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The Temple of Battered Bones
Join the cult of Jackson Arthur fans with his bone-chilling new collection.
An alien intelligence controls the minds of a doomsday cult. Dark gods manipulate a serial killer. A jungle cult sacrifices tourists to a giant snake god. A shadow creature feeds on a hapless woman.
Be as you step into The Temple of Battered Bones , these and other unique and spine-chilling tales will pull you deeper into its cryptic halls. Be prepared, for some who enter never truly leave…
An alien intelligence controls the minds of a doomsday cult. Dark gods manipulate a serial killer. A jungle cult sacrifices tourists to a giant snake god. A shadow creature feeds on a hapless woman.
Be as you step into The Temple of Battered Bones , these and other unique and spine-chilling tales will pull you deeper into its cryptic halls. Be prepared, for some who enter never truly leave…
- GenresHorror
177 pages, Paperback
Published October 20, 2023
21 people are currently reading
8 people want to read
About the author
Jackson Arthur
10 books13 followersJackson Arthur is born and raised in Ohio. He lives there with his wife, daughter, cat, and chinchilla. He has always been a fan of horror and his favorite author is Stephen King. He mostly writes scary stories but also dabbles in the weird and abnormal. Some of his short stories have been narrated on YouTube and Spotify.
You can find Jackson Arthur on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/JacksonArthu...
You can email him at JacksonArthurStories@gmail.com
You can visit his website at https://jacksonarthurstori.wixsite.co...
You can find Jackson Arthur on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/JacksonArthu...
You can email him at JacksonArthurStories@gmail.com
You can visit his website at https://jacksonarthurstori.wixsite.co...
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
June 2, 2024
A good collection with a variety of horror subgenres to enjoy :)
October 28, 2025
The Temple of Battered Bones is a collection of stories exploring different sub-genres of horror. There's a little bit of something for everyone, no matter what you're in the mood for.
That being said, I didn't get a huge horror vibe from a lot of the stories. They didn't give me that hit of adrenaline and spookiness that I look for in my horror reads, and some of them felt a little unfinished; they ended pretty abruptly without really wrapping anything up.
A lot of the stories are told in first person, which is an interesting style choice that I don't see super often. However, it made a few of the stories blend together as it was a lot of I/me/my and it was hard to attribute different characters to different stories and not try to merge them together into one story.
I did enjoy Orange Eyes Watching and Titan, though I felt Titan needed more development for the ending. Both stories had engaging characters and fun storylines that felt more fleshed out than some of the others.
This book was a quick read, the stories all went pretty quick, but I really wish it would've had more horror elements to get my pulse jumping and my anxiety kicking.
That being said, I didn't get a huge horror vibe from a lot of the stories. They didn't give me that hit of adrenaline and spookiness that I look for in my horror reads, and some of them felt a little unfinished; they ended pretty abruptly without really wrapping anything up.
A lot of the stories are told in first person, which is an interesting style choice that I don't see super often. However, it made a few of the stories blend together as it was a lot of I/me/my and it was hard to attribute different characters to different stories and not try to merge them together into one story.
I did enjoy Orange Eyes Watching and Titan, though I felt Titan needed more development for the ending. Both stories had engaging characters and fun storylines that felt more fleshed out than some of the others.
This book was a quick read, the stories all went pretty quick, but I really wish it would've had more horror elements to get my pulse jumping and my anxiety kicking.
May 18, 2025
I really enjoyed this collection of stories. If you’re looking for interesting premise-based horror — the kind of What If….? that leaves you wondering what might lurk beyond, then you’ll enjoy this collection.
There are 11 stories, coming to about 170 pages. The stories are unique within the collection; each one nods to a different subgenre, through there are some crossovers (monster/paranormal or psychological/body) so readers have a variety to choose from. A couple of stories have romantic/spicy elements to them, but these are central to the stories. There is a young or new adult feel to several of the stories.
A couple of my favorites are Orange Eyes Watching, and Within the Temple of Battered Bones. A few of the stories left me wanting more — they ended just as they got creepy!
The writing is — on the whole — well-crafted. There are occasional grammatical errors of tense or structure, but these don’t ruin the reading experience (imo). The characters are reasonably well developed, a difficult task in short stories, and they do have distinct voices. In some stories Jackson’s characters are very relatable and engaging, their dialogue feels real and draws in the reader.
Again, a very entertaining read.
It is available for purchase as a kindle ebook for $4.99 (today’s pricing). Paperback and hard cover also available via Amazon.
There are 11 stories, coming to about 170 pages. The stories are unique within the collection; each one nods to a different subgenre, through there are some crossovers (monster/paranormal or psychological/body) so readers have a variety to choose from. A couple of stories have romantic/spicy elements to them, but these are central to the stories. There is a young or new adult feel to several of the stories.
A couple of my favorites are Orange Eyes Watching, and Within the Temple of Battered Bones. A few of the stories left me wanting more — they ended just as they got creepy!
The writing is — on the whole — well-crafted. There are occasional grammatical errors of tense or structure, but these don’t ruin the reading experience (imo). The characters are reasonably well developed, a difficult task in short stories, and they do have distinct voices. In some stories Jackson’s characters are very relatable and engaging, their dialogue feels real and draws in the reader.
Again, a very entertaining read.
It is available for purchase as a kindle ebook for $4.99 (today’s pricing). Paperback and hard cover also available via Amazon.
March 15, 2024
Tw: necrophilia in “Making Up Is Hard To Do”, murder and child death in “Within the Temple of Battered Bones”as well. Interesting collection that kept my attention while I was listening. I really enjoyed Enter Bahamet! The combination of horror and supernatural was a good one. Narrator sounds familiar, like a radio host? I swear, I’ve heard his voice before, but can’t place it. Not sure he is the choice I would have gone with for this type of work, but not bad.
March 22, 2024
A collections a horror stories, a lot of death and dishonor. My favorite one was the last one with the son who wanted to be an artist, and killed to make it happen.
June 2, 2024
There's lots of raw talent in this assorted horror collection.
June 10, 2024
This collection of short stories leaves very little to the imagination. The writing style seemed very basic & easy to read and the stories went by quickly.
Personally, I did not find much of a horror aspect to them, however you could. Overall, I enjoyed the read.
Special thanks to Jackson Arthur for providing me with an ebook copy of this book
Personally, I did not find much of a horror aspect to them, however you could. Overall, I enjoyed the read.
Special thanks to Jackson Arthur for providing me with an ebook copy of this book
March 14, 2024
*This book was given to me for free by Jackson Arthur for review.*
2.5 rounded up.
This book contains many short stories, so there is no coherent plot line to describe. Some of the stories were good, most were okay. I *really* did not like the comment about the “sexy girl scout” uniform in one of the stories, very yucky and gross, even predatory if you ask me. The author very much enjoyed the words viscera and cacophony, i would recommend finding different synonyms moving forward. I wouldn’t say any of these were particularly scary and the endings felt unsatisfactory throughout the novel.
2.5 rounded up.
This book contains many short stories, so there is no coherent plot line to describe. Some of the stories were good, most were okay. I *really* did not like the comment about the “sexy girl scout” uniform in one of the stories, very yucky and gross, even predatory if you ask me. The author very much enjoyed the words viscera and cacophony, i would recommend finding different synonyms moving forward. I wouldn’t say any of these were particularly scary and the endings felt unsatisfactory throughout the novel.
January 18, 2024
A spine chilling journey into the unknown
Fantastic Collections of horror tales (mine was Titan). For me, the eerie atmosphere, the characters and the plots drove me in and I finished this book in a day because I couldn’t stop reading.
If you are fan of bone chilling stories that defy the conventional boundaries, then this is the book for you!
Fantastic Collections of horror tales (mine was Titan). For me, the eerie atmosphere, the characters and the plots drove me in and I finished this book in a day because I couldn’t stop reading.
If you are fan of bone chilling stories that defy the conventional boundaries, then this is the book for you!
April 5, 2024
The Temple of Battered Bones is a creepy collection horror short stories. In this stories, horror mixes with the supernatural to provide readers with a variety of hair raising thrills and chills. Each story is different, and there is no central theme like in some collections, but that doesn't detract from anything! All the stories were good, but some, such as Within the Temple of Battered Bones and Enter Bahamet were flat out great! Jackson Arthur really has a way of making readers just the right amount of uncomfortable with his eerie settings and creepy characters.
Thank you to the author for this review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily and all views expressed are my own.
Thank you to the author for this review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily and all views expressed are my own.
October 27, 2025
"An alien intelligence controls the minds of a doomsday cult. Dark gods manipulate a serial killer. A jungle cult sacrifices tourists to a giant snake god. A shadow creature feeds on a hapless woman.
Be forewarned: as you step into The Temple of Battered Bones, these and other unique and spine-chilling tales will pull you deeper into its cryptic halls. Be prepared, for some who enter never truly leave".
Engaging short stories, had some laughs, some oh my moments, and should that story end like that.
Would love to read more from this author.
Be forewarned: as you step into The Temple of Battered Bones, these and other unique and spine-chilling tales will pull you deeper into its cryptic halls. Be prepared, for some who enter never truly leave".
Engaging short stories, had some laughs, some oh my moments, and should that story end like that.
Would love to read more from this author.
August 19, 2025
I find short story collections to be hit and miss most of the time, but this collection was a big hit for me!
The stories kept my interest and were well written. I blew through the entire collection in a few hours. I haven’t read any of this author’s other work, but I definitely plan to!
The stories were horrifying without being overly gory (in my opinion-tastes for gore may vary lol).
My only complaint is that I wanted more when I was finished haha
Two thumbs up!
The stories kept my interest and were well written. I blew through the entire collection in a few hours. I haven’t read any of this author’s other work, but I definitely plan to!
The stories were horrifying without being overly gory (in my opinion-tastes for gore may vary lol).
My only complaint is that I wanted more when I was finished haha
Two thumbs up!
August 10, 2024
Most of these stories I found average and not finished thriller reads. Gifted audio just wasn’t for me unfortunately
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews