Satan Burger Explained

Satan Burger is a bizarro fiction novel by Carlton Mellick III, published in 2001 by Eraserhead Press.[1] Mellick's debut novel, Satan Burger is both one of his best known works and one of the most prominent novels in the largely underground bizarro fiction movement.[2] [3] The novel attracted a cult following soon after its release and has been translated into Russian.[4]

The novel is told from the point of view of a narrator who sees his own body in third person as an unusual plague spreads to everyone over the age of twenty-five.[5]

A 15th anniversary edition with an alternative cover was released in 2016.[6]

Controversy

The novel Satan Burger was brought to the public attention in 2005 when Jared Armstrong of Girdwood, Alaska was incarcerated. The charges, giving/showing indecent material to a minor, were dismissed by the prosecutor four months later.[7] The Alaska Court found that the arrest and approximately 15 search warrants executed by the Anchorage Police Department for dissemination of the novel Satan Burger were illegal. The lawsuit was actually to prove Jared had, in fact, been grooming young boys with gifts and alcohol, and performed fellatio and other sexual abuse on a minor for at least ten years. A Federal Civil Rights suit brought by Armstrong against the lead Detective Gerard Asselin under Title 42 ยง1983 U.S.C was dismissed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2013.[8]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Satan Burger by Carlton Mellick Iii. AbeBooks. en. 2018-12-11.
  2. Web site: Book Review: Satan Burger by Carlton Mellick III. Arzate. Ben. 2016-09-22. days slip away like drips from a leaking faucet. 2018-12-11.
  3. Web site: Bizarro Fiction - Bizarro: Top Ten Bestselling Eraserhead Press Books of 2009 Showing 1-6 of 6. Goodreads. 2018-12-11.
  4. Web site: Satan Burger by Carlton Mellick III. fictiondb.com. en. 2018-12-11.
  5. Web site: Review: Satan Burger. Bonnie. 2010-08-09. Bookish Ardour. en. 2018-12-11.
  6. Web site: Satan Burger (15th Anniversary Edition). Amazon.com. 2018-12-11.
  7. https://web.archive.org/web/20120310083200/http://www.courtrecords.alaska.gov/pa/pa.urd/pamw2000.o_case_sum?25252053 Alaska Court Case #3AN-05-11067CR
  8. Web site: Ninth Circuit Finds Qualified Immunity in Search-and-Seizure Suit. MetNews. 28 June 2015.