In 1982 Moe killed a man while defending his son. The next day the man came back. In 1982 Moe went missing. The man continued to come back. In 2014 events are repeating themselves.
In a race against time, reason and more time, Shane has to unwind mysteries of the past in order to save his friend Jason who has gone missing.
Ugh…. That sounds heavy. While all the above is true, this book also has a Ghost Dick Monster that stabs his ghost dick into a guy’s shoulder… seriously, that actually happens in this book.
Also, the main dude Shane, mentioned a couple paragraphs above, well he and his wife are having issues. They both want to bang more, but they aren’t good about talking about it, so it’s this whole thing. Anyway, they are cute, and shit together by the end, shit… is that a spoiler… shit… can you say shit in a book blurb? Oh well, whatever this book is not for kids... So fuck I’ll say whatever I want… boobs.
Anyway, this book has Laughs, Sex, Monsters, Mysteries, and a dick ton of other really cool stuff that I won’t spoil here. You want to be cool right? Well, then you better read this book, I mean all your cool friends already have. Don’t ask them, just trust me.
Vaughn Ashby is the bestselling horror author of Tethered, Brightness Falls, & The Axe. He’s also a multi-view YouTube creator, & wannabe Podcaster.
Ash, or Uncle Ashby to you, holds degrees in Body Head Separation, Spacial Realignment, & Family Member Seducing Time Travel from the schools of Netflix, Blockbuster, & The Local Cinema. Vaughn also recently completed his Masters in Sci-fi Horror writing from the school of YM, better known as Your Mom.
Before being dragged into the world of writing kicking and screaming, he was a simple bearded human male with poor spelling skills. He was, and this is just true, not a robot, definitely not a human killing robot, with plans of wiping out the human race through writing complex plots that involve adult humor and sexiness.
Vaughn has watched multiple Masterclasses by Aaron Sorkin, Neil Gaimen, Margaret Atwood, & Gordon Ramsey, though not all the way through. He’s also the Winner of the Aurora Wasteland award, for being the only writer to write in that Literary Universe, which he created.
His passions include Whiskey, Tattoos, Movies, Writing, & Horror. Find out more about Vaughn at VaughnAshby.com
I'm rating this 3.25 stars rounded down to 3 just for the sheer audacity and uniqueness of the book.
I originally had no idea how I was going to rate this read, tbh I REALLY struggled with the confusion and mindfuckness of the premise yet desperately wanted to know how it ended. I'll quote below directly from the author to give you a feel for it.
"It's like Twilight Zone meets X-Files, Twin Peaks, Lost, & Black Mirror, but set in a world similar to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, called The Aurora Wasteland."
I'd hasten to add "Written in the style of someone with unmedicated severe Adhd who was also tripping on magic mushies."
Now I like weird but I think this was out of my league.
The story was weird, not bad weird, just weird. It gave me weird dreams too.
The story jumps between time lines and if you don't pay enough attention to the chapter title you may get lost.
Ashby's going to stay on my radar. Because like it said it's not bad weird, I just think this may be his style and overall the story itself was pretty decent. I definitely like when there is a bit of humor thrown in with my horror/sci-fi reads and his characters know how to poke fun at themselves.
I would have liked the narrator to perform a bit more and help with distinguishing between the characters, but other than when he spoke with a British accent there was no way to tell oh yea it's such and such's part.
I received the audiobook from StoryOrigin in exchange for an honest review.
I got this book for free in exchange for an honest review. Let me say that this was by far the weirdest and f'd up book I have ever read. I knew it was going to be weird when in the plot summary it mentions a penis ghost. Who wouldn't have their curiosity piqued at that. This book even with it's side of sick humor, is so dark and horrifying that it will stay with you for weeks after. This is by no means a happy ending kind of book, if you're looking for that then I strongly suggest do not read! This book will mess with your mind. Despite editing issues and all the time warping this book has a really interesting plot and it keeps you reading until the mind blowing end. Jury is still out on whether or not I will read the rest of the Aurora series. This author definitely knows how to leave his mark!!
First I received this book at no cost. Vaughn Ashby is a unique author in my long reading experience. The first author that comes to my mind in comparison is Kurt Vonnegut. Tethered is very different from most books. It contains many twists, bends and turns. I usually figure out the end of a book long before I reach the last chapter. Tethered kept me guessing till the last syllable. I heartily recommend this book it’s a frolic thru your brain.
Sorry, just did not enjoy it at all. In fact, only got as far as the end of the fifth chapter and that was enough for me. Rather read something I damn well know will be enjoyable (or actually good).
One of the reasons is there were a number of typos and punctuation errors that should have been caught prior to being offered for sale at the Apple Book store. No, these were not the intentional slang and such that was spelled the way they were purposely, but real downright grammatical mistakes.
Threw instead of using though? City light population instead of using pollution? 'I may have I kissed her.' Too many 'I's? Neither had a bigger stash, so they were surely lower on the totem 'then' the Walrus. Should have used 'than'.
Awful.
The punctuation was a whole different matter. Commas were needed in a few places and so were periods in helping structure some sentences from being run-ons.
I did not want to read something so poorly edited (and this was only up to the end of the fifth chapter). The overall writing was somewhat alright, but...
The sexual, childish overtones were what finally quashed it for me from going further with reading this novel.
DNF at 20%. This author isn't for me. I felt like I was reading the diary of a 12-year-old boy, complete with obsessions with poop and boobs and "oh gross". Who says "gross" in 2014? Not thirty-something professionals, I would think (and spiders are definitely not gross). I get that the author is keen on the X-files and associated pop culture, and those themes would normally interest me (I am a big fan of Fringe, X-files, Stranger Things, and The Twilight Zone), but the writing and delivery just don't work for me. I also think if someone wants to be a 'writer', then he really needs to learn the rules of the language he is writing with. There are just too many writing mistakes to handle; perhaps investing in a tool like Grammarly would be something to seriously look into. I like to try out Indie authors, and I would normally be interested in audacious writing styles. I'm afraid I wasn't drawn in by the Aurora Wasteland.
It has been a long, long time since I didn't finish a book I started. I just did it again.
When you're writing a book that is intentionally confusing, jumping between timelines and purposefully keeping the reader in the dark, it is IMPERATIVE that you don't confuse your characters. When Jason is doing something and you suddenly call him Shane, this creates a disconnect and pulls your reader out of the world you are trying to create. "Wait," your reader exclaims, "Jason is at the hospital, Shane is with Pratt..." and the story is lost. This happened more than once and I finally decided I was done about halfway through.
It's a hard read anyway with the rampant homonym misuse and similar word confusion (I do not think that means what you think it means) so I just couldn't finish it. It was giving me a headache.
The plot seemed interesting enough but there are so many books and so little time, I just can't spend the brain power necessary to try to determine what the author was trying to tell me.
Hire a good proofreader. Let them fix this, then try again. It definitely has potential, but reading fiction shouldn't cause physical pain to the reader.
I loved every minute of this book. I knew I was going to enjoy it early on. The author’s sense of humor is much like my own, so I was constantly laughing while listening.
There are serious moments to keep you invested, there’s mystery and suspense. It can get a bit confusing with the jumps between time and from character to character. With my difficulty remembering names, I had trouble remembering a lot of the characters. It often took me a minute to remember who was being talked to or about, without context clues.
The writing style reads like a narration, which is great for an audiobook and it doesn’t take itself too seriously. The ending left me bummed that the story was over. But the last few minutes made me aware of the Aurora Wasteland Literary Universe and I am absolutely going to be looking into all of them.
The narrator is excellent. I almost feel bad for him. I can’t imagine how many takes he must have had to go through due to spontaneous laughter while reading this. If you like the summary, you’ll like this book as they’re written in the exact same manner.
NOTE: This copy was provided to me free of charge as a digital review copy. The opinions stated in this review are mine and mine alone, I was not paid or requested to give this book a certain rating, suggestion, or approval.
I'm not really sure how to rate this book. It was a wild ride! I read the warnings he gave and I was still not prepared for the insanity that took place. Definitely engaging and strange, not like anything I've ever read before. There were a lot of times that I was questioning what on earth I was reading. But all in all, it was an enjoyable experience and I really liked it. Now, when Ashby says he can't spell, he is not kidding. While I was reading, I highlighted all of the spelling or grammatical errors I found. I came across 180 errors, not counting any punctuation errors or anything that would've been more than 1-3 words to highlight at once. While that isn't an average of one per page, in the first half it was averaging more than one mistake per page. And I very likely missed some, they were just the ones I noticed without looking for them. Despite his inability to spell, Ashby made an interest book and I look forward to reading others by him.
I really gave this book a go, but stopped at 64%. I started reading this because I wanted to read ‘All Your Lives Belong to Us’, which is a stand alone in the series. But the author suggests you read Tethered, and Brightness Falls first, saying you’ll get more out of it. Both are available for free for signing up to his newsletter. I didn’t like how the narrater sometimes spoke to the reader. For example after describing a dark area of forest, it reads: ‘Did you get that it was dark yet? Can I sell it any harder?’ I understand the author is trying to Inject some humour but I found it jarring. Speaking of humour, it was very low-brow & half the time I was wondering what the hell I was reading. It was almost like it was written for or by a 12yo.
A few typos which are easily fixed in the kindle version. I guess it just wasn’t for me. I’m still going to read “‘All Your Lives Belong to Us”, as that’s the story I was interested in originally.
Great plot and a page turner. Jumps back and forth between characters and years, so you might have to make a list to keep up. The Wasteland will be a fun place to visit and yes, there is a penis monster. Going to start the next book this weekend. Now for the reason I gave it 3 stars instead of more. The punctuation (or complete lack of it) drove me crazy. Also, there were way too many times that the wrong word was used; there instead of their, to instead of too, here instead of hear. I don't know if these are printer mistakes (my copy was an ebook) or bad editing. It just kept interrupting the flow of the story. I'll still read the next one, with the hope that those problems will be fixed.
I have to say that I don't think I am the target audience for this book. It reads like a combination of Richard Laymon's horror mixed with Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe.
I admit that I found the whole thing a bit confusing. There were tons of jumps between characters and times, with some parts including two different versions of the same character, along with a book that records everything that happens. Mixed in with the adolescent humor (think body parts and bodily functions), I had a hard time finishing this one.
The author definitely has a great imagination and some unique ideas appear in the story, but it just wasn't my type of book. The narrator did a good job and kept the story moving and his performance made it easier to listen.
I received a free copy of this book from the author. I had the opportunity to review or not.
Without a doubt one of the weirdest books I have read. It was fun, frightening, humorous, snarky and a breath of fresh air. I loved this book and the characters. The worlds were both interesting and beyond the norm.
I encourage you to put aside the normal range of reading and delve into this abnormal tale. If you love the weird, you will absolutely enjoy this book, no question. Pick it up, put the coffee on, get under the blanket and read. Oh, you need the blanket because this one may keep you up all night. Enjoy!
Holy crap. Not sure whether insanity crawled out of this book or whether all the insane people of the world put their nightmares into it. It's a good thing I'm not young nor impressionable any longer, it would be hard to sleep after reading this one. Want your daily dose of "Ewww", need a shot of "Yech!", or maybe you want to read this to someone else and give that person a reason to be scared? Stephen King's horrors got an injection of alienness and came to stay. The occasional bits of humor keep it from being strictly horrifying, and the disjointedness of events will keep you off balance.
Quote “Life shouldn’t be marked by the number of days that have passed since your birth, it should be counted by the number of days you can remember.”
I rate this horror thriller R18 actually R21 or higher. If you don’t mind language, nudity, blood, gore, sex, horror, the unexpected and a mind twisting story then have a read. It is well written and I found it hard to put the book down. The story is full of dark humor, twisted, bizarr, and mystery. Just imagine you can find: Flying toilets, portals, cult, time travel, paranormal, monsters, entertaining, gruesome, mind control, but no spaceships.
This is my 2nd read of this novel and I don't know whether it's been re-edited or I've merely developed a taste for weird mindfuckery in my reading material, but I genuinely enjoyed this bizarre little beauty second time around. Yes, it can still be quite confusing with the whole time travel and portals thing, and yes, the humour does seem to come from the sex obsessed mind of a 14yo boy - but it works. And I trust the author and the story enough to know that somewhere along the line the confusion will be ironed out somewhat and answers will be revealed!
This really is a 4-star book, but the editing loses a point. Sorry. I loved the story, and the humour was brilliant! Separate timelines all come together at the end. So very well done. The story telling and character development, although not very deep, keeps you going through this book. As long as you can get past the commonly interchanged words (peak vs peek, for example) and very poor punctuation, that is. But, please don't be too put off by this. The Aurora Wasteland books are very worth the read.
Vaughn Ashby does a great job with Tethered, the first book in the Aurora Wasteland Literary Universe. There is a "dick ton" of both humor and seriousness. The characters are fun, some you like and some you don't, and there are quite a few of them. This is a pay attention book as it is written, or else you won't know who you are following! Love this book and the series, and look forward to more in the Aurora Wasteland! Audio Version: Joseph Vernon does an excellent job with the characters and general narration, adding to the suspense and humor.
always kept you guessing. however, unfortunately it didn't always answer my questions. It was very funny and I loved the banter between characters, but I don't feel like all the connections were told. Some felt assumed, some were told, and others were blatantly ignored. Between being a bit confusing and the terrible grammar (which I mostly got used to), I can't give it a high rating. The humor and creativity is the saving grace here. It was definitely entertaining but I just wish it didn't leave me with more questions than
i got this audiobook in StoryOrigin for free in exchange of a free review, uhmm the narrator is a bit boring, i got a bit lost with the story and even the story was confusing with lots of details and going to diferent time lines, maybe if i had this audiobook in book version i would be able to understand better the whole story, going back some paragrafs to read them again, but in audio i got a bit disapointed...
I loved this book. Even with the time jumps and strange occurrences and everything else going on in the background which could have been missed if I wasn't listening with the intent to review, I just found this book strange, funny, disturbing, mind bending! But overall, excellent and very, very clever "I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review."
I received this book from the author free of charge in return for editing and an honest review. I've been part of his editing team for at least the last four books.
To say that his stories are interesting, would be an understatement. All of his stories revolved around The Aurora Wasteland, a website of unusual happenings (kind of a Twilight Zone-esque group of stories).
As far as ratings go, this is definitely four stars out of five. An enjoyable read.
This story moves through time, backwards, forwards, and anything in between. You really have to think and keep track of where he is saying he is. Overall the storyline was fairly decent and solid character development, but a little too much work for me when i want to read on a lazy afternoon, I don't want to have to take notes, but I could see this as a TV series.
I received the audiobook from StoryOrigin in exchange for an honest review.
I was gifted an Audible version of this book from the author through Story Origin. Because it switches between two timeliness, 2014 and 1982, and has so many characters, I had to write notes as I listened. The narrator was good and easy to follow. He doesn't have unique voices for everybody, which could have been helpful.
The story was very entertaining! So funny, scary, snarky, creepy, vulgar, sexual, mysterious and unpredictable. Potty mouth language. Potty humor. I loved it!
Tethered is an extremely odd and unusual novel. It is convoluted by time travel, weird characters and horrific events! I just had to know how it all blended together, so I kept reading. If you’re looking for unique, this is it! Please note: there is a lot of cursing and sexual discussion. It also needs a proofreader.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this ebook from the author and this is my honest and freely given opinion.
I really liked this book, it was confusing at times with all of the time jumping and I had to re-read a few pages to get on track. Vaughn's writing style is refreshing, I felt like the charters were real, down to earth and sometimes juvenile. The format kept me guessing as you never know whats comeing around the corner. It is definitely worth the read.
I loved this book. I am not a big fan of spiders, but it all fit in the story (kind of). This book was not one of my normal reads, but I tried it and I really liked it. It was shocking with some anatomy comments, but good. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking for something out of one’s normal book idea.
This was an interesting book. It took me a while to get into it but after I did I was hooked. I loved the story. Time shifts throughout the book - it shifts back and forth from the year 1982 to 2014, so attention is needed to keep from not getting confused. There is lots of foul language and sex talk to some readers might not find it is for them but I thoroughly enjoyed it!
One of my favourite books for a long time. It takes a lot to get my interest but with this brilliant piece of work, I was drawn in right away. I do not usually take the time to review books but this one had me at hello. Highly recommended. Great characters, setting and plot which you will have to read to find out about.