| Taking as his text Georges
Batailles insight that "only at
the extremes is there freedom," critically
acclaimed "guerrilla writer" Harold
Jaffe documents Batailles aperçu
with 15 bone-chilling illustrations. Manson,
Starkweather, Speck, Son of Sam, the Night
Stalker, Aileen Wuornos, the Unabomber, Dahmer,
Bundy, Gacy, Kemper, Kevorkian and Kissinger
are not merely present and accounted for,
they are rendered into a "reality TV"
that youve never seen before.
Widely praised as a virtuoso
stylist, Jaffe employs a number of narrative
stratagems, such as letters, monologues,
interviews and "unsituated dialogues"
to torque the flattened, cartoon-like serial
killers into a potently unnerving third
dimension.
As in False Positive,
Straight Razor, Eros Anti-Eros and Sex
for the Millennium, Jaffes "docufictions"
are at the same time lucid, intricate, gruesome,
infinitely sad, and hilarious. At the end
we are left with a profoundly incisive commentary
on Americas insatiable consumption
of extremity, conveniently masked as moral
condemnation.
What People Are Saying
About 15 Serial Killers:
"It's hard to describe
the docufiction any other way than "gripping".
It's a work that cannot be put down once
the eyes start across the print. Jaffe is
a master and 15 Serial Killers should
not be missed. Raw Dog Screaming Press wins
once again with this title that we can only
scream KUDOS about! Make sure to check it
out!"
AlterPraxis
"Jaffe's prose peels
away the scab-like caul of 'history'"
illustrating that those 'official' accounts
people so often take for granted function
on a level not all that far removed from
the basest offerings of tabloid TV
.Perhaps
the most intriguing aspect of Jaffe's latest
collection, though, is his satiric, postmodern
flattening of temporality (in the anachronistic/Jamesonian
sense), a rhetorical and thematic strategy
that reveals disturbing continuities in
America's wound culture by exploring why
serial killers, from Charles Starkweather
and Charles Manson to Ted Bundy and Ted
Kaczynski, continue to occupy such a vital
position in the American cultural imaginary."
Paradoxa
"15 Serial Killers
is well worth reading, and will bear rereading
in the future. It's a solid resource book
and an interesting volume. Taut, compelling,
and as edgy as a freshly honed hunting knife,
I can't wait for the reality tv series to
come out."
ReallyScary.com
"If you are into todays
monsters and are frustrated by the lack
of originality pushed out there, then this
is the book for you."
Hacker's Source
"Jaffe is the real stuff."
Journal of
Experimental Fiction
"Docufictionfiction
in the form of a documentaryand something
that can mess with your head like no tomorrow!
You often forget the 'fiction' part of that
word and suspension of disbelief
is constant because of the facts and people
used."
Horror-Web
"As in previous works
by Jaffe, 15 Serial Killers looks
at serial killers through a unique point
of view that resists glamorization, and
it is effective at reaching deeply into
the hic et nuc of the situation
one
cannot but admire Jaffes courage (and
gall) in using these notorious figures as
the inspiration for "docufiction."
The potential of 'docufiction' is philosophically
and narratologically rich."
American Book
Review
"Harold Jaffe shines
a distinctly contemporary light on the pervasive
unthinking assumptions of our current culture."
Electronic
Book Review
"Certain parts of the
book had me wondering if he was actually
there, hanging out with the killers, sharing
a six-pack with them, and watching the way
they tore their victims apart. 15 Serial
Killers is a flashback into Americas
horrid past, delightfully written so the
reader can relate to the fifteen psychopaths
Jaffe describes, and sometimes becomes."
Stephanie
Simpson-Woods, The
Midwest Book Review and Camp
Horror
"I just received my
copy of Harold Jaffe's 15 Serial Killers:
Docufictions, and Raw Dog Screaming
Press did an absolutely beautiful job in
layout and design; if this is a sign of
things to come for them, all of us interested
in outre fiction are in for myriad treats.
And, per usual, Jaffe's transgressive fictions
are some of the most interesting and unnerving
examples of angry edge-satire around."
Lance Olsen,
author of Hideous Beauties
"Now, this isnt
an easy book to describe, so Im going
to take the low road and rip a quote right
off the back of the book, because it is
right on the money: Jaffe employs
a number of narrative stratagems, such as
letters, monologues, interviews and unsituated
dialogues to torque the flattened,
cartoon-like serial killers into a potently
unnerving third dimension. If youre
still unclear, just get the damn bookhave
I ever steered you wrong before? All of
your favorite serial killers are here, kids,
from Dahmer to Gacy to Bundy to Starkweather
and more, and the whole package can be yours
for the supremely reasonable price of $13.95.
If you think far too much horror fiction
is stale and formulaic, this book will renew
your faith. Youll also be supporting
the small-press, and that will get you on
Gods good side."
Tim Emswiler,
Weird
Times
"Radically innovative
writer Harold Jaffe pulls out all the stops
with his newest collection of prophetic
meta-fictions. Just you keep on flipping
that remote. Jaffe is now in control of
your television set with his chilling array
of hyper-real killers and virtual predators.
At once both menacing and comic, 15 Serial
Killers sinks its razor-sharp fangs
into the media manipulated society that
both condems and consumes serial killers
as an entertainment "product."
Jaffe challenges even the hippest of readers
to think for themselves about our crumbling
sit-com society. Read this book and let
Jaffe grab you by the scruff of the neck
and take a close, hard look at it."
Katanablue,
Amazon.com
"This book grabs you
right from the get-go, dropping you into
the scene of the crime in a way unlike any
I've read before: the "docufiction"
approach merges the newsstories with a fictional
re-enactment that immerses the reader in
the reality of the murders in an intriguing
way. This is what true crime fiction SHOULD
do, but doesn't, because it's so repressed
and interested in the lawful side of non-fiction.
Here Jaffe expresses himself freelyeven
as he is clearly writing in an objective
manner, keeping the narrator out of the
picture in each character study. 15 Serial
Killers is a fascinating literary experiment
even as it's a disturbing horrorshow, entering
into the scene of the crime and the twisted
methods and mentations of fifteen of the
world's most notorious serial killers. Dahmer,
Gacy, Bundy...they're all here for the party.
Highly recommended."
Michael A.
Arzen, Bram Stoker Award Winner
"With his usual brilliant
blend of deadpan humor and uncanny psychological
insight, Jaffe takes the likes of Ted Bundy,
Charles Manson, Son of Sam, and the Unabomber
and transforms them from tabloid icons into
complex fictional characters. What do Jeffrey
Dahmer and Henry Kissinger have in common?
Read this book and find out."
Stephen-Paul
Martin
"With 15 Serial Killers
Harold Jaffe continues his relentless exploration
of 'dangerous' territory. He's a rare literary
pioneerbrave, brilliant, original.
Watch your step, but follow him."
Derek Pell
"15 Serial Killers
grabs you by the head and forces you to
look hard at some of the most disturbing,
graphic, violent, senseless acts of our
time. It offers up these gruesomes in a
deadpan, darkly comic way that, damn it,
makes you laugh, which is perhaps the most
terrifying thing of all."
Claire Tristram
|