The Night Raiders - Marlin Williams

   2022; 96 pages.   New Author? : No.  Book 5 (out of 5) in the upcoming Pulp Reality digest “The Lost Adventures of Captain Hawklin”.  Genres : Action & Adventure; Pulp Fiction; Short Stories.  Overall Rating : 8½*/10.

 

    Captain Steven Hawklin rides again!  He flies again!  But most of all, he rockets again!  And he’s doing it all to protect a cargo plane carrying a valuable payload and flying way out over the Atlantic Ocean.

 

    There’s a lot Captain Hawklin doesn’t know about the operation.  Such as who might be trying to bring shoot down the cargo plane.  And what the precious cargo is.  But one thing he knows for sure.

 

    If the cargo plane doesn’t make it to its destination, the smuggler who owns the plane's consifnment will kill the someone especially precious to Captain Hawklin.

 

    Desa Wintergreen.

 

What’s To Like...

    The Night Raiders is a short story penned by Marlin Williams and, as shown in the fabulous cover image above, part of a soon-to-be-released anthology, The Lost Adventures of Captain Hawklin.  It will showcase Charles F. Millhouse's dashing hero, Captain Steven Hawklin, and five veteran Pulp Reality authors have contributed tales to it.

    The action in The Night Raiders starts immediately, and includes lots of furious fighting, damsels in distress, nasty Nazis, and even a femme fatale or two. There are plenty of plot twists, which keeps our hero off-balance and the reader turning the pages. I especially liked the situational ethics dilemma he finds himself in: how should he respond to an unsavory foe who's blackmailing him into aiding and abetting a shady operation?

 

    AFAIK, all the Captain Hawklin adventures are set in the 1930s.  Biplanes exist alongside personal rocket-packs (Captain Hawklin is an ingenious inventor.), and the story's historical details are well-researched.  For instance, I thought I had found a glitch when a Sopwith Camel's propeller shattered because it was made of wood, but it turns out these vintage World War One planes really were equipped with wooden propellers.  Kudos to Marlin Williams for this enlightening bit of historical accuracy.

Ratings…
    Amazon:  5.0/5 based on 1 rating and 1 review. (mine)

    Goodreads: 5.00/5 based on 2 ratings and 0 reviews.

 

Excerpt...

    “Whose dumb idea was it to fly out on a night like this anyway?”

    “It was the broad’s idea,” the pilot shot back.  “She insisted.”

    “I thought German dames were smart, but apparently not that broad.”  The copilot hiked his thumb and aimed it back toward the fuselage.  “She ain’t got a lick of sense.”

    Eva Braun, who was now standing just outside the cockpit spoke coldly.  “This senseless broad was wondering if she could get a cigarette from one of you gentlemen.”  (loc. 473)

 

“How’s a skyrocket strapped to your back supposed to protect us?”  (loc. 456)

    The Night Raiders held my interest throughout and I highly recommend it to any fan of Pulp Fiction. Thus far it's the only one of the five short stories I've read, but thanks to an earlier anthology titled Pulp Reality 2, I'm familiar with the works of all these writers. The others are Brian K. Morris, Bobby Nash, Clyde Hall, and Charles F. Millhouse and I've found all five to be talented storytellers.

 

    Now the only question is whether to buy the other four entries as singles at their present great price (99 cents apiece), or wait for the bundle to come out, which is slated for January 2023. It's a pleasant problem to have.

Trumpet of Triton & Mesmerized - Marlin Williams

    2019; 175 pages.  New Author? : No.  Full Title: “Ravenwood Stepson of Mystery in Trumpet of Triton.  Also featuring The Moon Man in Mesmerized.”   Genre : Psychic Suspense; Occult Horror; Pulp Science Fiction.  Overall Rating : 9*/10.

    Do you remember reading pulp fiction magazines when you were a child?  The five-and-dime stores used to sell them, and they featured some old-time heroes such as Doc Savage, Buck Rogers, Tarzan, Zorro, and The Shadow.

    Yeah, me neither.  Mostly because their heyday was way back in the 1920’s-30’s, and that’s a bit before my time.  I do remember spending my 25-cents-a-week allowance on Tarzan and Zorro comic books as a kid though, in the late 50’s, but by then the pulp magazines, and most of their heroes, had pretty much faded into oblivion.  Which is kinda sad, given how popular they once were.

    Fortunately, Marlin Williams is both a longtime fan of pulp fiction and a veteran author of bizarre tales.  He’s taken a pair of long-forgotten pulp heroes, Ravenwood Stepson of Mystery and the Moon Man, and given them new life in the two stories in this book.

    This means you can now journey back in time and discover what your father (or grandfather, or great-grandfather) used to read for entertainment when he was just a young ‘un.  And that's kind of magical.

What’s To Like...

    The characters Ravenwood Stepson of Mystery and the Moon Man are both creations of Frederick C. Davis (1902-1977), who doesn’t even rate a Wikipedia page, even though Moon Man does.  I like that their “super powers” aren’t very super.  Ravenwood gets some occasional psychic advice from his guru, “The Nameless One”, while the only “special” thing the Moon Man has going for him is a spiffy costume with a bulletproof helmet that conceals his identity.

    Trumpet of Triton/Mesmerized is a duology (shouldn’t we call it a "bilogy"?) with the heroes getting separate storylines set in different US locations (New York City and ‘The Great City’) in the 1930’s.  Despite both being Pulp Fiction, the subgenres are different.  The Trumpet of Triton has fantasy and mythological tones (and I’m very partial to anything with Mythology in it), while Mesmerized can be best described as a “Caped Crusader Robin Hood” tale, and I also enjoy those immensely.

    Each story is about 80-90 pages in length, so I’d call them novellas.  The action in both starts immediately, the pacing is brisk, and Marlin Williams gets the characters introduced to you in short order.  At their core, both tales have a mystery to solve, and there's lots of suspense and intrigue to keep our heroes on their toes.

    I liked the literary nod to the old TV show, Kolchak, in Trumpet of Triton.  I was intrigued by The Nameless One, and I fell for the red herring in the plotline, but so will most readers.  Mesmerized surprised me with its clever plot twist and introduced me to the way-kewl word “catawampus” (see below).  I also liked the interactions among the Moon Man and his teammates.

    Both tales are standalone stories.  There are no chapters in either, but they are short enough not to need them.  If you want to read more stories with Ravenwood Stepson of Mystery, there are at least two recent publications featuring him available for your Kindle.  If you’d like to read Frederick C. Wilson’s original tales about these two superheroes on your Kindle, ANAICT, you’re out of luck.

    Oh yeah, there's a neat epilogue in the Trumpet of Triton.  I'll leave it to you to figure out its significance. 

Kewlest New Word…

Catawampus (adv.) : askew; awry; positioned diagonally; obliquely; cater-cornered.

Others : Apotropaic (adj.); Sheers (n., plural)

Excerpts...

    “Oh, and one more thing,” she said softly.

    He watched as she reached down and unfastened the top button of her blouse.

    “This is the only way I can pay you for your services.”

    Now, Ravenwood was more than intrigued, he was mesmerized as she unfastened the second button.

    She dipped her hand into her shirt and dredged up an amulet suspended by a gold chain.  “Do you know what this is?”  (pg. 12)

    “The Moon Man may be a thief, but he’s not a killer.”

    “Capone didn’t start out killing people either and look where his career took him.”  Gil took a drag off his cigar.  The tip fired red.  “Come to think of it, Capone’s a Girl Scout compared to the Moon Man!”  His words streamed out from his mouth encapsulated in puffs of smoke.

    “He steals from the rich and gives it to the poor.  What’s wrong with that?”

    "Ha!  You’re an officer of the law.  You should know that answer to that!”  (pg. 104)

“They are Atlanteans.” (…)   “Like from Georgia?”  (pg. 60)

    One of my hobbies over the years has been converting old vinyl LP’s into digital format.  I mainly select old and obscure artists and boxed sets; the kind often found at your local Goodwill store.  There’s really no reason to do this with, say, an old Beatles or Elvis album, since Amazon already has those available as digital downloads.  But I find it supremely rewarding to “resurrect” the music of someone not-so-famous that hasn’t been played in decades.

    That’s the way I feel about Marlin Williams reviving Ravenwood Stepson of Mystery and the Moon Man.  I’d never heard of either of these characters before, now I’m familiar with both of them.  And somewhere in the anthropomorphic reaches of our universe, two pulp heroes are smiling.

    I just don’t know whether to hope that Marlin Williams finds other long-forgotten pulp heroes to revitalize, or that he develops extended series for these two.  Maybe I should hope for both?!

    9 Stars.  Wikipedia has a fascinating article on Pulp Magazine which gives the history of this literary genre.  The link is here, but it also redirects from a Wiki search for “Pulp Science Fiction”, which is how I stumbled across it.

Road Games and Other Weird Tales - Marlin Williams

    2017; 309 pages.  New Author? : No.  Genre : Short Stories; Anthology; Horror-Thriller.  Overall Rating : 8½*/10.

    Say, does the phrase “Tales From The Crypt” ring any bells for you?  There were a couple films with that title in the 70’s; and a similarly-named TV series in the late 80’s to early 90’s.  And if you’re a member of the senior citizen crowd, you might even remember the comic-book series with that title that started it all was back in the 50’s.

    The comics are slightly before my time (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it), but I do remember sometimes finding them at used-book stores and picking them up for next to nothing.

    I always enjoyed reading those comic books because, as a kid, they could scare me without giving me nightmares.  Regardless of theme or setting, each ‘tale’ had a twist to it, plus a dab of macabre humor, and that’s what kept me looking for more back issues of it.

    And if creepy tales with twists tickle your reading fancy, you might give Road Games and Other Weird Tales a try.

What’s To Like...

    Road Games and Other Weird Tales is comprised of 10 short stories that sprang from the creative brain of Marlin Williams.   The stories vary in length from 2-to-56 pages; from lighthearted to somber, and from the mundane to the paranormal.  So if you’re reading one of the stories, and it doesn’t float your boat (which will happen with almost any anthology book), there’s a good chance that the next tale will.

Table of Contents (spoiler-free)...

01)  Lickety Split – There’s more to losing weight than losing weight.

02)  Life Form – Black holes and bio-ships don't mix.

03)  Them – Aliens in a diner.

04)  The Killing Kind – I’d like my Ted Bundy with a twist, please.

05)  The Same Old Nightmare – A feeling of dread we all share.

06)  Boucherie – Vampires, werewolves, and things that go ROWR in the night.

07)  The Agency – An Oscar performance by a long-forgotten thespian.

08)  Lint – What's the word for  'fear of laundry day'?

09)  Cracked – What’s the word for ‘fear of aphorisms’?

10)  Road Games – Smokey and the Bandit meets Deliverance.  Plus bubbles.

    My favorite story was the titular Road Games.  I had a fun time wondering, along with our two protagonists, what the fiendish-but-innovative Wilkerson brothers would come up with next.  One part of it reminded me of a scene from the Will Smith movie The Wild Wild West, and that was kewl.

    My other faves were The Killing Kind, The Same Old Nighmare, Boucherie, and Lint, but honestly, all ten tales kept my interest.  Your favorites will probably be different from mine.

    You’ll meet Miss Coaly Banks in the very first story, Lickety Split, and I grew to like her.  She pops up again in the two shortest stories, so that was a treat.  She’s the only recurring character though.

    The pacing is good throughout all of the stories; there really aren’t any slow spots.  There’s a neat, short bit of prose by Marlin’s wife, Sheila, at the beginning of The Killing Kind.  And I enjoyed the nod to Fantasia in Lickety Split, and a second nod to it (specifically the ‘bubbles’ in the subpart of it, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) in Road Games.  I chuckled at the made-up word “metaphoribly” in Road Games; I will have to work it into one of my reviews somewhere down the road.

Excerpts...

    “It was a satellite, or pieces of it anyway.”

    He shook his head.  “It was a flying saucer.”

    “What makes you think that?” he asked.

    “Why else would NASA be out here after that thing came down?”

    “Because it was their satellite.”

    “The men in black were with them.”

    “FBI!”

    “They had tracking dogs,” said Mr. Robbins.  He raised his chin at Ernie, looked down at him, and doled out his next statement in disjointed words.  “Sniffing-out-little,-gray-skinned-aliens.”  He sniffed.  (pg. 89)

    “If your plan is to confront a clan of vampires, aren’t we going to need things like wooden stakes, holy water, and stuff like that?”  (…)

    “I’ve got something better.”

    “What’s that?”

    She patted her handgun.  “A silver bullet in the heart.”

    “I thought that was for werewolves.”  He chuckled at his joke and ended it with a smirk.

    “It will kill a loup-garou as well,” she replied in a matter of fact tone.

    He lost the smirk and wrinkled his brow.  “What the hell is a loup-garou?”

    “Pray you never have to find out.”  (pg. 160)

“Waitress, there’s a piece of space shuttle in my lunch.”  (pg. 88)

    The quibbles are minor and not about the storytelling or the writing.

    First, there are no page numbers, which messes up an OCD note-taker like me.  Second, although the paragraphs themselves are properly aligned to the left, they aren’t justified.  Kinda like the paragraphs in this review, but blogs can be excused from this.  Last, and least, although there’s no need for chapters in any short story, here there weren’t any breaks between one paragraph to the next when the scene shifts, and that got confusing once or twice.

    So I numbered the book pages myself, to appease my inner OCD.  And ignored the paragraph breaks and justification issues, both of which can be easily fixed in the subsequent editions.

    One last point about the stories themselves.  For me, the best thing about reading Road Games and Other Weird Tales was trying to anticipate what the twists in each story were going to be.  Marlin Williams is known for his “double twists”: just when you congratulate yourself for correctly guessing what wrinkle he has in store in a tale, he up and adds an unforeseen “twist to the twist”, which makes the stories' endings delightfully  surprising.  This “twofer” occurs in all of the tales here except the two shortest ones, and it keeps you on your toes when reading the book.

    8½ Stars.  Bottom Line: If you liked Tales From The Crypt as a kid, in any of its formats, you’re going to enjoy Road Games and Other Weird Tales.  And after you've finished, give Marlin's novel, The Attic Piranhas, a try, and keep an eye out for a pair of new full-length books he’s rumored to be writing.

Lickety Split - Marlin Williams

   2017; 35 pages.  New Author? : No.  Genre : Suspense; Thriller; Short Story. Overall Rating : 8½*/10.

Note : This review is cross-posted from a my review for this short story at Amazon.  Hence, my standard template wasn't used.  Hamilcar.  

Lickety Split is a standalone, 35-page short story concerning Miss Coaly Banks, who at best can be described as "very full-figured". Marlin Williams blends a number of genres into the story - some terror, some suspense, and even some humor - but at its heart, this is a situational ethics story, examining what a person will do to gain, and keep, his/her fondest wish.

Coaly is, of course, the primary character, but it's fun to meet the couple other ones as well. They're all "gray" in character, and I liked that. I thought Mr. Simon was a hoot, I wouldn't mind meeting him again in some future story by the author. Structurally, the fun starts immediately, the pace is fast, and it has a Marlin Williams trademark "double-twist" ending, with a nice moral-to-the-story thrown in as a bonus.

8½ stars. Lickety Split does everything a short story should, including keeping me entertained from beginning to end.

Twisted Tales - Marlin Williams

   2013; 217 pages.  New Author? : No.  Genre : Short Stories; Anthology; Horror-Thriller.  Overall Rating : 8*/10.

    Do you like your stories logical and, straightforward?  Do surprises in the plotline disconcert you and disrupt your reading pleasure?  Then you probably should avoid the eight offerings in Twisted Tales, where nothing turns out quite as expected.

    OTOH, if you like to feel your protagonists’ terror as they tiptoe through the tombstones (I lie; there are no graveyards here, although there is a mausoleum), but sometimes like to savor it in short, quick doses (50 page maximum), then this collection of suspense stories may be just what you’re dying to read.

Table of Contents (spoiler-free)...

01)  The Killing Kind – Need a lift?

02)  Life Form – Lost in space.

03)  Lint – Is it washday again?

04)  The Same Old Nightmare – Is it Monday again?

05)  The Agency – Who’s hitting who?

06)  Them – How do you know she’s an alien?

07)  Cracked – Old sayings ring true.

08)  Boucherie – Haunted?  Ha.

What’s To Like...

    I cringe a little whenever I pick up a book of short stories all written by the same author, because there's the chance that the tales will all turn out sounding the same.  But here, the settings are varied (in both time and place); the lengths of the tales are varied (from 3 to 50 pages); and none of the themes/critters repeat themselves.

    Some of the stories are “light” in tone (Cracked, Them); others are much darker (The Killing Kind, Life Form, Boucherie).  Some involve the “natural” world; others invoke the supernatural.  Some entail the mundane things in life (Lint, Cracked); others deal with the “out-of-the ordinary”.  In each case, I enjoyed trying to guess the twist that Marlin Williams was going to give the tale.  I failed every time.  That’s a real plus.

    My personal favorites were 02, 03, 06, and 08.  These also happen to be the four longest stories, which is probably an indication of my reading preference for full-length novels.   Your favorites will most likely be different from mine. The other four tales are still good, just short.

Excerpts...

    “Are you a linguist?”

    His smile broadened.  “More like a writer.”

    Gracie laughed.

    “What’s so funny?”

    “I don’t know.”  She shook her head.  “I guess I’ve always pictured a writer as looking like a mole, squinting through a thick pair of glasses, and smoking a pipe.”

    He laughed and nodded.  “Yeah, that’s the successful ones.  Then there are the ones like me.”  (pg. 4)

    “They could still be here,” Corky replied.  “Just because the mother ship is gone, don’t mean some of them ain’t still here walkin’ around.”

    Ben’s expression soured.  “Don’t be stupid.  Even I know they’re supposed to be little, skinny, grey critters with big eyes.”  He looked around the room.  “I don’t see anyone here that fits that description.”

    The front door opened.

    Fran shrank back in her chair and gasped, “Oh my God!”  (pg. 137)

Kindle Details...

    The Kindle version of Twisted Tales sells for $4.99 at Amazon.  If you want to “try out” this collection, Marlin Williams offers each story individually for the Kindle at $0.99 apiece.

“Why would a monster post signs on the dryers?”  (pg.  73)

    The usual caveats about short stories apply. (*)  To wit, don’t expect a lot of depth-of-character.  Don’t expect a complex plotline.  Do expect to be drawn into the story within a page or so, or even within the first couple paragraphs.  Do expect the events and action to be fast-paced.  And regardless of genre, do expect something unexpected to occur.

    By those criteria, Twisted Tales succeeds admirably.  It’s always hard to rate a collection of short stories, because inevitably some of them will resonate with the reader more than others.  Here, all the tales kept my interest, and that’s all you ask for from an anthology.  So let’s give Twisted Tales 8 Stars.  There’s nothing epic, but there’s plenty entertaining.

     (*) :  Apparently, the two ultra-short tales (The Same Old Nightmare and Cracked) are properly called Flash Fiction, not Short Stories.  The Wikipedia article on FF is here.  You learn something new every day.

The Attic Piranhas - Marlin Williams

    2014; 182 pages.  New Author? : No.  Genre : Contemporary Fiction.  Overall Rating : 8*/10.

    Change is coming to the Elegant Watch Company, where Max Fagan works.  No one buys mechanical watches anymore, and Elegant Watch has been slow to fathom this.  They've been losing money for some time.

    Change is also coming to Max Fagan’s life. Given his lack of funds – he’s about to be evicted from his apartment – and dead-end job, you’d think he’d embrace it.  But occasionally, some people need a bit of a push to get them out of their rut.  Enjoy your hot dog, Max.

What’s To Like...

    Marlin Williams has recently finished a significant revising of The Attic Piranhas.  I read the earlier version in December 2012.  The review is here, and I’ll try to keep duplication of it here to a minimum.  Besides, lots of the book’s details have changed and my memory is understandably fuzzy, so it was a pleasant re-read.

    The essence of TAP is similar to A Confederacy of Dunces (reviewed here).  The humor is both weird and madcap, the protagonist charismatically unlikeable (is that an oxymoron?), and both have hot dog vendors.  But The Attic Piranhas is shorter, its pacing faster, and Max has a few more redeeming qualities than Ignatius.

    It also seemed like the storyline in the revised version is now more focused.  Charley and the Attic Piranhas are more clearly portrayed (they are also defined in the Amazon blurb, as well as in the second excerpt below) and the roles of Misters Wong and Sanderson now seem to fit more deftly into the plotline.  Of course, it is equally possible that the second reading just increased my understanding of what was going on.

    There’s a nice moral to the story about the impact of negative thoughts and feelings; and the author manages to pull this off without getting preachy.  The ending closes out the story neatly.  There’s no booze, drugs, or adult situations to offend sensitive minds, and just a single “sh*t” near the beginning.  So both YA and adult readers will enjoy this book.

Excerpts...

    “Hey,” Max pointed to the pocket, “I gave you a twenty-dollar bill.  Where’s my change?”

    The vendor’s grin broadened.  “Change come from within.”

    “I’m talking about my money.”

    “Money,” Mr. Wong shook his head, “no matter.”  Then as he nodded, he said, “Change matter.”  (loc. 56)

    Charley stopped parading around on the scaffold and put a hand to his ear.  “Hear that?”

    Somewhere in the distance, Max could hear a faint rumble; it was almost like the sound he made when he blew bubbles through a straw into his glass of chocolate milk.

    Charley dropped his hand away from his ear.  “They’re coming.”

    “They?”

    “The attic piranhas.”  Charley tapped a finger against his forehead.  “You know, those little things that gnaw at you.  If you stand here much longer trying to make a decision, they’re going to catch up with you and eat you alive.  I’m not talking metaphorically, pal.  I’ve seen it happen a few times and it’s not a pretty sight.”  (loc. 590)

Kindle Details...

    The Attic Piranhas sells for $4.99 at Amazon; and ANAICT, this is Marlin Williams’ only full-length novel available for the Kindle.  He has seven short stories also for the Kindle, all priced $0.99, plus one collection of Short Stories, priced $4.99.

”A mind driven by indecision goes nowhere.”  (loc. 585)

    Overall, I felt like this version of The Attic Piranhas was a lot more polished and easier to follow than the 2012 edition.  There were still one or two “rough spots”.  The “Rolling Stone infringement” issue gets resolved too casually.  Mr. Sanderson’s new assistant turns out to be a relative of another character, which is either incredibly coincidental or a deliberate tie-in that flew over my head.  And I still feel Ramir’s entrance is a bit abrupt.  But I quibble.

    Simply put, if you've read John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces and liked it, then you’ll love The Attic Piranhas.  If you haven’t read ACOD, then if things like anti-heroes, crazy antics, karmic comeuppances, and a tinge of the paranormal appeal to your reading tastes; you will enjoy this book.

    8 Stars.  Add 1 star if you think Ignatius Reilly was annoyingly charming.

The Attic Piranhas - Marlin Williams

    2012; 178 pages.  New Author? : Yes.  Genre : Contemporary Fiction.  Overall Rating : 7*/10.
 
    Max Fagan is looking for change.  Of course, the “change” he wants is money back after handing over a twenty-dollar bill to a street vendor for a hotdog.  The change he’s gonna get is something entirely different.  Be careful what you wish for, Max.

What’s To Like...
    The Attic Piranhas is a fast-paced story that is difficult to slot into a single genre.  There are humor, drama, and action; all in more or less equal amounts.  There are a plethora of plot twists which gives the storyline a roller-coaster feel – you know you’re going somewhere, you’re not quite sure where, but you know you’ll have fun getting there.

    Max is a fine anti-hero – lazy, overweight, delinquent on his bills, always wanting something for nothing.  He has Charley Axon – a “voice inside his head” - that puts all others to shame.  The concept of attic piranhas is both original and well-done.  It would be a spoiler to tell you exactly what they are.

    The question you’ll keep asking is : is there something magical going on?  Marlin Williams will keep you guessing up till the very end.  The ending is adequate; I felt it was a bit contrived, but that’s in keeping with the flavor of the book.

    There are some weaknesses.  At times the weirdness threatens to overshadow the story.  There are some continuity issues.  Max’s colleague, Ramir, needs a backstory.  The prologue has no relevance at all.  I still haven’t figured out what a blown-out shoe is.  And the methane conflagration?  Not very likely.  To boot, methane’s odorless, so Max wouldn’t smell it.  Trust me, I’m a chemist.

Excerpts...
    “How did you know what I was looking at?”
    The man pointed to the ceiling.  “Security camera.”  He eyed Max curiously.  “Are you a collector?”
    Max feigned interest in the oddities surrounding him.  He recalled his own collection of disposable dining-ware and infomercial bargains overflowing from his cabinets and nodded his head.  “You might say that.”   (loc. 404 )

    A small, mousey man entered the room.  He was a social puzzle, an assortment of odds and ends coming together to form one strange individual.  His neon-green glasses were perched on the bridge of his long nose.  His thin frame was neatly wrapped in a red and white pinstriped suit and adorned with a bowtie of archaic patterns.  He could have been Andy Warhol’s parting gift to the world.  (loc. 855)

“Remember, it’s midnight in the house of dark and light.”  (loc. 2862)
    The best way to describe The Attic Piranhas is that it’s “A Confederacy of Dunces lite”.  Both have unlikeable protagonists, abundant weirdness, and meandering plots.  Heck, both have hotdog vendors.  TAP is shorter and easier to follow, and for all his faults, Max is a lot less annoying than Ignatius Reilly.  OTOH, I felt the writing in ACOD (reviewed here) was stronger.

    A lot of readers won’t like TAP, which is also true of ACOD; but I found it to be entertaining. It did seem like some beta readers could have really helped it, though.

    7 Stars.  Add another 1½ stars if you think, like the Pulitzer peeps did, that John Kennedy Toole’s opus was a masterpiece.