GOODNIGHT, FUCKERS #23: WHERE IN THE WORLD IS JESSE WHEELER?

Last night, I named K.M. Tepe as one of the three geniuses I met through my involvement with StrangeHouse. I kicked around the idea of doing a quick piece on the other two, and this morning, I decided to take the plunge. As you can gather from the title, the second is Jesse Wheeler.

THE FARROWING is great. I loved it. However, it is not a work of genius. It's a great homage to books by Laymon and Lee, and while homage can be amazing, it can never be genius. No, Wheeler wrote TWO things that made me keenly aware of his mad, lunatic genius: "Lips" in STRANGE SEX and the amazing collection of novellas, DINNER AT THE VOMITROPOLIS. Holy shit, he is a mad bastard. Don't take my word for it. Click on the links and buy these books for yourself. If you're anything like me, you'll fall in love with the guy's work. DatV got to me. It's one of the sickest, most grotesque things I've ever read. It's a life-changer.

And if you have time, look up some videos with him in it. There are a few on YouTube from cons over the years. Also, listen to SHB's old podcast, READING TO MONSTERS. I forgot which episode he was on, but Kevin Strange has great, crazy stories about the guy. Wheeler is a genuine madman.

There's one thing that baffles me, though. Where the hell did he go? One day, he releases THE FARROWING, and then the next, he's fallen off the face of the earth. He's not on Facebook anymore. What gives? I'm almost tempted to print up missing posters of him.

I worry about the guy. He's crazy, and crazy things happen to crazy people. Wherever he is, I hope he's all right. I also hope he's writing more repulsive, offensive stories, wherever in the world he may be.

Stay tuned tomorrow night for the third SHB genius.