A very Odd review...

‘Odd and Odder: A Collection of Sensuality, Satire and Suspense’, by K.S. Brooks and Newton Love is a book with a long name.  It is a book that, despite the names of the authors, is neither about trout nor cakey cookies.  It’s a book, alright?  Lots of words, put together into sentences and paragraphs.  Some prose, some poetry.  It’s the kind of book that approaches from the shadows and you don’t know what it wants.  Maybe you’re about to get the best ass-kicking of your life.  Maybe you’re about to get laid.  Maybe you’re about to encounter the heroin addiction that will follow you for the next decade, as your life crumbles around you.

‘O&O’ is the kind of book that makes readers glad they never gouged their eyes out with screwdrivers.  It makes writers feel like they got gut-punched.  It is the kind of book you can’t put down, especially if you superglue that shit to your hands.  Makes it damn near impossible. 

I happened across this book when it fell out of the sky and hit me smack on the top of my handsome head.  Well, actually, it fell out of the sky in the form of electrons or some shit and landed in my Kindle.  You get the idea.  The book came to me.  I sat down.  I used my eyes to transfer the words into images and thoughts and I liked what I read.  Hell, I like liked it.  My kindle hasn’t operated the same since.

‘O&O’ is the kind of book you read if you want to be entertained.  It’s not stuffy or pretentious.  Not like me.  I’m pretentious, and I stuff.  Usually a sock.  Gets the ladies’ attention.  Argyle especially.  Don’t ask me why.  I’m not here to talk about my prosthetic penis, I’m here to talk about a book.  The kind of book that makes you want to kick yourself in the face, drink two beers, and call and order pizza.

It keeps you jumping, this one does.  It’s like Muhammad Ali.  First a story – bam, to the gut.  Then a sprinkling of lyrics – a flutter of jabs to the face.  Then some satire – a hard right to the temple.  Not like a Buddhist temple.  That would be stupid.  I mean the side of your head.  Where it can kill you.  Bottom line, this book can, and probably will, kill you.  Whatever you do, don’t buy it.  Steal it.  Wait, don’t steal it.  Buy it.  Buy two copies.  You never know when you’ll be running from the house naked.  And you want to cover your ass.  But you can’t have your junk all flopping around.  I had to buy a second Kindle.  But I did it.  And you should, too.

In all seriousness, I’m going to be serious now.  Seriously serious.  This book is funny, touching, brilliant, and many more adjectives or adverbs or whatever they are.  Okay, now I’ll be serious.  What you have here is a collection of excellent writing.  Some of it is hilarious (Dark Alley is one of the funniest stories I have ever read).  Some of it is emotive – and hits damn close to home.  Brooks & Love (should start a country band?) have come up with a collaboration that gives you everything you want out of a collaboration.  The pieces don’t fight each other – they compliment each other – and complement each other.  The satire is raw and funny and fresh.  The verse is heartfelt and begs for an old guitar.  And there are surprises around every turn.  

There are books that scare and disgust.  There are books that leave you on the edge of your seat.  There are books that teach you how to knit in easy steps that anyone can follow.  There are not nearly enough books that you finish, with a smile on your face, thinking, ‘Damn, I’m glad I just read that’.

 "Odd & Odder: A Collection of Sensuality, Suspense & Satire" brings together the creative, off-beat minds of published authors K. S. Brooks and Newton Love. From short stories befitting The Twilight Zone, to lustful verses of poetry, to thought-provoking flash prose: "Odd & Odder" is consistently fresh, sometimes outlandish, and truly entertaining.