Cover by Brandon Duncan

D. Harlan Wilson's debut book is a collection of 44 short stories written in the vein of Franz Kafka with a pinch of William S. Burroughs sprinkled on top. A manic depressive has a baby's bottom grafted onto his face, a hermaphrodite impregnates itself and gives birth to twins, a gaggle of professors get trapped in a port-a-john and struggle to free their minds from the prison of reason—these are a few of the book's many precarious irrealities. The Kafka Effekt is a postmodern scream. Absurd, intelligent, funny and scatological, Wilson turns reality inside out and exposes it as a grotesque, nightmarish machine that is always-already processing the human subject, who struggles to break free from the machine, but who at the same time revels in its subjugation.

© 2001 Eraserhead Press

“This collection, simply stated, encouraged me to use parts of my brain that I don’t think I’ve used since my teenage years. It reopens the mind to the discussion of existence while encouraging and entertaining the profound powers of the imagination. I mean this as the highest compliment to D. Harlan Wilson when I say that, in The Kafka Effekt, he shows himself to be a Dr. Seuss for adults. He is clearly encouraging us to push to new levels of thought and imagination—only in this case the Hat is in the Cat.” Wildclown Chronicle

"D. Harlan Wilson has built a strange body of work. For most emerging writers that statement might be a kiss of death, but not for him. Wilson's intelligence and razor wit separate his writing from the ignorant vulgarity that too often passes for originality in today's liturature. In his short story collection, The Kafka Effekt, strangeness becomes a weapon. These stories are masterpieces of the absurd, both darkly funny and tragic. Wilson leads his readers through a surreal world with each one. And though he is far from the first author to do that, Wilson's skill in maintaining the delicate balance between chaos and meaning is what makes his writing enjoyable." Waystation Review