This anthology from the fringe examines our culture's obsession with taboos and the added temptation that forbidden pleasures bring. Warnings of danger and peril only heighten our desire for those things we have been told are bad, wrong and have been warned against doing. Postmodernists and surrealists come together in these pages with renegade horror and sci-fiction authors to re-envision what is "acceptable." By turns humorous and horrific then shocking and alluring, the authors dissect those very impulses we deny in our everyday lives. While navigating the minefield of gender relations and plotting explorations into the landscape of the other, this volume is all-inclusive in scope. It allows for every lifestyle and viewpoint, no matter how unlikely or bizarre. This literary experiment on human desire opens up many possibilities including the chance that the ultimate disaster might very well prove to be the most compelling temptation.

The publishing world has just received its bill of health, and the prognosis isn't pretty. Literary marauders are rising up from the hazardous material bins labeled Horror, Surrealism, and Science Fiction. Here the pen is not merely mightier than the sword; it is a plague heralding the apocalypse for convention, writing a dirge for complacency. The stories herein explore illness in all its forms: physical, mental, and societal. These sick stories are horrendous, hilarious, and stupefying dissections of creative minds on the scalpel's edge.

SuiPsalms is the follow up to Lawson's first, acclaimed poetry collection, THE TROUBLESOME AMPUTEE. Exploring the subject of suicide from all angles, this collection challenges pre-conceived notions and both poetry and suicide. Drawing on influences from Sylvia Plath to Ian Curtis this book is never quite what you expect.

From the introduction: "I began this anthology to dispel the illusion that we are in a famine age of literature and the result surprised even me in how powerfully it shattered that misconception." Words are slippery things and though we have bridled them with grammar, feel at ease in the presence of a common turn of phrase, they have not been completely tamed. And there are still writers who are both brave and foolhardy enough to let words out of their cages, feed them despite the signs that clearly state not to and prod them with sticks to see what they might do. Editor Forrest Armstrong has gone in search of these experimenters, alchemists of verbiage, who wrestle with words in dark places and return with something newly minted, transmogrified and fresh for us to puzzle over. "Avant-garde is by definition work on the front line of art, and I accepted every single piece of writing in this anthology because of how fresh it is, how differently the writer approaches his or her art."

The Plague Factory contains 90 pages of John Edward Lawson's most experimental poetry. The Plague of experimental John poetry, pages contain the most Factory. A lyrical reconstruction of the human disease manufactured through our mass media. A lyrical human. A mass disease digitally diseased. zzzzzzzz.

From the classics to the avante-garde, Snuff Books brings you a collection of stories that find the beauty in the brutal and the art in the absurd. Including tales of orchestrated mayhem, flesh sculpting and gourmet cannibalism, Raw: Brutality as Art features work from some of the genre's best up and coming horror and bizarro writers. Includes stories by Inanna Gabriel, Brandon Ford, Frank Roger, Steven L. Shrewsbury, R.J. Cavender, L.L. Soares, Kevin Lucia, Jessica Lynne Gardner, Eric Enck, James Roy Daley, Stephen Couch, Trever Palmer, Andrew Wolter, and Brendan Connell.

Now available for the first time in this collectable edition, A Child's Guide to Death chills the hearts of a whole new generation! After spending years as a treasured tome in the memories of nostalgic and traumatized adults, this vintage great has been digitally restored and put back in print. Unlike some classics A Child's Guide to Death not only ages, but also ends childhood in a single sitting! Because if you make a wish upon a star it doesn't matter who you are...you're still gonna die. NEW SIZE WITH 20% MORE DEATH!

Already known for his works of speculative fiction, author John Edward Lawson uses Discouraging at Best to take a look at the "real" world. On the pages within are five interlinked tales that, when pieced together, paint a panorama of apathy, greed, and manipulation. We follow the self-inflicted plight of working class families and their efforts to step on others in the race to get ahead. We watch the petty wars of Nobel laureates. We become immersed in the minds of those caught in an ankle-biters rebellion. We are drawn into the intrigues and incompetence of those pulling the strings at the highest level of government. And, ultimately, we wonder: why? Here the absurdity of the mundane expands exponentially creating a tidal wave that sweeps reason away. For those who enjoy satire, bizarro literature, or a good old-fashioned slap to the senses, Discouraging at Best offers extra helpings of each.

Kenrick Brimley, the state prison's official gigolo, hangs over a lava pit on trial for his life in a strange land. He will reveal the course of his life one misguided step at a time for his captors. From his romance with serial arsonist Leena Manasseh to his lurid angst-affair with a lesbian music diva, from his ascendance as unlikely pop icon to otherworldly encounters, the one constant truth is that he's got no clue what he's doing. As unrelenting as it is original, Last Burn in Hell is John Edward Lawson at his most scorching intensity, serving up sexy satire and postmodern pulp with his trademark day-glow prose. The Director's Cut includes: deleted scenes, alternate ending, photo stills, remastering for more enjoyable viewing, and more

Welcome to one of the meatiest collections of grizzly, grotey, bizarro poetry you'll come across. In other words, "the good stuff." The stuff you like to read. The guilty pleasure stuff that's hard to come by. Not the stuff you used to read from your lovers or childhood heroes, or the stuff you were made to read by your teachers or parents. The stuff you genuinely like to spend time with, musing and mulling and mashing. The stuff that makes you guffaw with laughter and want to read out loud to other unsuspecting people. The Scarred Edition includes the out-of-print chapbook The Scars Are Complimentary.

From the introduction by Michael A. Arnzen: Welcome to one of the meatiest collections of grizzly, grotey, bizarro poetry you'll come across. In other words, "the good stuff." The stuff you like to read. The guilty pleasure stuff that's hard to come by. Not the stuff you used to read from your lovers or childhood heroes, or the stuff you were made to read by your teachers or parents. The stuff you genuinely like to spend time with, musing and mulling and mashing. The stuff that makes you guffaw with laughter and want to read out loud to other unsuspecting people... What they're saying about The Troublesome Amputee: "Lawson's poetry inspires, sings, dissects, and screams, reflecting his unique insight to a world willing to indulge in self-amputation: harming itself in unexplained ways. Whimsical, strange, and unflinchingly true, Lawson's work is always entertaining. Like coming home to unanswered screams, Lawson's poems weave words into unforgettable songs of sweet darkness." -Linda Addison, Bram Stoker Award winning author of Consumed, Reduced to Beautiful Grey Ashes "I'm a big fan of John Edward Lawson's work, and The Troublesome Amputee is by far his best poetry collection to date. It's sometimes hilariously funny, sometimes deadly serious, but always morbid (often really morbid) and thought-provoking. Any horror fan-even those who aren't into poetry-should check this one out." -Jeff Strand, author of Pressure and Casket for Sale (Only Used Once) "With this blistering salvo of poetic gutshots Lawson has proven himself Bizarro's true bard, its mad laureate. Switching from dark whimsy to retina-blast shock to political outrage without missing a beat, The Troublesome Amputee is a powerful collection of pitch-black verse." -Jeremy Robert Johnson, author of Angel Dust Apocalypse and Skullcrack City

There's a new genre rising from the underground. Its name: BIZARRO. For years, readers have been asking for a category of fiction dedicated to the weird, crazy, cult side of storytelling that has become a staple in the film industry (with directors such as David Lynch, Takashi Miike, Tim Burton, and Lloyd Kaufman) but has been largely ignored in the literary world, until now. The Bizarro Starter Kit features short novels and story collections by ten of the leading authors in the bizarro genre: D. Harlan Wilson, Carlton Mellick III, Jeremy Robert Johnson, Kevin L Donihe, Gina Ranalli, Andre Duza, VIncent W. Sakowski, Steve Beard, John Edward Lawson, and Bruce Taylor.