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Bryan in the basement
Emily’s life had never been simple. From a troubled childhood to an adulthood spent navigating various mental health issues, she did think there was no way it could get worse. Even if it did, at least she had her therapist to fall back upon for guidance. That is, until Emily realised none of her life was actually real, not even her.
Every night she dreamed of the same man. A hideous, obnoxious arsehole who lived in his mother’s basement where he spent his time arguing with anyone and everyone on social media. And when he wasn’t arguing with random strangers? He was trying to write his debut novel. Whilst the stranger hadn’t quite figured out the plot details, he had at least
fully fleshed out his starring character; a young woman named Emily.
Every night she dreamed of the same man. A hideous, obnoxious arsehole who lived in his mother’s basement where he spent his time arguing with anyone and everyone on social media. And when he wasn’t arguing with random strangers? He was trying to write his debut novel. Whilst the stranger hadn’t quite figured out the plot details, he had at least
fully fleshed out his starring character; a young woman named Emily.
117 pages, Paperback
Published October 7, 2023
52 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Matt Shaw
530 books2,205 followersBiography
MATT SHAW was born, quite by accident (his mother tripped, he shot out) September 30th 1980 in Winchester hospital where he was immediately placed on the baby ward and EBay. Some twelve years later (wandering the corridors of the hospital and playing with road kill when he was on day release), the listing closed and he remained unsold, he was booted out of the hospital to start his life as a writer and hobbit – beginning with writing screenplays and short stories for his own amusement before finally getting published when he was twenty-seven years and forty-five seconds old.
Once Published weekly in a lad's magazine with his photography work, Matt Shaw is also a published author and cartoonist. Has to be said, can be a bit of a flirt and definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, somewhat of a klutz.
Favourite books
"Roald Dahl's Collection of Short Stories"
Tim Burton's Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy
Anything, really, written by himself. Because he is that good.
MATT SHAW was born, quite by accident (his mother tripped, he shot out) September 30th 1980 in Winchester hospital where he was immediately placed on the baby ward and EBay. Some twelve years later (wandering the corridors of the hospital and playing with road kill when he was on day release), the listing closed and he remained unsold, he was booted out of the hospital to start his life as a writer and hobbit – beginning with writing screenplays and short stories for his own amusement before finally getting published when he was twenty-seven years and forty-five seconds old.
Once Published weekly in a lad's magazine with his photography work, Matt Shaw is also a published author and cartoonist. Has to be said, can be a bit of a flirt and definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, somewhat of a klutz.
Favourite books
"Roald Dahl's Collection of Short Stories"
Tim Burton's Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy
Anything, really, written by himself. Because he is that good.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 4, 2024
short, sweet, total mind fuck. what else would you expect from matt shaw.
November 3, 2024
What a complete mindfuck I loved this short story
November 4, 2024
A total mind fuck, lol. 😅
March 10, 2024
An absolute brain fuck!
February 6, 2024
Took me a few days to finish this one. Not my favorite by Matt. I just couldn’t get into it. Bryan grossed me out and made me so uncomfortable. Which I’m sure Matt was going for. It definitely worked.
January 7, 2024
"𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞."
𝐁𝐫𝐲𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝. "𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞. 𝐈 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐬𝐨 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬 𝐈 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞."
I think we've all wondered if we're nothing more than just a glitch in the matrix. All those times we walk into a room and then pause dumbly, forgetting what we've come in for, could be the work of an omniscient creator, backspacing his narrative as he works hard to create a realistic story.
Emily has suffered from mental health issues and depression for as long as she can remember. When she starts having dreams about a man in a basement, her therapist is quick to tell her that she's not a dream analyst.
Bryan is a stereotype of every Internet troll, quick to argue with strangers while simultaneously boasting about the great horror novel he's working on. While he doesn't have the plot nailed down yet, he knows his starring character will be a young woman named Emily.
A short, quick read that will mess with your head. Highly recommended.
𝐁𝐫𝐲𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝. "𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞. 𝐈 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐬𝐨 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐬 𝐈 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞."
I think we've all wondered if we're nothing more than just a glitch in the matrix. All those times we walk into a room and then pause dumbly, forgetting what we've come in for, could be the work of an omniscient creator, backspacing his narrative as he works hard to create a realistic story.
Emily has suffered from mental health issues and depression for as long as she can remember. When she starts having dreams about a man in a basement, her therapist is quick to tell her that she's not a dream analyst.
Bryan is a stereotype of every Internet troll, quick to argue with strangers while simultaneously boasting about the great horror novel he's working on. While he doesn't have the plot nailed down yet, he knows his starring character will be a young woman named Emily.
A short, quick read that will mess with your head. Highly recommended.
November 26, 2025
2,5 ⭐️
Das Konzept hinter "Bryan in the Basement" ist wirklich genial: eine maßgeschneiderte Horrorgeschichte, abgestimmt auf die Ängste und Lebensumstände eines bestimmten Lesers.
Matt Shaw hat hier eine clevere Meta-Idee umgesetzt: Eine Figur, die erkennt, dass ihr ganzes Leben nur Fiktion ist – erschaffen von einem frustrierten Typen in seiner dunklen Kellerwelt.
Leider hat mich diese spezielle Geschichte jedoch nicht wirklich abgeholt. Idee und Umsetzung waren durchaus stimmig – man merkt, dass da viel Überlegung drinsteckt – aber sie hat einfach nicht meinen Geschmack getroffen.
Trotzdem: Hut ab vor der Kreativität. Ich hoffe, Emily konnte sich darin wiederfinden und sich gruseln.
Das Konzept hinter "Bryan in the Basement" ist wirklich genial: eine maßgeschneiderte Horrorgeschichte, abgestimmt auf die Ängste und Lebensumstände eines bestimmten Lesers.
Matt Shaw hat hier eine clevere Meta-Idee umgesetzt: Eine Figur, die erkennt, dass ihr ganzes Leben nur Fiktion ist – erschaffen von einem frustrierten Typen in seiner dunklen Kellerwelt.
Leider hat mich diese spezielle Geschichte jedoch nicht wirklich abgeholt. Idee und Umsetzung waren durchaus stimmig – man merkt, dass da viel Überlegung drinsteckt – aber sie hat einfach nicht meinen Geschmack getroffen.
Trotzdem: Hut ab vor der Kreativität. Ich hoffe, Emily konnte sich darin wiederfinden und sich gruseln.
February 23, 2025
The first short story where I had to put it down half way through and then come back to it. Includes situations I’m sure a lot of women fear and actually made me feel really uncomfortable and sick to my stomach. A successful piece of writing as it achieves exactly what the author set out to do. Not my usual genre and difficult for me to read - a real challenging and impressive piece of writing.
April 9, 2024
Okay so first off, I thought his reasoning for writing this book was so cool! And the story its self was great, it did make me wonder what happens to all the characters in all books when they aren’t being written…or when the book is over. The twist! So great. Also Bryan as a character really makes me want to barf.. but I was hooked from the first paragraph, I laughed and had to show it to my spouse. Fantastic read!
January 9, 2024
This was such a mind trip. I didn’t like the way that things changed so completely without warning. Like…
Anyway. Not terrible. Not great.
Anyway. Not terrible. Not great.
July 6, 2024
Really really unique read. Short, interesting and keeps making you say “what the fuck”, but in a good yet evil Inkheart kind of way.
August 21, 2024
i knew there was going to be a twist but didn’t know what it was going to be. wow. i loved this
August 28, 2024
That ending
This book was a wild ride from start to finish I had no idea what direction we were heading into but this is just pure genius
This book was a wild ride from start to finish I had no idea what direction we were heading into but this is just pure genius
December 31, 2025
What. The. F***.
God this messed with my head so much. Plus, I was not expecting that ending in the slightest.
God this messed with my head so much. Plus, I was not expecting that ending in the slightest.
August 29, 2024
Not the first of Matt Shaw's I have read but trying to get through a lot of his shorter books, and this one definitely packed a punch. Makes you really think about what is actually real?
Bryan is a "writer" who lives in the Basement of his mother's house. He is just a horrible human being, a keyboard warrior with no real life of his own.
Emily is a young girl with normal issues navigating through young adulthood. It isn't until one day both their worlds collide, in a way neither of them ever expected.
Without giving too much away, this story is a weird mixture of The Matrix (in the loosest sense, but can't think of any other point of reference.... ie what's real / what's not), Girl in the bunker, and the Pagemaster (yes... I'm that old...) with just a lot of Shaw nastiness thrown in. Without giving anything else away - that's generally the feel to this book.
I enjoyed this short read, the lack of the 5th star was just that this could have been made into a longer more complex story which would have answered a lot of questions.... However, knowing Matt, this is probably a work - in - progress 😉
Bryan is a "writer" who lives in the Basement of his mother's house. He is just a horrible human being, a keyboard warrior with no real life of his own.
Emily is a young girl with normal issues navigating through young adulthood. It isn't until one day both their worlds collide, in a way neither of them ever expected.
Without giving too much away, this story is a weird mixture of The Matrix (in the loosest sense, but can't think of any other point of reference.... ie what's real / what's not), Girl in the bunker, and the Pagemaster (yes... I'm that old...) with just a lot of Shaw nastiness thrown in. Without giving anything else away - that's generally the feel to this book.
I enjoyed this short read, the lack of the 5th star was just that this could have been made into a longer more complex story which would have answered a lot of questions.... However, knowing Matt, this is probably a work - in - progress 😉
August 1, 2024
First, I didn't expect that first twist. Second I didn't expect that second twist! So good. A good quick read 🖤
January 4, 2024
New fear unlocked, this book is a bit of a mind trip.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews