A Review of Soothing the Savage Swamp Beast, by Zakary McGaha
(Bizarro Pulp Press, an imprint of JournalStone, 2019). ISBN: 978-1-947654-89-1 If you are looking for a weird but fun ride this summer, this novella might just be for you. But a quick word of warning. Know what you’re getting into. As you’ll notice, this is published by Bizarro Pulp Press. So let’s get some definitions from Wikipedia: Bizarro fiction : a contemporary literary genre, which often uses elements of absurdism, satire, and the grotesque, along with pop-surrealism and genre fiction staples, in order to create subversive, weird, and entertaining works. Pulp fiction : lurid, exploitative, and sensational subject matter So, Bizarro Pulp… you can only imagine. And you should. But this label has nothing to do with quality. Although it is in many ways the ink-on-paper analog of Slasher Films, complete with lots of violence, sex, and, well… bizarreness, it can also be just as fine and releasing as a Rob Zombie film. If that’s your sort of thing. If it is, read on....