8 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
BRING ON THE BIZARRO
CHRISTOPHER LESKO PHOTOS
BizarroCon 2017 poster art by Jim Agpalza
The genre of the weird —
and the Astoria connection
By DON FRADES
FOR COAST WEEKEND
‘B
izarro Fiction.”
I first encountered the term earlier
this year when I met a newcomer to
Astoria, Kevin L. Donihe, late of King-
sport, Tennessee, who mentioned he had
published 13 books in some genre I had
never heard of.
Intrigued, I wanted and needed to know
more — particularly because my own
notoriously eclectic, oddball library didn’t
include any of the authors he mentioned.
I delved into Bizarro without knowing
much. I had no books in front of me, nor
any immediately accessible. It’s a develop-
ing genre distinguishable from science fic-
tion, fantasy or speculative fiction by going
straight for the bizarre — not surrealism by
traditional definition, but rather plots, sto-
ries and characters that drop the reader into
unusual but accessible “what if?” worlds
taken to the edge of outlandishness.
A man who wants to have sex with his
house. A fairy tale about a pickle, a pancake
and the apocalypse. Titles like “Night of the
A--holes” and “Satan Burger.”
I started with Donihe’s “Space Walrus,”
about a love triangle on a space station
between a sentient (and partially bionic)
LEFT: Kevin L. Donihe, of Astoria, performing at BizarroCon 2017. MIDDLE: Cameron Pierce, petting a frozen duck, performs at BizarroCon 2017.
RIGHT: Kirsten Alene, right, of Astoria, performing at BizarroCon 2017.
walrus, his female caretaker and an abusive
head scientist. There are also spacewalking
chimps. It was one of the most moving
books I’ve read in quite a while.
Local bizarro founders
Turns out, though, that Donihe was
not the only local involved in the Bizarro
fiction world. He asked me, “Do you
know Cameron Pierce, who works at Fort
George? He’s one of the founders of Bi-
zarro, and one of the reasons I moved here.
And do you know Kirsten Alene?”
Sure, I knew their faces and names.
Cameron and Kirsten were brewers and
servers, but I hadn’t suspected that such a
softspoken trio were writers, editors and
even publishers of Bizarro — and were,
in fact, important to the founding of it a
decade or so ago.
They, like many who labor in the dish-
pits and countertops and tourist-satisfaction
industry, came to Astoria for the same
assortment of aesthetic reasons — which,
if fully voiced, might draw unwanted atten-
tion and send us off somewhere else.
To really get a full grasp of the Bizarro
scene, Donihe recommended that I attend
the 10th annual BizarroCon at the appropri-
ately eccentric Edgewater Hotel in Trout-
dale last month. Thanks to the generosity
of Rose O’Keefe, the event organizer and
owner/publisher of the sponsoring Eraser-
head Press, I scored a press pass. And I’m
so glad I did.
BizarroCon 2017
I didn’t know what to expect at Bizarro-
Con, so I braced myself for any amusing
eventuality. I’ve suffered through too many
conventions — marketing, business and
whatnot. This one would surely be sur-
prisingly different. Goofy surrealism? A
conclave of hipsters? Maybe some chaotic
insiders’ tribe of awkward thespians or
freaks? Bring it on.
Well, it was nothing like that. Or maybe
all those elements were so tempered with
sincere devotion to craft and humor that it
just became OK.
What I encountered was unexpected,
reassuring and inspiring. The Bizarro
community is earnestly dedicated to and
enthusiastic about the writing. These were
professionals who had high standards and
discipline, with a shared sense of humor
and comfortable commonalities.
Writers, publishers, editors and fans —
some veterans, many newbies — came for
the 10th anniversary of a gathering that
had begun with a couple dozen people, but
now draws more than 100 from around the
country, and a few from overseas.
Readings and performances ranged from
downright soothing — Pierce stroking a
small, frozen duck by fireside — to sten-
torian: Donihe finishing a frenetic perfor-
mance with “I must become my own there-
min!” to be “played” by audience members,
before collapsing to the floor in a heap.
In a world gone bonkers
During the day, workshops and forums,
often back-to-back, included “Character
Development in Bizarro Fiction,” “World
Building and Atmosphere,” “How to Adapt
Your Book into a Script” and the challeng-
ing “The Weird in a Post-Weird World.”
Then came the concluding awards
ceremonies in the ballroom on Saturday
evening, followed by the “Ultimate Bizarro
Showdown,” an hour or more of all-out
absurdity and prizes.
I talked with one attendee who works
as a waiter at an all-night diner in Denver
about whether he thought this could be a
social event for people who don’t normal-
ly like social events, or even society. He
noted: “This is a place where people who
might be a little awkward in trying to fit in
don’t have to expend that energy to explain
themselves or be judged.”
Not having the wherewithal to buy every
book they had, I came away with a dozen
or so volumes by authors I’d met. I made
some new friends, and the whole expe-
rience sparked a hope in me that Bizarro
fiction may be just the thing a lot of us are
looking for: the creative ground from which
to deal with a world gone bonkers.
Find out more about local Bizarro fiction
writers at eraserheadpress.com. CW