Fantasmagoria - Orreadi

Paperback, 310 pages

English language

Published by Independent.

ISBN:: 978-1-9861-7161-8

(1 review)

A scoundrel with a secret seeks the key to escaping the end of the world. An exiled gunslinger, waiting to die, is called back for one more job. A radioactive man is sold into service as an assassin by a mysterious cult. As their stories intertwine, all three are caught between rival mobs, an invincible killer, and a plot to upset an uneasy peace between once-warring nations. While far above the planet, a phantasmal apocalypse looms.Dinosaurs. Robots. Cannibal fairies. A brain in a vat. A giant squid. Nazi Amazons. Super-soldiers. A war dragon. An assassin cult. Unicorns. Wereninjas. Animal-human hybrids. And a kaiju god of destruction. The battle for the fate of the world starts with a betrayal in a cemetery . . . and a stray phallus.Equal parts mutant crime noir and sci-fantasy adventure, FANTASMAGORIA is a violent, unrelenting, and darkly humorous pulp novel for the 21st century.

2 editions

Jens Finkhäuser reviewed Fantasmagoria by Richard Zane

A wild ride

4 stars

Content warning Some spoilers and language

Any story that starts with feeding a literal bag of dicks to the dogs promises to be a wild ride, and this one doesn't disappoint.

This is Richard Zane/Rick Wayne's first full-length novel, and as such, it's a lot less polished than what comes after. However, if you can put aside literary criticism and just want to take a deep dive into a world that throws together every pop-culture thing imaginable and mixes it with a good dose of zany (yes, the alias is well chosen) antics, then the book is extremely well worth the time spent on it.

But let's be honest, The Minus Faction, Feast of Shadows and Science Crimes Division are the things you should read. This is more of a guilty pleasure.