Bizarro Fiction discussion

Hey members of this new forum I joined. So, allow me to introduce myself: part-time author J.R. Hamantaschen. My first collection did "well" by microscopic press standards and I finished the second collection, which is currently in editing hell. I recycle my royalties into giving out free copies, which I think is pretty cool, and I don't understand why any micro-press author would have anything resembling an ego, but you'd be surprised.

Anyway, you can read some critical praise the collection has received if I haven't been able to convince you to message me for a FREE physical copy of the book. I have ten sitting around, so I guess perhaps the first ten? Just don't be angry if you are the 11th person or whatnot.

Also, if you do appreciate this, feel free to go empty your spare change to buy a Kindle Version.



A twisted, uneasy, satisfying book
-Kirkus Reviews


A cross between Lovecraft and Chuck Palahniuk, this book of short stories is as memorable as it is terrifying . . . we haven't been this horrified by a collection of short stories since Chuck's own Haunted . . . You Shall Never Know Security is a wonderful collection of short stories from a dark and original genre voice. That title - it's a promise
Starburst Magazine


J.R.'s debut anthology kicks open the doors of the traditional horror fiction genre and takes the reader to a far darker place . . . Hamantaschen handles some deep topics . . .[t]his is fiction for readers that like to think, that like to be challenged, that like to squirm.
The Drabblecast


Odd, alarming, and almost poetic in nature, J.R. Hamantaschen's "You Shall Never Know Security" is an anthology that will stay with you long after you've turned the last page.
OneTitle Magazine


In J.R. Hamantaschen's You Shall Never Know Security . . . dark fiction is back to what it was meant to be: a bloodcurdling jump into the gloomiest and most sinister corners of the human psyche. . . . [the] stories are the kind that tend to stick with readers after the reading is over.
HP Lovecraft eZine


J.R.'s fiction is raw, startling, and dark. The best examples of his work -- stories such as "Jordan, When Are You Going to Settle Down, Get Married and Have Us Some Children?" and "Endemic" -- make readers squirm with discomfort, wondering how far the boundaries can be pushed before they break. J.R.'s work isn't comfortable fiction, but it's as often as not thought-provoking fiction wrapped around a grimly philosophical edge. -- Dru Pagliassotti, editor of The Harrow Press