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Strangely Scary Funny #1

The Librarian of the Haunted Library

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Demons, Headless seductresses, Rip Van Winkle, witches, occasional visits from angels, a god or two, and a ghoul in the stacks – just another day in Eden. A fun, fast, fantastical read.
My escape from a creepy clown lands me in a town straight out of a fever dream. And guess what? I become the new librarian after my predecessor is murdered ( a not uncommon end for librarians I find out too late) right in front of me. My first task is to find the killer.

Shouldn’t be too hard since it happened right in front of me, right? Wrong. The suspects are a town full of Supernatuals, including but not limited witches, magicians, ghosts, a werewolf, a grumpy gargoyle, a zombie, a mad scientist and four teenagers.
Did I mention that I might be the Chosen One according to some people in the know? Unfortunately, in this case Chosen One means the one destined to bring about the apocalypse. Guess whose son that makes me?

Can I solve the murder, save the town, and avoid fulfilling my doomsday destiny? Find out in this hilarious comedy adventure where the laughs are loud and the stakes are high! Read book 1 today!

222 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 29, 2023

3666 people are currently reading
4198 people want to read

About the author

Brian Yansky

41 books140 followers
I write supernatural horror suspense comedy (a mix of dark humor, quirky, silly humor and satire.), .

I love many kinds of stories. I especially love off-beat, quirky stories with unusual characters and settings that have a sense of wonder and humor.…Falling in love with stories saved me from a life of crime (I’m only sort of kidding; they did save me from something). A lot of my main characters are adopted. Like them, I was adopted. I seem to write often about identity. I live in Austin, Texas. I have no horses or cowboy hats. I do have a 125 pound sheep dog. I’ve taught college, been a bartender and waiter and am now a full-time writer.

I've had five novels traditionally published and something like fifteen independently published. My independently published series, Strangely Scary Funny, is, by far, my most popular.

I like writing most anything. My grocery lists are excellent.

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5 stars
1,208 (32%)
4 stars
1,232 (33%)
3 stars
795 (21%)
2 stars
313 (8%)
1 star
161 (4%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 379 reviews
6,726 reviews5 followers
March 6, 2025
Entertaining horror comedy listening 🎵😎

This kindle ebook is from my Kindle Unlimited account book one of twelve

He leaves his step parents house and travels to New Orleans. From there he spends the next seven years traveling around the country. He ends up in the woods and a small town. He becomes the libertarian and the adventure begins leading to a happy ending 🙂

I would recommend this series and author to readers of fantasy world 🌐 horror comedy adventure thriller novels 😯🙄 2025 🏡🤓
Profile Image for Carm.
738 reviews6 followers
September 19, 2024
Fun and absurd about sums it up.
Profile Image for Ivy.
10 reviews1 follower
September 4, 2023
I don’t even know what that was

This was super hard to get through, none of it made sense & was so rushed with almost no detail. Characters popped out of nowhere totally out of context, a year would pass in a single 5 word sentence. I’m not even sure what I just read. The plot sounded INCREDIBLE so I’m really sad this fell so flat for me.
5 reviews
September 23, 2023
This book is written with absolutely no details and made very little sense
Profile Image for Jessie Hager.
43 reviews1 follower
December 13, 2023
This book is what I imagine a fever dream is like. It had the vibes of Alice in Wonderland, only the Mad Hatter is the main character. I almost put it down after all the grammatical errors but decided I’d give it a chance. Though it was weird it was the kind of weird that kept me interested and was an easy fun read.
7 reviews
August 18, 2024
Very disappointed. Random thoughts, dropped in characters with no follow through, no connectivity with the plot line. Sorry I wasted my time.
Profile Image for Stephanie Dial.
107 reviews1 follower
June 11, 2024
I wish I'd read the reviews before I downloaded this one. It's like the others are saying this book is not good. I got halfway through, and then I thought, "Life is too short to waste it on bad books, " so I deleted it. 'Nuff said.
Profile Image for Lauren DiGi.
127 reviews
November 11, 2024
This was absurd and I absolutely ate it up. Lots of harsh reviews on here - yall clearly don’t have a pinball brain. If you read this & loved it, I see you 🫡
Profile Image for Kassandra.
342 reviews7 followers
May 6, 2024
This was a quick and easy book to get through. It was very quirky and made me laugh out loud many times. I’m sure the author intended this because he made this into a series. The best part about this is that the books can be read as standalone.

I’d suggest this if you need a quick read in between books where you don’t have to pay heavy attention to detail, BUT it is enjoyable when you do.

The story follows a 25 year old man who gets lost in the woods, and one thing leads to another and he becomes the librarian to a VERY small town near some mountains. I enjoyed the story and the narration done by our mmc.


4/5 stars
Profile Image for David Griffin.
94 reviews4 followers
February 16, 2024
A writer with ADD?

Was this book written by a man with ADD? His grammar is atrocious, and paragraphs that have nothing to do with the context of the previous paragraph appears randomly. You could be reading about a three headed dog and a ghost in one sentence, then about four women practicing lesbianism in the city park in the next. What does the ghost and three headed dog have to do with lesbians in the park? Nothing. And that is what it's like reading the book, skipping from one thing to the next.
Profile Image for pastbedtimestories.
58 reviews6 followers
October 11, 2024
This was a good book in so many ways.

The first person narrative had great personality and was very funny. The plot was unique and interesting. The setting was also unique and interesting. The characters were very cool.

I never read a book quite like this one before. It was told with a sense of carefree abandon but also concisely somehow. And did I mention with lots of personality?

I thought the town of Eden was conceptually an awesome concept and I imagined it maybe really existing somewhere near the edge of a forest.

I really liked the library and the way Kevin became the Librarian and how that gave him certain responsibilities. The townsfolk of Eden were very neat too.

I’m definitely going to continue this series because I want to go back to Eden and see what the mayor and Olive and the Blackstones are all up to. I want to see what new adventures await Kevin as well. I know it’s selfish on my part, but I don’t want him to leave Eden. I hope he marries Olive and finds happiness in Eden. Or at least they could start dating.

And is Kevin dead? Are they all dead? Is Eden Heaven? Or some kind of Purgatory?

I’m excited to read more!!!
Profile Image for Michelle.
58 reviews
November 2, 2024
Unreadable

I'm fairly certain this was written by a poorly designed AI program or that somehow a first draft got published. I made it to chapter three before giving up and deleting it from my list. The writing is stilted and while there is some personality there it's covered up by mediocrity.
Profile Image for aks.
69 reviews
May 22, 2024
I appreciate what the author was trying to accomplish, but I found his writing to be very flat. A good editor might be helpful.
Profile Image for Mike Lewis.
1,761 reviews8 followers
December 30, 2023
this was an entertaining and quirky paranormal mystery comedy series

This was an entertaining and quirky paranormal mystery series. An odd cast of characters with a unique storyline. A young man with some unique abilities is traveling the country helping where he can. When one day something happens and he gets lost in the woods. He ends up in a small rural town With only a couple hundred people live in there. No cars no roads at least paved roads. And a haunted forest surrounding it. Read on and see what happens and how he ends up here and what happens once he gets there. It’s humorous it’s paranormal and it’s a bit quirky it is entertaining. Check it out
308 reviews
August 10, 2023
Story line had potential but

Disappointment. Story like random thoughts that while follow a lose pattern it is not complete. Like author had some specific statements to make. Once made, he was done. Story not necessarily complete thought . Felt disconnected.
20 reviews
December 30, 2024
Just what I needed

Comedy is hard to get right. Try too hard - or even at all - and you miss. Often painfully. The best funny is just allowing us to see everyday absurdity through a new lens. This book does that beautifully. I’m not really either a suspense or a horror person EXCEPT when coupled with supernatural comedy (or so this book taught me.) If you’re reading reviews to decide if you should give this book a try, consider this my ringing endorsement. I managed to hold off jumping immediately into book 2 to write this so I do hope you read this and give it a try. I know I’m happy I did, even if my plans for the next several hours now must all be set aside. The library calls.
Profile Image for Kristin Lansdown.
235 reviews5 followers
November 17, 2024
This book is laugh out loud funny. I love that there’s really no explanations; things are simply what they are. There were parts that I was confused and felt like I had missed something, but it’s a fast paced book that’s almost more character driven than story driven. At one point I said to myself “I would read 10 more of these” and was very happy to find there are actually 10 books in this series.
Profile Image for Cassie.
13 reviews
August 7, 2024
This book was nonsensical & I loved it

I can understand why some people find this book challenging it is somewhat as one reviewer said “like following someone with ADHD around” but that was part of its charm for me. I love how quirky and silly it was, I loved how I could never tell where the plot was going, I really liked our main character Kevin and it was a quick and easy read. I’m looking forward to reading the others!
Profile Image for M.K. McCollom.
Author 24 books22 followers
September 8, 2024
Oddly fun read

Who doesn't love a haunted library and a good mystery? It was an entertaining fun read once the book started getting into things.
Profile Image for Catisha Scavairello.
559 reviews
February 1, 2025
2.75 rounded up barely

I liked the concept in the beginning. I like that it seemed like a Christian fiction book. About the halfway point, I started losing interest. By the end, just meh
Profile Image for Lace.
129 reviews
April 8, 2025
Great for fans of snark, absurd fiction and urban fantasy. Flavored similar to Terry Pratchett Douglas Adam’s and Christopher Moore. Maybe even A Lee Martinez.
Angels, demons, magicians, headless women, ,ghosts a ghoul and a librarian. Welcome to Eden.
Profile Image for Brooke.
923 reviews47 followers
July 2, 2024
The first 10% was good. The next 10% was just talking in circles with other people. Not my idea of fun.
Profile Image for Tina M.
704 reviews6 followers
January 13, 2025
Passed Some Time Reading This

Read this to get out of some heavier darker material I was currently reading. Served its purpose, but I don’t see myself reading any further in the series.

I’m already burned out on everyone jumping on the library and/or librarian as the “IN” topic for the Fantasy genre at the moment.

At least it was a quick, painless, and somewhat entertaining read.
10 reviews
July 18, 2024
Odd Thomas style

Why write what everyone else. This was funny, interesting, and full of character. Could use more action scenes, but cleverly woven.
13 reviews
September 14, 2024
Train Wreck

You know how you just can't seem to look away from the terrible reality of a train wreck? That was this book.
It could use a good editor. The writing is bad. The story was bizarre. And yet I couldn't not finish it. That's the only reason I gave it the extra star.
I will admit it was funny in many ways. Who would name the Lord of Hell Karl? The way many of the characters took a literal approach when responding to other characters was amusing, but I had to go back to reread some of the segments because it took a moment to figure out what everyone was actually saying.
I didn't find the book scary. Sure, there were some tense moments, but that's not unusual for any book.
Profile Image for Laura.
1,040 reviews86 followers
September 5, 2024
This book is like a fever dream. A weird, nonsensical one that keeps you wondering 'What next?!' every step of the way. And at the end of it all, you're left shaking your head in disbelief because somehow, somewhere along the way, the impossibly strange became illogically sensible and you just 'get it all.'
Welcome to Eden ladies and gents. A town full of witches and demons, hellhounds and angels, as well as more the occasional ghost and one sexy headless lady.
I personally wouldn't want to even visit, let alone become the Librarian, like Kevin.
A homeless young man with no relatives or friends, Kevin is the kind of hero who can handle himself in a fight, is used to seeing ghosts and fighting witches, talk to Gods or walk through haunted woods, and get beaten up by clowns. (The real kind of red nosed circus clowns.) And he is sort of pushed into accepting the Librarian ring after its previous owner is poisoned.

Being a librarian is a job I used to dream of, but I'd probably run like hell if someone thought to offer me that particular post Kevin took. Not because the librarian takes care of the murders, or because of the dangerous stash in the basement. Not even the resident ghost would make me bat an eyelash, and self-sufficient books that can be loaned only if they agree to, are quite the delight. But daddy dear is not worth it, and shape shifting demons ordered to kill you are not fun at all. I'll also set my foot down and draw the line at sexy headless women that men would totally sleep with. 😂
No. That's not on page. Don't worry. It's just clearly inferred. :D

All in all, this was a twisted, fun tale, a bit (make that a lot) on the unhinged side. Can't say it was a favourite, but I did enjoy it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 379 reviews

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