Baby's First Book of Seriously F--ked-Up Shit
by Robert Devereaux
Why You'll Love This
Clown noir told entirely in mime, fairy parents vetting a human suitor, and sex-fueled apocalyptic showdowns — Devereaux writes like no one gave him permission and he didn't ask.
- Great if you want: transgressive short fiction that commits fully to its weirdest premises
- The experience: short, punchy, and relentlessly strange — each story a fresh gut-punch
- The writing: Devereaux bends genre conventions with deadpan commitment and zero safety nets
- Skip if: deliberately provocative, grotesque content isn't something you can engage with
About This Book
Nine stories. No safety net. Robert Devereaux has assembled a collection that earns its provocative title honestly — these are tales that gleefully shatter expectations about what fantasy fiction is allowed to do, feel, or say. From a sex-drenched tall-tale shootout to clown noir performed entirely in mime, each story operates on its own strange internal logic, daring readers to follow somewhere they probably shouldn't. The emotional stakes are real even when the premises are absurd, which is exactly what makes the discomfort stick.
What sets this collection apart is Devereaux's refusal to write the same story twice. Each piece arrives with its own voice, its own rules, its own tonal fingerprint — which means readers never settle into comfortable expectations. The prose swings between lurid and tender, grotesque and strangely sincere, sometimes within the same paragraph. This isn't shock for shock's sake; there's genuine craft holding the weirdness together. Readers who appreciate fiction that treats transgression as a legitimate artistic tool, rather than mere provocation, will find Devereaux a writer who actually knows what he's doing with all this seriously f--ked-up material.
