The Eye of Argonby Jim Theis
Blurb:
This is not a hoax. Jim Theis was a real person, who wrote The Eye of Argon in all seriousness as a teenager, and published it in a fanzine, Osfan, in 1970. But the story did not pass into the oblivion that awaits most amateur fiction. Instead, a miracle happened, and transcribed and photocopied texts began to circulate in science fiction circles, gaining a wide and incredulous audience among both professionals and fans. It became the ultimate samizdat, an underground classic, and for more than thirty years it has been the subject of midnight readings at conventions, as thousands have come to appreciate the negative genius of this amazing Ed Wood of prose.
My Reaction:
Donald and I read this... long short story? extremely brief novella?... together after seeing that it had been chosen for the "book club podcast" 372 Pages We'll Never Get Back. I'd never heard of it before this and can almost guarantee that, were it not for the podcast, would never have read it.
It's such a short work that you can't really write much about it without giving away what passes for the plot. Suffice it to say that it's amazingly bad-- yet perversely entertaining. This has undoubtedly been the most fun I've had reading something so poorly written.
It must be experienced to be fully appreciated. I might have shared a quote to tempt you, at this point, but there are too many dizzyingly awful ones to choose among; I couldn't do it! However, it's available for free online (be sure to find a version with the illustrations), and it doesn't take long to read. If you're a connoisseur of bad literature, it's not to be missed.
Like other reviewers before me, I don't know how to rate The Eye of Argon! Is it one star because the writing is so unfathomably atrocious-- or five stars because it had us howling with laughter? A three-star rating seems impossible, because there's nothing mediocre about this... this... whatever it is.
