Bone Whispers

by Tim Waggoner, Michael A. Arnzen

Visit a field where living corpses grow from the ground like pumpkins.


Sail across a sea of blood on a raft made from human skin.


Flee from a crazed mob determined to tear you limb from limb for the crime of realizing that you are God.


From Shirley Jackson Award-nominated author Tim Waggoner comes Bone Whispers , a new collection of distorted realities and surreal nightmares. With an introduction by Bram Stoker Award-winning author Michael A. Arnzen.


Collecting eighteen tales of mind-bending horror, including "Some Dark Hope," "Skull Cathedral" and "The Great Ocean of Truth."


Come, listen to Bone Whispers. You'll never be the same.


"Waggoner's work soars with breathtaking surrealism and writhes with human pain almost too much to encounter in the written word."
- Gary A. Braunbeck, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of To Each Their Darkness


"Tim Waggoner writes with a passion and imagination that demand your attention."
- Ron Dickie, Horror World


"Refreshingly different from most of what's being published in the horror genre these days."
- Cemetery Dance Magazine

Genres: Horror, Anthologies

270 pages, Paperback

First published May 28, 2013

About the author

Tim Waggoner's first novel came out in 2001, and since then, he's published over sixty novels and eight collections of short stories. He writes original dark fantasy and horror, as well as media tie-ins. He's written tie-in fiction based on Supernatural, The X-Files, Alien, Doctor Who, Conan the Barbarian, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Grimm, and Transformers, among others, and he's written novelizations for films such as Ti West’s X-Trilogy, Halloween Kills, Terrifier 2 and 3, and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. He’s also the author of the award-winning guide to horror Writing in the Dark. He’s a four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award, a one-time winner of the Scribe Award, and he’s been a two-time finalist for the Shirley Jackson Award and a one-time finalist for the Splatterpunk Award. He’s also a full-time tenured professor who teaches creative writing and composition at Sinclair College in Dayton, Ohio.

Reviews

[ᴥ Irena ᴥ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

As usual with anthologies, it is very rare (for me, at least) to like all the stories. Same with Bone Whispers.
However, I enjoyed it and apart from a couple of grammatical errors, one or two stories dragging a bit and some using the present tense, this is a good anthology.

Some stories differ from others in a way you might ask yourself what they are doing together. Some break your heart, others drag you along with them and just when you ask yourself where the ending was, it hits you with a great one. Then, you have two or three as bizarre and exaggerated as you can get. I can't scrub a mental image from my mind of a man on a makeshift raft (don't ask what it is made of) doing stuff to it. That same story is full of weird and disgusting moments.

Overall, I liked Bone Whispers well enough, but I wasn't surprised by it. I like Tim Waggoner's writing and imagination.

Provided by Crossroad Press/Macabre Ink

[Mommacat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review Copy

BONE WHISPERS is a collection of short stories by the prolific author Tim Waggoner. They were mainly written in the early 2000's and have the distinction of being entirely dissimilar. That's very good news! If you're not a fan of one type of story, skip it and move on to the next. Chances are you're sure to like it.

Waggoner is polished. His stories are so well written they are a pleasure to read. He is at the same time insane, funny, dark...you name it. The kindle editon of this book is being reprinted by Macabre Ink - a division of Crossroad Press. You should definitely pick up a copy today.

[Paul Preston · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel that authors use short stories to experiment. They have a quick idea and want to see if they can make you react. Yeah, this one got me. A lot.
Tim Waggoner is a great writer and brings you right into the story. Gets you curious, empathetic, and absolutely hooked to find out how the story will go. I was lured in and even when I knew what to expect, it still made my stomach drop, or in some cases, lurch. These stories suck you in and actually make you feel the worry, grief, fear, anxiety, pain, and make your skin crawl.
This book is seeded with wise quotes that made me stop and think.
“You can live in yesterday if you want, but I’ve been there, and I wouldn’t recommend it.”
Or
“I guess memories are ghosts, too. But they don’t haunt us with images of what used to be—they haunt us with reminders of the way things aren’t anymore and can never be again.”
This book is also seeded with enough twisted and depraved ideas that I question the authors ability to play nice in society.
Thanks to NetGalley and Crossroads Press for a copy of the ebook in exchange for an honest review

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

In his introduction to this collection Michael Arnzen does a good job of nailing down what I like the best about Tim Waggoner's short work; the surrealistic quality of the stories, and his ability to turn you upside down just when you think you know where you're going. There are eighteen stories collected here, most of which are very good. Several are told in the second person, which grew a little old too fast, and halfway through "Thou Art God" a license plate on a Volkswagen inexplicably changes from LOVEBUG1 to JUNEBUG1 which left me confused. My favorites were "Bone Whispers," "Conversations Kill," and "Long Way Home," along with a shorter one called "Country Roads," which struck me as one of the best short pieces I've read in a very long while. And then there was a piece called "Skull Cathedral"... You know those offensive guys in Mexican or Chinese restaurants who proclaim that there's no pepper so hot that they can't eat it? The guys who always talk too loudly and say, "That's not hot! Bring on the hot stuff! Bring on something fit for a real man!" Well, I've always been a little like that with my reading. I've had brushes with the gross-out with Stephen King and Shaun Hutson and Harlan Ellison and perhaps a half-dozen more, but I've always been able to chuckle and think, "Okay, that was -almost- too much." Well, at long last I finally found my limit, the pepper too hot to keep down... "Skull Cathedral" was way too much for me.

[Alexandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first requested this book to read and review, I thought that the author's name sounded strangely familiar... turns out he wrote the first book of one of my favorite series as a child, Temple of the Dragonslayer. Luckily for me, I enjoy his writing just as much now as I did then!

This is a solid collection of horror short stories with many more hits than misses. I found the majority of them enjoyable, although I will say that a number of them aren't especially memorable. I don't mean that as an insult- I took this as a book to enjoy 'in the moment' and that's completely fine! I did find the final story particularly haunting, though- something about it really got to me.

The only misses in this collection, for me, were when Waggoner shifts over to a more graphic/splatter type of writing. There's one lengthy story I actually didn't finish, because it just felt a little... edgelord, I guess. I have nothing against graphic depictions of violence and gore, but it just seemed a little too purposeless here. The second instance was a shorter one that was written for laughs, and horror comedy isn't my cup of tea.

Overall, an enjoyable read and one I'd recommend picking up if you're at a loss of what to read next. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Turn the pages of this book if you dare. Yes, this is a horror collection of stories that are surreal and seem harmless. They are harmless, but they might give give you dreams that turn into nightmares. The stories will grip you or at least it did me. In the first story “Thou art God,” a man realizes that God is not what he thought it was. It’s a story that made me think about God. In “Bone Whispers” a man discovers that he is no longer afraid. I won’t tell more as it would give the story away. The stories remind me of the “Twilight Zone” tv episodes. Reading the stories for me was making me feel like I was living in another dimension. If you want a different type of horror to read, this it. It truly is an excellent collection of horror stories.

Disclaimer: I received an arc of this book from the author/publisher from Netgalley. I wasn’t obligated to write a favorable review or any review at all.

[Norma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled across Tim Waggoner's books purely by chance and when I was approved by NetGalley to read this one, I was over the moon. I liked this one as much as I liked the other stories I've read. Wonderful book. Great stories.

[Wayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed this collection of stories from Tim Waggoner. Have read some of his novels (always great), but hadn't read any of his short stories. They were also great. My two favorites were Thou Art God and Long Way home. Will definitely need to read more of his short stories. #BoneWhispers #NetGalley