The Secret History of Notes from the Guts of a Hippo
Art by Troels Jørgensen
I’m loving Pisces season so far. My creativity has been at an all time high and my writing is flowing better than usual. This week I figured I’d talk about the secret history of my first book - Notes from the Guts of a Hippo.
A long long long time ago in my early 20s, I wrote my first book called Notes from the Guts of a Hippo. Before this, I was publishing short stories, connecting with people in the bizarro community, and everything felt so bright and exciting. I felt like I was part of a real thriving community.
I was making small waves and built some hype behind my name. Of course a slew of authors started asking me when my first book would come out as if this was an inevitable step I was moving towards. And I guess I was, but I didn’t think I was capable of writing a novella let alone a full-length novel. I struggled with writing long short stories and the longest thing I wrote was a cosmic horror novelette (10k words) and that felt feat like it almost broke me.
I had a talk with myself and realized I should do this, especially considering I wanted to be a bonafide author. It was time I leveled up. I was reading a ton of bizarro and crime fiction, which had a major influence on the outcome of the book. The prose is coiled yet minimalistic while I threw in a bunch of crazy bizarro elements. And I remember throwing in some obscure philosophical references in there I learned from one of my college classes.
I was pretty disciplined writing almost every day on top of my college work and working at Home Depot. I believe it took me five months to get a draft together that I thought was good enough to submit sitting at 20k words
I hit up the bizarro OG Kevin L. Donihe about the New Bizarro Author series and pitched him Notes from the Guts of a Hippo. Here is the original pitch below from 2009. I was 20, which is insane when I think about it. I don’t know why I thought I wrote this later on in life.
In Brazil, a hippo researcher has mysteriously disappeared. Jay Robbins, a down on his luck journalist, travels there to find Patrick Little and bring back a news story as well. It won’t be easy because Jay is on the run from two senior citizens with a penchant for homicide.
Along the way, he meets I.R.S agents with a taste for bone marrow, a bum on the run, and has to deal with spontaneous combustion. Eventually, Jay finds out that this world is a lot larger than he had ever thought and holds secrets much stranger than a stranger strangling another stranger.
Kevin rejected it, but provided me with some helpful notes. My book was a hot mess, but his edits helped a lot. I sent him a new draft, but it still wasn’t up to snuff. He wanted to see the lightbulb book.
In retrospect, I’m happy I didn’t put any books out through the New Bizarro Author Series. Bradley Sands tried to recruit for another wave, but I thought the covers were ugly as hell.
I set it aside, but I eventually submitted it to Bucket of Guts Press headed by Nathaniel Lambert and a small press called Crossing Chaos. Neither of these publishers got back to me so I sent it out to Bizarro Pulp Press, which was brand new. Patrick Douglas picked it up immediately and it had very few edits. I was surprised and excited.
The book sold out at BizarroCon and drummed up some good buzz for me. It has its flaws, but I’m still proud of it. I wouldn’t be here without the hippo book.
Another Barnes and Nobles sighting of God’s Leftovers. This time my baby has ended up on the shelves of a store in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Pretty cool.
Still working on edits for Project Hum. It’s interesting looking back at old stories and seeing my strengths and weaknesses. Revising is one of my favorite parts of the writing process. It’s like adding more brush strokes to a painting, adding fine details, and a nice polish.
Project Melancholy is going well. I may have a found a cover artist so you’ll see that in the future.
And Project Louis Vuitton Don has been flooding me with ideas. I plan to offer this as a serialized novella for paying subscribers here. It’s part of a much larger idea I’ve had for years. One of those story inside a story inside a story ideas. I’m hyped.
Currently Watching: Moon Knight & Ozark Season 4 & Love, Death & Robots Season 3 & The Last of Us Season 1 & You Season 4
I’m loving the absurdity and maximalist ethos of Ozark, but season 4 seems to be spiraling out of control. I’m still on board though and I’m excited to see how this last season pans out.
The new season of You seems to be lacking something integral to its past success. The elements are there, but it feels empty. Maybe because it doesn’t have anymore novels to use as a rudder.
Currently Reading: God Damn Chainsaw Murderer by Sean M. Thompson & Blame! by Tsutomu Nihei & Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes & Gleipnir by Sun Takeda
I've seen the name Brian G. Berry floating around the horror community more often and my interest was piqued by the simple titles and cool covers. The Mound is my first exposure to the author and he has lived up to the hype.
The Mound is a first-person narrative focused on a man who is on death row for committing horrible atrocities. He recounts an entertaining tale about a dread-inducing mound that shows up in his small town and the horrors that rise from the center of it. This short story takes subtle cues from Southern Fried Horror authors Ronald Kelly and Joe R. Lansdale. Throw in some Arthur Machen-like flavor along with influence from T.E.D. Klein's "Children of the Kingdom" novella, and you'll have a good idea of what you're getting here.
This is a fun, bloody, and propulsive tale that was easy to digest and enhanced my day tenfold. I'll definitely be reading more of Berry's work and I'm curious to see what he can do in the novella or novel format. Highly recommended.
Currently Smoking: Alien Labs Area 41
Currently Listening: Black Tapes Podcast & The Danny Brown Podcast
One of the smoothest rappers in the game graces us with some beautiful visuals for “60 Days” and even manages to get the legendary producer The Alchemist to spit a verse. A lot of shit can happen in 60 days.
“Brand new purses all white like cocaine…”
I’m a sucker for coke bars, tattoos, and ratchet girls rapping. Sexxy Red is the full package and exudes confidence and charm over a from the block performance of “Push Start.” I need a full album asap.
“I get respect without twerkin for them up in the stu/I get checks without workin for em, I’m twitter blue…”
Thanks to the power of TikTok I heard this snippet of Lady London spazzing over “What Happened to That Boy” instrumental. She does the classic beat justice with searing bars and a sharp delivery reminiscent of Pusha T.
IDK has come a long way from hopping in random people’s DMs on twitter including mine, begging people to listen to his music. The work ethic has paid off and you can hear the maturation in his latest single “Radioactive.” The Kendrick Lamar influence is thick, but this is still an anthem type of song.
Until next time…stay dry and sip on something good.
Not so much with the tattoos, but coke bars and ratchet girls rapping? Yes. Any day of the week. Love this new trend of old-school mics hanging down from nowhere in the middle of the neighborhood, too. Spider-Man mics.