BEASTS: 16 More Weird Stories by Brendan Detzner

So I had been anticipating this book Beasts: 16 More Weird Stories by Brendan Detzner ever since I signed up in the hopes to win a giveaway copy. Eagerly anticipating...overjoyed when it finally arrived, I rushed through my other commitments so I could get right into this book. It was such a quick read....breezed right through all 146 pages..and that includes re-reading a few stories. WTF...I mean seriously WTF did I just read??!! I am talking straight up twilight zone stuff. New age twilight zone stuff. These are not your typical horror genre stories...this is weirdness. The kind of weirdness that haunts you..the kind of weirdness that had me realizing on several occasions that my mouth was left wide open and my body was kind of rigid and frozen and again with that thought "WTF??". Was I anticipating this?? I'm not sure...I don't know what I was thinking. I guess when I saw "weird stories" I went right with horror and the scare factor that comes with it. This is different than that...abstract...sometimes sci-fi scary..and I loved it. 

It's a collection of short stories..odder and odder as you go along reading. A few stories I read right through them with a reaction of "what just happened??" A few I was kinda laughing maniacally and thinking "Is this craziness??.genius?? I love it" But I will say, there were moments that I had to go back and re-read because I would find myself engrossed in a story..then find myself in that "I'm totally lost" realm. Thinking, "did I just skip something here..miss something??" and then the confusion set in..and with Brendan's books it's easy to get confused if you miss something just because the stories are so unique. Some stories seemed to veer off...giving the effect that I skipped a paragraph or a page even. I felt that because of that the stories needed a bit more to them. I am not sure if anyone else had that same issue and if not then maybe I just did not get the story or how it should be read. And for some they were a riot to read. I mean come on, Sasquatch and Chupacabra..WTF??!! (please someone share with me your take on that tale). Ooooh oooh, I loved I-65, A Day And Two Nights When I was Twenty, and Spirits of the Wind (most fave). Good, solid, gave me chills, pulled the blankets a little bit more over my head, bizarre feeling feels.

Can we talk about the cover for a second??!! How unique..and odd..and creative and cult classic-ish. Night time...a street light blaring in the background (what's with street lamps and their way of making things appear extra creepy??) this huge dark 2 story house...with all kinds of STUFFED ANIMALS nailed to the outside walls and windows. CREEPY...like blaring child molester/murder creepy...like a killer clown probably resides there creepy. Like, "I want to know what's going on there and also I totally don't". My 7 year happened a glance upon it and gave a look of both dread and curiosity, flat out saying "Mom, why do you have that book??" The kid was freaked out..and that's just over a cover pic!! Buuahahaha!! I like the size of the book...the flip-floppiness of the book...the font size...the story notes.

Overall I would say this is a book that I could see as a cult classic hit if only for a few tweaks. Creepy...odd...Twilight Zone meets Rocky Horror Picture Show meets that weird house in the neighborhood that is shrouded in mystery and urban legends. This is a great short story read. A book you can enjoy in one sitting...haunting..at least a story or two is going to stay with you well after reading it.
Thanks to Brendan Detzner and the peeps over at Librarything for making my request for this book possible....via giveaway free in exchange for an honest review to which I gladly and voluntarily gave.

Also wanted to mention that this book was not the book I actually requested and was sent email that I would be receiving. That book was Scarce Resources: 18 Weird Stories, but it had been awhile and since I had received nothing I decided to make mention of it. Soon enough (which I was most appreciative about) Brendan Detzner responded to me right away via email apologizing for the issue and totally redeeming himself (which he did not have to do) by sending me BEASTS (signed) and 2 other books!! I love that about authors..when they go out of their way for their reading peeps!! So that's a big kudos to me in my book (no pun intended) and wanted to give props to Mr. Detzner for that.