Reading Darius James' first novel, NEGRO-PHOBIA, is a real blast as he takes us on cinematic joyride through the nightmarish vision of one Bubbles Brazil, a beautiful adolescent cocktease whose schizophrenic aversion to people of color causes her to hallucinate a virtual reality populated with grotesquely distorted characters like Uncle H. Rap Remus, whose goal is to exterminate the entire white race. James' biting sarcasm and in-your-face poetic intensity reminds one of some strange mix of Ishmael Reed, Terry Southern and Richard Pryor. The book ends with a hilarious encore by the cryonically revitalized Walt Disney who is portrayed here as the racist-par-excellence whose monologue unravels such verbal gems as "I wished upon a star--That one day this nation would rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'Hang the nigger and burn the Jew!'" If you've got the kind of dark soul that enjoys going into the mercurial depths of the American imagination, then you'll want to read this book ASAP.--Mark Amerika
This review originally appeared in TapRoot Reviews #4,
Contact the editor, luigi-bob drake, at Burning Press
Copyright Burning Press 1994, 1995.