Stranger on the Loose
Encyclopedia
Stranger on the Loose is the second book by American
author D. Harlan Wilson
. It contains twenty-seven irreal short stories
and flash fiction
as well as a novella
, "Igsnay Bürdd the Animal Trainer." Pieces in this collection originally appeared in magazines and journals such as Eclectica Magazine
, The Dream People, Locus Novus, 3 A.M. Magazine, Jack Magazine, Diagram, Riverbabble and Redsine. The book is illustrated by British
storyboard artist
Simon Duric.
deconditions the boundaries of reality with the same offbeat methodology that energized his first book, The Kafka Effekt
. Stranger on the Loose is an absurdist
account of urban
and suburban social dynamics, and of the effects that contemporary image-culture has on the (in)human condition. These stories operate on a plane of existence that resists, and in many cases breaks, the laws of causality
. Parrots teach college courses. Flâneurs impersonate bowling pins. Bodybuilders sneak into people’s homes and strike poses at their leisure. Passive-aggressive glaciers and miniature elephant-humans antagonize the seedy streets of Suburbia
. Apes disguised as scientists reincarnate Walt Disney
, who discovers that he is a Chinese box
full of disguised Walt Disneys ... Wilson’s imagination is a rare specimen. The acorns of his fiction are planted in the soil of normalcy, but what grows out of that soil is a dark, witty, otherworldly jungle.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author D. Harlan Wilson
D. Harlan Wilson
D. Harlan Wilson is an American short-story writer and novelist whose body of work has been associated with the genres of irrealism, science fiction, fantasy, horror, bizarro fiction, megalofiction, splatterpunk, absurdism, literary fiction, ultraviolence, and postmodernism...
. It contains twenty-seven irreal short stories
Short Stories
Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...
and flash fiction
Flash fiction
Flash fiction is a style of fictional literature or fiction of extreme brevity. There is no widely accepted definition of the length of the category...
as well as a novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
, "Igsnay Bürdd the Animal Trainer." Pieces in this collection originally appeared in magazines and journals such as Eclectica Magazine
Eclectica Magazine
Eclectica is one of the oldest surviving online literary publications. Founded in 1996 by Chris Lott and Tom Dooley, Eclectica's extensive and growing archives features poetry, fiction, nonfiction, miscellany, travel, opinion, and reviews by hundreds of authors from around the world...
, The Dream People, Locus Novus, 3 A.M. Magazine, Jack Magazine, Diagram, Riverbabble and Redsine. The book is illustrated by British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
storyboard artist
Storyboard artist
Storyboard artist is a profession specialized in creating storyboards for advertising agencies and film productions.A storyboard artist is able to visualize any stories using quick sketches on paper at any moment...
Simon Duric.
Cover description
In this collection of stories, D. Harlan WilsonD. Harlan Wilson
D. Harlan Wilson is an American short-story writer and novelist whose body of work has been associated with the genres of irrealism, science fiction, fantasy, horror, bizarro fiction, megalofiction, splatterpunk, absurdism, literary fiction, ultraviolence, and postmodernism...
deconditions the boundaries of reality with the same offbeat methodology that energized his first book, The Kafka Effekt
The Kafka Effekt
The Kafka Effekt is the debut book of American author D. Harlan Wilson. It contains forty-four irreal short stories and flash fiction and has been said to combine the milieu's of Franz Kafka and William S. Burroughs. Along with Carlton Mellick III's Satan Burger, Vincent Sakowski's Some Things...
. Stranger on the Loose is an absurdist
Absurdism
In philosophy, "The Absurd" refers to the conflict between the human tendency to seek value and meaning in life and the human inability to find any...
account of urban
Urban area
An urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
and suburban social dynamics, and of the effects that contemporary image-culture has on the (in)human condition. These stories operate on a plane of existence that resists, and in many cases breaks, the laws of causality
Causality
Causality is the relationship between an event and a second event , where the second event is understood as a consequence of the first....
. Parrots teach college courses. Flâneurs impersonate bowling pins. Bodybuilders sneak into people’s homes and strike poses at their leisure. Passive-aggressive glaciers and miniature elephant-humans antagonize the seedy streets of Suburbia
SubUrbia
subUrbia is a play by Eric Bogosian chronicling the nighttime activities of a group of aimless 20-somethings still living in their suburban Boston hometown and their reunion with a former high school classmate who has become a successful musician...
. Apes disguised as scientists reincarnate Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
, who discovers that he is a Chinese box
Chinese boxes
Chinese boxes are a set of boxes of graduated size, each fitting inside the next larger box.A traditional style in Chinese design, nested boxes have proved a popular packaging option in the West for novelty or display reasons....
full of disguised Walt Disneys ... Wilson’s imagination is a rare specimen. The acorns of his fiction are planted in the soil of normalcy, but what grows out of that soil is a dark, witty, otherworldly jungle.
Table of contents
- Restaurant
- The Groundhog that Didn't Know He Was a Man
- Cops & Bodybuilders
- Glacier
- Yak on a Hot Tin Roof
- Digging for Adults
- Before the Board of Directors
- Deer in the City
- Community
- The Impulsive Man
- The Voiceover Man
- Professor Dyspeptical's Parrot
- Pityriasis Park
- My Barbarian
- When a Man Walks into a Room
- Elephant Invasion
- Ten Flâneurs
- The Ostensibly Immortal Piece of Bread
- Stranger on the Loose
- Shriek
- Evolution and Its Vicissitudes
- Disney Reanimated
- "Fie," Said Her Knight in Shining Armor
- On Filmnoirmaking
- The Back of the Man's Hand
- A Barber's Tale
- Avalanche of My Self
- Igsnay Bürdd the Animal Trainer
External links
- Official D. Harlan Wilson Website
- Review by Karonda Barker at HorrorSeek.com
- Review by Keith Pile at TheDiagram.com
- Audio Interview with Wilson from Michigan State University Writers Series