GUILTY PLEASURE AWARDS

1. Disco’s Out … Murder’s In!, by Heath Mattioli and David Spacone

Imagine Goodfellas with a punk rock soundtrack. This rollicking chronicle of a Los Angeles punk rock gang member is violent and profane. We follow the early life of Frank the Shank, an Italian-American kid who gets caught up in rumbles, hardcore shows, and everyday violence.

2. History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, by Lucy Mack Smith

I’m a sucker for anything relating to Mormonism. Like Scientology, it is a strange new religion, very much American in origin. The autobiography of the Prophet Joseph Smith as told by his mother represents one of the weirdest literary products from Mormon culture.

3. My Wet Hot Drone Summer, by Lex Brown

Last year I wrote a book about erotic literary history. This year I was pleased to discover Badlands Unlimited, a small independent publisher dedicated to putting out literary erotica. My Wet Hot Drone Summer takes place in the near future and involves corporate chicanery, climate change, and non-stop raunchy sex. Although the tone is closer to the cult movie I Spit On Your Grave than Fifty Shades of Grey.

4. Frankenstein Underground, by Mike Mignola and Ben Stenbeck

Mike Mignola continues to expand the Hellboy Universe, this time focusing on Frankenstein’s monster. Mignola is the master of genre mashups, smashing together Hollow Earth conspiracies, Cthulhu-esque monsters, and a monster with deep existential angst. It shouldn’t work, but it does.