# Edgy voice, dark humor



## TheYellowMustang (Sep 19, 2013)

Hey beautiful people. I need a recommendation or two, if you have any ideas. What I'm looking for is basically something similar to I Am Not A Serial Killer, which had some fantasy elements (not really a criteria), but was most of all about a young man trying to fight his natural instincts. He's a sociopath, and he doesn't allow himself to do the things that he's afraid might might lead to him becoming a serial killer. He's not allowed to harm animals, follow people he becomes obsessed with, say or think mean things etc. It's both clever and hilarious. 

Some quotes to show you what I mean: 

“I've been clinically diagnosed with sociopathy,' I said. 'Do you know what that means?'
'It means you're a freak,' he said.
'It means that you're about as important to me as a carboard box,' I said. 'You're just a thing - a piece of garbage that no one's thrown away yet. Is that what you want me to say?'
'Shut up,' said Rob. He was still acting tough, but I could see his bluster was starting to fail. He didn't know what to say.
'The thing about boxes,' I said, 'is that you can open them up. Even though they're completely boring on the outside, there might be something interesting inside. So while you're saying all of these stupid, boring things I'm imagining what it would be like to cut you open and see what you've got in there.”

“APD is primarily defined as a lack of empathy,' I said. I'd looked it up too, a few months ago. Empathy is what allows people to interpret emotion, the same way ears interpret sounds; without it you become emotionally deaf.
'It means I don't connect emotionally with other people. I wondered if he was going to pick that one.'
'How do you even know that?' she said. 'You're fifteen years old, for goodness' sake. You should be ... I don't know, chasing girls or playing video games.'
'You're telling a sociopath to chase girls?”

So basically I'm wondering if anyone has a recommendation for me. I'm looking for ​[FONT=georgia, serif]a sarcastic and dark voice, and if it's science fiction, fantasy or has supernatural elements then that's just a bonus. [/FONT]


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## Apple Ice (Sep 19, 2013)

Firstly, thank you for the entirely true complementary hello. 

The book "Hope: A Tragedy" isn't supernatural but the main character in that is incredibly sarcastic and dark humoured.

I will give you a small example: 

"Let's cool it, brothers, said Malcom X to his assassins.
They shot him sixteen times.
Perhaps they had cooled it, thought Kugel. Perhaps they'd been planning on shooting him twenty times. It behooves the victim, in these matters, to be specific."


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## TheYellowMustang (Sep 19, 2013)

Apple Ice said:


> Firstly, thank you for the entirely true complementary hello.
> 
> The book "Hope: A Tragedy" isn't supernatural but the main character in that is incredibly sarcastic and dark humoured.
> 
> ...



Haha! I'll try that one, thank you  For some reason that last line reminded me of Winnie the Pooh. I'm not entirely sure why, I just got that vibe.


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## FleshEater (Sep 19, 2013)

Donald E. Westlake: The Ax

Absolutely brutal, and also very, very funny. In fact, I'd call it the work of pure genius.


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## TheYellowMustang (Sep 19, 2013)

FleshEater said:


> Donald E. Westlake: The Ax
> 
> Absolutely brutal, and also very, very funny. In fact, I'd call it the work of pure genius.



FE remember that story with the kids who ruined their lives testing weird ways to, ahem, "play the organ"? Do you still have the link?


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## FleshEater (Sep 19, 2013)

Oh yeah! 

http://chuckpalahniuk.net/features/shorts/guts


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## TheYellowMustang (Sep 20, 2013)

Thank you! That one's definitely worth a re-read or five.


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## Apple Ice (Sep 20, 2013)

Ha, I'm afraid I don't why that reminded you of Winnie the Pooh, either. Perhaps a shrink of some sort could help you that one. No problem, though.


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## TheYellowMustang (Sep 20, 2013)

BTW, both books are now ordered from Amazon and Guts is re-read (and the link saved). Thank you both


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## FleshEater (Sep 20, 2013)

I would suggest reading Palahniuk's Haunted, if only for some great short stories (like Guts).


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## TheYellowMustang (Sep 21, 2013)

FleshEater said:


> I would suggest reading Palahniuk's Haunted, if only for some great short stories (like Guts).



I probably will. I've re-read guts, then read another short from his website and I read Fight Club a few months ago and fell in love. so. hard. 

He's definitely on my list of authors I want to read more from, along with Bret Easton Ellis.


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## Lewdog (Sep 21, 2013)

It's not quite dark humor, but it is a dry 'make-you-think' type humor that you might find useful in the future...if you haven't already, you should read _Slaughterhouse-Five_​ by Kurt Vonnegut.


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## TheYellowMustang (Feb 17, 2014)

@Apple Ice I finally got around to finishing Hope: A Tragedy! It was very good, I truly enjoyed (and was inspired by) his voice and way of storytelling. The dialogue was very interesting and funny, I don't think I've ever seen that method used before. I think it could've been even closer to perfection had it been a little shorter (some scenes seemed a bit repetitive and superfluous), but still a very good read. I have a question though (SPOILERS, whited out). At the end of the book, he looks up at the man carrying Anne and says his last words - a name. Who? Why? I googled the name and found the wikipedia-page of a lawyer. I also found out he's the man Kugel's mother has a picture of in her bedroom, but that's it. What was the meaning of that scene, and of that character saving Frank and being Kugel's last words?
@FleshEater The Ax is up next. @Lewdog I'll order Slaughterhouse-Five next month. I used up my literature-budget for february on Sin City, the graphic novel. Once I've finished my current WIP, I'm thinking of giving comics a try, so I figured a good place to start would be to read one.


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## Lewdog (Feb 17, 2014)

TheYellowMustang said:


> @Apple Ice I finally got around to finishing Hope: A Tragedy! It was very good, I truly enjoyed (and was inspired by) his voice and way of storytelling. The dialogue was very interesting and funny, I don't think I've ever seen that method used before. I think it could've been even closer to perfection had it been a little shorter (some scenes seemed a bit repetitive and superfluous), but still a very good read. I have a question though (SPOILERS, whited out). At the end of the book, he looks up at the man carrying Anne and says his last words - a name. Who? Why? I googled the name and found the wikipedia-page of a lawyer. I also found out he's the man Kugel's mother has a picture of in her bedroom, but that's it. What was the meaning of that scene, and of that character saving Frank and being Kugel's last words?
> @FleshEater The Ax is up next. @Lewdog I'll order Slaughterhouse-Five next month. I used up my literature-budget for february on Sin City, the graphic novel. Once I've finished my current WIP, I'm thinking of giving comics a try, so I figured a good place to start would be to read one.



Marv, who Mickey Rourke plays in the movie, has some good one liners.  You should enjoy it.


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## Apple Ice (Feb 18, 2014)

I had no idea what was happening with the whitening business at first, though some sort of witchcraft was at hand there. 
I'm pleased you enjoyed it and got what you were looking for out of it. 

It has bee exactly a year since i finished the book and I don't remember it too well. The lawyer is the man Mother is always talking about, she says things like "If Dershowitz were here, you'd be sorry. He would wipe the floor with you." I re-read the least couple of pages and I'm not sure but did Mother ring him before she burned the pages and he went there and was in Anne's room before it all went tits up and so he was able to save her. I think it was just because the Dershowitz became almost a fairy-tale figure and then he suddenly appears at the end it's supposed be be irony. Also, his name is uber-jewish, so perhaps he knew Anne? These are guesses, though, so I can't say with certainty, that's what I remember thinking at the time though.

On an un-related note, I found Mother and Anne to be the most irritating characters I've ever come across and was hoping they would go away or die throughout the book. That book made me feel like an awful person.


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## Apple Ice (Feb 20, 2014)

For some reason my post hadn't registered properly. This is what I wrote:


I had no idea what was happening with the whitening business at first, though some sort of witchcraft was at hand there. 
I'm pleased you enjoyed it and got what you were looking for out of it. 

It has bee exactly a year since i finished the book and I don't remember it too well. The lawyer is the man Mother is always talking about, she says things like "If Dershowitz were here, you'd be sorry. He would wipe the floor with you." I re-read the least couple of pages and I'm not sure but did Mother ring him before she burned the pages and he went there and was in Anne's room before it all went tits up and so he was able to save her. I think it was just because the Dershowitz became almost a fairy-tale figure and then he suddenly appears at the end it's supposed be be irony. Also, his name is uber-jewish, so perhaps he knew Anne? These are guesses, though, so I can't say with certainty, that's what I remember thinking at the time though.

On an un-related note, I found Mother and Anne to be the most irritating characters I've ever come across and was hoping they would go away or die throughout the book. That book made me feel like an awful person


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## TheYellowMustang (Feb 20, 2014)

Apple Ice said:


> That book made me feel like an awful person.



I know, it's fascinating. I liked Mother a teensy bit better than Anne, but both of them sort of had me wishing for tornadoes and other catastrophes to come their way.


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## Apple Ice (Feb 22, 2014)

Whoa, sorry for the double post, it didn't come up before when I posted it, obviously something wrong with my connection.

I'm glad someone else hated them as well. I've never read her diary but I imagine the book has ruined it for me now.


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## Nicholas McConnaughay (May 3, 2014)

This isn't really an in-depth look on the psychological impulses of a serial-killer, but it does show an interesting and light-heart look into a psychopath, have you ever read Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay. Showtime! actually made a television series about the character, which is a lot better in my opinion, but the books are a more honest portrayal of a psychopath.


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## Caragula (May 4, 2014)

Scepticism inc. by Bo Fowler
Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre


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## Canjul (Jul 12, 2014)

Just going to mention the works of Warren Ellis, especially Crooked Little Vein (rather dark, sometimes tragic, sometimes touching, usually hilarious) and his stellar comic book series Transmetropolitan, if you're up for a longer read.


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## TheYellowMustang (Jul 13, 2014)

Oh right, I forgot about this thread! Thanks everyone, I was just thinking yesterday that I wanted to buy some new books. I'll check them all out asap.


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## TKent (Oct 5, 2014)

Not sure if you are still looking (this is a late entry) but American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis was fantastic (no fantasy though). Humor, violence, sex, blood, more violence, more sex.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Psycho


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## TheYellowMustang (Oct 6, 2014)

TKent said:


> Not sure if you are still looking (this is a late entry) but American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis was fantastic (no fantasy though). Humor, violence, sex, blood, more violence, more sex.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Psycho


fsdhuwrqwefmdc yasss (´͈ ॢꇴ `͈ॢ) I've read it three times.


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## TKent (Oct 6, 2014)

Darn, I would have loved to have been the person who led you to enlightenment...LOL.



TheYellowMustang said:


> fsdhuwrqwefmdc yasss (´͈ॢꇴ `͈ॢ) I've read it three times.


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