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Sip
A lyrical, apocalyptic debut novel about addiction, friendship, and the struggle for survival
It started with a single child, and quickly spread: you could get high by drinking your own shadow. At night, lights were destroyed so that addicts could sip shadow in the pure light of the moon.
Gangs of shadow addicts chased down children on playgrounds, rounded up old ladies from retirement homes. Cities were destroyed and governments fell. And if your shadow was sipped entirely, you became one of them, had to find more shadow, at any cost, or go mad.
150 years later, what's left of the world is divided between the highly regimented life of those inside dome-cities that are protected from natural light (and natural shadows), and those forced to the dangerous, hardscrabble life in the wilds outside. In rural Texas, Mira, her shadow-addicted friend Murk, and an ex-Domer named Bale, search for a possible mythological cure to the shadow sickness but they must do so, it is said, before the return of Halley's Comet, which is only days away.
It started with a single child, and quickly spread: you could get high by drinking your own shadow. At night, lights were destroyed so that addicts could sip shadow in the pure light of the moon.
Gangs of shadow addicts chased down children on playgrounds, rounded up old ladies from retirement homes. Cities were destroyed and governments fell. And if your shadow was sipped entirely, you became one of them, had to find more shadow, at any cost, or go mad.
150 years later, what's left of the world is divided between the highly regimented life of those inside dome-cities that are protected from natural light (and natural shadows), and those forced to the dangerous, hardscrabble life in the wilds outside. In rural Texas, Mira, her shadow-addicted friend Murk, and an ex-Domer named Bale, search for a possible mythological cure to the shadow sickness but they must do so, it is said, before the return of Halley's Comet, which is only days away.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published August 29, 2017
66 people are currently reading
2269 people want to read
About the author
Brian Allen Carr
13Ìýbooks278ÌýfollowersBrian Allen Carr is an Aspen Words Finalist and two time Wonderland Book Award winner.
His books include OPIOID, INDIANA, MOTHERFUCKING SHARKS and several others.
He is from Texas and lives in Indiana.
His books include OPIOID, INDIANA, MOTHERFUCKING SHARKS and several others.
He is from Texas and lives in Indiana.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 131 reviews
September 19, 2018
Sometimes bad decisions keep lasting forever.
the most hardyesque statement i’ve ever encountered outside of wessex.
before we get into the review proper, i must confess that at first i was OUTRAGED when i saw this described as a “debut� novel on its back cover, because i thought carr was somehow disavowing penning the magnificent - one of the best shark books of all time. but APPARENTLY, that book (and all of his others, many of which i own but have yet to read - eep!) are novellas, which i guess is technically accurate, but if you write a book as awesome as , you really need to be boasting about that as much as you can.
squinting at you, carr�
this is a weird little book. (although not as little as a novella - hhmph). it depicts an unsettling vision of the future, one in which people have learned how to get high by drinking the shadows cast by living things. once shadow addicts have depleted their own (apparently finite) shadows, their needs drive them to steal the shadows of others - either from animals or from other humans. those who have had their shadow completely sipped lose the ability to sleep, and must either become sippers themselves, or go mad from sleep deprivation. another crime rampant in this world is forcible amputation. i’m not even going to try to explain the reason for that one - it would make me sound like a crazy person, but it definitely makes sense within the context of this world.
and it is a dark world, indeed - pun half-intended. humanity is split between domers - rigid and ascetic militaristic societies protected from the outside world and its new horrors by domes around which trains circle relentlessly, whose occupants are trained to shoot any who approach their enclaves, and �. well, everyone else. life outside the domes is dangerous and wild, but it is also human - with food that isn’t squeezed out of a tube, and the luxury of making choices instead of following orders. but also the risk of being shadow-raped or amputated. so it’s shitty either way.
this is a difficult book to review, in terms of plot. it’s like describing a dream - it totally makes sense, but as you start to describe it, you realize you have to backtrack and explain lots of surrounding contextual details that you can shortcut in your own mind, but which need explaining to others. and the plot of this book mostly makes sense - there are a few details i’m still fuzzy about, but the fuzziness in no way diminished my enjoyment - confusion in small doses is invigorating. it’s just a tricky plot to pin down and describe in a way that will make you wanna read it without getting bogged down with specifics that’ll make your head feel as muddled as a shadow-addict. and you do wanna read it. despite its complete absence of sharks.
i will say that one of my favorite things about this book is carr’s complete lack of interest in fulfilling a reader’s expectations. whenever you’re reading a book or watching a movie, there are certain narrative cues that you register subconsciously that set up probable outcomes - this is happening so these two characters can reunite, hook up, have a confrontation, etc., and it may not even be on your radar enough that you’re making any sort of conscious predictions about it, but you sure as shit notice when the expectation is subverted. which carr does again and again. some situations resolve in a predictable manner, but there are some wonderful deviations here, where characters aren’t given dramatic closure, or absolution - events occur as sudden and messy as life, and i appreciate the balls of that so much.
this is one you need to read for yourself - i’ll only make a mess of it if i try to encapsulate it for you with clumsy words. but it’s odd and sad and sweet and gross and i laughed aloud at one part, which i would ordinarily quote n' share, but even that would make no sense, or be remotely funny, if you haven’t read it, so i will keep it to myself.
go read this one and then show me how to review it.
the most hardyesque statement i’ve ever encountered outside of wessex.
before we get into the review proper, i must confess that at first i was OUTRAGED when i saw this described as a “debut� novel on its back cover, because i thought carr was somehow disavowing penning the magnificent - one of the best shark books of all time. but APPARENTLY, that book (and all of his others, many of which i own but have yet to read - eep!) are novellas, which i guess is technically accurate, but if you write a book as awesome as , you really need to be boasting about that as much as you can.
squinting at you, carr�
this is a weird little book. (although not as little as a novella - hhmph). it depicts an unsettling vision of the future, one in which people have learned how to get high by drinking the shadows cast by living things. once shadow addicts have depleted their own (apparently finite) shadows, their needs drive them to steal the shadows of others - either from animals or from other humans. those who have had their shadow completely sipped lose the ability to sleep, and must either become sippers themselves, or go mad from sleep deprivation. another crime rampant in this world is forcible amputation. i’m not even going to try to explain the reason for that one - it would make me sound like a crazy person, but it definitely makes sense within the context of this world.
and it is a dark world, indeed - pun half-intended. humanity is split between domers - rigid and ascetic militaristic societies protected from the outside world and its new horrors by domes around which trains circle relentlessly, whose occupants are trained to shoot any who approach their enclaves, and �. well, everyone else. life outside the domes is dangerous and wild, but it is also human - with food that isn’t squeezed out of a tube, and the luxury of making choices instead of following orders. but also the risk of being shadow-raped or amputated. so it’s shitty either way.
this is a difficult book to review, in terms of plot. it’s like describing a dream - it totally makes sense, but as you start to describe it, you realize you have to backtrack and explain lots of surrounding contextual details that you can shortcut in your own mind, but which need explaining to others. and the plot of this book mostly makes sense - there are a few details i’m still fuzzy about, but the fuzziness in no way diminished my enjoyment - confusion in small doses is invigorating. it’s just a tricky plot to pin down and describe in a way that will make you wanna read it without getting bogged down with specifics that’ll make your head feel as muddled as a shadow-addict. and you do wanna read it. despite its complete absence of sharks.
i will say that one of my favorite things about this book is carr’s complete lack of interest in fulfilling a reader’s expectations. whenever you’re reading a book or watching a movie, there are certain narrative cues that you register subconsciously that set up probable outcomes - this is happening so these two characters can reunite, hook up, have a confrontation, etc., and it may not even be on your radar enough that you’re making any sort of conscious predictions about it, but you sure as shit notice when the expectation is subverted. which carr does again and again. some situations resolve in a predictable manner, but there are some wonderful deviations here, where characters aren’t given dramatic closure, or absolution - events occur as sudden and messy as life, and i appreciate the balls of that so much.
this is one you need to read for yourself - i’ll only make a mess of it if i try to encapsulate it for you with clumsy words. but it’s odd and sad and sweet and gross and i laughed aloud at one part, which i would ordinarily quote n' share, but even that would make no sense, or be remotely funny, if you haven’t read it, so i will keep it to myself.
go read this one and then show me how to review it.
January 26, 2018
Sip is a haunting and thought-provoking novel. It takes place in a future world of addiction, where people drink shadows to maintain a steady high. Any animated life-form's shadow can produce the desired effect, provided that the light source is the natural sun. What is a shadow? Is it simply the absence of light? Can a shadow be stolen? The nature of absence is a key point in this story. Some people live sheltered from the effects of sunlight in domes, avoiding the influence of shadow. The rest of the world lives wild, either hunting down shadows or dealing with the loss of their own dark reflections. Vigilantes have learned to hide their own shadows, while another survivor can make her own appear and disappear at will. Belief systems are strong in this world, where the immanent appearance of Halley's Comet is meant to change everything.
The vignettes and characters that make up this book are resonant, drawing the reader in with their immediacy. Brian Allen Carr weaves a tapestry of fine language, utilizing words that are crafted with so much substance that you can feel their contours. Their shadows are etched in my memory.
The vignettes and characters that make up this book are resonant, drawing the reader in with their immediacy. Brian Allen Carr weaves a tapestry of fine language, utilizing words that are crafted with so much substance that you can feel their contours. Their shadows are etched in my memory.
July 7, 2017
Seemingly impossible to define, SIP is a novel that refuses to let you pin it down. It’s dark, yes, pitch-black really, and yet, there’s enough humor to lure you in and let your guard down. It’s violent, sure, and harrowing too, but there are characters in here with hearts and desires that ring true, louder than the gory landscape they inhabit. It’s WEIRD, the weirdest thing I’ve read all year, perhaps one of the weirdest thing I’ve read ever, but the dystopian world that Carr builds is easily accessible, as told to you with sharp prose and short, punchy chapters. As for the plot, it’s tough to summarize, as we roll across a planet ravaged by shadow-drinking junkies and limb-collecting scavengers. Yeah, that’s just the setup. From there, it goes places, man. So is this a story about drugs? About friendship and loyalty? Is it a western? A post-apocalyptic road story? A trailer park tale of revenge? A science fiction epic, as told through the black eyes of a few small players in the rotten world-at-large? The short answer is, it’s ALL of these things at once. In a word: WOW!
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February 3, 2017I was so excited to get this book, I literally dropped the book I was reading and immediately started this one. AND HOLY CATS. I am such a huge fan of Carr. He has many short story collections and novellas, most famously Motherfucking Sharks, but this is his debut novel, and it is so effed up and fantastic I can’t even. The story revolves around the fact that humans discover they can get high by ingesting shadows. I KNOW, RIGHT??! Carr’s brain is from another planet. The novel takes place 150 years in the future, when “shadow sipping� has brought about the downfall of civilization, and most shadow addicts live a grisly existence outside domed cities, with no regulations or law. To help her addict mother, a young woman, her shadow addicted friend, and a former dome guard set out to find a cure for shadow addiction before the end of the world. It’s like The Road meets Snowpiercer meets The Wizard of Oz, if it was all written by Kevin from Sin City. This is one of the most gloriously gruesome � and gruesomely glorious � books I’ve read since…well, since Motherfucking Sharks, really. I will be talking about it all the time between now and August.
–Liberty Hardy
from The Best Books We Read in December 2016:
–Liberty Hardy
from The Best Books We Read in December 2016:
May 23, 2024
Sip
By Brian Allen Carr
I read the blurb and thought I would surely love this, but it was not to be. I like the idea/blurb, but it just fell flat in every way possible. Waste of money and time.
By Brian Allen Carr
I read the blurb and thought I would surely love this, but it was not to be. I like the idea/blurb, but it just fell flat in every way possible. Waste of money and time.
January 30, 2018
In a world defined by shadow addiction, domers and outsiders live completely different realities. The first live isolated and protected. The latter roam and scavenge to survive. A few from each sect cross over by the hand of a rogue group whose purpose is to destroy the domed cities.
The ever-present question is whether there a way to cure those who have had their shadows completely sipped away? It is foretold that a comet due to arrive may be just that.
The short chapter format is punchy and keeps the reader engaged. Carr’s is literary southern gothic with a subtly poetic touch. Richly dystopian settings are blended with a tangible humor in the dialogue that can only come from characters living a hard life. For the sake of comparison, I was reminded of both Cormac McCarthy and Malerman’s Bird Box while reading.
A few favorite passages:
“He could taste the ash in the air. The gunpowder. The murder. Tears came to his eyes. In his earliest darkened state, he was much like a child. If a whim presented itself, and then was not fulfilled, his emotions tattered and blew piecemeal like shrapnel. Nostalgia stirred deep in his soul, a piteous ache. The train was his thing."
“THEY DOZED IN and out. Dreamed with their eyes open. The shock of the world kept them living in fear. Kept reality blinking on and off like a strobe light-revealing brief snippets, scattering infinite shadows. Promising naught but captivity.�
Refined, lyrical and artsy as a whole, Sip is a book I won’t soon forget.
The ever-present question is whether there a way to cure those who have had their shadows completely sipped away? It is foretold that a comet due to arrive may be just that.
The short chapter format is punchy and keeps the reader engaged. Carr’s is literary southern gothic with a subtly poetic touch. Richly dystopian settings are blended with a tangible humor in the dialogue that can only come from characters living a hard life. For the sake of comparison, I was reminded of both Cormac McCarthy and Malerman’s Bird Box while reading.
A few favorite passages:
“He could taste the ash in the air. The gunpowder. The murder. Tears came to his eyes. In his earliest darkened state, he was much like a child. If a whim presented itself, and then was not fulfilled, his emotions tattered and blew piecemeal like shrapnel. Nostalgia stirred deep in his soul, a piteous ache. The train was his thing."
“THEY DOZED IN and out. Dreamed with their eyes open. The shock of the world kept them living in fear. Kept reality blinking on and off like a strobe light-revealing brief snippets, scattering infinite shadows. Promising naught but captivity.�
Refined, lyrical and artsy as a whole, Sip is a book I won’t soon forget.
September 2, 2017
I can't really place this book - at first I thought it was YA, but as I read on, I realized that it's much too gory, violent and sexual to be considered YA. And yet, the tone is definitely YA. New Adult maybe?
Regardless of what genre it is, it had a really good premise. It could deliver. But... it didn't. There were a lot of good story threads, but they were either dropped, or just loosely rounded up. There could have been so much more world building as well.
Thing is, when I finished reading, I wasn't quite sure what I'd just read. Was it a young adult story? Was it mainly a dystopian tale? Was it meant to follow the characters, or was it just like a jumble of unfinished short stories? It felt like a lot of story lines were started, and started well, but never quite came to fruition. The idea of people gorging on someone else's shadows and destroying society sounds amazing. The domes and the towns behind moving trains, so nobody could enter? Also great... never went anywhere. The army of women tired of being victims? Also never went anywhere. So many threads that could have been so good! Ultimately, I just feel like it was too short and didn't have a clear direction or a clear audience in mind.
Love that cover though!
I received this book for free in exchange for my honest review.
Regardless of what genre it is, it had a really good premise. It could deliver. But... it didn't. There were a lot of good story threads, but they were either dropped, or just loosely rounded up. There could have been so much more world building as well.
Thing is, when I finished reading, I wasn't quite sure what I'd just read. Was it a young adult story? Was it mainly a dystopian tale? Was it meant to follow the characters, or was it just like a jumble of unfinished short stories? It felt like a lot of story lines were started, and started well, but never quite came to fruition. The idea of people gorging on someone else's shadows and destroying society sounds amazing. The domes and the towns behind moving trains, so nobody could enter? Also great... never went anywhere. The army of women tired of being victims? Also never went anywhere. So many threads that could have been so good! Ultimately, I just feel like it was too short and didn't have a clear direction or a clear audience in mind.
Love that cover though!
I received this book for free in exchange for my honest review.
December 23, 2017
Mad Max with shadows.
April 29, 2017
Like a whisper coming off their hearts...
Brian continues to bring the weirdness with his debut novel SIP. Though there are no motherfucking sharks to be found, or plagues of monsters at the end of the world, we are thrown headlong into a future where people are addicted to sipping shadows. Yes, you heard me. Like a hungry little vampires who suck up your blood, humankind discovers an awesome high when they suck up their own shadows.
I know. Sounds kind of harmless, right? Why should we care if someone wants to bend over and sip at their own dark reflection? Well, because once their own shadow is depleted, they begin to prey on others by sipping at their shadow which causes a sort of painful and, once sucked up completely, totally permanent condition in the victim - If you're shadow gets sucked dry, you are now ALSO tied to a life of stealing and sipping shadows, or you risk going mad due to sleep deprivation. Because in this brave new world, if you are shadowless, you are unable to find rest until someone's shadow is sitting pretty in your mouth. So it's steal or die. And steal they do.
This is a future of us vs them. Those who still have their shadows intact flee to the Domes, which are safe, established, human outposts. The domes are protected by trains that run nonstop on a circular track and by armed soliders who guard the permiter. It's a militia-like life, with lots of guns and bland food rations and not a whole lot of fun. But hey, you've got your shadow and a good night's rest.
Those who don't want to live a Domers life remain outside, with the shadow addicts, and run the risk of being shadow-sucked, AKA being 'turned'.
Mira, a young girl whose mother had her shadow stolen, isn't interested in being a Domer. Partly because of the fact that her mother wouldn't be welcome, and partly, I think, because of her BFF Murk, who is a shadow addict. Mira, whose shadow is still whole (because she discovered a way to keep it hidden) helps her mom sleep by stealing shadows for her. From their farm animals. And from birds and wild rabbits in the field. Because, oh, did I not mention? You don't have to just steal HUMAN shadows. You can steal shadows from any living thing. And you don't 'turn' unless you SWALLOW the shadow.
So Mira tucks those little sips of shadows into her cheeks and then breathes them lovingly into her mother's mouth. And then mommy-dearest is out cold, dreaming dreams of flight (if it's a bird shadow) or dreams of tunnels and darkness (if it's a rabbit shadow).
On one of their shadow-hunting excersions, Mira and Murk catch wind of a rumor that the shadow sickness can be cured, but only if you were to find and kill the one who stole your shadow (kinda like chasing down big daddy vamp or the alpha werewolf, right?!). And then, only if they are caught and killed before the comet makes it trip back around the earth, which is scheduled to appear any day now. Did someone say roadtrip?! Mira and Murk join forces with a recently exiled Domer and decide to head towards The Town of Lost Souls.
The world he creates is nothing less than amazing.
It's lyrical. It's violent. And it's somewhat sentimental.
SIP is exactly the type of novel that one would expect from Carr - gory and glorious and downright bizarre.
Brian continues to bring the weirdness with his debut novel SIP. Though there are no motherfucking sharks to be found, or plagues of monsters at the end of the world, we are thrown headlong into a future where people are addicted to sipping shadows. Yes, you heard me. Like a hungry little vampires who suck up your blood, humankind discovers an awesome high when they suck up their own shadows.
I know. Sounds kind of harmless, right? Why should we care if someone wants to bend over and sip at their own dark reflection? Well, because once their own shadow is depleted, they begin to prey on others by sipping at their shadow which causes a sort of painful and, once sucked up completely, totally permanent condition in the victim - If you're shadow gets sucked dry, you are now ALSO tied to a life of stealing and sipping shadows, or you risk going mad due to sleep deprivation. Because in this brave new world, if you are shadowless, you are unable to find rest until someone's shadow is sitting pretty in your mouth. So it's steal or die. And steal they do.
This is a future of us vs them. Those who still have their shadows intact flee to the Domes, which are safe, established, human outposts. The domes are protected by trains that run nonstop on a circular track and by armed soliders who guard the permiter. It's a militia-like life, with lots of guns and bland food rations and not a whole lot of fun. But hey, you've got your shadow and a good night's rest.
Those who don't want to live a Domers life remain outside, with the shadow addicts, and run the risk of being shadow-sucked, AKA being 'turned'.
Mira, a young girl whose mother had her shadow stolen, isn't interested in being a Domer. Partly because of the fact that her mother wouldn't be welcome, and partly, I think, because of her BFF Murk, who is a shadow addict. Mira, whose shadow is still whole (because she discovered a way to keep it hidden) helps her mom sleep by stealing shadows for her. From their farm animals. And from birds and wild rabbits in the field. Because, oh, did I not mention? You don't have to just steal HUMAN shadows. You can steal shadows from any living thing. And you don't 'turn' unless you SWALLOW the shadow.
So Mira tucks those little sips of shadows into her cheeks and then breathes them lovingly into her mother's mouth. And then mommy-dearest is out cold, dreaming dreams of flight (if it's a bird shadow) or dreams of tunnels and darkness (if it's a rabbit shadow).
On one of their shadow-hunting excersions, Mira and Murk catch wind of a rumor that the shadow sickness can be cured, but only if you were to find and kill the one who stole your shadow (kinda like chasing down big daddy vamp or the alpha werewolf, right?!). And then, only if they are caught and killed before the comet makes it trip back around the earth, which is scheduled to appear any day now. Did someone say roadtrip?! Mira and Murk join forces with a recently exiled Domer and decide to head towards The Town of Lost Souls.
The world he creates is nothing less than amazing.
It's lyrical. It's violent. And it's somewhat sentimental.
SIP is exactly the type of novel that one would expect from Carr - gory and glorious and downright bizarre.
May 3, 2017
My favorite book of the year so far.
The voice itself is worth the price of admission, but Carr does something else: whatever the fuck he wants. This is a book that uses genre (in this case, the post-apocalyptic one) like a tool rather than a blueprint. He borrows and steals and then casts it aside when he wants to do something else. It's so entertaining, and so freeing.
One of a handful of books that's made me pumped to be a reader again. It's been dark times, but this one is a nice little light peeking through.
The voice itself is worth the price of admission, but Carr does something else: whatever the fuck he wants. This is a book that uses genre (in this case, the post-apocalyptic one) like a tool rather than a blueprint. He borrows and steals and then casts it aside when he wants to do something else. It's so entertaining, and so freeing.
One of a handful of books that's made me pumped to be a reader again. It's been dark times, but this one is a nice little light peeking through.
July 7, 2018
If you slice Sip open, you will find a heart. If you tear the heart open, you will find darkness. If you comb through the dark, you will find the most beautiful light you have ever seen. One of my favorite reads of 2018 so far.
September 1, 2017
I blurbed it!
“It’s a post-apocalyptic wasteland and are you on team Dome, team Shadowless Army, team Doc, or team shadow-sipping junkies? I know which team I’m on. Brian Allen Carr’s Sip is funny, literate, crass, dark, violent, lyrical, oddly touching, and totally bat-shit crazy. I loved it.�
“It’s a post-apocalyptic wasteland and are you on team Dome, team Shadowless Army, team Doc, or team shadow-sipping junkies? I know which team I’m on. Brian Allen Carr’s Sip is funny, literate, crass, dark, violent, lyrical, oddly touching, and totally bat-shit crazy. I loved it.�
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February 28, 2018DNF 50%
This is a sharply literate piece of experimental fiction that is a real trip. While I can appreciate in theory what Carr is doing here, it's a bit too much down in the dirt and senselessly violent for my taste at the moment.
This is a sharply literate piece of experimental fiction that is a real trip. While I can appreciate in theory what Carr is doing here, it's a bit too much down in the dirt and senselessly violent for my taste at the moment.
May 18, 2017
I've been anticipating this book more than any other for the past two years, and despite the amount of pressure that put on it, I was thoroughly impressed. Carr's first novel might even be his best book, which is saying a lot since Motherfucking Sharks is (or maybe, until now, was) my favorite book by any living author.
Sip has all the strangeness / oddities as Carr's other works, which is something I was a bit worried would be lost here because it's his first book with a mainstream publisher. With that said, the eccentricities here are as strong as ever. From simple things like the characters names: Murk, Mire, Bale, Doc, etc..., to bigger things: The Town of Lost Souls, the incredible and incredibly addicting high a shadow gives you, and the warrior women, among many, many others. Sip is kind of like Cormac McCarthy (think the brutality and beauty of the language in both Child of God and Blood Meridian) meets Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
I particularly loved the dialogue of Doc and Captain Flamsteed, the former of which is absurdly philosophical and the latter of which is comically poetic. But aside from these two, every character is well-defined, imperfect, and perfectly lovable, which is crucial because the chapters' POV constantly changes between characters.
If you're a fan of Carr's novellas and story collections, you absolutely must read this book. If you have no idea who the hell BAC is, then his debut novel is an excellent place to start. If you like your dystopian worlds to be absolutely absurd, then this is the book for you. If you've dealt with addiction and the affects it has on you and those around you, or if you know someone who has, then this is the book for you (it deals with addiction darkly and delicately, and ultimately has something profound to say). And if you're tired of reading well-written books with uninteresting or unoriginal plots, then this wonderfully written and boldly bizarre book is definitely for you.
Take a chance and Sip this shadow. See what all the slaughter is about. If you're willing to take the first step, your life will never be the same.
Sip has all the strangeness / oddities as Carr's other works, which is something I was a bit worried would be lost here because it's his first book with a mainstream publisher. With that said, the eccentricities here are as strong as ever. From simple things like the characters names: Murk, Mire, Bale, Doc, etc..., to bigger things: The Town of Lost Souls, the incredible and incredibly addicting high a shadow gives you, and the warrior women, among many, many others. Sip is kind of like Cormac McCarthy (think the brutality and beauty of the language in both Child of God and Blood Meridian) meets Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
I particularly loved the dialogue of Doc and Captain Flamsteed, the former of which is absurdly philosophical and the latter of which is comically poetic. But aside from these two, every character is well-defined, imperfect, and perfectly lovable, which is crucial because the chapters' POV constantly changes between characters.
If you're a fan of Carr's novellas and story collections, you absolutely must read this book. If you have no idea who the hell BAC is, then his debut novel is an excellent place to start. If you like your dystopian worlds to be absolutely absurd, then this is the book for you. If you've dealt with addiction and the affects it has on you and those around you, or if you know someone who has, then this is the book for you (it deals with addiction darkly and delicately, and ultimately has something profound to say). And if you're tired of reading well-written books with uninteresting or unoriginal plots, then this wonderfully written and boldly bizarre book is definitely for you.
Take a chance and Sip this shadow. See what all the slaughter is about. If you're willing to take the first step, your life will never be the same.
September 5, 2017
[This was also published at my website, the .]
Of all the kinds of novels that one can write, Brian Allen Carr's Sip is an example of my favorite kind, because it has an actual three-act plot that goes from a recognizable beginning to middle to end, unlike so many other bizarro books that are essentially written-out versions of cartoons, just one random outlandish vision strung after another with no narrative thread holding them together. That said, though, I still found myself with a short tolerance for Carr's manuscript, one of those kinds of books that's much more interested in being poetic than in telling a truly great story.
The central premise is that one day the human race wakes up to discover that they can now not only "drink shadows," but that it produces a better high than any other drug yet invented; the narcotic mania swiftly becomes a global panic and then apocalypse, destroying civilized society as out-of-control addicts knock out power grids and enslave entire populations in order to chase the purest high possible, the shadows of humans as given off by the light of the moon. Our story, then, takes place 150 years later, in an America that's now been transformed into a kind of post-apocalyptic "working wasteland;" as we follow the misadventures of the teenage Mira (who now has a psychic connection to forest animals from all the shadow-bits she's stolen from them), her addict friend Murk, and a man named Bale who has recently been exiled from the safe but harshly regimented domed cities that dot the landscape, where diffuse lights from all directions produce no shadows at all.
It's certainly not bad as far as all this stuff goes, with prose that resembles Cormac McCarthy in its rough-edged poetry; but with a storyline that floats this much out in the ether of beautifully strange unbelievability, it's hard to stay attached to any of the characters or care much about what happens to them, knowing as we do with these kinds of stories that there's always a random chance of a magic fairy floating in and making everything right again. A book more to be experienced than read in a traditional sense, your enjoyment of Sip will depend directly on how much you can align your mindset with Carr's when he was writing it, destined to be a wonderfully delicate surprise for some and a head-scratching disappointment for others.
Out of 10: 8.0, or 9.0 for fans of extra-literary bizarro fiction
Of all the kinds of novels that one can write, Brian Allen Carr's Sip is an example of my favorite kind, because it has an actual three-act plot that goes from a recognizable beginning to middle to end, unlike so many other bizarro books that are essentially written-out versions of cartoons, just one random outlandish vision strung after another with no narrative thread holding them together. That said, though, I still found myself with a short tolerance for Carr's manuscript, one of those kinds of books that's much more interested in being poetic than in telling a truly great story.
The central premise is that one day the human race wakes up to discover that they can now not only "drink shadows," but that it produces a better high than any other drug yet invented; the narcotic mania swiftly becomes a global panic and then apocalypse, destroying civilized society as out-of-control addicts knock out power grids and enslave entire populations in order to chase the purest high possible, the shadows of humans as given off by the light of the moon. Our story, then, takes place 150 years later, in an America that's now been transformed into a kind of post-apocalyptic "working wasteland;" as we follow the misadventures of the teenage Mira (who now has a psychic connection to forest animals from all the shadow-bits she's stolen from them), her addict friend Murk, and a man named Bale who has recently been exiled from the safe but harshly regimented domed cities that dot the landscape, where diffuse lights from all directions produce no shadows at all.
It's certainly not bad as far as all this stuff goes, with prose that resembles Cormac McCarthy in its rough-edged poetry; but with a storyline that floats this much out in the ether of beautifully strange unbelievability, it's hard to stay attached to any of the characters or care much about what happens to them, knowing as we do with these kinds of stories that there's always a random chance of a magic fairy floating in and making everything right again. A book more to be experienced than read in a traditional sense, your enjoyment of Sip will depend directly on how much you can align your mindset with Carr's when he was writing it, destined to be a wonderfully delicate surprise for some and a head-scratching disappointment for others.
Out of 10: 8.0, or 9.0 for fans of extra-literary bizarro fiction
June 7, 2017
Sip arrives billed as Brian Allen Carr’s first novel. In addition to collections of his short stories, I actually thought I had read two novels already, The Last Horror Novel in the History of the World and Motherfucking Sharks. (Yes, that is the title.) They were short and published in individual volumes, but I suppose they are now officially novellas, giving Sip pride of place as debut novel.
Sip is longer than the previous works and more ambitiously conceived, but the elements do not always gel as they do in Carr’s novellas and award-winning short fiction. We find ourselves a century or so into a crisis begun when children discovered they could get high by drinking their own shadows. Addiction follows, and shadow sippers turn predatory, stealing shadows from others. Victims whose shadows have been sucked dry become vampiric seekers of shadows themselves. Animal shadows will do in a pinch. A decimated population is divided into the addicted, the cursed, those who have retreated into domed enclosures free of the natural light that produces a true shadow, and groups that live on mile-long trains making their slow way along circular tracks that produce the equivalent of a pioneers who perpetually circle their wagons. (I confess, I never quite got that part of the story.)
Sip may have many “first novel� flaws, and readers, myself included, may be suffering from post-apocalyptic fatigue syndrome; but, the story is fueled by Brian Allen Carr’s rampant imagination. Settle back for his disorienting dark comedy that is equal parts obscenity and elegy. The violence is outrageous, the imagery grotesque, and the dialogue an artful vernacular that rings true even when at its most literary.
Sip is longer than the previous works and more ambitiously conceived, but the elements do not always gel as they do in Carr’s novellas and award-winning short fiction. We find ourselves a century or so into a crisis begun when children discovered they could get high by drinking their own shadows. Addiction follows, and shadow sippers turn predatory, stealing shadows from others. Victims whose shadows have been sucked dry become vampiric seekers of shadows themselves. Animal shadows will do in a pinch. A decimated population is divided into the addicted, the cursed, those who have retreated into domed enclosures free of the natural light that produces a true shadow, and groups that live on mile-long trains making their slow way along circular tracks that produce the equivalent of a pioneers who perpetually circle their wagons. (I confess, I never quite got that part of the story.)
Sip may have many “first novel� flaws, and readers, myself included, may be suffering from post-apocalyptic fatigue syndrome; but, the story is fueled by Brian Allen Carr’s rampant imagination. Settle back for his disorienting dark comedy that is equal parts obscenity and elegy. The violence is outrageous, the imagery grotesque, and the dialogue an artful vernacular that rings true even when at its most literary.
September 1, 2017
I never thought a book would make me look at shadows with suspicion. Brian Allen Carr is a bad man. Dude is the Aaron Rodgers of indie writers.
He's literary AF but his books move and pace as well as any pro genre fiction out there. His last two novellas have been unique, entertaining, artful, and probably some of the best books labeled Bizarro in this decade. He's killed it in the small press & novella scene but I always wondered can he bring the same magic to the novel?
That was some pointless pondering because SIP is easily his best book. It has one of the best hooks I've heard in awhile: people can get high by sipping on their shadows. Sold.
But...the only problem with many high concept books is the writers don't pull them off and the characters are plot beats instead of human beings. BAR doesn't fall into that trap and I enjoyed spending time with Mira, shadow junkie Murk, and Bale as they look for a way to survive living in the shadows.
I am seeing more and more great books come out that blur in the lines between genre and literary that are as weird as they are artful. I love it and I want more books like his! ÌýWriters like Carr, Victor LaValle's & Alissa Nutting's latest, and the upcoming Marlon James series are taking the best of genre fiction and adding a literary level that has me excited about this new direction in fiction. Carr's novel takes genre fiction out of the shadows and shows why stories are the only way we can see the light.
He's literary AF but his books move and pace as well as any pro genre fiction out there. His last two novellas have been unique, entertaining, artful, and probably some of the best books labeled Bizarro in this decade. He's killed it in the small press & novella scene but I always wondered can he bring the same magic to the novel?
That was some pointless pondering because SIP is easily his best book. It has one of the best hooks I've heard in awhile: people can get high by sipping on their shadows. Sold.
But...the only problem with many high concept books is the writers don't pull them off and the characters are plot beats instead of human beings. BAR doesn't fall into that trap and I enjoyed spending time with Mira, shadow junkie Murk, and Bale as they look for a way to survive living in the shadows.
I am seeing more and more great books come out that blur in the lines between genre and literary that are as weird as they are artful. I love it and I want more books like his! ÌýWriters like Carr, Victor LaValle's & Alissa Nutting's latest, and the upcoming Marlon James series are taking the best of genre fiction and adding a literary level that has me excited about this new direction in fiction. Carr's novel takes genre fiction out of the shadows and shows why stories are the only way we can see the light.
September 29, 2023
This is a damn fine wasteland novel about people drinking shadows. The language is digestible. The chapters are short and precise. The concepts are daring and new, and the journey is a blast.
The biggest theme seems to be addiction, and the ups and downs of everything that spawns from it. In one chapter you can have this beautiful scene, a man flying a kite, where you practically hear a charming piano score playing in the background, another chapter anxiety inducing, a pitch black session of solitary confinement on an infinite train ride.
Brian Allen Carr has introduced a world with a vice so powerful, dangerous, and alluring that you’ll wish you could pick up, and kick the habit of, or hack off a limb along the way.
The biggest theme seems to be addiction, and the ups and downs of everything that spawns from it. In one chapter you can have this beautiful scene, a man flying a kite, where you practically hear a charming piano score playing in the background, another chapter anxiety inducing, a pitch black session of solitary confinement on an infinite train ride.
Brian Allen Carr has introduced a world with a vice so powerful, dangerous, and alluring that you’ll wish you could pick up, and kick the habit of, or hack off a limb along the way.
February 4, 2018
This book was perfect for me and where I am in my life right now. As my attention span has shrunk over the years, I love books that I can feast on in little bits. Sip is highly compartmentalized, with a conceit that is clear and cutting. The world is dark, and so is this book, though there are hints of light throughout. Mira was a character that I related to as an outsider myself, and her story touched me. I will definitely be reading more Brian Allen Carr in the near future.
December 28, 2017
Carr is at the top of his game with this one. There's family drama, but it's the kind where a daughter must rob the shadows of woodland creatures to feed the darkness to her mother so she can sleep. There's a kind of broken hope and half-hearted optimism in Murk, a peg-legged shadow junkie with a tender soul behind black eyes. There's an exiled tower guard, childishly curious to find the truth about the broken world outside his sheltered, follow-the-rules-with-no-questions upbringing. And it all flows like hallucinatory drugs that have been dumped in a rushing stream. One of the best books of the year... of the decade... of all-time.
September 12, 2017
What do you get when you mix a ridiculous premise, unsympathetic characters, too much bleak chaos that goes nowhere, and an annoying writing style? Sip. I haven't read a book this hilariously bad in a long time.
January 31, 2019
Thoroughly enjoyable post apocalyptic acid western/metaphor for addiction. Loved the characters, the dialogue and the violence.
Cool page layouts too. Very McCarthy.
Cool page layouts too. Very McCarthy.
March 23, 2024
I'm puzzled. What was that?! It felt like a bunch of things, all mixed up in one story, from addiction to western, from philosophy to downright madness, etc.
There were lots of innovative ideas but the style was kind of a drawback for me. The chapters were too short for me to fully get into the story with the characters. I ended up winded up of sorts.
It was weird. I'm not sure I liked it. I'm not sure I disliked it either. It was just ... hard to understand, I guess 🤨
There were lots of innovative ideas but the style was kind of a drawback for me. The chapters were too short for me to fully get into the story with the characters. I ended up winded up of sorts.
It was weird. I'm not sure I liked it. I'm not sure I disliked it either. It was just ... hard to understand, I guess 🤨
December 17, 2022
“Sip� is a wild, crazy, bizarre, dark, apocalyptic, and lyrical novel and it utterly defies explanation! Ultimately the story is about three friends and their struggle for survival in a world gone mad. I think I will have to let the book blurb give you an idea (and that idea won’t even be close to the totality of this novel) of the story. Definitely a top book and one of my favorites of the year!! It was so much more than I expected-weird and deep and utterly fascinating! I can’t wait to read more by Brian Allen Carr!
“It started with a single child, and quickly spread: you could get high by drinking your own shadow. At night, lights were destroyed so that addicts could sip shadow in the pure light of the moon.
Gangs of shadow addicts chased down children on playgrounds, rounded up old ladies from retirement homes. Cities were destroyed and governments fell. And if your shadow was sipped entirely, you became one of them, had to find more shadow, at any cost, or go mad.
150 years later, what's left of the world is divided between the highly regimented life of those inside dome-cities that are protected from natural light (and natural shadows), and those forced to the dangerous, hardscrabble life in the wilds outside. In rural Texas, Mira, her shadow-addicted friend Murk, and an ex-Domer named Bale, search for a possible mythological cure to the shadow sickness but they must do so, it is said, before the return of Halley's Comet, which is only days away.� (From the book blurb).
“It started with a single child, and quickly spread: you could get high by drinking your own shadow. At night, lights were destroyed so that addicts could sip shadow in the pure light of the moon.
Gangs of shadow addicts chased down children on playgrounds, rounded up old ladies from retirement homes. Cities were destroyed and governments fell. And if your shadow was sipped entirely, you became one of them, had to find more shadow, at any cost, or go mad.
150 years later, what's left of the world is divided between the highly regimented life of those inside dome-cities that are protected from natural light (and natural shadows), and those forced to the dangerous, hardscrabble life in the wilds outside. In rural Texas, Mira, her shadow-addicted friend Murk, and an ex-Domer named Bale, search for a possible mythological cure to the shadow sickness but they must do so, it is said, before the return of Halley's Comet, which is only days away.� (From the book blurb).
November 5, 2017
“The sun was up, so the dark could start. All about the ground, all in the same direction, shadows sprawled. And this is what he was after.�
Oh how deliciously dark Sip is! A novel where we find ourselves 150 years in the future. A future where people can drink their shadows and change their bodies to float and distort in ways not possible before. But there is a heavy price. Once you drink, you must always drink. And if you drink too much, you are lost forever.
We follow two main characters, Murk, a shadow addict, and Mira, a girl who can hide her shadow. Mira’s mother is a shadow addict herself, but her fate is far worse than Murk. For when an addict sips your shadow, if they don’t stop they can steal the entire thing. And you are left the shell of who you once were, forced to sip shadows or face the madness beyond.
Of course, Murk doesn’t have life easy either. His leg was stolen from him. Chopped and taken, sold to the black market to be kept alive for a time on a machine invented for creating shadows. But he lost his leg before he lost his shadow, which offers him some protection as his shadow will never be whole.
This world is dark and gruesome, full of violence, and run wild with madmen. But within this world are pockets of people trying to live normal lives, away from these addicts. Called domers, for they live beneath a dome. Blocking the sunlight and moonlight so that the addicts can’t steal their souls. The perimeter blocked by a perpetually running train and guarded by soldiers trained to shoot if anyone gets too near.
“Bored soldiers slaughtering innocents predates the naming of war, will go on after the words we call it are broken.�
Mira’s ability to control her shadow catches the interest of a domer, Bale. But his interest is expensive, and he gets thrown out of his dome as a penalty for not shooting her on sight.
Now the three of them, an unlikely trio, set off to test the theory that if you kill whomever stole your shadow before Halley’s Comet appears again, after the comet passes, you will return to normal. Mira desperately wants her mother back, and so she sets off on her quest. Time running out, since the comet is due within days.
Sip does not hold back on the brutal reality of a world overrun with addicts. I actually found the use of shadow addicts an interesting way to show the desperation and extremes addicts will go through for one fix, for one more high, for just one more. In a world where they are the majority, things can become chaotic and bleak very quickly.
We don’t see the world outside of the rural Texas area that Mira, Murk and Bale live, but we hear hints of other dome communities scattered about. All with trains running in circles to protect them. I thought it was fascinating how the addiction was also like a virus, contagious and rampant, and hit before people knew how to fight it. It is a unique dystopian unlike anything I’ve ever read before.
This book is dark in nature but shines bright within the characters it creates. Mira and Murk, unlikely friends, but friends all the same. And even Bale, with his knowledge of nothing but life within the dome will cause you to root for them, to root for their success. Because the journey is difficult, and filled with unexpected stops and obstacles along the way.
If you can’t stomach gritty, raw violence or the stark yet simple brutality of an apocalyptic future dominated by ruthless addicts, this is not a book for you. It will make you cringe, and your stomach turn, for death and violence is simply the way of life in this world, and Carr does not shy away from immersing the reader into the full experience of it.
“Some madnesses are so bizarre that they entice witnessing. Those in the bar who had been preoccupied with debauchery, who had been lost in the melee of drinking and lustful deeds, tapered their pursuits in order to watch this grimy operation.�
It is a book that requires you simply accept things as fact without necessarily understanding them. I didn’t ever get the full sense of why people could drink their shadows, or how it made them addicts. It isn’t that Carr doesn’t offer a brief history through the characters eyes, he does. But it is done in the way you would expect stories to be told. Vaguely, details lost or misunderstood with each telling, the decades between the event and the present altering it, diminishing it, leaving only what they deem important. You don’t get science, or factual information. However, not understanding didn’t take away from the rich narration of this world, or make it’s reality any less detailed.
The before and the after are less relevant to this story than the here and now. Which, if anyone has ever dealt with addiction, first hand or otherwise, it felt like this focus on the present story was a nod to the adage ‘One Day At A Time� that you hear in meetings and therapy over and over. For addicts, there is only today, and so in that same way, we get the present. It felt poetic to me.
If it feels that perhaps the book may be ‘too out there�, or ‘weird�, I assure you it’s my own reluctance to delve into too many details. The world sounds difficult to picture, and the concepts may be hard to envision, but once you dive into this world, as gruesome and violent as it is, it is worth the journey. Once you begin, the characters pull you in and the sheer determination they have to move forward will move you forward too. It is a dark world. A violent one. Full of mayhem and criminality that makes the Wild West look like playtime in preschool. But you still can’t help but hope with the characters that life can always get better.
For my dark readers out there, this is a novel you do not want to miss! I will be reading Carr’s short stories and will for sure read anything he puts out next. I am a fan!
Thank you Soho Press for sending me a copy to read and review.
Oh how deliciously dark Sip is! A novel where we find ourselves 150 years in the future. A future where people can drink their shadows and change their bodies to float and distort in ways not possible before. But there is a heavy price. Once you drink, you must always drink. And if you drink too much, you are lost forever.
We follow two main characters, Murk, a shadow addict, and Mira, a girl who can hide her shadow. Mira’s mother is a shadow addict herself, but her fate is far worse than Murk. For when an addict sips your shadow, if they don’t stop they can steal the entire thing. And you are left the shell of who you once were, forced to sip shadows or face the madness beyond.
Of course, Murk doesn’t have life easy either. His leg was stolen from him. Chopped and taken, sold to the black market to be kept alive for a time on a machine invented for creating shadows. But he lost his leg before he lost his shadow, which offers him some protection as his shadow will never be whole.
This world is dark and gruesome, full of violence, and run wild with madmen. But within this world are pockets of people trying to live normal lives, away from these addicts. Called domers, for they live beneath a dome. Blocking the sunlight and moonlight so that the addicts can’t steal their souls. The perimeter blocked by a perpetually running train and guarded by soldiers trained to shoot if anyone gets too near.
“Bored soldiers slaughtering innocents predates the naming of war, will go on after the words we call it are broken.�
Mira’s ability to control her shadow catches the interest of a domer, Bale. But his interest is expensive, and he gets thrown out of his dome as a penalty for not shooting her on sight.
Now the three of them, an unlikely trio, set off to test the theory that if you kill whomever stole your shadow before Halley’s Comet appears again, after the comet passes, you will return to normal. Mira desperately wants her mother back, and so she sets off on her quest. Time running out, since the comet is due within days.
Sip does not hold back on the brutal reality of a world overrun with addicts. I actually found the use of shadow addicts an interesting way to show the desperation and extremes addicts will go through for one fix, for one more high, for just one more. In a world where they are the majority, things can become chaotic and bleak very quickly.
We don’t see the world outside of the rural Texas area that Mira, Murk and Bale live, but we hear hints of other dome communities scattered about. All with trains running in circles to protect them. I thought it was fascinating how the addiction was also like a virus, contagious and rampant, and hit before people knew how to fight it. It is a unique dystopian unlike anything I’ve ever read before.
This book is dark in nature but shines bright within the characters it creates. Mira and Murk, unlikely friends, but friends all the same. And even Bale, with his knowledge of nothing but life within the dome will cause you to root for them, to root for their success. Because the journey is difficult, and filled with unexpected stops and obstacles along the way.
If you can’t stomach gritty, raw violence or the stark yet simple brutality of an apocalyptic future dominated by ruthless addicts, this is not a book for you. It will make you cringe, and your stomach turn, for death and violence is simply the way of life in this world, and Carr does not shy away from immersing the reader into the full experience of it.
“Some madnesses are so bizarre that they entice witnessing. Those in the bar who had been preoccupied with debauchery, who had been lost in the melee of drinking and lustful deeds, tapered their pursuits in order to watch this grimy operation.�
It is a book that requires you simply accept things as fact without necessarily understanding them. I didn’t ever get the full sense of why people could drink their shadows, or how it made them addicts. It isn’t that Carr doesn’t offer a brief history through the characters eyes, he does. But it is done in the way you would expect stories to be told. Vaguely, details lost or misunderstood with each telling, the decades between the event and the present altering it, diminishing it, leaving only what they deem important. You don’t get science, or factual information. However, not understanding didn’t take away from the rich narration of this world, or make it’s reality any less detailed.
The before and the after are less relevant to this story than the here and now. Which, if anyone has ever dealt with addiction, first hand or otherwise, it felt like this focus on the present story was a nod to the adage ‘One Day At A Time� that you hear in meetings and therapy over and over. For addicts, there is only today, and so in that same way, we get the present. It felt poetic to me.
If it feels that perhaps the book may be ‘too out there�, or ‘weird�, I assure you it’s my own reluctance to delve into too many details. The world sounds difficult to picture, and the concepts may be hard to envision, but once you dive into this world, as gruesome and violent as it is, it is worth the journey. Once you begin, the characters pull you in and the sheer determination they have to move forward will move you forward too. It is a dark world. A violent one. Full of mayhem and criminality that makes the Wild West look like playtime in preschool. But you still can’t help but hope with the characters that life can always get better.
For my dark readers out there, this is a novel you do not want to miss! I will be reading Carr’s short stories and will for sure read anything he puts out next. I am a fan!
Thank you Soho Press for sending me a copy to read and review.
March 31, 2021
I just finished SIP. I don’t really know what I just read. It was written in such lyrical prose that I had a hard time following it. I did catch the gist of the story, but it was problematic for me.
This is the story of Mira, who has a shadow sipping friend named Murk. In the this dystopian story set in the future, the country is divided into those who sip shadows and those who don’t. It started with a boy who discovered he could get high by sipping his own shadow. When that shadow was gone, he set out to steal other living beings(¹) shadows and the sipping sickness spread.
Except a very few like Mira who have learned to hide their shadow, most non shadow sippers carry guns in an effort to keep the dome they live in free of the sickness. Mira’s own mother’s shadow was stolen years ago and so Mira must find and catch living shadows so her mother can sleep. It isn’t fair. When Mira and Murk find an ex-domer, named Bale, they set out together to find a mythological cure that must be found before Hailey’s Comet come, and it is on it’s way.
This book starts off as a straight out story. We are following Mira in her daily struggle to find shadow for her mother. Here we learn so much about the sipping sickness and what it does to those who are effected. Mira is capable of hiding her shadow but how and why are never revealed.
Mira gets this idea to maybe kill herself by trying to cross the tracks that lead to the dome. The tracks are heavily guarded by Domers who don’t want any sippers to get to them, so they shoot on site, and shoot to kill, any who attempt to cross the tracks. Mira isn’t shot by a domer named Bale, who becomes an ex-domer for that act (of not shooting her).
I understood Bale and Mira, but Murk made very little sense to me in this story. We do learn how he became a sipper but he was a hanger-on drug addict that didn’t do much to move the story forward.
The story moves from Mira’s residence at home with her mother, to the “City of Lost Souls�. This is where the story gets a little crooked. There we meet so many new and weird characters. We are also introduced to seemingly random vigilantes from the dome who are either there to kill or save Bale, I am still not sure.
The boss of the city is a man who runs machines that keep limbs alive long enough for their shadows to be sipped on a daily basis, for a price. In the city all three of our characters find what they are looking for and a lot of trouble.
I did say living things right? The shadows don’t have to do anything but be attached to a living thing. The characters talk about sipping from animals but this made me wonder about trees and plants, and even grass since it too can cast shadow and live or die. Maybe I am reading too much into this fictional story. Rules are rules though, so if an author breaks them I do expect some sort of explanation.
I enjoyed parts of this story. I didn’t like the lack of descriptive details setting the scenes for me. We get vague information, like the rind of a grapefruit is bitter, but that was not enough for me to really see this story. There was also banter between characters that did nothing but annoy me. Like the vigilante girls, one of whom tells stories but is as dumb as a rock. While the other girl is just so mean to this stupid girl.
Looking back now, I see this novel was just not something I should have read. I had so many issues with it, but it had a cool concept and I had to give it points for originality. It is almost like the author just wanted to tell the story and let the reader figure out the details for themselves. This takes guts, I think. I got through this whole book because, behind all my complaints, there was a kind of cool story. I wouldn’t say this was a waste of time either, because there is definitely an audience for this style of writing. It just wasn’t for me.
December 11, 2017
I reviewed Brian Allen Carr's surreal horror novel "The Last horror novel in History of the World" back in 2015. I enjoyed it as a short but totally surreal novella. At the time I said I laughed alot reading this novel which is some kinda of supernatural small town siege tale set against the interesting back drop of a small border town in Texas. Given the title I expected a satire, or a bizarro send up of horror novels but that wasn't the case. This is more like experimental horror that based on the strength of the strong prose is a really cool quick read.
I was excited about this book and wanted to read it after hearing BAC on the JDO (J.David Osbourne) show podcast. Between then and actually getting around to the book I remembered nothing about it. I am glad I went in cold. SIP is a totally weird novel, those worried that BAC would lose his edge getting published by a traditional publisher - don't worry.
Sip is one of the weirdest horror novels I have ever read. The structure of the narrative is a little more straight forward there are no one sentence chapters, but the idea is plenty weird enough. It takes place in a post apaoclyse western setting, the world was not ended by nuclear war or climate change. In this future our world fell apart when junkies developed an addiction for consuming the souls of others through their shadows. Drinking the shadows gives you rest and the dreams of the person or animals you steal from but leaves the creature dry. Dry means you can't sleep or dream.
On a basic level you have great weird elements like shadow drinkers and limb scavengers, you have western elements with the train and the wasteland setting. Those are lots of neat-o elements but at the heart are human characters. At it's core friendship and loyalty plays as important a role as a mainstream YA novel. There is much to relate too at the heart of the story.
One neat aspect is how the concept and setting subverts the nothing setting or the dark or darkness being home to horror. In this world the sunlight and light in general is source of terror. The characters from Bale and Mira break the tension with momments of humor from time to time. The gee-whiz of the concept was enough to get my interest but it is Characters that made this a step-up from the BAC novel I read.
BAC is a talented writer and the very concept is strong argument for the book. At times the prose is poetic, but it is the world building and setting where the beauty lies. That is a neat trick. Overall I would say this is a weird fiction masterpiece if you like bizarro, horror or science fiction there is something here for everyone. If you think that all the ideas have been exhausted before 2017 then you need to read Sip. It is a book like no other and worthy of massive praise.
I was excited about this book and wanted to read it after hearing BAC on the JDO (J.David Osbourne) show podcast. Between then and actually getting around to the book I remembered nothing about it. I am glad I went in cold. SIP is a totally weird novel, those worried that BAC would lose his edge getting published by a traditional publisher - don't worry.
Sip is one of the weirdest horror novels I have ever read. The structure of the narrative is a little more straight forward there are no one sentence chapters, but the idea is plenty weird enough. It takes place in a post apaoclyse western setting, the world was not ended by nuclear war or climate change. In this future our world fell apart when junkies developed an addiction for consuming the souls of others through their shadows. Drinking the shadows gives you rest and the dreams of the person or animals you steal from but leaves the creature dry. Dry means you can't sleep or dream.
On a basic level you have great weird elements like shadow drinkers and limb scavengers, you have western elements with the train and the wasteland setting. Those are lots of neat-o elements but at the heart are human characters. At it's core friendship and loyalty plays as important a role as a mainstream YA novel. There is much to relate too at the heart of the story.
One neat aspect is how the concept and setting subverts the nothing setting or the dark or darkness being home to horror. In this world the sunlight and light in general is source of terror. The characters from Bale and Mira break the tension with momments of humor from time to time. The gee-whiz of the concept was enough to get my interest but it is Characters that made this a step-up from the BAC novel I read.
BAC is a talented writer and the very concept is strong argument for the book. At times the prose is poetic, but it is the world building and setting where the beauty lies. That is a neat trick. Overall I would say this is a weird fiction masterpiece if you like bizarro, horror or science fiction there is something here for everyone. If you think that all the ideas have been exhausted before 2017 then you need to read Sip. It is a book like no other and worthy of massive praise.
October 17, 2018
This review and others posted over at
I flew through this, mostly in one sitting. The chapters are short; so easy to consume! The book is also divided into several sections, aesthetically separated by pages of darkness. I love books with extravagant design and detailed illustrations, but little touches like that go a long way too! It’s thoughtful and it helps set the mood.
This book was great. It’s odd, it’s unique, the characters are…not quite likable, yet I didn’t dislike them either. They’re very much what I imagine people living in this type of world would turn out to be. Mira and Murk are the same age, though if their ages were ever mentioned, I totally missed it. Despite that, I imagined Mira around 18 or so and Murk at like, a grizzly 35 because of his shadow addiction. Bale was around 20 in my head. “Millie, who cares?� you ask. Well, if I’m correct in stating that the character’s ages aren’t disclosed (please, gourd, let me be right), it gives the reader some leeway. I don’t need a full run-down of a characters age and physical attributes. I like being able to have a small hand in their creation in my head. If you like this sort of freedom, I wanted to make you aware of it.
The dialog and even the descriptions of the world are similarly sparse. I felt there was just enough detail to paint the world Carr created, without forcing me to picture every little thing just the way he wanted. If I want to get super analytical, it’s like the minimal writing mimics the barren wasteland the world has become in his novel. Did that sound convincing? No?
Anyway.
I’m curious to know if Carr will write more novels set in this shadowy world. Readers don’t learn a lot about dome life and I would certainly read something set on the other side of the tracks. Literally, the other side � the domes are surrounded and protected by ever-circling trains. I’ve purposely avoided talking about the plot, by the way. The book is a short 302 pages (yeah, that’s a thing!) and I don’t want to give much away.
I highly suggest Sip if:
+ you want something atmospherically creepy or odd for fall, but not something scary or horrific
+ you’re looking for a western-wasteland-dystopia with a little fantasy spin
+ you like endings that leave you frowning a little
I flew through this, mostly in one sitting. The chapters are short; so easy to consume! The book is also divided into several sections, aesthetically separated by pages of darkness. I love books with extravagant design and detailed illustrations, but little touches like that go a long way too! It’s thoughtful and it helps set the mood.
This book was great. It’s odd, it’s unique, the characters are…not quite likable, yet I didn’t dislike them either. They’re very much what I imagine people living in this type of world would turn out to be. Mira and Murk are the same age, though if their ages were ever mentioned, I totally missed it. Despite that, I imagined Mira around 18 or so and Murk at like, a grizzly 35 because of his shadow addiction. Bale was around 20 in my head. “Millie, who cares?� you ask. Well, if I’m correct in stating that the character’s ages aren’t disclosed (please, gourd, let me be right), it gives the reader some leeway. I don’t need a full run-down of a characters age and physical attributes. I like being able to have a small hand in their creation in my head. If you like this sort of freedom, I wanted to make you aware of it.
The dialog and even the descriptions of the world are similarly sparse. I felt there was just enough detail to paint the world Carr created, without forcing me to picture every little thing just the way he wanted. If I want to get super analytical, it’s like the minimal writing mimics the barren wasteland the world has become in his novel. Did that sound convincing? No?
Anyway.
I’m curious to know if Carr will write more novels set in this shadowy world. Readers don’t learn a lot about dome life and I would certainly read something set on the other side of the tracks. Literally, the other side � the domes are surrounded and protected by ever-circling trains. I’ve purposely avoided talking about the plot, by the way. The book is a short 302 pages (yeah, that’s a thing!) and I don’t want to give much away.
I highly suggest Sip if:
+ you want something atmospherically creepy or odd for fall, but not something scary or horrific
+ you’re looking for a western-wasteland-dystopia with a little fantasy spin
+ you like endings that leave you frowning a little
May 18, 2019
In a distant region of Texas, a teenage girl crosses an arid plain toward some weathered train tracks. Her steps are slow but deliberate, knowing exactly where an invisible line lies. As she nears the line, a bullhorn barks a warning in her direction from a nearby tower. They say they will shoot if she gets any closer. She gets closer.
The girl casts no shadow.
This is the introduction to the world of Sip, a dystopian horror western from . Carr might be best known for some of his novels that catch the reader's attention before the first page has even turned, like from Lazy Fascist. My introduction to his work was through the short story collection and the novella , both of which are as evocative as their titles. Carr's stories are filled with sharp simplicity. It's the kind of elegant bare-bones writing that wreaths a miasma of flesh around itself with the subtlety and grace of its cruelty. He trades adjective-filled tirades for the brutality of the day-to-day. His stories are often set in Texas, which makes itself known through the characters rather than the description. They are not the stereotypical rednecks and cowhands, but real people who retain only a portion of a trait we consider "western" � the selfish impulse to survive, at any and all costs. You read through them and think, "If this guy ever sets to writing a full novel, we're all fucked." He did, and we are.
You can read Matt's full review at Horror DNA by .
The girl casts no shadow.
This is the introduction to the world of Sip, a dystopian horror western from . Carr might be best known for some of his novels that catch the reader's attention before the first page has even turned, like from Lazy Fascist. My introduction to his work was through the short story collection and the novella , both of which are as evocative as their titles. Carr's stories are filled with sharp simplicity. It's the kind of elegant bare-bones writing that wreaths a miasma of flesh around itself with the subtlety and grace of its cruelty. He trades adjective-filled tirades for the brutality of the day-to-day. His stories are often set in Texas, which makes itself known through the characters rather than the description. They are not the stereotypical rednecks and cowhands, but real people who retain only a portion of a trait we consider "western" � the selfish impulse to survive, at any and all costs. You read through them and think, "If this guy ever sets to writing a full novel, we're all fucked." He did, and we are.
You can read Matt's full review at Horror DNA by .
January 13, 2020
Reviews are hard for me right now. The new year brought a whole hell of a lot with it! BUT I couldn’t let this book go without writing something down.
What is a shadow? An absence of light? Absence of space? An extension of ourselves? Or something else?
Sip by Brian Allen Carr is a story of shadows and addiction. Shadows are used to get high. There is shadow sipping, taking, and trading. This is a hard, dark tale to describe, but it’s one of the most original stories I’ve ever come across in my reading world. It spoke to me and scared me at times. I couldn't help comparing the shadow stealing to how dark times or hard circumstances or even harder people can steal or try to change who we are in this world. I'm always trying not to lose myself, but what if someone just comes along and takes? *sigh* Again--the plot is so hard to put down in words here. But just know it’s something special!
This story follows Mira, Murk, Bale, and a full cast of odd balls. And for me, this is where Carr excels—his characters. I loved them all! The sweet ones, the odd ones, the evil ones, and more. My only issue was the lack of emotional thread or connection between them. I didn’t feel a true bond between them. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy watching these characters move and banter and interact with each other. They were twisted at times. And hysterical in others. Murk especially! Murk’s mind was a wonder. Here he is pondering suffering and disasters�.(It’s a hard quote to just pluck out of the stream of the story, but I keep going back to it.)
“And for what? So that we can say of these lost peoples or past tragedies, of these wound scars or cemetery plots that we existed? That we hovered with hearts beating in the motion of the multi-verses with minds that could accumulate harms in order to remind us we were alive? That it wasn’t all just dreaming. That it can be touched with fingers in the future and that those feelings will launch our hurts anew.�
This was my second book by Brian Allen Carr and I can’t wait to see what else he has to say and share.
Recommended.
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