Book Review: Secrets Of the Weird by Chad Stroup

Secrets Of the Weird by Chad Stroup

Paperback, First Edition, 294 pages

Expected publication: July 11th 2017 by Grey Matter Press

So I was pretty sure for many years I thought it was safe to assume I was the only Vegan Straight Edge kid turned horror author, I mean in the whole planet. Well a few years back I learned that I was not the special snowflake I thought I was. Not only does the world have another horror author who grew up on punk rock, draws X's on his hands and eats way to much vegan treats but there is another vegan straight horror author right here in freaking San Diego. Chad and I are very different writers, with very different training. We have similar influences and think alike often but what is cool is that we have both released books this year and they are very, very different.

Very very different is a good place to start in this review. Secrets of the Weird is not really like any other novel I can think of, while Stroup clears hints at influences it is not exactly in vein of anything else. Set in slightly surreal fictional town of Sweetville we get no sense of outside geography, or that any kind of world exists beyond the Sweetville city limits. Characters reference lyrics by real world bands, but not by name so in that sense we still do not have conformation that this world exists in our reality.

Our hero is a character named Trixie, she was born male but never identified with that gender. She is transitioning while I have had a few friends go through this process it is not one I have experienced. So it hard for me to say if this novel gets it correct. This was a bold choice for Stroup, one wrought with many pitfalls. It is a subject filled with landmines for author that clear in his dedication that he sides with those this society deems the weirdos and freaks. It is clear that Stroup had good and respectful intentions. I found Trixie to be a wonderful character and she is the main reason why I hope the book does well and we get another book with her at the center.

Trixie is has left home in the suburbs and is trying to make a life for herself on the street. After some time turning tricks and a period living with sibling sugar daddies she has settled into life. Sweetville is home to intense street drug. Sweet Candy is powerful designer drug, one she is trying to stay off of. Her life is turning around when a back alley drug addicted surgeon Julis Kast offers a radical underground surgery to become the woman she always wanted to be. At the same time she meets the boy of her dreams punk rock singer named Kristopher who she hides her big secret from.

At times this novel has a middle era Clive Barker feel of dark fantasy without the elaborate over writing that books like Imajica or Everville fell into. Certainly the world of this novel has it's share of erotic fantasy and that is why you'll hear Barker comparisons. But Sweetville was a setting written by a hardcore kid, and not a theater nerd so secrets of the weird is filled with Neo-nazis, punks, metal dudes, non binary prostitutes and more. These characters are not marginalized like extras on the punk episode of Quincy or freak show on stage at 90's Jerry Springer taping. They are all written with depth even the characters who only briefly appear in the pages. Even the villains of the piece are given depth.

I imagine a novel like this written by a straight male might be scary for readers of this community. Certainly Stroup handles the gender issues better than Brian Keene did in the Complex. Not that Keene was disrespectful he wasn't, but Stroup worked very hard to make this as natural a part of the world as he could. This is not over preachy or as direct as some of the fiction marketed "alternative sexuality." He didn't try so hard to be progressive that the book goes over board. Trixie is a complex character.

The prose is tight, well written and the narrative is straight forward. For as strange as the settings the actually writing is thankfully grounded. I read it quickly. Is is perfect? Look Chad is friend but I can't review books if not afraid to give my opinion. Personally I would not have used the dairy entries as a device. They were fine, didn't ruin my experience but took me out of the novel a bit. The book was a quick read because he didn't waste a bunch of word count on world building but I could have used a bit more of the fucked up world in Sweetville. Show us more of the gutter in book two Stroup. Oh yeah the ending was excellent but it leaves us hanging so you folks better get out there and read the book. I mean I turned the last page assuming there was at least a few more. Shit I wanted to yell at Chad for ending when he did.

Secrets of the Weird is a fantastic read. This novel paints an erotic and dangerous picture of a city that you would only want to visit in the safety of a novel. I hope you'll take the trip and check it out.