The Early Bird Catches the Worm but the Wise Worm Stays in Bed

The Early Bird Catches the Worm but the Wise Worm Stays in Bed (2018)
Gloomy Seahorse Press

"A change is as good as a rest," said Dr Jekyll doubtfully.

Stories from the beginning and stories from near the end with a minor chasm between. Into this chasm falls a rain of worms that will tickle the napes of those who dwell below. But who dwells below? On either side of the chasm, absurd birds perch on the outstretched arms of plausible gibbons. The chasm will fill up eventually. A lake of worms. That's the way it ought to happen around here...

Contents:

EARLY BIRD
Raindancing * Big Game * The 4-D Mind * Nathaniel * Reflections of a Brass Head * Friends * The Faust Business * Death of an English Teacher * The Myth of Sisyphus * Under the Tree * The Dungeon * Consolations of the Wild One * The Roof of the World * Multicoloured Leaves in Bright Spirals * The Manticore * Zumbooruk * The Achilles Tendency * The Duvet Thief * Sucking the World's Thumb * Passengers * Loop * Romance with Capsicum * There's a Woman with a Cactus Instead of a Head * Miserable with Groceries, Cuddly with Stubble * Bracket * The Glossolalia of Hideo Frigg * The Apology * Primate Suspect * The Pelican of Venice

WISE WORM
Simplicity * Letters from my Windmill * Spoiling the View * Nozzles * Jekking the Oofers * When the Tide Comes in, Belinda Puts Out * What Did You Do for Doomsday? * The Tatty Bye * Hepcats are from Neptune, Bum Notes are from Uranus * Barbarian Gran * Alphabet Soup * Shelf and Safety * The Pink Canoe * Hey! Big Spengler * Counting the Pennies * The Sleep Patterns of Björn Wakeman * The Little Bridge Over the River

The Honeymoon Gorillas

The Honeymoon Gorillas (2018)
Bizarro Pulp Press

"Spud Gunn is the son of Hopalong Beech and Una Gunn. When his parents split up he begins his travels through the West, a place of myths, tall stories and strangeness. On his journey he has many peculiar encounters with the characters who inhabit the West and he begins to suspect that something is not quite right about the world he is living in. Could it be that this West is just a simulation? If so, for what purpose was it created?

Before he finds the answer to this and other questions, he will have to evade the unusual attentions of a troupe of lethal roving actors, the schemes of fake orientals, the catastrophic effects of asteroid strikes and the fury of a giant who is one of the original gods of the West and who has been assembled from his scattered parts in order to break down the walls of existence and reveal the truths beyond.... But what does this have to do with gorillas? Rather more than it may seem to the casual eye!"

Contents:

The Son of Una Gunn * Tumbleweed Tantrums * Phut Tu Ping and the Spittoon Gang * The Proper Setting * The Same Old Zoetrope * Rosco Pico Train * The Tooth on the Floss * Longfellow in the Compressor * Fudge Man Chew * Sarsaparilla Sasquatch * What we Gibber About when we Gibber About Gibbons * A Long Story Short * The Falling Kite Landed on my Back like an Angel Attack

How Many Times?

How Many Times? (2018)
Eibonvale Press

"Rhys Hughes has never been a stranger to experimental fiction and unusual ways of constructing stories, and this mini-collection gathers some of his most far-reaching examples, placed squarely in the world of OuLiPo writing.

Short for Ouvroir de littérature potentielle (the workshop of potential literature) OuLiPo is a grouping of authors who fashion works based on constrained writing techniques, writing that follows rigorous and extremely precise rules concerning structure and layout.

And here, we encounter works based on rigid numerical constraints, works in the form of grids that can be read in any direction, and a logico-erotic tale in which the permutations of the sexual acts are based on the workings of logic gates."

Contents:

The Five Pillars of Flimflam * Half a Dozen of the Other * Seven Sulky Sides for Seven Bulky Brooders * I Entered the Forest at Midnight * Boiling the Kettle * The Careful Plottings of my Enamoured Heart * Boolean Amours