Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #498500 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 260 pages

From the Back Cover
"Fishy-fleshed is one of those books that has such freedom of
language, imagination, and ideas that once you begin reading it, you know
you are reading not only fine writing, but a work of genius."
-Bruce Taylor, Kafka's Uncle.

"Carlton Mellick kicked my ass, and I have the scars to prove it. Or should
I say the scales? Mellick is an author who looks at the universe in
fish-eyed wonder, but isn't afraid to throw his readers to the sharks. Read
Fishy-fleshed and his teeth will be lodged in your brain forever."
- John Lawson, editor of The Dream People and Raw Dog Screaming Press

Her warmth, a zombie shark's tear, the smell of time travel, an Irish
drinking song, ugliness world, an underdweller's smile, the dirty ones,
Jesus Christ's brain, the difference between Whyrie and her copy, an
exploding head, and God whispering . . .

Fishy-fleshed is an illustrated collection of thought-logs from a
child-like man living in the cartoonish future world of Ocean City, so
technologically advanced that everyone possesses the ability to walk on
water, cure diseases, clone food, and raise the dead . . . an entire
civilization of Messiahs. When a team of researchers travel back in time to
the days of the Real Messiah, they discover the past is a lot different
than they imagined. It is an illogical flatland lacking in dimension and
color, a sick-scape of crispy squid people wandering the desert for no
apparent reason. Part science-fiction parody, part nightmarish absurdism,
Fishy-fleshed is likely to leave a green-gray taste in your mouth.

This volume includes both the English translation and the original Ywellish
language text.

Customer Reviews

Great Time Travel Bizarro Novel
Fishy Fleshed is my favorite Mellick novel so far. A man with ADD travels back in time with a group of scientists and his wife to try to find Jesus. The people in the future society already have Messiah-like qualities: they can walk on water and perform "miracles." They want to see how he had these qualities back then. When the time machine lands, he is stranded there alone and makes a home in the Biblical times. A long time later, his wife returns and tells him he had been the only human and the rest of the ships had been clones. He and his wife live together, and he doesn't know if she is a clone or not but they get along better than they ever have before.

They find Jesus, who turns out to be an experiment from the far distant future. They also solve a lot of the mysteries of Biblical times and discover how life back then really was. They make a copy of Jesus and bring him back to study. The showdown at the end is classic, and the illustrations heighten the story.

Also included is the original Ywellish language text, an exercise in experimental fiction that you can't miss. This is a very funny and well done satire of time travel and religion. Mellick stayed up for three days and wrote this one to simulate the ADD atmosphere.

Interesting, entertaining, and brand new
Young author Carlton Mellick has struck gold, oil, or whatever other valuable substance you'd like to substitute with "Fishy-Fleshed". He tells a great story about a group of characters who live in a ocean-city on Earth in the future, and strikes the perfect balance between humorous satire and serious story-telling. The most interesting thing about this book, however, is the style in which it is written. The main character tells the story from his first-person point of view, and all of his quirks, shortcomings, and communication problems are evident in the text. It is like hearing a creative, ADD-afflicted, introverted loner tell you about an incredible adventure that he was apart of. The author also illustrates the book with visual representations of the main character's thought, which help to make the atmosphere even more engaging. This is fresh, powerful, and important, and a book that everyone should read at least once.

[not fishy smelling]
Another great Carlton Mellick novel, as easy to read and crazy as his others; if the descriptions above aren't enough to hook you, you probably won't enjoy it. His style is as exciting and crazy as ever, but his staying up for three days straight to write in the manner of someone with attention deficit disorder didn't really show; he always writes a little like that anyway! Nice to know the author is not too proud to say "I wrote this in three days" - and great that it doesn't read that way.

As usual, there is more going on underneath than the cartoonish events being described, but you can still enjoy it as a mad and squelchy cartoon. Quick and easy to read, but leaving your mind reeling with inspiration and ideas, Mellick once again doesn't seem to take his own work seriously (or rather, pompously), but encourages you to think by getting your brain to work; how many 'high-brow' writers manage that?