Story Time With Crazy Uncle Matt Volume 2: Never Meet Your Heroes

by Matt Spencer, Bill Hilburn (Contributor), Laura Lavajin (Contributor)

Hello there, friend. Been here before? Then welcome back. First time? Well, that's fine too. Make sure not to step in anything juicy, and whatever you do, don't feed the local wildlife. We take no responsibility for your safety here.

Crazy Uncle Matt has returned with eleven more tales of back roads menace, otherworldly swashbuckling mayhem, a couple more ill-fated visits to church, and even a trip to Outer Space!

Welcome to the carnival, folks. As always, don't get lost unless that's what you came here to do.

237 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2023

About the author

Matt Spencer is the author of five novels, three collections, and numerous novellas and short stories. He’s been a journalist, New Orleans restaurant cook, factory worker, radio DJ, and a no-good ramblin’ bum. He's also a song lyricist, playwright, actor, martial artist, and an avid fencer. As of this writing, he lives in Brattleboro, Vermont where he works at the local homeless shelter. You can sometimes find him on Instagram as @booksbymattspencer.

Reviews

[David Malaski · Rating 4 out of 5]

This exciting collection was an adventure into the dark mind of the author. Many tale were fantasy and sword and sorcery themed. The other stories range from horror to a wild space western. One of my favorite characters was Severen Gris, who I would love to see in a novel or more stories. I recomend this book for readers of fantasy.
I received a free copy and chose to leave this review.

[Anthony Perconti · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently had the opportunity to check out an advance reading copy of Story Time With Crazy Uncle Matt (volume 2): Never Meet Your Heroes. This edition collects eleven short stories, eight of which were published in various venues. As it turns out, I had already read several of the tales in Never Meet Your Heroes when they first appeared. As you peruse through this collection, it becomes pretty obvious that Matt Spencer is the type of writer that is influenced by good, old school genre fiction. In fact, I would go so far as to say that he wears that distinction proudly, as a badge of honor. But that’s not to say that his tales are stuck in the past. Not by a long shot. Sure, you can draw a fair comparison from Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser to Tia and Ketz (and if you haven’t read The Renegade God, do so ASAP). Or Thomas Carnacki and Sandman Slim to Spencer’s Frederick Hawthorne. But don’t be fooled. Spencer takes those influences that he loves and puts his own dare I say, Spencerian twist on them. His loosely connected Spirelight tales have enough worldbuilding baked in, to make any doorstopper fantasy fan proud. While his idiosyncratic ear for dialog brings to mind the works of Champion Joe Lansdale. Just read the absolutely gonzo “Cock Fight Club” or the haunting “Prayer Group” to see what I mean. Being a fan of director’s cut, behind the scenes extras, I was pleasantly surprised at the story notes tucked at the back of this volume. Spencer gives readers a glimpse into his creative process for each of these eleven tales. I was caught flat-footed when I read the notes pertaining to “Cock Fight Club” and especially, “Green Wives Say the Weirdest Things.” It felt like a punch to the heart. I sure as hell wasn’t expecting this level of emotional candor from a collection of new pulp tales. Fans of grimdark, classic sword and sorcery, occult detective and the new weird, don’t pass this one up. Matt Spencer delivers the goods in all of those genres and them some. Highly recommended.

[Milt Theo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection had far more grimdark fantasy and sword and sorcery stories than I expected, and far too fewer horror stories than I would have liked. Nevertheless, the writing was so good, I enjoyed them all! Although most of the dark/epic fantasy stories build on previous work of the author, I didn't feel lost or confused; the world-buidling was impeccable and the stories flowed easily, the pacing was very fast, and the characterization was kept at a minimum, since this kind of stories are predominantly plot-driven. The couple of stories towards the end, one written by the author and his best friend and one by "the love of his life," were quite good, and I appreciated them both - especially after reading the author's story notes appended in the back. I eagerly recommend the collection for the author's brutally honest approach to his characters, his passion for the genre, and the razor-sharp dialogue (profanities included! lol).

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Coy Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crazy Uncle Matt Spencer is back with a second volume of Story Time. Here you get 11 wicked tales that leap genres, voices, time, and space. Regardless of genre, three things remain constant in the work of this master storyteller: anger runs with a thrum, violence erupts, and a wit that has an eye to the abyss keeps it all balanced. This is fiction delivered on the edge of a blade. You can never go wrong with Crazy Uncle Matt. Of the tales, I was especially impressed by “In the Bowels of the Theatre.” But whether it’s sword and sorcery, rural horror, or a space western, Spencer delivers.

[Kat M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matt Spencer always does a fantastic job in writing stories in the horror genre, each story had that element that I was looking for and thought had that feel that I was expecting. It was a great collection of stories and had that overall story and characters that I was looking for. My favorite story was Old Haunting Grounds, and was glad I got to read it and the collection of stories.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.