Billy Bones: Beyond the Grave

Billy Bones #1

by David H. Burton

Meet Billy Bones.

He’s dead.

Literally.

Finding himself in the Afterlife, ten year old Billy must wait to be recycled back into the Livingworld. Meanwhile, he’s stuck trying to figure out how he’s supposed to survive in this backwards existence where sunlight burns, the dead are living, and the memories of his past lives are stored in a secret book.

The problem is that Billy’s has been stolen, and now he has to find it and discover why the dreaded Reaper is after him.

Choose for Billy and help him find his way through the Afterlife in this new “Choose-Your-Own-Demise” novel.

100 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2012

About the author

Author, adoptive father of 3 boys, manager of chaos, science and technology geek, person of the queer persuasion, and purveyor of sacrilege.

See my web site for more info.

Reviews

[Dr. Block · Rating 5 out of 5]

A "fun" horror book. By that I mean it wasn't super scary but it was freaky and bizarre with touches of comedy. This book is a complete story, but ends in such a way that it implies additional books will be coming. I don't see any more books in this series though. Bummer. If you like macabre horror, with some magic and necromancers, read this.

BTW, I listened to the audio book, and it was awesome. The narrator is really good.

[David Burton]

I wrote it. :)

[Cmoore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Billy Bones is a delightfully fun middle-reader!!!
I loved how lively the After-Life actually is, starting with Billy Bones finding a wet dog (Goliath) waiting for him, which he assumes must have been his dog at some point in his short young life... Billy has few memories of his Livingworld but he does remember having a dog that had drowned...
You'll want to watch your back too, because there are crooks, and a cemetery to explore after dark, where evil is lurking...
And wow, whoever thought that the narrator should be RC Bray... whoever it was, They Were BRILLIANTLY correct!!  I don't know how RC Bray did it, but he pulled off being a kid again! He's brilliant!
***Serious as a Heart Attack... take it from me. You don't need to be a kid to enjoy this book!

[Kiki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had so much fun reading this fantasy children’s story, and could not have been more impressed by how it worked. Billy Bones: Beyond the Grave, A Choose-Your-Own-Demise Novel, was like nothing I have ever read before. As you read about Billy, a boy who has recently died and finds himself in the AfterLife, you get to often choose what decision Billy makes. For example, Billy comes upon a dog. His coices are to walk away from it or to bring the dog with him. You click on your choice, and the story either continues on until the next decision needs to be made, or sometimes you make a “wrong” choice and meet an untimely end – of course this gives you the option to go back and change your answer too ;)

Billy is a great character too, and the comical and lighthearted way that Mr. Burton deals with a subject like death was great. In fact, I read a little of the beginning to my youngest, and my non-reader seemed pretty interested in the book – very high praise there! The mythology behind the AfterLife was pretty in-depth, yet I would say very easy to follow for the target audience – a great feat for a children’s book author. The plot was exciting and engaging, and you just didn’t want the story to end. I found attachments with not only Billy, but also many of the friends he meets along the way. I actually found myself going back and taking the other choices just to see what would happen, that is if I didn’t meet an untimely end. LOL

As a mother of two boys, I could not recommend this book more highly! I was impressed all around from characters to setting to the elaborate and reader-driven plot. Creativity at its best here, and as a 40+ year old woman, I’m anxiously awaiting another book. Here’s hoping for a series!

[J.A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

For some reason Amazon wouldn't allow my daughter to post her own review (using my account), so I'll tell you (as her mom) what I thought of the book. I found it to be a great, quick read. It was funny, endearing, and mysterious.

Billy Bones picked his nose and died. Now he's in a world of the living dead, waiting to have his number called again. He can barely remember much of his past, and is given a book that he's instructed to read... typical kid, he doesn't read it and it gets stolen. Now his past is a mystery! Who was he? Why is someone coming after him and why did they steal his book?

Well... choose your own adventure and maybe you'll find out. Or... maybe you'll end up dead, the choice is yours but beware.

Both of my children, aged 11 and 8, enjoyed Billy Bones. They liked the fact they could choose which direction Billy was going to take and even got caught a few times themselves. I definitely recommend this book for 2nd graders and older, and intend on getting a copy for my daughter's classroom - she enjoyed it that much.

Here was Sonya's review:
This book is a lot of fun to read. I have been waiting for this book for a very long time and so happy it's finally here. Your kids will like this book a lot. This book lets you pick what happens and sometimes you can die! So be really careful what you pick. Me and my brother read it with our mom and she let us pick what happened. It took us four tries to get to the end, and we can't wait to see if there will be more books like this. I really like Goliath!

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent and unique story! Loved it! Full review coming son!