William Pauley IIICritiques

Full disclaimer: I was actually more interested in one of the later books and wanted to get some background before jumping into that. I know they aren't exactly linked, but my brain works in weird ways. Will I go ahead? I haven't quite decided yet.

I was hoping to really enjoy this book. I loved the concept of the Eight Block Tower - how much of the madness is ancestral and how much is the radiation. Is the tower really evil or are people just going crazy? The writing was also okay, although I was hoping for more. There was also quite a lot of repetition at times (we get it, there is radiation in the walls..) I, however, absolutely hated the conclusion to one of the stories (which unfortunately was also the one that held my attention the most). There's this great build up and mystery and then it turns out one of the characters is killing women to try make his straight friend gay so they can be together??? I really didn't like the homophobic undertones, nor the misogynistic ones that preceded it. I found the rest of the book to be less captivating. Is there an audience for this book? definitely! I guess I just went in with the wrong expectations...

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.½

Another weird and wonderful story from William Pauley III. I never know what the stories will bring but I know they will bring me joy.
Connor Brannigan once again brings William's stories to life. I love listening to Connor narrate these novels. His voice is like velvet and he always brings that extra bizarre/creepy factor.

Looking forward to reading the next William Pauley III book when it is released!

I finished reading this book hours ago and I still don't really know what to say about this book, other than this was another interesting and weird story from William Pauley III. The story has insects talking to people by repeating the same mantra over and over again, a lady creating drugs from cockroaches, and brothers that do some questionable things to pay their bills.

Connor Brannigan narrated this novel and once again brought a wonderful creep factor to the narration.

I am not sure why anyone wants to live or work in Tower 8. The cops won't respond to calls and everyone has known this fact across all of the books in this series. This book was even weirder than the first three books in the series. Are the characters hallucinating or actually changing into something else and their coworkers are so oblivious that they truly don't see it? Already read book #5, The Ballad of Old Joe Booth, so now I am off to read book #6, Holus Bolus.

I love Connor Brannigan's voice and I look forward to finding more audiobooks read by Connor in the future.

Just when you thought the series couldn't get any stranger, think again because it did. There was a lot of stuff happening in this book and all of it was weird. I can't wait to read Fight Tub, the next book in the Bedlam Bible series. These books are whack.

I love Connor Brannigan's voice and I look forward to finding more audiobooks read by Connor in the future.

This was another messed up story in the Bedlam Bible series and I loved it. Linda was weird and creepy and unhinged but also sad. Now I am off to read The Astronaut Dream Book, book #3 in the Bedlam Bible series.

I love Connor Brannigan's voice and I look forward to finding more audiobooks read by Connor in the future.

Well, that was a messed up tale about a psycho tower doing a bunch or weird stuff. Can't wait to read the second book in the Bedlam Bible series. I love that Connor Brannigan is the narrator for the series, his voice just adds to the creepy/weird factor of the books he is reading. I love listening to his voice.

I love the narrator's voice, it fit perfectly with this collection of short stories and I will definitely look for more books narrated by Connor Brannigan in the future.
This was an interesting collection of short stories, each story was unique and entertaining. I look forward to reading more of William's work.

Reynold and Divey Crunk run a “brackfas burrito” truck, using a mystery source of meat. After a car accident, Divey gets possessed by Vandenboom, leader of the Damned Dirt Devils, leading Reynold on a chase to get his brother back. This is a short synopsis without giving too many spoilers.

We start with an opening scene where the brothers try to trick their business partner into a game of Russian Roulette using an overpowered 1984-era Nintendo zapper. You remember that gray plastic pistol that came with the old 8-bit Nintendo consoles? Yeah, that's the one.

Unfortunately, this felt like where the novel peaked. Being a huge fan of old-school games, not to mention a regular reader of Bizarro fiction titles, I wanted to like this book a lot more. But something about it just didn't click for me. The references to Nintendo accessories being used as actual weapons felt tacked on and silly rather than clever or...well, bizarre.

The story felt very average and there seems to be some lack of motivation to the characters for their actions, or there are changes to character directions that, instead of making you go “Ooooo” with a sense of awe, make you go “huh?” with a sense of confusion.

A particular aspect to the novel that could have been played a little better in this regard was Pete, or rather Meat Pete. After being captured by Wasp Women, Reynold uses the meat for the brothers' burritos made from Pete to reconstruct him as a pile of talking meat that only he can hear talking to him (it made me flashback to Pizza the Hut from “Spaceballs”). This seemed clever in a way, but at the same time felt like a lost opportunity that could have been used to greater effect. It should also make the case that gory does not equal bizarre. Don't expect that slapping buckets of blood or fresh human meat all over a book will make it bizarre or clever (it doesn't necessarily preclude it, just don't rely on it).

Upon looking up the author, William Pauley III, it appears that this is not the first novel he's written in this particular world, such as [b:Doom Magnetic!|7845512|Doom Magnetic!|William Pauley III|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1268248679s/7845512.jpg|10951116], which would explain some of the passing reference that seemed like we were supposed to already know who or what some of these people were. This wasn't clear from the book description and might have helped. Or it might not. I'm not sure. I may try to track down [b:Doom Magnetic!|7845512|Doom Magnetic!|William Pauley III|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1268248679s/7845512.jpg|10951116] and see if it helps in understanding and appreciating The Brothers Crunk a little more.

Don't get me wrong here. I would not say that The Brothers Crunk is a bad book, but it felt rather mediocre. It's short, so if you don't like it, it won't be major waste or time, or you could like it quite a bit and take more away from it than this reviewer did, which after reading some other reviews could very well be the case. It seems that this book may be very specific to the reader. There are aspects to like, but this reader ultimately found it disappointing.

2.5 out of 5 stars (2 stars for the book, meaning it was “OK;” however, I do want to add that the cover art is awesome and alone deserves 5 stars, so since we can't give half stars on the system, The Brothers Crunk gets the benefit of the doubt and gets 3 stars).

Trio of alarming stories, set in a decaying tower block, a place for the rejects of society to live and form a dysfunctional yet lively and unique type of community. Sequestered in the insular world of Eighth Block Tower, the inhabitants face a series of horrifying events. Unsure of each other, and their own minds, it eventually becomes clear that the tower might be exerting a sinister influence, making attempts to discern the truth increasingly urgent and elusive.

Pauley III excels at melding the nightmarish with the bizarre. His choice to structure the book as a series of interconnected stories amplifies the sense of being untethered, where interrelations are muddied all the while an uncanny undertow drives the book forward as a complete entity. Wild and fun, deranged and peculiar.

I’ve found this one difficult to rate. It has lots of stuff I like, such as urban decay and dread, moody body horror, a tragicomic protagonist, science fiction elements that draw on deep seated anxieties, nods to classic creature features through the revisionist lens of 80s horror, strange transmissions that may or may not be a result of delusion, nostalgic technologies and references to broader themes like the danger of pathogens, distrust of authority and imminent societal threats. All good.

It begins very promisingly, with a lone man experiencing an unusual hum which contains a repeated sequence of enigmatic phrases. After discovering that no one else can hear these communications, he embarks on trying to unearth their meaning, and also to live with them without losing his sanity. At the same time a catastrophic physical condition begins to take hold, the origins of which are equally as unexplained. So far so good. The main problem with this book is it needs to be tightened up. There are flabby philosophical insertions that are awkward, but could’ve been included successfully with a little more attention. I like that the author has taken pains to include themes that offer greater substance than would perhaps be expected. Where this one falters is mainly in some repeated missteps of the writing style, which could’ve so easily been picked up with a decent edit. It made this a very frustrating read, as I was rooting for it the whole way.

Not to say I wouldn’t recommend, as die hard appreciators of uncategorisable genre hopping material should find enough entertainment. Overwhelming impression is one of potential unrealised unfortunately, so I can’t give higher than three stars, despite the premise being exactly to my taste. I’m still curious to read more from this author, as it is the ideas held within that save this one.

You know that sound you hear when Pacman dies? Yeah, everyone knows that sound. Imagine hearing that sound right now and that pretty much sums up how i felt about this book.

It read like a B sci-fi movie script crossed with a video game ... with mediocre writing instead of bad acting. I appreciated a few of the creative twists and the characters had a bit of potential, but this turned out to be an "action adventure" more than anything else. And I find that boring. A very short book--i didn't hate the hour and a half it took to read it, but was it worth it? imho, no.

It's time to review a book that I think would make a good introduction to bizarro. Why do I think it would be a good introduction to bizarro? Because it's free (on the Kindle). I'm talking about DOOM MAGNETIC! by William Pauley III. It's the first book of his Doom Magnetic Trilogy, and I certainly expect to get the rest of the volumes, probably in the omnibus edition.

I'm not really sure how to explain it. It's a sort of bizarro/western/sci-fi story about a cowboy sort of guy who stole a purple television from the Japanese government, which apparently rules the world or something. There are assassins, monsters, weird villains, and a lot of strange stuff.

It's creepy and gory and disgusting and makes little sense. That makes it a good read.

Ah, young love! It has inspired great works such as Romeo and Juliet, and it's inspired pieces of crap like Twilight. It is also the subject of Slime Night!, by William Pauley III.

This is a very short and strange tale of young love (or lust). It is the tale of two high school students who are in love with the class slut. They are the only two guys in the school, and possible the town, that she hasn't had sex with yet. They decide to play a strange game of competitive pinball for her "love," not that she knows anything about the game. The pinball machines the use are called Slime Night! and have an odd feature called "gushers," which when triggered cause the pinball machine to become covered in slime. That's pretty much the only really bizarro thing about the story. The rest of it can be attributed to standard adolescent male stupidity, and remember, I am speaking as a former adolescent male.

It's a good story, and well worth the low price for the ebook edition.

I really enjoyed The Brothers Crunk, by William Pauley III. It was an exciting, weird story set in a post-apocalyptic version of Japan. In this world, video game peripherals, like the old NES Zapper or Power Glove, work like actual weapons, and video game cheat codes can affect the real world.

The story is about two brothers, Divey and Reynold Crunk, who run a breakfast burrito truck, which breaks down in the middle of the desert. Then Divey gets possessed by a sort of techno-demon thing, and stuff starts getting really weird. This being Japan, they all end up in Tokyo for a final showdown with the forces of evil

It's a really exciting bizarro adventure story set in a cool, post-apocalyptic world.I think it would be a good choice for anyone who's old enough to remember the good old days of the Nintendo Entertainment System.