“The teachings of Don Juan” by Carlos Castaneda. Read it in highschool and it put me off psychedelics for more than two decades.
Wild Animus
It’s about a Berkeley graduate who takes a bunch of acid and then dresses up like a mountain Ram in Alaska and becomes increasingly more deranged.
It was on a reading list for a college class. Pirate the book if you decide to read, because the author is a raging asshole.
China Miéville - The City & the City is one that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. Wild because as far out as it feels, it’s also a pretty accurate portrayal of how we’ve trained ourselves to intentionally not see. I find myself thinking of the book often.
The premise for this book was so strange I often had to reread passages to fully understand the differing perspectives of people standing next to one another and yet be in two different realities.
Santa Steps Out was wild.
'Sex, Death, and Santa Claus
His generosity is legendary. He has a devoted wife, a crack team of sky-borne reindeer, hordes of industrious elves, and the love of good little boys and girls around the globe. But what unholy desires now propel him into the lascivious clutches of a certain fairy? And who was he before the sleigh and workshop, in times forgotten?
She munches on molars, summons drowned sailors to her pleasure, and recalls, sharp as a pinprick, her life as the most savage of ash nymphs. Why then is she stuck, night after night, hovering above pillows to leave coins for gap-toothed brats? More important, how quickly can she captivate the jolly old elf to the north?
He’s huge, fluffy, lonesome, and unbearably horny. On his Easter rounds, he contrives, as often as possible, to get a grip on himself and peer into interesting bedrooms. But who in the world will throw him down and ravage him as the lovers under his gaze ravage one another?
Deadite Press is proud to bring back the ultimate erotic Christmas story from Robert Devereaux’
Clockwork Orange
The multiorgasmic man.
Pearl by Josh Malerman (Bird Box).
It’s about a pig on a small farm that can seep into your mind and make you do and see terrible things. I picked it up after reading Bird Box and a few other books of his, which I enjoyed. I expected to give up on it based on the silly 80s horror movie premise, but the book is truly demented and creepy and I felt existentially weird after reading it
I don’t know about wild, but UNSONG has been a very weird trip. It’s like science fiction, except instead of science its Jewish kabbalah. There’s angels, demons, alt history American politics, religious references that are truly esoteric, and puns… lots and lots of puns.
Fanged Noumena by Nick Land
Cyclonopedia by Reza Negarestani
Both are a naked lunch level mindfuck. Don’t treat it as a book, but rather as a stream of consciousness on the acid trip. Don’t try to make any sense, just ride the wave.
I’m not sure if it’s the wildest but the first that comes to mind is “John Dies at the End”
And now his watch has ended.
If only the sequel kept to the same idea…
“Dude, This Book Is Full of Spiders”? THEN WHY WAS MINE FULL OF SCORPIONS‽
The book is better but the movie was pretty good.
The Book of Rack the Healer by Zach Hughes was pretty wild.
It’s ‘New wave’ sci-fi from the 1970’s, and revolves around these mutated humans in a deeply poisonous and radioactive world where it’d forbidden to dig into the earth.
The humans have developed a carapice and internal air sacks that they fill to hold their breath before leaving their safe organic dome homes that change color depending on their mood. Some of the domes have women in them that don’t seem capable of complex thought, and live purely through sensory input, are telepathic, and are basically constantly edging themselves all day.
It’s a drug fueled fever dream, for sure.
That sounds a bit like “The Prince in Waiting” by John Christopher (more famous for “The Tripods”), it’s a trilogy also set in the distant future after a nuclear war, where all machines have been outlawed and humans exist alongside dwarfs and mutants. Over the course of the trilogy, the protagonists (living in fairly alright areas) venture deeper into more and more radiated areas and encounter grotesque stuff.
Oh man, I adore the tripods, so I’ll be giving that a read for sure. Cheers for sharing!
I found my next read. Copy ordered.
I read Mother Load by Zach Huges decades ago. Not as strange as the one you describe but I still remember it.
Ha, cool! Hope you enjoy it 😄
Definitely House of Leaves. A story inside of a story, inside of a story, with all narrators being just a bit crazy. Text of different fonts, going all over the place and even upside down based on the story. Just make sure to get the physical copy.
House of Leaves feels like reading some sort of forbidden text.
I’m pretty sure that was the intent.
I’ve been meaning to get his latest work which he predictably didn’t finish. Have you read it?
Oh I didn’t know about this. You’re talking about The Familiar, right? I don’t know if I’m up for another 5 books like this but now I really want to try.
Exactly so!
Just finished this one. And honestly, it broke my brain and how I interpret other written narratives.
2nd on the physical copy. This text doesn’t work otherwise.
Strange new world by Heinlein.
Martian Jesus comes back to earth and is like, wtf guys?Do you mean Stranger In a Strange Land? Because that’s one of mine.
I went into Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? blind. Hadn’t seen the movie, hadn’t read any other Dick, hadn’t even had it hyped to me by a friend. What a series of mindfucks.
The only Philip K. Dick I’ve read is Flow my tears the policeman said (epic title). It’s pretty linear and coherent until one point towards the end where, without question, 'ol Dick popped some acid.
If you want something really wild by him you can try Valis. Going in blind or not won’t really make a difference.
Lies, Inc. is another by PKD that will leave your head spinning.
I love pkd but haven’t read that, thx.
In elementary school I read this book called “Flawed Dogs” and it was unforgettably wild. It’s about a dog who escapes some kinda confinement by jumping over a barbed wire fence and loses his back legs in the process, and then joins a dog gang and does dog gang activities. Also one of the dog gang members was a cat in disguise.
Honestly I should see if I can find a copy of it and reread it. It was pretty wild.edit: I looked it up and maybe I have a lot of the details wrong but it’s still pretty wild