Wildest as in..?
I finished reading Maldita Guerra, which is the current de facto book detailing the Paraguay War (1864-1870). Francisco Solano López, Paraguay's dictator at the time, is possibly the worst thing to have happened to the country. The fucking psycho established a cult of personality (saint figures in churches were removed to put photos of him), the only newspaper allowed to print was always cheering on how great and perfect he was, plus a secret police to ensure nobody would dare rise up against him. Oh, and the population was incentivized to denounce anyone that didn't show enough love for the president.
To make matters worse, there was no real justice system. If you were accused of treason or conspiracy, you were as good as dead, no recourse. Oh, and López' head was deep inside his own ass, any war reports that showed difficulties or stated losses from the Paraguayan army were rebuked and the person could end up dead for giving the bad news. The fucking asshole willfully ignored facts while giving orders to his army. He could've wiped the Triple Alliance's forces when they began the counterattack, but his "strategic genius" was composed of himself and nobody else.
Kafkas famous book, I think the title is the transformation.
Also Orson Wells about the civil war in Spain. This was not fiction, but it points out so much real life non sense and lies that had my head spinning for most of the book.
Gary Jennings' Aztec. Come for the historical accuracy of pre-columbian exchange Central America, stay for the depressing twisted sickening outlook.
Infinite Jest - just the part about video conferencing is wild and is even mire wild when you realize it was written in the 90’s before video conferencing really existed:
“Good old traditional audio-only phone conversations allowed you to presume that the person on the other end was paying complete attention to you while also permitting you not to have to pay anything even close to complete attention to her. A traditional aural-only conversation […] let you enter a kind of highway-hypnotic semi-attentive fugue: while conversing, you could look around the room, doodle, fine-groom, peel tiny bits of dead skin away from your cuticles, compose phone-pad haiku, stir things on the stove; you could even carry on a whole separate additional sign-language-and-exaggerated-facial-expression type of conversation with people right there in the room with you, all while seeming to be right there attending closely to the voice on the phone. And yet — and this was the retrospectively marvelous part — even as you were dividing your attention between the phone call and all sorts of other idle little fuguelike activities, you were somehow never haunted by the suspicion that the person on the other end’s attention might be similarly divided.”
Assisted Living (aka Äldreomsorgen i Övre Kågedalen) by Nikanor Teratologen. It's a very bleak and horrible story about a boy who is in an incestuous relationship with his nazi philosopher grandfather. Together the go around committing murder, rape, and other crimes, while relating everything to obscure authors and texts. The original is written entirely in a swedish dialect which is hard to understand, and it didn't translate that well into other languages I think. Despite all this, it is very well written and has won prizes and been made into a play and radio reading etc.
anarcho-syndicalism theory and practice by rudolf rocker, it was let's say enligthening, I was already an anarchist before reading it, but now I'm an anarcho-syndicalist
currently reading networking in the rust programming language btw
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
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville. I into it blind.
This was my introduction to Mieville. What a wild story told through China's extremely dense language.
...keep a dictionary handy.
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.
I only know of this book because it was included in a Showcase Showdown style...thing I saw once, where everything in the showcase was...well, if not bad, highly impractical.
Mostly bad.
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.
Diaspora by Greg Egan, it's one of the best thought out take on what a post human society could look like. Lots of amazing ideas in the book.
Currently reading The Illuminatus trilogy. It is a trippy, psychedelic thriller, which assumes many conspiracy theories, both well-known and obscure to be true.
wholly chao
Are you able to see the fnords yet?
Not yet enlightened enough.
Der Prozess (1915) by Franz Kafka, it still is relevant today.
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'
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami just a magnificent read, you probably couldn’t go wrong with any of his works.
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.
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.
I came here to say this
House of Leaves feels like reading some sort of forbidden text.
I'm pretty sure that was the intent.
Philip K Dick - The three stigmata of palmer eldritch.
It's like a dream, where you forget where you came from, but at the same time there are powerful themes that are personally and emotionally affecting. Like an acid trip or religious experience, you aren't the same person after you've finished it, whatever lesson you got from it.
Not a book, but a webcomic: https://elan.school/
Be careful what you wish for OP, this is THE WILDEST shit you will ever read (at least top 5, guaranteed) and the worst/best part is that it's all true.
Also, its VERY addictive so clear your schedule.
You've been warned.
You've ALL been warned.
Just shotgunned the whole thing while sick abed. A wild ride, for sure; I almost quit reading several times.
Yeah, i found it here a while ago, read about 60 chapter. And then just decided tot preorder the 3 physical books. A fantastic but also horrifying read.
I remember reading through the entire thing in one sitting... it is LONG. You can't look away
Yup, I started reading out of curiosity from a suggestion on a thread just like this one, then found myself 10 hours later feeling like I'd come down from an acid trip.
I'm jealous of the people who can take that ride now, but also glad my ride with it is over. If that makes any sense.
You know I'd rather not read about that "school" again.
Exactly, but not knowing it exist is even worse.
No it's NOT all true. It begins true, like the first couple chapters, then it spirals into 100% creative fiction. Please do not trouble your brain & emotions over fiction.
The best fiction can be quite troubling, the trick is knowing the difference and/but allowing the troubles. Good art can move you. Great art compells you to move yourself.
What years were you in Elan, since you are the obvious expert? And even if the Elan part was creative fiction, are you saying that I shouldn't care about the children who really went through that? Should I watch Saving Private Ryan and not "trouble my brains and emotions" about war because "Tom Hanks wasn't really a soldier"?
You sound like a sociopath.
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.
Lies, Inc. is another by PKD that will leave your head spinning.
I love pkd but haven't read that, thx.
The only Philip K. Dick I've read is Flow my tears the policeman said (epic title for a book). 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.
Valis is the best
A long way gone by Ishmael Beah was pretty dark. Story of a boy soldier from Sierra Leone explaining how you get forced into it and the terrible things they did.
The Road. Still think about it a lot.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is an obvious but nonetheless relevant answer. What a ride.
Also Infinite Jest.
I'd say the first book of The Chronicles of Thomas covenant the unbeliever was a wild trip.
In the story, Thomas covenant has leprosy. Due to the leprosy he is numb from the neck down even though he can still walk. He has no sensation when he touches anything and he cannot engage in his chosen profession which is writing. In a fit of pique he rescues a girl that almost gets hit by a car and gets isekaied.
This was written in the late '70s so it was not a common trope at the time.
He arrives in a world of magic on top of a mountain covered in Giant steps, he crawls his way down the mountain and encounters a girl who uses the magic of the land to heal him of his leprosy.
Believing this is all a dream and trying to prove to himself that this is not real, he rapes the girl.
The girls seems very distraught but pulls herself together and guides him into town and that is when he discovers that the white gold wedding ring on his finger is the source of wild magic.
There is a great evil on the land that plans to destroy everything and he is the chosen person, the only person who can stop it.
He has to fight against his disbelief of the world while reconciling his abhorrent actions with his own internal sense of morality in order to have a chance to go home again.
This book spawned a 10 book series covering hundreds of years of history in the land with Thomas Covenant's battle with the forces of evil and the lives of the people of the land resting in his leprosy numbed hands.
It's an amazing work but it is a rough read.
Have read the first 6 books at least a half dozen times since my local librarian suggested Lord Foul's Bane to 12 year old me in the early 80s. Little heavy for a pre teen, so I'm pretty sure she hadn't read it herself...But those books ignited a lifelong passion for fantasy adventure stories. Saltheart Foamfollower is one of my absolute favorite characters of all time. Sooo many wild parts in those books. Good call!
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.
"The teachings of Don Juan" by Carlos Castaneda. Read it in highschool and it put me off psychedelics for more than two decades.
Probably some short story I read in high school but from what I can remember the first one that came to mind is Blood Meridian
Clockwork Orange
Naked Lunch. It's a dark strange read but it suck with me.
At some point I stopped trying to make sense of it and let the general feelings carry me forward. It's bizarre and dark, but in a captivating way.
That's probably the best way to read it.
NOFX: The Hepatitis Bathtub. Wildest because it’s an autobiography, and they spill it all.
Edit: find the audiobook if you canI gift this one out SO many times!
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's forbidden to dig into the earth.
The humans have evolved 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 😄
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.
Sadly, Porn
I don't know how to describe it, expect to be confused and offended and gaslit.
Dhalgren by Samuel Delany
(Close race with House of Leaves, but ultimately House of Leaves was telling a specific story, whereas Dhalgren is a semi-incoherent drug trip. Loved both books, though.)
The one that included the most wildlife might be hard to know exactly, but 'The Lost World' by Arthur Conan Doyle might be a contender.
One of my favourite books, and one that gave me lots to think about was His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman.
The most 'different' setting for a book that I've read might be The Planiverse by AKA Dewdney, which takes place in a 2d world with thought out and realistic physics and societies.
I’m not sure if it’s the wildest but the first that comes to mind is “John Dies at the End”
The book is better but the movie was pretty good.
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‽
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
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.
The Fan Man
The multiorgasmic man.
Kitchen Confidential.
Depends in what way you mean 'wild.' Crazy even psychedelic, but nonetheless benign? Or are we including disturbing?
Ya
Hogg by Samuel Delany
