In a topsy-turvy world where clowns are killers and crooks, Little Bigtop is a three-ring circus of crime, and no syndicate is more dangerous than the Bozo family. From the wildly original mind of Carlton Mellick III comes the short-story collection ClownFellas—an epic mob saga where life is cheap and the gags will slay you.
For years, the hard-boiled capos of the Bozo family have run all of the funny business in Little Bigtop, from the clown brothels to the illegal comedy trade. But hard times have befallen the Bozos now that Le Mystère, the French clown Mafia, has started moving in and trying to take over the city. If that weren’t enough, they’ve got to deal with the cops, the Feds, the snitches, the carnies, the mysterious hit man Mr. Pogo, and the mutant clowns over in the Sideshow district. With the odds stacked against them, the Bozos must fight to survive . . . or die laughing.
Advance praise for ClownFellas
“Mario Puzo meets Barnum & Bailey . . . You just can’t look away as the ridiculousness escalates.”—Publishers Weekly
“The most original novelist working today? The most outrageous? The most unpredictable? These aren’t easy superlatives to make; however, Carlton Mellick may well be all of those things, behind a canon of books that all irreverently depart from the form and concepts of traditional novels, and adventure the reader into a howling, dark fantasyland of the most bizarre, over-the-top, and mind-warping inventiveness. In my opinion, ClownFellas is his best work to date.”—Edward Lee, author of City Infernal and Header
“I rarely enjoy clowns—which is ironic since I’ve been one for over four decades—but ClownFellas is great on so many levels, irony being one of them. What can I say besides I love it! Great read, and funny as hell . . . I have been accused of being unfunny before, and after the trial I had to enter the Witless Protection Program. This is funny!”—Barry Lubin, aka Grandma, longtime Big Apple Circus clown @ goodreads
MY REVIEW:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1296342934
Read from June 01 to 03, 2015
I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for an ARC of this book.
I loved this book! It is one crazy ride with a mafia clown family. There are several stories about the different clowns in the Bozo Family or the clowns that work for them.
My favorite clowns are Vinnie Blue Nose, Hats Rizzo, Pinky Smiles, and Captain Spotty. Don Bozo is the boss of the family and he has one messed up, crazy clown son named Jimmy. He is in all sorts of trouble in this book. But it's great regardless.
They all live in Little BigTop. It's not just a carnival, they have houses, stores, run businesses, it's a whole other world that involves clowns. It's not just a clown book, it has real people in it as well.
The rival clown group is called, Le Mystere, they are a French clown gang. It's all so crazy but awesome at the same time!
Humans have the opportunity to try to become clowns by taking Happy Juice, but sometimes it don't work and it makes you a mutant instead of a clown. So you are carted off to another part of town where they live because they are very dangerous. I forget what their part of town is called though. Either way they are creepy.
There is a whole list of cool characters in this book and things that only clowns can do. I don't want to give away any spoilers. Let's just say if you want to read something very different and totally cool, here is your book. I had some great laughs even though there are plenty of mafia related activity as well.
Clown lovers with especially want to read this book. 4 Stars
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