zine review:
Uyugomiak Hates You Book 1: How I Learned to Hate You
From independent writer Adam Thompson comes the 23rd chapter in what appears to be a vast saga of Uyugomiak publications. What Thompson describes as a “dark existentialist comedy set during the apocalypse” can best be understood as a multimodal work of fantasy-inspired experimental fiction, with dental work as the unifying theme. In it, we follow the dreamlike diary entires of Uyugomiak as he battles several caricatured enemies, ranging from spectral dental hygenists to social networking ghouls. The focus is always on teeth, whether it’s the exaggerated pearls of “The Celebrity” or the imagined metropolis of anthropomorphic incisors. Included alongside the writing are several goofy comics, including RPG-inspired profiles of each adversary. The short book’s indisputable highlight is its evocative description of “duodenumsphere.com” (“Duod,” colloquially), which has become the successor to Facebook’s throne. Designed to allow users “to delve even further into the trivia of their own lives,” Duod provides friends with real-time status updates on the particulate matter being digested in the users’ intestines, as tabulated by duodenal implants. Included in the piece is a sample status update, which ranks as this zine’s uproarious pinnacle: “Uyu’s duodenum is assimilate trypsin to hydrolyze peptides -posted @9:23:29am by Uyu’s duodemium -mood: assimilatey –listening to: jejunum’s btchng+ nu Coldplay coz im laym (duznt suk 2mch, lmao!)” Of course, Uyugomiak Hates You isn’t always so funny, but it is consistently weird, remarkably engaging and features a likable narrative voice. What more can one expect? (Michael Tau)
Chapbook, Adam Thompson, uyugomiak.com