Scary Rednecks & Other Inbred Horrors

by Weston Ochse, David Whitman, William Macomber (Illustrator)

SCARY REDNECKS collects twenty-three stories of horror, madness, and humor set in the rural south of America’s heartland. The stories run the gauntlet from terror to outrageousness. Packed with everything from abusive parents, cannibals, deer hunters, demonic catfish, UFO abductions, voodoo priestesses, vampire moonshiners, and other Appalachian monstrosities; it will amuse you, disturb you, and leave you hungering for more. Don't miss APPALACHIAN GALAPAGOS - the hilarious, frightening, and must-read sequel to Scary Rednecks & Other Inbred Horrors

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Collections, Humor

230 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

The American Library Association calls Weston Ochse “one of the major horror authors of the 21 st Century.” He has been praised by USA Today, The Atlantic, The New York Post, The Financial Times of London, Publishers Weekly, Peter Straub, Joe Lansdale, Jon Maberry, Kevin J. Anderson, David Gerrold, William C. Dietz, Tim Lebbon, Christopher Golden, and many more of the world’s best-selling authors. His work has won the Bram Stoker Award, been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, and won multiple New Mexico Arizona Book Awards.

A writer of nearly thirty books in multiple genres, his military supernatural series SEAL Team 666 has been optioned to be a movie starring Dwayne Johnson and his military sci fi trilogy, which starts with Grunt Life, has been praised for its PTSD-positive depiction of soldiers at peace and at war.

Weston has also published literary fiction, poetry, comics, and non-fiction articles.
His shorter work has appeared in DC Comics, IDW Comics, Soldier of Fortune Magazine, Cemetery Dance, and peered literary journals. His franchise work includes the X-Files, Predator, Aliens, Hellboy, Clive Barker’s Midian, and V-Wars. Weston holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and teaches at Southern New Hampshire University. He lives in Arizona with his wife, and fellow author, Yvonne Navarro and their Great Danes.

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick, somebody get me a banjo!

This one that has been staring me down from by bookshelf for waaay too long. It’s about dang time I done got to it.

Turns out Scary Rednecks is a pretty good and appropriately inappropriate collection of backwood inspired shorts. There are little devils in the outhouse, catfish Gods, Snake bit dicks, UFO’s, bad juju and badder voodoo. A little bit of everything that goes with redneck horror and even a little bloodsucker moonshine to wash it all down. Comedy, horror, gore and more.

As with most collections there were a few I liked better than others, but for the most part these tales were enjoyable with only one or two that were a bit uneven for me. 3+ Stars.

[Mommacat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered Weston's co-author David Whitman when I read this book and proceeded to scoop up his other books.

The title doesn't even begin to do this book justice. If this has been sitting on your tbr list, now is probably a good time to settle in and read it.

Highly recommended!

[Ayre · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is just not worth your time in a myriad of ways. I picked this up thinking it would be funny/spooky but forgot it was written in the 90s and rednecks in the 90s were offensive instead of funny.

A large portion of these stories are just disgustingly homophobic and racist, especially the stories by David Whitmen. You've got the "a snake bit my dick and my buddy needs to suck it out", "aliens stuck a probe up my ass and my buddies think I'm gay because it felt good", and "a voodoo lady gave my buddy a vagina so I need to rape him to get his penis back, but gotta dress him in drag before I rape him". Sorry to break it to you but being hateful and hurtful because you're scared of your own dick isn't funny.

There is a lot of rape in these stories which is more of a trigger warning than something I felt was handled in an endlessly problematic way.

The stories get better (and less "redneck") towards the end of the book but there wasn't a single, actually scary story in this entire collection.

[Rowan MacBean · Rating 3 out of 5]

My opinion of this book is just about exactly neutral. I was pleased that it wasn't as camp and corny as the title might have you think. But the copyediting was very poor, which is a major pet peeve of mine. And some of the stories were really stupid, but those few were actually meant to be. They were comedy stories that simply didn't tickle my funnybone; they might work for other people. There was only one story that I seriously disliked ("Them Bats Is Smart, They Use Radar"), and there were two that I really enjoyed ("Sweet Little Piggy," and "Silence"). Other than that, I could take or leave all the rest. I did notice one thing, though: I lean toward "take" on the Weston Ochse stories, and "leave" on the David Whitman ones. That's a generalization, though, because I think "Silence" was my favorite, and that was a Whitman story.

[Jerrod · Rating 5 out of 5]

A real wild ride through the backwoods! It opens up with Weston's "Catfish Gods" which is actually pretty serious (and quite a pleasure) but then it goes pretty crazy. My favorite of the lot is the second story about two families that put aside their differences once a year to battle demons flying from an outhouse.

The range between drama, comedy, and horror makes it a real treat, so grab your shotgun and put the possum on simmer, 'cause these guys will make you squeal like a pig!

[Dave Pope · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good short story collection. The stories all have bite and there is a lot of humour spicing up the horror throughout. Relating to the central 'redneck' theme these tales are not as spaced out as Edward Lee tends to be when on 'redneck' turf but very good all the same and sometimes with quite a bit more substance. The content borders on extreme horror a lot of the time and steps over that line some of the time in a good way. Impressive.

[Brett Casto · Rating 5 out of 5]

I grew up in the woods and hills of middle Tennessee and Arkansas. Having said that I loved this book. Some stories are twisted, some scary, and others are hilarious. I highly recommend this book for those seeking some dark, backwoods humor and fear.

[Gevera Piedmont · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly written, not funny, rather stupid. Perhaps I am not the target audience?

[Jeff French · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a tough one. There are some very good stories here, like Sweet Little Piggy. Some of the others are not as impressive. It doesn't help that there isn't a consistent tone to the stories. Some are laugh-out-loud funny, others are disturbing, some even sad, but the lack of cohesion doesn't help to bring this collections of stories together. I rarely felt compelled, when finished one story, to jump into the next. I think cutting some of the funny stories and keeping those that are eerie, disturbing or contain supernatural elements would make for a better collection. 3.5 stars

[Paul Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is yet another instance where if half stars were an option I would rate this one at 4 1/2-stars, but since they're not I'm bumping it to 5-stars for being a consistently enjoyable collection of short stories from two very talented authors! There's a good mix of unique concepts, touching moments, terrifying outcomes, dark humor, and a bit of raunch as well; if you're not a fan of '80s/'90s humor this may not be the one for you. While I enjoyed some of the entries more than others there really wasn't a bad one in the bunch as far as I'm concerned, and as a result I'm very much looking forward to the other joint collection by these authors: Appalachian Galapagos.

[Bill Borre]

"Wandering Minds" by David Whitman - Carl and Russ are two hostile neighbors that switch bodies. When Carl's body is killed they both find themselves controlling the right and left sides of the remaining body. They end up institutionalized and straight-jacketed otherwise they punch each other into unconsciousness.

"Night of the Hunters" by Weston Ochse & David Whitman - A group of hunters are done in by animals fed up with their nonsense. Mason is the last one to survive by taking refuge in a tree until a bear takes a brand from the fire and burns him out of it.

"It’s a Sick World" by David Whitman - This story kind of reads like "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" although instead of cannibalism the father is instructing the family to kidnap victims in an effort to resurrect his dead wife.

"Scarecrows Scare Demons Don’t They?" by Weston Ochse - Jonston uses silver nails to pin the souls of a group of boys into scarecrows in revenge for a gang rape and murder they participated in twenty years previous.

"Peaches" by David Whitman - Pete gathers his family around him to confess that the tree they've been eating peaches from for years is where he has buried the body of his cheating wife.

"The Sterility of Earthly Rage" by Weston Ochse - Greta is raped by soldiers in retaliation for getting the better of them in a training exercise. Her rage summons forth a demon.

"Silence" by David Whitman - Silence becomes the victim of a child murderer who hides the bodies under an old pine tree in the cemetery.

"Catfish Gods" by Weston Ochse - wc

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, so I already knew I liked Weston Ochse. I was already familiar with his writing. David Whitman, on the other hand, I had not yet read. Whitman really impressed the hell out of me. I plan to find more of his books soon!

This was a cool collection of short stories of horror, suspense, drama, comedy, and the human condition. Some are campy, some are serious...they really have a nice range to them, and each is a great read in it's own way. I do have to say that Whitman's 1st four stories really stood out, and left me in stitches!

Overall, a nice collection of short stories fo those who like some darker fiction with some real human elements mixed in as well.

[GD · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half stars. The title of this book is what made me get it, but it's not as dumb as the title makes it sound, as a lot of other reviewers have said.

My least favorite story was the first one, it was a little too serious and homey for me. But after that the book really takes off. The stories vary from absolutely hilarious gross-out hillbilly terror that reminds me of the Redneck Rampage computer games from the late 90s to genuinely creepy stuff. Lots of revenge stories, lots of stupid rednecks getting in trouble, cannibals, aliens, ghosts, science experiments, etc etc etc. Pretty entertaining in short bursts.

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice collection of horror/ghost stories. Lots of humor and irony. I enjoyed the book. Good read!!!

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good collection of short stories. Some were funny, some were scary. Overall this was a good read that served to pass the time. I will look for more by these authors.

[Jeffrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love it becuse im a neckneck just like him. i love to say im a redneck.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

[timj26 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Horror mixed with Dark Humor redneck style

Well narrated and perfect if your looking for something different
I received a free review audiobook and voluntarily left this review

[Chantel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Laughed my ass off. This was great fun to read!