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When the Devil Writes
From best-selling horror author, Matt Shaw, comes a new collection of previously unreleased material direct from his twisted imagination, a collection of twisted short stories and novellas.
Within This Collection:
Flash Fiction: Hush Little Baby, Man's Best Friend,
Short Stories: Change, Cat,
Novellas: HIM, A Girl And Her Corpse.
Over 200 pages of horror
Within This Collection:
Flash Fiction: Hush Little Baby, Man's Best Friend,
Short Stories: Change, Cat,
Novellas: HIM, A Girl And Her Corpse.
Over 200 pages of horror
- GenresHorror
128 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 6, 2019
123 people are currently reading
119 people want to read
About the author
Matt Shaw
527 books2,181 followersBiography
MATT SHAW was born, quite by accident (his mother tripped, he shot out) September 30th 1980 in Winchester hospital where he was immediately placed on the baby ward and EBay. Some twelve years later (wandering the corridors of the hospital and playing with road kill when he was on day release), the listing closed and he remained unsold, he was booted out of the hospital to start his life as a writer and hobbit – beginning with writing screenplays and short stories for his own amusement before finally getting published when he was twenty-seven years and forty-five seconds old.
Once Published weekly in a lad's magazine with his photography work, Matt Shaw is also a published author and cartoonist. Has to be said, can be a bit of a flirt and definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, somewhat of a klutz.
Favourite books
"Roald Dahl's Collection of Short Stories"
Tim Burton's Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy
Anything, really, written by himself. Because he is that good.
MATT SHAW was born, quite by accident (his mother tripped, he shot out) September 30th 1980 in Winchester hospital where he was immediately placed on the baby ward and EBay. Some twelve years later (wandering the corridors of the hospital and playing with road kill when he was on day release), the listing closed and he remained unsold, he was booted out of the hospital to start his life as a writer and hobbit – beginning with writing screenplays and short stories for his own amusement before finally getting published when he was twenty-seven years and forty-five seconds old.
Once Published weekly in a lad's magazine with his photography work, Matt Shaw is also a published author and cartoonist. Has to be said, can be a bit of a flirt and definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, somewhat of a klutz.
Favourite books
"Roald Dahl's Collection of Short Stories"
Tim Burton's Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy
Anything, really, written by himself. Because he is that good.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 20, 2019
I'm usually not a fan of a book of shorts, but I will read just about anything Matt Shaw writes. Some of these stories were better than others, but there's a couple that stuck with me. The story about the cat was the funniest dark humor! I loved it. And Him ( I think that was the name of it) had a great twist. It made me laugh a lot and I loved it. A couple of other stories just weren't that memorable in my opinion. Anyways, the blurb says this is over 200 pages, but it didn't feel that long. I guess because I was enjoying myself. I'm glad I read this book
April 22, 2020
This is an excellent collection of stories from Matt Shaw!
CHANGES stands out because it's not horror, (in my mind), but I love the story. IDK if it's perfect as it is, or if I'd like to see it developed into something longer.
A GIRL AND HER CORPSE is my favorite in this collection, although I'm depressed as all Hell now. It reached something in me, though.
CHANGES stands out because it's not horror, (in my mind), but I love the story. IDK if it's perfect as it is, or if I'd like to see it developed into something longer.
A GIRL AND HER CORPSE is my favorite in this collection, although I'm depressed as all Hell now. It reached something in me, though.
August 28, 2019
PICK A LANE MATT SHAW
I swear I'm not the kind of person that leaves reviews on books before I've read them all the way through, but this one is a special exception. There was never any way I was going to get past the story "Change." I'm going to mark this review for spoilers, so I'll give a quick run down: two men meet when one cuts in line. Instead of getting pissed at each other, they make friends and decide to get a drink together. During their conversation, one of the men expresses regret about a past relationship. The other man then reveals that he's the ex in question; he's a transgender man who, before transitioning, ran away from their relationship because he "didn't love himself." They admit they are still in love and kiss. And I'm sure that some people are going to dismiss everything i say because this is almost my exact lived experience from the trans perspective, but hold up a sec because this is actually important.
First of all, was this really the proper venue for this story? In a collection called "When the Devil Writes: A Collection of Twisted Short Stories and Novellas"? Is that REALLY that twisted? Whatever it is, it's not a good look. Second, who is this story for? The audience Shaw writes to is bros in their 20s or 30s, and they're not usually the most receptive of trans gay relationships. (Whether or not Shaw's audience is dudes, he writes for himself.) Even amongst the few stories I read in the collection, "Changes" sticks out like a sore thumb. It's insane. I understand the desire to branch into other genres, but this is a horror collection written by the same guy who wrote a scene wherein a woman has an octopus inserted in one of her body cavities. Imagine if a short story collection by Jodi Picoult had a graphic vore story. You'd be alarmed, right? But if Jodi Picoult released a book of shocking erotica, you might be surprised, but at least it keeps with the theme of the book.
But let me get into the guts of this thing and try to keep my vomit out of the body cavity. I'm just going to make a list.
1. First dude doesn't recognize his former girlfriend? Bull. It's testosterone, not pixie dust.
2. Trans dude started transitioning, at max, a year ago. He ain't gonna have a ton of stubble. That's if he got on hormones right after their break-up and he went to an informed consent clinic--
3. --he didn't do that because he mentions having to get his doctor's approval for further surgeries. And never in the history of anything has a trans guy had to get a breast reduction first. Most of us bind our breasts until we can afford TOP surgery, which, while using the techniques of a breast reduction, involves male contouring of the remaining breast tissue.
4. We DO NOT look the same down there as bio women, especially if we're at the point where we can sustain a beard.
5. This line: "Dustin didn’t see 'a man' standing before him anymore. He saw a woman. His saw his woman." Shame on you, Matt Shaw.
If you want to write heartfelt stories about trans people, maybe talk to one, even just once. And if you have and this is the best you've got? Do better.
I swear I'm not the kind of person that leaves reviews on books before I've read them all the way through, but this one is a special exception. There was never any way I was going to get past the story "Change." I'm going to mark this review for spoilers, so I'll give a quick run down: two men meet when one cuts in line. Instead of getting pissed at each other, they make friends and decide to get a drink together. During their conversation, one of the men expresses regret about a past relationship. The other man then reveals that he's the ex in question; he's a transgender man who, before transitioning, ran away from their relationship because he "didn't love himself." They admit they are still in love and kiss. And I'm sure that some people are going to dismiss everything i say because this is almost my exact lived experience from the trans perspective, but hold up a sec because this is actually important.
First of all, was this really the proper venue for this story? In a collection called "When the Devil Writes: A Collection of Twisted Short Stories and Novellas"? Is that REALLY that twisted? Whatever it is, it's not a good look. Second, who is this story for? The audience Shaw writes to is bros in their 20s or 30s, and they're not usually the most receptive of trans gay relationships. (Whether or not Shaw's audience is dudes, he writes for himself.) Even amongst the few stories I read in the collection, "Changes" sticks out like a sore thumb. It's insane. I understand the desire to branch into other genres, but this is a horror collection written by the same guy who wrote a scene wherein a woman has an octopus inserted in one of her body cavities. Imagine if a short story collection by Jodi Picoult had a graphic vore story. You'd be alarmed, right? But if Jodi Picoult released a book of shocking erotica, you might be surprised, but at least it keeps with the theme of the book.
But let me get into the guts of this thing and try to keep my vomit out of the body cavity. I'm just going to make a list.
1. First dude doesn't recognize his former girlfriend? Bull. It's testosterone, not pixie dust.
2. Trans dude started transitioning, at max, a year ago. He ain't gonna have a ton of stubble. That's if he got on hormones right after their break-up and he went to an informed consent clinic--
3. --he didn't do that because he mentions having to get his doctor's approval for further surgeries. And never in the history of anything has a trans guy had to get a breast reduction first. Most of us bind our breasts until we can afford TOP surgery, which, while using the techniques of a breast reduction, involves male contouring of the remaining breast tissue.
4. We DO NOT look the same down there as bio women, especially if we're at the point where we can sustain a beard.
5. This line: "Dustin didn’t see 'a man' standing before him anymore. He saw a woman. His saw his woman." Shame on you, Matt Shaw.
If you want to write heartfelt stories about trans people, maybe talk to one, even just once. And if you have and this is the best you've got? Do better.
May 25, 2020
Funny that I found 'hush little baby' to be the strongest entry in this book, since it's also one of the shortest stories. It is however in general a solid collection with only one imho boring story, and absolutely not the best i've read of this author. Though I would rec it for it's easy read, because if nothing else the author is really good at writing digestable horror that is accessible to everyone.
July 29, 2020
Nice
Interesting tales and stories I will be looking. For you again tell you what you keep writing them I'll keep reading them
Interesting tales and stories I will be looking. For you again tell you what you keep writing them I'll keep reading them
February 26, 2020
The title is misleadingly intense. A couple of the stories were decent, but overall I was underwhelmed.
February 19, 2020
Good read
Some of these stories made me read until the end. Some had some weird ending but that's what made them good. Need to read won't be sorry
Some of these stories made me read until the end. Some had some weird ending but that's what made them good. Need to read won't be sorry
January 23, 2020
Interesting Reading
This is quite an interesting mix or stories collected here. It's the first thing I've read from Matt Shaw, and I must say, it was pretty good. I do believe I'll read more of his works at some point.
This is quite an interesting mix or stories collected here. It's the first thing I've read from Matt Shaw, and I must say, it was pretty good. I do believe I'll read more of his works at some point.
February 23, 2020
My Favorite type of storytelling
I love darkly graphic story telling. This barely fits my usual level of graphic, but was very enjoyable if you ignore the typos. Whomever received pay to edit this e-book needs to be fired.
I love darkly graphic story telling. This barely fits my usual level of graphic, but was very enjoyable if you ignore the typos. Whomever received pay to edit this e-book needs to be fired.
October 21, 2019
I think this story hits a lot of peop!e where they live...those who want it all, people that are ok with what they have and those who just want SOMETHING!
I chose the rating because I think it was too non-fictional to be truly horrifying. Almost something you might expect to see in the newspaper.
I chose the rating because I think it was too non-fictional to be truly horrifying. Almost something you might expect to see in the newspaper.
March 18, 2024
I personally think that this is the best novel Matt Shaw has written , he is at his best when writing from the soul . A Girl and her Corpse especially so I unashamedly freely admit that I cried buckets over that story😭 and me a former former roughy toughy Marine Commando 💪 , but the underlying emotional situation but many nerves . Other stories were equally funny, satisfying and enjoyable .
August 31, 2019
Short and sweet
A few short reads to pass the time. Great reads with little twists but enough happening to keep you enthralled and wanting more. Just wish there was a few more to it. I feel like I've only just started reading. But ideal for a short bus or train ride.
A few short reads to pass the time. Great reads with little twists but enough happening to keep you enthralled and wanting more. Just wish there was a few more to it. I feel like I've only just started reading. But ideal for a short bus or train ride.
September 23, 2019
Awesome
A nice range of short stories to keep you entertained!
Defiantly worth a read, handy to pass the time in a waiting room, on a bus or train etc to keep feeding your love of horror when you don’t really have time for a long read
A nice range of short stories to keep you entertained!
Defiantly worth a read, handy to pass the time in a waiting room, on a bus or train etc to keep feeding your love of horror when you don’t really have time for a long read
September 30, 2019
The stories were okay but the spelling is awful.
January 10, 2020
Meh...
Some stories were good, some didn't make sense . There were lots of spelling mistakes, which made it hard to read some parts.
Some stories were good, some didn't make sense . There were lots of spelling mistakes, which made it hard to read some parts.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews