By JACK GRISHAM (Punk Hostage Press; 2014/20)

Jack Grisham, for those who don’t know, is a longtime So Cal legend.  He was the front man for the iconic west coast punk band T.S.O.L., whose infamous 1981 ode to necrophilia “Code Blue”—sample lyric: “I creep on over to the mortuary/Lift up the casket and fiddle with the dead/Their cold blue flesh makes me turn red”—was the inspiration for this attractively designed little book, consisting of a unabashedly depraved, darkly comedic short story with highly R. Crumb-esque black and white illustrations by Scott Archer.

Grisham’s fiction, contained in the 2011 novelized memoir AMERICAN DEMON and the 2013 collection UNTAMED, demonstrates (in the former book in particular) a strong grasp of the mechanics of storytelling and a love of aberrant and outrageous subject matter.  These books are, in other words, very punk, and CODE BLUE: A LOVE STORY fits in with them quite well.

It’s the story of James, a high school loser with a thing for black hair dye and punk rock.  One day the promiscuous Marla takes an interest in James, and invites him back to her house for some sour wine and a bout of oral sex—but he, being a virgin, ejaculates prematurely and cuts short the tryst.  The next morning he learns that Marla has died from an overdose of pills.  On a whim James elects to visit the mortuary where Marla’s corpse is interred, a forbidding establishment set inside an old Victorian mansion where after some fumbling around he finds the desired cadaver…and, based on the above-quoted song lyrics, I think you can probably figure out what he does next.

This isn’t the greatest story I’ve ever read.  That Grisham’s specialty is music rather than fiction is evident in the halting and at times amateurish prose.  But the near-poetic simplicity of the tale is salutary, as is Grisham’s talent for describing the indescribable (some would say unimaginable).  Yes, the descriptions of Jack’s final outrage are extremely graphic and detailed, sparing us nothing.  Obviously this is an adults-only tale, and one that’s most definitely not for the squeamish or excessively politically correct.

CODE BLUE, FYI, was made into a short film in 2016.  Directed by PUNK’S NOT DEAD’S Susan Dynner and scripted by Grisham, the film is currently streaming on Vimeo.  I say the story is better.