in absurdism, Bizarro Books, Limited edition hardcovers with tags , , , , on August 19, 2025 by carltonmellick

SAUSAGEY SANTA

The Fry Family must help a mutated Santa Claus save Christmas from an evil menace known as Frosty the Neo-Nazi Snowman in this 2006 Bizarro Christmas Comedy Classic.


COVER ART BY TIN BUI

ILLUSTRATIONS BY JOEY BARR


CASE LAMINATE HARDCOVER

172 PAGES

LIMITED TO 500 COPIES

SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR

RELEASED IN APRIL 2025

$60 plus shipping


USA ORDER

INTERNATIONAL ORDER


THE ULTRA FUCKERS – Signed Limited Edition Hardcover

Posted in absurdism, Bizarro Books, Bizarro Fiction, Carlton Mellick III, collector's hardcovers, eraserhead press, Signed limited editions, surrealism with tags , , , , on August 5, 2024 by carltonmellick

THE ULTRA FUCKERS

Tony dreads the idea of going to his wife’s company dinner party in Eagle Hills; the new upper-middleclass gated community that just popped up outside of Scottsdale, AZ. He hates these Southwest-style planned suburban neighborhoods. All of the streets look the same. All of the houses look the same. All of the people look the same. Because everything in Eagle Hills looks exactly the same, Tony has trouble finding the dinner party. He quickly becomes lost in the sea of red tile roofs. The streets seem to go on forever. The addresses don’t seem to make any sense.

After hours of navigating the suburban labyrinth, Tony discovers that there is something terribly wrong with the Eagle Hills gated community. There is something unnatural about the houses around him. There is something inhuman about the people staring at him through the windows. And no matter how far he drives, he can’t seem to find his way out.


COVER ART BY EMMANUEL OMENDA JR.

CASE LAMINATE HARDCOVER

132 PAGES

LIMITED TO 500 COPIES

SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR

RELEASED IN AUGUST 2024

$50 plus shipping


USA ORDER

INTERNATIONAL ORDER








OUT NOW: “Why I Married a Clown Girl From the Dimension of Death”

Posted in absurdism, Bizarro Books, Bizarro Fiction, eraserhead press, post-apocalypse with tags , , on November 14, 2023 by carltonmellick

My latest book, Why I Married a Clown Girl From the Dimension of Death, is now available at amazon.

WHY I MARRIED A CLOWN GIRL FROM THE DIMENSION OF DEATH

Timothy is terrified of clowns. He’s always found them disturbing and creepy and weird. But now that our world is besieged by clown-like invaders from another dimension, his phobia is spiraling out of control. Timothy has no idea how to handle living in a world full of these cartoonish creatures until he meets a clown girl named Puppy Caterpillars who happens to be the cutest, sweetest girl he’s ever encountered. They fall in love and Timothy believes his phobia has finally been cured. But after they get married, Timothy discovers his phobia might have been the only thing keeping him alive. Because the clowns from the dimension of death are even more terrifying and dangerous than he ever imagined and the woman that he married might just be the most horrifying creature to ever crawl out of his deepest, darkest nightmares.

Available at amazon.com

OUT NOW: “Glass Children”

Posted in absurdism, Bizarro Fiction, dark comedy, dystopian, Fiction, horror, surrealism on July 24, 2023 by carltonmellick

My newest book, GLASS CHILDREN, is now available at amazon.



GLASS CHILDREN


The children of the glass generation are the most sensitive, fragile, entitled, spoiled, lazy, selfish little brats that human society has ever produced. Part of this is due to overprotective parenting, but it is mostly due to the fact that these children are literally made out of glass. Nobody knows why, but one day the human species went through a surreal mutation where babies started being born with delicate hollow glass bodies with no flesh or bones or anything holding them together but their thin delicate exoskeleton. They shatter whenever they fall down or are touched too firmly. Even a mother’s embrace will cause them to crack open like eggshells. And they are emotionally just as fragile as they are physically, breaking to pieces whenever they become upset or offended or don’t get exactly what they want at all times. They expect the world to revolve entirely around their safety and happiness. They demand that our culture adjust to meet their expectations. And it seems as though the rest of human society is more than willing to go to every extreme imaginable in order to accommodate them.


Available at amazon.com

OUT NOW: “Goblins on the Other Side”

Posted in absurdism, afterlife, Bizarro Fiction, eraserhead press, horror, surrealism with tags , on May 9, 2022 by carltonmellick

My newest book, GOBLINS ON THE OTHER SIDE, is now available.

GOBLINS ON THE OTHER SIDE

There are no mistakes in Heaven. There are no flaws, no worries, no ugliness. Everything is perfect. Everyone is nice to each other and happy all of the time. Nobody is selfish or spiteful or mean. It is a place of peace and harmony. A place of love and hope and friendship. Nothing bad ever happens there.

But if you plan to visit, be sure to follow all of the rules. Stay inside your family’s designated area at all times. Do not venture off the beaten path. Always wear your goblin mask when looking out of the windows. And, most importantly, refrain from thinking unhappy thoughts. Negativity in Heaven is prohibited. You must never, ever be negative in any way whatsoever. If you whine or pout or criticize or complain, you do so at your own risk. We will not be held responsible for anything that happens to you.

Available at amazon.com

OUT NOW: “The Bad Box”

Posted in absurdism, Bizarro Fiction, Carlton Mellick III, eraserhead press, Uncategorized with tags , on September 2, 2020 by carltonmellick

My newest book, THE BAD BOX, is now available.

THE BAD BOX

Little Benny isn’t very good at taking tests. It’s not that he’s a stupid kid or doesn’t pay attention in class. It’s just that he’s absolutely terrified of failure. It doesn’t matter how hard he studies. He gets so nervous that he freezes up and his mind goes blank, rarely even answering a single question before the time is up. This is especially difficult now that he’s in Mrs. Gustafson’s fifth grade class, where the punishment for failure is to draw a curse from the bad box—a magical device that permanently mutates children into horrific monsters.

Available at amazon.com

OUT NOW: “Mouse Trap”

Posted in absurdism, Bizarro Fiction, end of the world, eraserhead press, post-apocalypse on May 1, 2019 by carltonmellick

My newest book, MOUSE TRAP, is now available.

mousetrapsmall

MOUSE TRAP

It’s the last school trip young Emily will ever get to go on. Not because it’s the end of the school year, but because the world is coming to an end. Teachers, parents, and other students have been slowly dying off over the past several months, killed in mysterious traps that have been appearing across the countryside. Nobody knows where the traps come from or who put them there, but they seem to be designed to exterminate the entirety of the human race.

Emily thought it was going to be an ordinary trip to the local amusement park, but what was supposed to be a normal afternoon of bumper cars and roller coasters has turned into a fight for survival after their teacher is horrifically killed in front of them, leaving the small children to fend for themselves in a life or death game of mouse and mouse trap. There appears to be a hope for salvation when eighth grader Clyde Donner, a boy Emily has had a crush on ever since she was a little girl, enters their lives and promises that all the children will be safe as long as they do exactly as he says. But when it appears that Clyde does not have everyone’s best interests in mind, it’s up to Emily to put her feelings aside in order to ensure the safety of those younger and more vulnerable than her.

Available at amazon.com

OUT NOW: “Neverday”

Posted in absurdism, Bizarro Books, Bizarro Fiction, Carlton Mellick III, dystopian, end of the world, eraserhead press, Fiction, horror on July 3, 2018 by carltonmellick

My new book, NEVERDAY, is now available. This is one that I’ve been talking about for almost a decade now. It’s my version of the time loop trope made popular in the movie “Groundhog Day” but instead of focusing only on a single character this story explores what would happen to society if everyone in the world was trapped in the time loop together, with no chance of ever escaping. Next to my last book, Stacking Doll, this is one of my favorite books I’ve written in recent years. I hope you check it out.

NEVERDAY

Karl Lybeck has been repeating the same day over and over again, in a constant loop, for what feels like a thousand years. He’s been stuck in this endless cycle for so long that he doesn’t remember what his life was like before time stopped moving forward. He doesn’t remember his parents’ faces or what he used to do for a living. The only reason he remembers his own name is because it’s printed on his Oregon State driver’s license.

When a woman named January enters his life, Karl learns that he isn’t the only one trapped in the time loop. In fact, the majority of the population has been repeating the same day just as he has been for hundreds of years. While Karl was hiding isolated in his suburban home, a whole new world was being built just outside his door. Society has adapted to repeating. Strange laws have been implemented. A new memory-based currency has been put into place.

But there’s something not quite right about the new repeating government. Karl doesn’t understand why those in charge have no interest in trying to fix their situation. He doesn’t doesn’t understand why going into the neverday–that time period that only exists if you stay awake all night to avoid repetition–is considered the worst possible crime that anyone can commit. With the help of others who share in his suspicions, Karl plans to find out exactly what is being hidden from them, even if it destroys the very fabric of their society forever.

Available at amazon.com