Carlton Mellick has done it again. To put out an amusing, creative story once is praiseworthy, but to consistently create wildly entertaining and passionately inventive stories is something very few writers manage to achieve. With "The Morbidly Obese Ninja," Mellick's latest novella under Eraserhead Press, the writer in yet again in fine form and brings us a bittersweet story wrapped around a hardcore critique of technology and placed in a futuristic, Anime-inspired world.

"The Morbidly Obese Ninja" is set in a non-too-distant future in the city of Neo Tokyo, Cali. In this city, in which life takes place inside buildings so tall that most citizens have never seen the ground, technology companies battle for market positioning using ninjas as their strategy. Basu, bus in Japanese, is the deadliest ninja in Neo Tokyo. Unfortunately, Basu was contaminated with nanobots during a fight and he has to eat at least 45,000 calories a day to keep the tiny killer particles busy and stay alive. The result is a 700 pound ninja that uses his weight as a lethal weapon and constantly squirts packets of mayonnaise into his mouth to sustain his calorie intake.

Basu is ordered to steal a piggy bank containing very valuable information. The device turns out to be a small boy that the obese ninja steals from his arch-nemesis. During the battle, Basu's iKatana is infected with a virus and forces the ninja to seek the help of Chiya, a sporadic lover with the typical immense eyes, schoolgirl outfit and pink hair of an Anime doll. As they wait for the inevitable retribution from the company Basu stole from, the trio interact and we get the details on the back stories of Basu, Chiya and even Oki, the piggy bank boy. After a tense crescendo, the story takes a turn that will catch a few readers off guard, coming to a bittersweet, cinematic conclusion.

The story itself brilliantly pokes fun at the current state of affairs in the world of technology: companies stealing ideas from each other in order to be the first to release new gadgets into the market. But where the book truly shines is in Mellick's construction of a mashed-up world that includes a ton of recognizable Anime elements, action movie antics, funny dialogue and well-developed characters.

Mellick's crisp, intelligent, fast-paced prose is in full swing in "The Morbidly Obese Ninja," making the book a quick, fun, entertaining read. Also, having the ninjas use iKatanas and introducing the technological element in so many instances in the story forces the reader to take notice of our current status as a gadget-obsessed culture. When Basu learns what the piggy bank of information contains (which I'll let you read on your own), the reader is almost as appalled as Basu. Sadly, our shock comes in part from knowing that what is said in this bizarre book is very close to our everyday reality. Ultimately, what Mellick manages to achieve is a slash of truth and hilarity wrapped in critique that even Basu would be proud of.   

For more on Carlton Mellick, visit his website here.