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People Are Strange
A talking bug who may or may not be our sixteenth President reincarnated...a beloved grandfather with a terrible secret...a man who takes "coveting they neighbor's wife" to a horrifying new low...a community composed of sadists and serial killers...two smiling men in ties carrying the word of God and a straight razor... You'll meet all of these and more in People Are Strange, an eclectic compilation of short fiction by James Newman. People Are Strange is a collection of tales that are as weirdly humorous as they are disturbing, stories that will make you laugh even as you shudder.
- GenresHorrorShort Stories
118 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
August 30, 2015
People are Strange is a short story collection by James Newman and its like Jeff Strand says in the foreword, this ain't the James Newman who wrote Midnight Rain, this is the James Newman who sits in a dark corner, giggling psychotically as he pens deviant horror filled tales.
The first story is a bit of a mouthful,The Honest-To-God True Story of Earl P. and a Bug Called Abraham Lincoln, Earl woke and 'stuck a hand down his boxers and gave his balls the ole’ first-thing-in-the-morning scratch as he watched the thing buzzing about above him' . Starts to become annoying, as all flies do but when it lands on his nipple and greets him with a good morning, it's safe to say today is gonna be a different kind of day. Talking to a fly called Abe and visiting his landlord with a gun are on the menu for today and Earl has definitely not been taking his pills.
The Good, the Bad, and the Severely Maladjusted is a naughty little Cowboy and Indian story with a bit of a horrific twist, John Henry Mason prides himself in never having lost a fight and when he gets jumped by an Indian, there's no way he's getting scalped.
Your Cold Black Heart is a deliciously murderous piece of flash fiction and Dirty Black Summer is a tale of secrets going back to the Nazi death camps when young Billy explores his Grandmother's attic. Secrets are dangerous for all concerned.
'His emotions seemed to hover over him in a thick black cloud, contradicting one another, conflicting with the love he had felt for his late grandfather'.
Bless This Meal, O Lord is another piece of flash fiction that quickly explores how to deal with troublesome offspring. Suffer the Children is a diary style story of a woman who tells of her love for her husband Frank and of his obsession with donating his wages to sponsor a child from Ethiopia.
Always Digging is another piece of flash fiction about, well, digging and burying. And Keeping Up With The Joneses is a bit of a precursor to the excellent story Animosity about normal people. People we see every day. People who are sometimes capable of terrible things.
A Town Called Hatred is a twisted place, a warped little town full of freaks, full of psychos and a great place to settle down, maybe start a family. Merrick is a serial killer with a body in the trunk, he drives past Hatred and the place beckons, calls to him and its a place he'll fit right in.
Next up is Holy Rollers and a visit from two religious nutjobs is just what you need as you're about to leave for work.
'He cocked the hammer then, said softly but firmly, “Perhaps I should rephrase the question, Mr. Morris. You will invite my brother and I inside… and you will listen as we share the Word of God with you.”
Now this is the word of God like you've heard before, violently accompanied by a nipple sliced off and thoughts purely of ‘fuck me’ that was heavy.
People Are Strange is a new release on kindle and 94 pages of twisted visions from the dark mind of an individual who needs help, help to get more of this stuff down on paper and released to all the little bunnies like yours truly who love this kind of horror. Top marks for James Newman.
Also posted at http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/...
The first story is a bit of a mouthful,The Honest-To-God True Story of Earl P. and a Bug Called Abraham Lincoln, Earl woke and 'stuck a hand down his boxers and gave his balls the ole’ first-thing-in-the-morning scratch as he watched the thing buzzing about above him' . Starts to become annoying, as all flies do but when it lands on his nipple and greets him with a good morning, it's safe to say today is gonna be a different kind of day. Talking to a fly called Abe and visiting his landlord with a gun are on the menu for today and Earl has definitely not been taking his pills.
The Good, the Bad, and the Severely Maladjusted is a naughty little Cowboy and Indian story with a bit of a horrific twist, John Henry Mason prides himself in never having lost a fight and when he gets jumped by an Indian, there's no way he's getting scalped.
Your Cold Black Heart is a deliciously murderous piece of flash fiction and Dirty Black Summer is a tale of secrets going back to the Nazi death camps when young Billy explores his Grandmother's attic. Secrets are dangerous for all concerned.
'His emotions seemed to hover over him in a thick black cloud, contradicting one another, conflicting with the love he had felt for his late grandfather'.
Bless This Meal, O Lord is another piece of flash fiction that quickly explores how to deal with troublesome offspring. Suffer the Children is a diary style story of a woman who tells of her love for her husband Frank and of his obsession with donating his wages to sponsor a child from Ethiopia.
Always Digging is another piece of flash fiction about, well, digging and burying. And Keeping Up With The Joneses is a bit of a precursor to the excellent story Animosity about normal people. People we see every day. People who are sometimes capable of terrible things.
A Town Called Hatred is a twisted place, a warped little town full of freaks, full of psychos and a great place to settle down, maybe start a family. Merrick is a serial killer with a body in the trunk, he drives past Hatred and the place beckons, calls to him and its a place he'll fit right in.
Next up is Holy Rollers and a visit from two religious nutjobs is just what you need as you're about to leave for work.
'He cocked the hammer then, said softly but firmly, “Perhaps I should rephrase the question, Mr. Morris. You will invite my brother and I inside… and you will listen as we share the Word of God with you.”
Now this is the word of God like you've heard before, violently accompanied by a nipple sliced off and thoughts purely of ‘fuck me’ that was heavy.
People Are Strange is a new release on kindle and 94 pages of twisted visions from the dark mind of an individual who needs help, help to get more of this stuff down on paper and released to all the little bunnies like yours truly who love this kind of horror. Top marks for James Newman.
Also posted at http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/...
December 29, 2013
A collection of stories wherein James Newman channels his "inner teenager" (You know the one I mean. The kid that sits at the back of the class in the heavy metal t-shirt, makes rude noises and knows all the latest "grosser than gross" jokes) and the ghost of Robert Bloch in an unholy threeway of corrupt creativity, dark horror and darker humor as he explores the human side of the genre in these twisted tales of madness, mayhem and sick slapstick.
Highly recommended for any fan with an inner teen who still laughs at fart jokes.
And who doesn't?
Highly recommended for any fan with an inner teen who still laughs at fart jokes.
And who doesn't?
January 3, 2014
4.5 stars.
First off, this collection of stories is nothing like James Newman's UGLY AS SIN (which, incidentally, was my favorite read of 2013). The fact that the introduction was written by Jeff Strand should give readers a clue as to what they're in for. :)
These stories bring out a whole other side of James Newman--these are the stories that will have adults occasionally busting out in a laugh, feeling liked they've just been punched in the gut, or (especially in the case of the last story, HOLY ROLLERS) cringing and thinking differently about those door-to-door preachers..... Often all of these emotions in one tale!
Personal favorites of mine include Your Cold, Black Heart (flash fiction with a punch), The Good, the Bad, and the Maladjusted, Keeping Up With the Joneses (another flash fiction one), Town Called Hatred, and Holy Rollers.
A great collection to pick up! Highly recommended!
First off, this collection of stories is nothing like James Newman's UGLY AS SIN (which, incidentally, was my favorite read of 2013). The fact that the introduction was written by Jeff Strand should give readers a clue as to what they're in for. :)
These stories bring out a whole other side of James Newman--these are the stories that will have adults occasionally busting out in a laugh, feeling liked they've just been punched in the gut, or (especially in the case of the last story, HOLY ROLLERS) cringing and thinking differently about those door-to-door preachers..... Often all of these emotions in one tale!
Personal favorites of mine include Your Cold, Black Heart (flash fiction with a punch), The Good, the Bad, and the Maladjusted, Keeping Up With the Joneses (another flash fiction one), Town Called Hatred, and Holy Rollers.
A great collection to pick up! Highly recommended!
August 24, 2015
I am a big fan of James Newman. A while back we corresponded a bit and he sent me a signed copy of this book. I'm sorry it took me so long to get to it but it was well worth the wait. Thanks, James!
THE HONEST-TO-GOD TRUE STORY OF EARL P. AND A BUG CALLED ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Oops. My bad.
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE SEVERELY MALADJUSTED
A harmless game of Cowboys and injuns
YOUR COLD, BLACK HEART
Super short and a short film too! Love hurts.
DIRTY BLACK SUMMER
Dark family secrets
BLESS THIS MEAL, O LORD
Classic Thanksgiving dinner
SUFFER THE CHILDREN
Fucking Sally Struthers
ALWAYS DIGGING
The family that digs together...
KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES
Just try to keep up…
A TOWN CALLED HATRED
A great place to settle down. And maybe start a family.
HOLY ROLLERS
Prepare to be saved.
Some shorts, some flash, all twisted and all very good. 4.5 Stars!
THE HONEST-TO-GOD TRUE STORY OF EARL P. AND A BUG CALLED ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Oops. My bad.
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE SEVERELY MALADJUSTED
A harmless game of Cowboys and injuns
YOUR COLD, BLACK HEART
Super short and a short film too! Love hurts.
DIRTY BLACK SUMMER
Dark family secrets
BLESS THIS MEAL, O LORD
Classic Thanksgiving dinner
SUFFER THE CHILDREN
Fucking Sally Struthers
ALWAYS DIGGING
The family that digs together...
KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES
Just try to keep up…
A TOWN CALLED HATRED
A great place to settle down. And maybe start a family.
HOLY ROLLERS
Prepare to be saved.
Some shorts, some flash, all twisted and all very good. 4.5 Stars!
July 1, 2015
This hardcover of "People are Strange" is published by Thunderstorm Books. The book consists of the following:
1. Foreword by Jeff Strand
2. The Honest-To-God True Story of Earl P. and a Bug Called Abraham Lincoln
3. The Good, the Bad, and the Severely Maladjusted
4. Your Cold, Black Heart
5. The Tell-Tale Fart (A Parody)
6. Bless This Meal, O Lord
7. Suffer the Children
8. Keeping Up With the Joneses
9. A Town Called Hatred
10. HOLY ROLLERS (Novella)
And does not contain the graphic novel as stated in the description. Most of the stories are quite short. Making the price of admission worth your while is the last story in the book "Holy Rollers" recounting the terrifying events of letting door to door evangelists into your home.
There is not a bad story in the collection.
1. Foreword by Jeff Strand
2. The Honest-To-God True Story of Earl P. and a Bug Called Abraham Lincoln
3. The Good, the Bad, and the Severely Maladjusted
4. Your Cold, Black Heart
5. The Tell-Tale Fart (A Parody)
6. Bless This Meal, O Lord
7. Suffer the Children
8. Keeping Up With the Joneses
9. A Town Called Hatred
10. HOLY ROLLERS (Novella)
And does not contain the graphic novel as stated in the description. Most of the stories are quite short. Making the price of admission worth your while is the last story in the book "Holy Rollers" recounting the terrifying events of letting door to door evangelists into your home.
There is not a bad story in the collection.
January 5, 2018
This is a collection of short horror stories that are based on the one monster we can´t escape: humans.
I laughed, I cringed, I took a tiny break to catch my breath and continue. These stories are like a sour candy, once you start you feel like you will reach the sweet part, but it´s even more sour and in a way sweeter.
I laughed, I cringed, I took a tiny break to catch my breath and continue. These stories are like a sour candy, once you start you feel like you will reach the sweet part, but it´s even more sour and in a way sweeter.
December 5, 2019
Great collection of shorts!
This is very different than James’ usual type of writing but I still really enjoyed it. My favorite stories were Your Cold Black Heart, Suffer the Children and Holy Rollers.
Highly recommended!
This is very different than James’ usual type of writing but I still really enjoyed it. My favorite stories were Your Cold Black Heart, Suffer the Children and Holy Rollers.
Highly recommended!
June 28, 2013
Awesome collection of shorts!
January 25, 2015
I have just discovered this is currently out of print at the minute so makes my copy even more priceless to me. According to Mr Newman, hopefully the eBook will be out later in the year.
A collection of short stories from James Newman.
I really didn’t want to read this just yet as the only copy I have is my personally signed one from James and I didn’t want to scuff or damage it. It is also not on eBook just yet. The temptation got too much though and I just had to don my white gloves and sit in the specially controlled room to read it.
The foreword in this book is written by Jeff Strand. It’s quite possibly the best, funniest thing I have read in ages. Anyway, on with the stories.
THE HONEST-TO-GOD TRUE STORY OF EARL P. AND A BUG CALLED ABRAHAM LINCOLN or A MAN AND HIS PET FLY:
Earl wakes up when a fly buzzes in his ear. He shoos it away. He can’t believe what he is seeing or hearing when the fly starts to talk to him. The fly asks him to do a favour for him. It involves murder and Earl doesn’t seem to have a choice.
This is mad. You would think a story with a talking fly would have you thinking WTF? It works though. It’s punchy and funny. It’s very very creepy and it has a twist at the end that makes Earl cry, and you just stare at the page in disbelief.
5 stars.
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE SEVERELY MALADJUSTED:
John Henry Mason never lost a fight. When he gets jumped at a creek by an “Injun”, he aims to keep that record going.
This starts as a good old cowboy v’s injun western short that will take you back to the lazy Saturday afternoons sitting watching Mr Wayne on the telly. With a bitter twist at the end it turns into a disturbing modern day tale of murder and viciousness.
5 stars for the twist.
YOUR COLD, BLACK HEART:
He knows she is cheating on him. It’s come to a head. There are knives involved.
This is a short “flash fiction” piece with a hell of a brutal twist at the end. This was also made into a short film by Kevin Woods which is fantastic. It totally gives you the creepy, eerie feeling that James was trying to get across in the story.
You can watch the short film here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_93R...
Another 5 stars for being able to produce something so creepy in so little words.
THE TELL-TALE FART (A PARODY):
A man gets very angry at his neighbours constant farting. He can stand the noise or the stench no longer and decides his only course of action is to kill him.
Written in the style of Poe, I really have no idea what I just read!?
3 weird stars.
BLESS THIS MEAL, OH LORD:
Flash fiction. Can’t say anymore. Oh……don’t read whilst eating.
5 stars.
SUFFER THE CHILDREN:
A story told in the form of diary entries by a woman about her general everyday life with her husband. All is going well until her husband sponsors a child in Ethiopia. Is he obsessing over the child or is she slowly going nuts?
I found this story very disturbing. I won’t say why but I felt very very dirty afterwards. It’s a bit sickening to read but on the other hand you can’t not. Brilliant writing again.
5 stars.
KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES:
The Joneses have everything. Their neighbours must keep up, getting bigger and better with everything they copy. Will they copy death?
Another flash fiction and I absolutely loved this one. Horror without the monsters or jumps.
5 stars.
A TOWN CALLED HATRED:
Merrick is a travelling salesman, selling bibles. Well, he uses that as a front. He is on a road trip, never staying too long in one place. He is actually a serial killer and even has a body on his back seat right now. He passes a sign for a town called Hatred that doesn’t appear on any map, and decides to visit. Hatred is a town from hell, but for someone like Merrick it could turn out to be his Utopia.
This is wonderful. It’s brutal. It paints a horrifying and harrowing picture of both Merrick and Hatred. Mr Newman’s evil and sadistic side comes out in this story with disturbing force.
5 stars.
HOLY ROLLERS:
Jack is running late for work. At 8.29 AM there is a knock at the door. When he answers it, Jack is confronted by two gentlemen asking if they can speak to him about Jesus. Jack tries his best to get rid of them but his wife Mary is trying to convince him to speak with them. Next thing he knows, Jack is tied to a chair while Mary is likewise trussed up. What happens next is a total nightmare for Jack and Mary as the “brothers” try to get him to repent.
This novella is the best story in the book for me. It starts like any other annoying visit from these religious nuts but quickly transcends into something much more horrifying with a twist that had me shouting “aw FFS!”. The tension, terror and mental and physical horror in this story is immense.
5 stars.
So there you have it. A collection of short stories by Mr James Newman. As Jeff Strand points out in the foreword, this collection is very far removed from any of James’s other novels I have read. If someone handed you one of the stories to read without knowing anything about it, you may have difficulty recognising the style as Newman’s.
They are horror. They are full of psychological head feck. They are disturbing and harrowing at times. They are funny at times. The one thing they have in common with the Newman novels you will be familiar with is that the writing is superb. Whether it be a novella length story or one page, you cannot escape the story. You get dragged into it and you will not get out again until the story is finished. A lot of the time you don’t want it to finish either.
At the start of each story James has a little narrative to tell you more about the story and how it came to be. I hope he doesn’t mind but I want to quote a section from one of these:
“I call it “Middle-American, white “picket” fence horror. I find myself writing about these themes more and more these days – tales not populated with zombies or werewolves or vampires, but with normal people. People we see every day. People who are sometimes capable of terrible things…….”
This describes his writing to a tee. Grab some of his novels and you will discover this. It’s relatively easy to make a horror novel scary when someone is being chased by a monster or an axe wielding mad man. It’s not so easy to take everyday situations and turn them about so that you dread them and the horrors they can bring. James Newman is a master at this. He could probably scare me writing about opening a fridge. He is that good.
This gets an overall full marks 5 stars. It couldn’t get any less.
Be sure to check out Mr Newman’s other works including Animosity, Ugly as Sin and The Wicked. You will not be disappointed.
A collection of short stories from James Newman.
I really didn’t want to read this just yet as the only copy I have is my personally signed one from James and I didn’t want to scuff or damage it. It is also not on eBook just yet. The temptation got too much though and I just had to don my white gloves and sit in the specially controlled room to read it.
The foreword in this book is written by Jeff Strand. It’s quite possibly the best, funniest thing I have read in ages. Anyway, on with the stories.
THE HONEST-TO-GOD TRUE STORY OF EARL P. AND A BUG CALLED ABRAHAM LINCOLN or A MAN AND HIS PET FLY:
Earl wakes up when a fly buzzes in his ear. He shoos it away. He can’t believe what he is seeing or hearing when the fly starts to talk to him. The fly asks him to do a favour for him. It involves murder and Earl doesn’t seem to have a choice.
This is mad. You would think a story with a talking fly would have you thinking WTF? It works though. It’s punchy and funny. It’s very very creepy and it has a twist at the end that makes Earl cry, and you just stare at the page in disbelief.
5 stars.
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE SEVERELY MALADJUSTED:
John Henry Mason never lost a fight. When he gets jumped at a creek by an “Injun”, he aims to keep that record going.
This starts as a good old cowboy v’s injun western short that will take you back to the lazy Saturday afternoons sitting watching Mr Wayne on the telly. With a bitter twist at the end it turns into a disturbing modern day tale of murder and viciousness.
5 stars for the twist.
YOUR COLD, BLACK HEART:
He knows she is cheating on him. It’s come to a head. There are knives involved.
This is a short “flash fiction” piece with a hell of a brutal twist at the end. This was also made into a short film by Kevin Woods which is fantastic. It totally gives you the creepy, eerie feeling that James was trying to get across in the story.
You can watch the short film here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_93R...
Another 5 stars for being able to produce something so creepy in so little words.
THE TELL-TALE FART (A PARODY):
A man gets very angry at his neighbours constant farting. He can stand the noise or the stench no longer and decides his only course of action is to kill him.
Written in the style of Poe, I really have no idea what I just read!?
3 weird stars.
BLESS THIS MEAL, OH LORD:
Flash fiction. Can’t say anymore. Oh……don’t read whilst eating.
5 stars.
SUFFER THE CHILDREN:
A story told in the form of diary entries by a woman about her general everyday life with her husband. All is going well until her husband sponsors a child in Ethiopia. Is he obsessing over the child or is she slowly going nuts?
I found this story very disturbing. I won’t say why but I felt very very dirty afterwards. It’s a bit sickening to read but on the other hand you can’t not. Brilliant writing again.
5 stars.
KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES:
The Joneses have everything. Their neighbours must keep up, getting bigger and better with everything they copy. Will they copy death?
Another flash fiction and I absolutely loved this one. Horror without the monsters or jumps.
5 stars.
A TOWN CALLED HATRED:
Merrick is a travelling salesman, selling bibles. Well, he uses that as a front. He is on a road trip, never staying too long in one place. He is actually a serial killer and even has a body on his back seat right now. He passes a sign for a town called Hatred that doesn’t appear on any map, and decides to visit. Hatred is a town from hell, but for someone like Merrick it could turn out to be his Utopia.
This is wonderful. It’s brutal. It paints a horrifying and harrowing picture of both Merrick and Hatred. Mr Newman’s evil and sadistic side comes out in this story with disturbing force.
5 stars.
HOLY ROLLERS:
Jack is running late for work. At 8.29 AM there is a knock at the door. When he answers it, Jack is confronted by two gentlemen asking if they can speak to him about Jesus. Jack tries his best to get rid of them but his wife Mary is trying to convince him to speak with them. Next thing he knows, Jack is tied to a chair while Mary is likewise trussed up. What happens next is a total nightmare for Jack and Mary as the “brothers” try to get him to repent.
This novella is the best story in the book for me. It starts like any other annoying visit from these religious nuts but quickly transcends into something much more horrifying with a twist that had me shouting “aw FFS!”. The tension, terror and mental and physical horror in this story is immense.
5 stars.
So there you have it. A collection of short stories by Mr James Newman. As Jeff Strand points out in the foreword, this collection is very far removed from any of James’s other novels I have read. If someone handed you one of the stories to read without knowing anything about it, you may have difficulty recognising the style as Newman’s.
They are horror. They are full of psychological head feck. They are disturbing and harrowing at times. They are funny at times. The one thing they have in common with the Newman novels you will be familiar with is that the writing is superb. Whether it be a novella length story or one page, you cannot escape the story. You get dragged into it and you will not get out again until the story is finished. A lot of the time you don’t want it to finish either.
At the start of each story James has a little narrative to tell you more about the story and how it came to be. I hope he doesn’t mind but I want to quote a section from one of these:
“I call it “Middle-American, white “picket” fence horror. I find myself writing about these themes more and more these days – tales not populated with zombies or werewolves or vampires, but with normal people. People we see every day. People who are sometimes capable of terrible things…….”
This describes his writing to a tee. Grab some of his novels and you will discover this. It’s relatively easy to make a horror novel scary when someone is being chased by a monster or an axe wielding mad man. It’s not so easy to take everyday situations and turn them about so that you dread them and the horrors they can bring. James Newman is a master at this. He could probably scare me writing about opening a fridge. He is that good.
This gets an overall full marks 5 stars. It couldn’t get any less.
Be sure to check out Mr Newman’s other works including Animosity, Ugly as Sin and The Wicked. You will not be disappointed.
January 1, 2018
2018 started the same way 2017 ended; being amazed at the quality of @namwensemaj's writing talent. His sanity, however, cannot be guaranteed. People Are Strange is a collection of 10 short stories, some as short as two pages. These stories range from talking bottle-nose flies to the world's worst Jehovah's Witness impersonators.
.
.
After reading each of these stories, i did a review of each one. Some of my reviews consisted of one word ( Whoa!, Sick, Funny), but some had longer reviews (Mr Newman, you win, that WAS f***ed up, What a twist, What a twisted author). These stories are definitely written tongue-in-cheek, but Newman's love of horror is apparent in every word. This book is a must for any horror fan who loved an uneasy chuckle with his goosebumps.
.
.
.
After reading each of these stories, i did a review of each one. Some of my reviews consisted of one word ( Whoa!, Sick, Funny), but some had longer reviews (Mr Newman, you win, that WAS f***ed up, What a twist, What a twisted author). These stories are definitely written tongue-in-cheek, but Newman's love of horror is apparent in every word. This book is a must for any horror fan who loved an uneasy chuckle with his goosebumps.
.
January 6, 2018
People are Strange is an assortment of work that crosses subgenres in horror effortlessly.
Minutes into the first story "The Honest To God True Story of Earl P and A Bug Called
Abraham Lincoln" I was getting hints of Joe Lansdale. The introduction to the following story made reference to Lansdale and I felt a sense of literary justification.
"A Town Called Hatred" could be dropped in any mean spirited, gross out, Edward Lee collection and fit right in.
The highlight of the book "Holly Rollers" sees action scenes that read as effortlessly as an Brian Keene novel with a wonderful ending.
People are Strange is a solid collection of quick reads that will certainly not disappoint.
Minutes into the first story "The Honest To God True Story of Earl P and A Bug Called
Abraham Lincoln" I was getting hints of Joe Lansdale. The introduction to the following story made reference to Lansdale and I felt a sense of literary justification.
"A Town Called Hatred" could be dropped in any mean spirited, gross out, Edward Lee collection and fit right in.
The highlight of the book "Holly Rollers" sees action scenes that read as effortlessly as an Brian Keene novel with a wonderful ending.
People are Strange is a solid collection of quick reads that will certainly not disappoint.
February 25, 2016
I don't think I could love Keeping Up With The Joneses more.
And The Good, The Bad and The Severely Maladjusted...never saw that ending at all.
I would also drive through Hatred...or, no...like just watch someone's video of their drive through.
And The Good, The Bad and The Severely Maladjusted...never saw that ending at all.
I would also drive through Hatred...or, no...like just watch someone's video of their drive through.
December 30, 2020
I love short story collections. It gives you many samples of an authors work and it allows for a light quick read.
The door to door missionaries and Abraham Lincoln were a couple of the highlights of this collection.
Highly recommend this.
The door to door missionaries and Abraham Lincoln were a couple of the highlights of this collection.
Highly recommend this.
July 4, 2008
A fantastic collection of short stories. Newman is a sick, sick man. And I wouldn't have it any other way
October 29, 2011
Excellent short-story collection. Review to be published soon at Terror Flicks.
December 31, 2017
I haven't read any James Newman before, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. I admit, I didn't think I was going to enjoy it when I first started reading. The language in the opening story is a little vulgar for my taste, and I wasn't sure I could put up with that for an entire novel. Good thing I kept reading, though, because it gets much better from there! Though each story is entirely different from the last, they all share a similar theme. As Newman himself puts it, it's a "little collection of stories about the scariest monster of all: ourselves!"
The descriptions and imaginative stories Newman develops pulled me right in. He loves to delve deep into the human psyche, giving the reader doubt as to what's real and what's all in your head. Each story takes you for a crazy ride, often dropping you off nowhere near where you expected to land. There are twists within twists that provide a sense of excitement and, more times than not, shock and disgust. The endings are often ambiguous, leaving you wanting more just to find out what really happened. Did he actually kill him? Was it really all pretend? How did it play out after those final words? I need more! Importantly, these moments aren't just cliff-hangers. Though they do end on a "gimme gimme more" note, the stories still have excellent, satisfying endings. I've noticed a lot of short story authors (I've been reading a lot of short story collections lately) often have problems with endings, and their stories tend to just... stop, rather than end. This isn't the case at all with Newman, so mega props to him for that!
Newman also excels at adopting different language and style and voice for each story he tells. Whether he's writing about insanity or cowboys or illiterate wives, we get just that with his stories. It gives a nice change from story to story, and it definitely helps keep the interest peaked.
There's also quite a lot of flash fiction in this collection, which I was pretty excited about. I recently wrote my first piece of flash fiction and absolutely fell in love with the genre. I haven't seen much in my reading experience, so it's refreshing to see such fiction in a short story collection, and Newman certainly excels at it.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I got more into Newman's writing with each story, and I'm definitely interested in reading more of his works in the future. If you're into horror/mystery/suspense, I'd suggest checking him out! He was nice enough to send a copy of this collection to me to review, so thanks so much for the opportunity, James!
The descriptions and imaginative stories Newman develops pulled me right in. He loves to delve deep into the human psyche, giving the reader doubt as to what's real and what's all in your head. Each story takes you for a crazy ride, often dropping you off nowhere near where you expected to land. There are twists within twists that provide a sense of excitement and, more times than not, shock and disgust. The endings are often ambiguous, leaving you wanting more just to find out what really happened. Did he actually kill him? Was it really all pretend? How did it play out after those final words? I need more! Importantly, these moments aren't just cliff-hangers. Though they do end on a "gimme gimme more" note, the stories still have excellent, satisfying endings. I've noticed a lot of short story authors (I've been reading a lot of short story collections lately) often have problems with endings, and their stories tend to just... stop, rather than end. This isn't the case at all with Newman, so mega props to him for that!
Newman also excels at adopting different language and style and voice for each story he tells. Whether he's writing about insanity or cowboys or illiterate wives, we get just that with his stories. It gives a nice change from story to story, and it definitely helps keep the interest peaked.
There's also quite a lot of flash fiction in this collection, which I was pretty excited about. I recently wrote my first piece of flash fiction and absolutely fell in love with the genre. I haven't seen much in my reading experience, so it's refreshing to see such fiction in a short story collection, and Newman certainly excels at it.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I got more into Newman's writing with each story, and I'm definitely interested in reading more of his works in the future. If you're into horror/mystery/suspense, I'd suggest checking him out! He was nice enough to send a copy of this collection to me to review, so thanks so much for the opportunity, James!
November 30, 2018
This is a collection of short stories and a novella. It’s left me with a wide range of emotions and thoughts. It’s one of those collections that leaves you thinking of the stories and characters forever.
The first story left me with so much to think about. Was the bug really talking, or was the guy really crazy, or was he crazy because the bug was talking?
Murder, nazis, cannibals, more murder, a “toxic” town. It ends with the novella, Holy Rollers, which I will never forget. I’ll never look at Jehova’s Witnesses the same again.
Oh, the feels, thrills, and chills!
James Newman knows how to make a reader squirm in their seat!!
You really don’t know people or what they’re capable of. Don’t let your guard down.
People Are Strange!
The first story left me with so much to think about. Was the bug really talking, or was the guy really crazy, or was he crazy because the bug was talking?
Murder, nazis, cannibals, more murder, a “toxic” town. It ends with the novella, Holy Rollers, which I will never forget. I’ll never look at Jehova’s Witnesses the same again.
Oh, the feels, thrills, and chills!
James Newman knows how to make a reader squirm in their seat!!
You really don’t know people or what they’re capable of. Don’t let your guard down.
People Are Strange!
June 27, 2016
I really enjoyed these short stories by James. My favorite was about the town called Hatred. Some of the stories were amusing and some scary. He definitely brought out his inner child in this book. I also liked that for each story he wrote a little background on how or why he came up with that particular story. Also the cover on the Kindle version is amazing.Anyway, not that I am bias or anything...lol But if you are interested in great story telling I suggest you pick up this book from my friend James Newman:)
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