The Most In-Depth Interview with Bizarro Author Carlton Mellick III Ever Published on the Internet Or in Fact Anywhere Else
If you’ve never heard of Carlton Mellick III, you’ve never heard of Bizarro. A cult genre of fiction that could be summed up as simply ‘weird’, Bizarro is what happened in the early 2000’s when readers crawling the internet for new experiences began craving the same absurdity in their fiction. Smaller presses such as Eraserhead Books responded to the call, and the world has only grown stranger for it. "Literature's equivalent to the cult section at the video store" has been delighting and terrorizing the underground fiction scene ever since, and at the front of that grotesque charge, every step of the way, has been Carlton Mellick III.
With over 60 books to his name, featuring titles such as Tumor Fruit, Satan Burger, Ocean of Lard, and Every Time We Meet at the Dairy Queen, Your Whole Fucking Face Explodes, a deeper look into the mind of such a prolific author is long overdue. It’s with this goal in mind that I sat down with Carlton Mellick III himself, hoping to peel back the many layers of the mind who dreamed up both The Menstruating Mall and The Cannibals of Candyland. The result, I hope you agree, is an interview that not only asks the difficult questions, but manages to capture the very essence of the man, committing it to history. With that in mind, let’s dive in.
Who is an artist you look up to?
Psy
What is your process like?
Spinny
Where are you headed next?
Weinerschnitzel
When did you start on this path?
Puberty
Why do you keep going?
Pizza
Thank you for your time, I hope you found the experience as exhilarating as I. Carlton Mellick III’s latest book is Why I Married a Clown Girl From the Dimension of Death, available on Amazon.
PRAISE FOR CARLTON MELLICK III
“Easily the craziest, weirdest, strangest, funniest, most obscene writer in America.”
– GOTHIC MAGAZINE
“Carlton Mellick III has the craziest book titles… and the kinkiest fans!”
– CHRISTOPHER MOORE, author of The Stupidest Angel
“If you haven’t read Mellick you’re not nearly perverse enough for the twenty first century.”
– JACK KETCHUM, author of The Woman and The Girl Next Door
“Carlton Mellick III is one of bizarro fiction’s most talented practitioners, a virtuoso of the surreal, science fictional tale.”
– CORY DOCTOROW, author of Little Brother
“Bizarre, twisted, and emotionally raw–Carlton Mellick’s fiction is the literary equivalent of putting your brain in a blender.”
– BRIAN KEENE, author of The Rising and Dead Sea
“Carlton Mellick III exemplifies the intelligence and wit that lurks between its lurid covers. In a genre where crude titles are an art in themselves, Mellick is a true artist.”
– THE GUARDIAN
“Just as Pop had Andy Warhol and Dada Tristan Tzara, the Bizarro movement has its very own P. T. Barnum-type practitioner. He’s the mutton-chopped author of such books as Electric Jesus Corpse and The Menstruating Mall, the illustrator, editor, and instructor of all things Bizarro, and his name is Carlton Mellick III.”
– DETAILS MAGAZINE