Summary teaser:
There are so many mysteries in the world, like why people who have Alice and Wonderland Syndrome are seeing strange distances. Maybe you’re obsessed with mysterious places, strange ailments and history’s mysteries. Perhaps you want the inside scoop on why some people aren’t talking about Mothman these days? How about Baby Mothman? Did an old woman recently spill the beans about people eating each other on the Cannibal Islands? It was supposed to have ended there 60 years ago. In Hell Town, Ohio, people are gathering each year to celebrate a circus train python that escaped. Why? Do you really know why Dilbert characters don’t have mouths? There’s a true story behind it. If you’re really into the bizarre, you might want to know why thousands of people would fall prey to a mass hysteria and think their genitalia are being stolen. Random Obsessions is coming your way in August 2009.

Advanced praise for Random Obsessions:

Nick Belardes is some kind of strange genius. He is an obsessive, but in all the right ways. He knows more than he should and a lot of it is in this book. If you want to be the most popular person at every party from now on, just drop some of the bizarro facts from this book. His weird take on history is a whole lotta fun!

- Brenda Knight, author of Women of the Beat Generation


You've got to love a book that reveals why thousands of men think their private parts are disappearing inside their bodies. Whether you're already a fan or just getting acquainted with the quirky genius of Nick Belardes, this book will cause you to ignore your friends, family and Facebook until you’ve read every last fact.

- Bonnie Hearn Hill, author The Astro Girl series from Running Press/Perseus Books (2010)


Nick Belardes is definitely from the dark side of the zodiac--lucky for us who love to read about real-life freaks, weird rituals, and ew-w-w-w eliciting strangeness. Random Obsessions is packed with, ‘what the hell?’ moments, hair-raising tales, and just plain spooky fun.

- Hazel Dixon-Cooper, Author of the Rotten Day Astrology Books, Cosmopolitan Magazine's Bedside Astrologer


For the reader who needs to know why the characters in Dilbert don't have mouths, your oracle has arrived. Random Obsessions is every bit as silly as it is informative. Belardes has ransacked the useless information files and uncovered some gems.

- Jonathan Evison, author of All About Lulu


[Obsessions] is a space age journalistic cut-up, as Burroughs might have hallucinated, that is, if he were stoned on [California] central valley methane sky, with a cheap tequila hangover, and big plow cojones that makes Belardes's writing so damn outlandish, and yet, so Bakersfield!

- Tim Z. Hernandez, author of Skin Tax 2006 American Book Award


Nick Belardes told me he'd throw himself into a chicken coop filled with baby chickies if I didn't blurb this book. Of course he needn't have gone so far because Random Obsessions stands unique - and wonderful! - in its explication of the bizarre and the divine. Warning: read it as I am doing with a lovely Pinot Noir or, at least, a Diet Pepsi Lime. Seriously, read it, for fun and adventure, because you will not be disappointed.

- Lauren Baratz-Logsted, author of a ridiculous amount of books, most particularly Vertigo and The Sisters Eight series.


A beautifully and wonderfully obsessive look at bizarre obsessions from Nick Belardes—a man who can't stop Twittering and who takes MySpace infatuation to a whole new level.

- Joanne Rendell, author of The Professors’ Wives’ Club


‘Random Obsessions’ is the perfect desk reference for ordinary insane people. Nick Belardes is a force of nature.

Brad Listi, author of Attention. Deficit. Disorder


Nick Belardes is an imaginative writer with a truly new and unique voice--he will both startle and thrill you with his stories that pop out from the dark like the teasing dangers in Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

- Jessica Anya Blau, author of The Summer of Naked Swim Parties, Voted ‘Best Book of 2008’ by The San Francisco Chronicle