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Scared Stiff
A eclectic mix of inspired stories from best-selling authors William Maltese, Josh Lanyon, Sarah Black and Laura Baumbach. SCARED STIFF offers four very different tales of m/m ghostly doings that'll have readers panting (in more ways than one) under the covers. Maltese offers excitement and steamy pleasure in his Rendering Souls while Lanyon adds adventurous ghost hunters in his A Ghost of a Chance. Black gives you horrors from the past in Wild Onions, and Baumbach rounds out the volume with a hot tale of second chances in Soul Desire.
307 pages, Paperback
First published October 24, 2007
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165 people want to read
About the author
Laura Baumbach
48 books311 followersLaura Baumbach is the best-selling, multi-award winning, acclaimed author of short stories, novellas, novels and screenplays. Most recently, Mexican Heat, written in collaboration with Josh Lanyon, has been chosen as a FINALIST for Best Gay Romance in the 2009 Lambda Literary Awards, a FINALIST in the 2010 EPPIE Awards, and has received an Honorable Mention at the 2009 San Francisco Book Festival. Laura was nominated for Best GBLT Author 2008 in the LRC's Best Of Awards for 2008. Her adventure story The Lost Temple of Karttikeya won the 2008 EPPIE Award for Best GLBT novel. Her sequel to the best-selling novel A Bit of Rough, Roughhousing, was 2007 Reviewers' Choice Award Winner.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
January 7, 2013
Uneven anthology. The rating reflects an average voting, but the only story really worth reading is Josh Lanyon's.
Soul Desire by Laura Baumbach
Haunted guesthouse. It had potential, but it was a bit of a mess. Why did Mason become the focus of the ghost? It should have been important, but it was left out, a lot of hints, but the real reason wasn't explained. The seance was odd. I don't know, the story had a lot of the classical elements of a ghost story, but no creepy feeling or an organized plot. The final sex scene had one of the weirdest dialogs I've ever read. The editing was atrocious, with failed capitalization, a ghost name, and lots of other errors.
A Ghost of a Chance by Josh Lanyon
Rhys is a history professor with an interest in parapsychology. Sam is a cop. They are more or less matched by Oliver, the owner of Berkeley's house, a haunted mansion that Rhys wants to investigate for a book he's writing. At first the two seem to clash: Sam thinks Rhys is Oliver's last fling; he doesn't believe in paranormal phenomena; he doesn't want Rhys to walk into Berkeley's house. Rhys is attracted to Sam, but at the same time he can't stand Sam's ways.
The paranormal plot has also a bit of mystery. The haunted house is creepy, as are Rhys' walks in the woods at night and the apparitions he believes he sees. The two men find their way to each other physically quicker than their way to each other's trust. Both are not forthcoming and open and they keep something to themselves. It's not the stubborn miscommunication that comes from misunderstandings, it has more to do with a natural reserve on their part.
There's also another lovely story in the background: Oliver and Thaddeus'. They are both painters, they've grown up together, they love each other. They're not young anymore, but Oliver keeps having flirts with younger, pretty men and breaking Thaddeus' heart repeatedly. It was moving and a sort of bonus story into the main plot line.
I think you've read me tell repeatedly that Lanyon's writing is superb and always worth reading, so yeah, again. There are a few editing errors that were in partly fixed in the 2012 e-book for this short story, and where a division in chapters was added, corresponding to the section breaks of the original version.
Wild Onions by Sarah Black
The paranormal, horror part was very good, but I liked the romantic part more. I especially liked Robert, the way he was dealing with loss and his easy connection with Cody. The horror part was imaginative, but the last part of the story was a bit too long.
Rendering Souls by William Maltese
I'm sorry, I didn't like it, I couldn't really understand what it was about and all the strange names made it incomprehensible.
Soul Desire by Laura Baumbach
Haunted guesthouse. It had potential, but it was a bit of a mess. Why did Mason become the focus of the ghost? It should have been important, but it was left out, a lot of hints, but the real reason wasn't explained. The seance was odd. I don't know, the story had a lot of the classical elements of a ghost story, but no creepy feeling or an organized plot. The final sex scene had one of the weirdest dialogs I've ever read. The editing was atrocious, with failed capitalization, a ghost name, and lots of other errors.
A Ghost of a Chance by Josh Lanyon
Rhys is a history professor with an interest in parapsychology. Sam is a cop. They are more or less matched by Oliver, the owner of Berkeley's house, a haunted mansion that Rhys wants to investigate for a book he's writing. At first the two seem to clash: Sam thinks Rhys is Oliver's last fling; he doesn't believe in paranormal phenomena; he doesn't want Rhys to walk into Berkeley's house. Rhys is attracted to Sam, but at the same time he can't stand Sam's ways.
The paranormal plot has also a bit of mystery. The haunted house is creepy, as are Rhys' walks in the woods at night and the apparitions he believes he sees. The two men find their way to each other physically quicker than their way to each other's trust. Both are not forthcoming and open and they keep something to themselves. It's not the stubborn miscommunication that comes from misunderstandings, it has more to do with a natural reserve on their part.
There's also another lovely story in the background: Oliver and Thaddeus'. They are both painters, they've grown up together, they love each other. They're not young anymore, but Oliver keeps having flirts with younger, pretty men and breaking Thaddeus' heart repeatedly. It was moving and a sort of bonus story into the main plot line.
I think you've read me tell repeatedly that Lanyon's writing is superb and always worth reading, so yeah, again. There are a few editing errors that were in partly fixed in the 2012 e-book for this short story, and where a division in chapters was added, corresponding to the section breaks of the original version.
Wild Onions by Sarah Black
The paranormal, horror part was very good, but I liked the romantic part more. I especially liked Robert, the way he was dealing with loss and his easy connection with Cody. The horror part was imaginative, but the last part of the story was a bit too long.
Rendering Souls by William Maltese
I'm sorry, I didn't like it, I couldn't really understand what it was about and all the strange names made it incomprehensible.
March 26, 2012
This was a nice collection - save the last story, that could've been left out.
Green onions -sarah black- five stars, wondrously mysterious and real.
Soul desire-laura baumbach- decent story, but NO EDITING- how could anyone have published such a mess,even back in the day?
Ghost of a chance- josh lanyon- Almost vintage JL, except one of the characters had "an ugly mug" and the other didn't have much of a physical disability save for his bad eyes. Cop and scientist, and adversaries to lovers. Four stars.
The fourth story , rendering of souls, I didn't get past the first page and decided to stop there in order to not do disgrace to the other three stories. Ugh.
Green onions -sarah black- five stars, wondrously mysterious and real.
Soul desire-laura baumbach- decent story, but NO EDITING- how could anyone have published such a mess,even back in the day?
Ghost of a chance- josh lanyon- Almost vintage JL, except one of the characters had "an ugly mug" and the other didn't have much of a physical disability save for his bad eyes. Cop and scientist, and adversaries to lovers. Four stars.
The fourth story , rendering of souls, I didn't get past the first page and decided to stop there in order to not do disgrace to the other three stories. Ugh.
May 30, 2011
I couldn't believe all the typos or maybe lack of editing in Laura's story!
I gave the book three stars but Josh's story... stand alone is a five.
I gave the book three stars but Josh's story... stand alone is a five.
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September 14, 2009It's hard to know how to rate this as I liked all the stories except William Maltese's which I hated.
I think the story by Laura Baumbach is my favorite of the ones I have ready by her. As usual, I loved the story by Josh Lanyon, and I really like the one by Sara Black.
I think the story by Laura Baumbach is my favorite of the ones I have ready by her. As usual, I loved the story by Josh Lanyon, and I really like the one by Sara Black.
March 6, 2011
I gave this book one star because of the horrible editing. Very disappointing, especially
November 30, 2007
The only story worth reading in this collection is Josh's. The other three are not up to par.
May 28, 2024
Enjoyable story that is well written with likeable characters and good world building.
March 25, 2010
The Good: Soul Desire by Laura Baumbach
The mystery was interesting and had an intriguing history behind it. The romance didn't look forced and the first step toward it came from the guy I didn't expect, pretty hilarious.
Neutral: Ghost of a Chance by Josh Lanyon and Wild Onions by Sarah Black
I enjoyed the mystery stories of these two authors tremendously in Partners in Crime but this time I found them lacking somewhat.
First off Josh Lanyon's Ghost of a Chance, it was the scariest one for me, the mystery was also interesting enough but the high point was one of his character who wasn't drop dead gorgeous. It made for an interesting romance until it came to the climax of the anticipated sex scene. This was prolly disappointing only for me since I'm not much for reversi, but yeah having the rather vulnerable and emotionally unstable guy on top while the confident, arrogant, rough cop gets to play bottom for the only sex scene of the story was, as I said, disappointing, it looked out of sort and it didn't fit with what we read of them previously. I can deal with reversi if the situation calls for it and it doesn't look weird, this sadly wasn't it for me though.
Next up, Sarah Black's Wild Onions. It was somewhat confusing and...let's face it, boring. It was long and nothing really exciting was happening. It wasn't bad but it definitely wasn't good either.
The Bad: Renderings of Souls by William Maltese
This is going to be as short as the story. It was totally incomprehensible. So much so that it made me think I was retarded until I realized it wasn't me that was, but this story. There's absolutely nothing to understand in it. A bunch of different guys and they all have sex. That's all there was to it for about 56 pages. It was crude and made me grimace. And that's saying something when I can read Tortuga's infinite circle of orgasms without flinching, and even enjoy it. The point, there was nothing good in this story at all and it's making me totally wary to even try anything else by him if that's how he writes. Very uninteresting and I'm so very glad it was the shortest story of them all.
I'd like to write summary, really I would, but I already said everything going on in there and I didn't understand anything else, so there.
The mystery was interesting and had an intriguing history behind it. The romance didn't look forced and the first step toward it came from the guy I didn't expect, pretty hilarious.
Neutral: Ghost of a Chance by Josh Lanyon and Wild Onions by Sarah Black
I enjoyed the mystery stories of these two authors tremendously in Partners in Crime but this time I found them lacking somewhat.
First off Josh Lanyon's Ghost of a Chance, it was the scariest one for me, the mystery was also interesting enough but the high point was one of his character who wasn't drop dead gorgeous. It made for an interesting romance until it came to the climax of the anticipated sex scene. This was prolly disappointing only for me since I'm not much for reversi, but yeah having the rather vulnerable and emotionally unstable guy on top while the confident, arrogant, rough cop gets to play bottom for the only sex scene of the story was, as I said, disappointing, it looked out of sort and it didn't fit with what we read of them previously. I can deal with reversi if the situation calls for it and it doesn't look weird, this sadly wasn't it for me though.
Next up, Sarah Black's Wild Onions. It was somewhat confusing and...let's face it, boring. It was long and nothing really exciting was happening. It wasn't bad but it definitely wasn't good either.
The Bad: Renderings of Souls by William Maltese
This is going to be as short as the story. It was totally incomprehensible. So much so that it made me think I was retarded until I realized it wasn't me that was, but this story. There's absolutely nothing to understand in it. A bunch of different guys and they all have sex. That's all there was to it for about 56 pages. It was crude and made me grimace. And that's saying something when I can read Tortuga's infinite circle of orgasms without flinching, and even enjoy it. The point, there was nothing good in this story at all and it's making me totally wary to even try anything else by him if that's how he writes. Very uninteresting and I'm so very glad it was the shortest story of them all.
I'd like to write summary, really I would, but I already said everything going on in there and I didn't understand anything else, so there.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 10, 2010
Another case of me not reading all the blurb. I bought this because it has stories by Josh Lanyon and Sarah Black without paying too much attention to the title. I wouldn't normally pick scarey ghost stories.
William Maltese offers excitement and steamy pleasure in his "Rendering Souls" while Josh Lanyon adds adventurous ghost hunters in his "A Ghost of a Chance". Sarah Black gives you horrors from the past in "Wild Onions", and Laura Baumbach rounds out the volume with a hot tale of second chances in "Soul Desire".
I wouldn't agree with those descriptions. The stories were all reasonable and it would have been a four star read if there hadn't been so many minor errors missed in the editing. Most of the errors were silly things like "ribs cage" or the wrong ending of words.
"Rendering Souls" by William Maltese was a rather confusing tale with an unpleasantly horrific ending. The sex scenes didn't seem to engage the characters particularly and I wasn't sure why they were there in such detail. The number of seemingly unrelated characters and scenes did come together in the end.
"A Ghost of a Chance" by Josh Lanyon was about a ghost hunter who seemed more pig-headed than adventurous most of the time, but still managed to be endearing.
"Wild Onions" by Sarah Black did give me chills and was a complex tale of history and good and evil. Add in a hint of soulmates through the ages and I enjoyed it.
"Soul Desire" by Laura Baumbach was another goosebumps story with a mystery from the past to be solved. It had the most silly errors which distracted me from the story. The worst was the introduction of another character in a sex scene - Eli rolled over and pinned Josh to the mattress, pressing the length and weight of his entire body into Mason - not sure when Eli and Mason turned into a threesome with the mysterious Josh.
William Maltese offers excitement and steamy pleasure in his "Rendering Souls" while Josh Lanyon adds adventurous ghost hunters in his "A Ghost of a Chance". Sarah Black gives you horrors from the past in "Wild Onions", and Laura Baumbach rounds out the volume with a hot tale of second chances in "Soul Desire".
I wouldn't agree with those descriptions. The stories were all reasonable and it would have been a four star read if there hadn't been so many minor errors missed in the editing. Most of the errors were silly things like "ribs cage" or the wrong ending of words.
"Rendering Souls" by William Maltese was a rather confusing tale with an unpleasantly horrific ending. The sex scenes didn't seem to engage the characters particularly and I wasn't sure why they were there in such detail. The number of seemingly unrelated characters and scenes did come together in the end.
"A Ghost of a Chance" by Josh Lanyon was about a ghost hunter who seemed more pig-headed than adventurous most of the time, but still managed to be endearing.
"Wild Onions" by Sarah Black did give me chills and was a complex tale of history and good and evil. Add in a hint of soulmates through the ages and I enjoyed it.
"Soul Desire" by Laura Baumbach was another goosebumps story with a mystery from the past to be solved. It had the most silly errors which distracted me from the story. The worst was the introduction of another character in a sex scene - Eli rolled over and pinned Josh to the mattress, pressing the length and weight of his entire body into Mason - not sure when Eli and Mason turned into a threesome with the mysterious Josh.
May 7, 2013
Laura Baumbach - 2.5 stars
Josh Lanyon - 3 stars
Sarah Black - 3.5 stars
William Maltese - WTF? (aka negative stars)
Lots and lots AND LOTS of mistakes, ugh. Baumbach's story was meh, in fact I had to go back and glance at it again after finishing the book because I couldn't remember it all. Now that I have refreshed my memory I remember thinking that I actually felt more invested in the historical lovers story, even with just a few mentions of it, there seemed to be more emotion between them than with the main characters. Lanyon's was good but didn't really draw me, it felt rather flat. I think as a longer story it would have been better, there just wasn't enough of anything in it, not the relationship between the MCs, or the ghost stuff, or the burglaries. It was like reading an outline, main ideas but no filling. Black's story really interested me, would have liked it to be longer, gone into more detail on the historical story, but still enjoyed it the most out of the four. Maltese's story...to be perfectly honest I felt like I was reading snippets of a bunch of completely unrelated (really bad, written by a 12 year old) porn stories. Obviously it wasn't my thing.
Josh Lanyon - 3 stars
Sarah Black - 3.5 stars
William Maltese - WTF? (aka negative stars)
Lots and lots AND LOTS of mistakes, ugh. Baumbach's story was meh, in fact I had to go back and glance at it again after finishing the book because I couldn't remember it all. Now that I have refreshed my memory I remember thinking that I actually felt more invested in the historical lovers story, even with just a few mentions of it, there seemed to be more emotion between them than with the main characters. Lanyon's was good but didn't really draw me, it felt rather flat. I think as a longer story it would have been better, there just wasn't enough of anything in it, not the relationship between the MCs, or the ghost stuff, or the burglaries. It was like reading an outline, main ideas but no filling. Black's story really interested me, would have liked it to be longer, gone into more detail on the historical story, but still enjoyed it the most out of the four. Maltese's story...to be perfectly honest I felt like I was reading snippets of a bunch of completely unrelated (really bad, written by a 12 year old) porn stories. Obviously it wasn't my thing.
March 27, 2011
The four star rating is for Josh Lanyon's contribution: A Ghost of a Chance. Take one stubborn, determined ghost-hunter with a penchant for breaking into places, add a socially inept cop with a mug of a face and a good heart, and then sprinkle in a run-of-the mill haunting and you end up with a funny, exciting and surprisingly tender romance.
I also enjoyed Sara Black's contribution, though I had some quibbles with the details, and I think the plot would have worked better in a longer story. But I love how the story dealt with losing the love of your life and gradually opening yourself up to new possibilities.
Laura Baumbach's story was sweet but unmemorable. And as for the story by William Maltese--honestly, I couldn't make it past the first few pages. All the talk of sex organs before I have a chance to know or care about the characters was too much of a turn-off.
One last problem: there are many typos in this, especially Laura Baumbach's story. The entire book needed better line editing.
I also enjoyed Sara Black's contribution, though I had some quibbles with the details, and I think the plot would have worked better in a longer story. But I love how the story dealt with losing the love of your life and gradually opening yourself up to new possibilities.
Laura Baumbach's story was sweet but unmemorable. And as for the story by William Maltese--honestly, I couldn't make it past the first few pages. All the talk of sex organs before I have a chance to know or care about the characters was too much of a turn-off.
One last problem: there are many typos in this, especially Laura Baumbach's story. The entire book needed better line editing.
June 18, 2011
Laura Baumbach's story, Soul Desire, was good, but so full of typos, it was unbelievable. Actually, so was Josh Lanyon's story. There was at least one per page, sometimes two. However, I LOVED Josh Lanyon's story, A Ghost Of A Chance. I read it probably ten times over. The two main characters had great chemistry. It's written in first person, which I like. Wild Onions by Sarah Black was my first introduction to her. Her characters never exist in a vacuum. There's always some sort of community around them or in their backgrounds. It was also a very good story. A Rendering of Souls by William Maltese was just plain awful. I would have given this book five stars, if not for him, despite all the typos. In fact, when I think of this book, I just sort of block out his contribution. His prose is quite purple and not in a good way.
December 14, 2011
Atrocious editing. As if the writers never bothered rereading their drafts and sent them out, and then nobody else deemed it necessary to read them either. Most particularly Laura Baumbach's story, where one of my favorites was a character suddenly being called "Josh". Was the writer talking to Mr. Lanyon at the time? ;)
The stories ranged between "meh" and "very bad". One of those I liked the least was Sarah Black's, which is disappointing, since she's the author of one of my most favorite M/M stories ever. Somehow her stuff is either love or hate for me, nothing in between. And the only creepy thing in this supposedly creepy-themed book were the last lines of the last (William Maltese's) story. Sadly, the rest of the story that lead up to them was, to put it mildly, unnecessary.
The stories ranged between "meh" and "very bad". One of those I liked the least was Sarah Black's, which is disappointing, since she's the author of one of my most favorite M/M stories ever. Somehow her stuff is either love or hate for me, nothing in between. And the only creepy thing in this supposedly creepy-themed book were the last lines of the last (William Maltese's) story. Sadly, the rest of the story that lead up to them was, to put it mildly, unnecessary.
May 18, 2015
Scared Stiff is a collection of four ghost stories, where the common thread is mostly the supernatural element and a romantic encounter or love story between the main characters. At least in the first three stories, Soul Desires by Laura Baumbach, A Ghost of a Chance by Josh Lanyon and Wild Onions by Sarah Black. These three stories are quite good. The fourth story, Rendering of Souls by William Maltese is the odd one out: regardless if you like it or not (I personally did not like it), the story does not share the common topic of romance with the other three stories (there is no romance whatsoever in the last one). Anyhow, the collection itself is worth reading, if only for the three above-mentioned stories.
(All the stories have been reviewed individually).
(All the stories have been reviewed individually).
August 11, 2016
Sadly, I'm not going to say anything different from other reviewers' opinions. The editing was non-existent - typos; a different name dropped in all of a sudden. Also: a character undressed outside the cabin but then called after the second character to bring him some clothes.
Also, William Maltese's story was so bad I didn't make it to the second chapter. How can an author spend pages and pages depicting sexual encounters (even with a hole in a tree!) and completely ignore something like story or characters? I just didn't care who shoved what and where. And that's all we got. This piece of garbage really took the whole anthology down.
Also, William Maltese's story was so bad I didn't make it to the second chapter. How can an author spend pages and pages depicting sexual encounters (even with a hole in a tree!) and completely ignore something like story or characters? I just didn't care who shoved what and where. And that's all we got. This piece of garbage really took the whole anthology down.
February 29, 2012
I only had one issue with one of the stories in the anthology. When I got to the last story I was a bit confused since there was a lot happening I think I got the jest of what was going on but it made it a not so great read.
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February 4, 2022
The three stars for the whole volume are because of Josh Lanyon's story.
Rendering Souls - 1.5 ~ 2 stars
A Ghost of a Chance - 3.5 stars (I definitely need more scary stories by Josh Lanyon.)
Wild Onions - 1 star
Soul Desire - ?
Rendering Souls - 1.5 ~ 2 stars
A Ghost of a Chance - 3.5 stars (I definitely need more scary stories by Josh Lanyon.)
Wild Onions - 1 star
Soul Desire - ?
November 9, 2009
A Gost of a Chance by Josh Lanyon, 3 stars
Rending of Souls by William Maltese, 2 stars
Soul Desire by Laura Baumbach, 4 stars
Wild Onion by Sarah Black, 5 stars
Rending of Souls by William Maltese, 2 stars
Soul Desire by Laura Baumbach, 4 stars
Wild Onion by Sarah Black, 5 stars
January 8, 2011
I liked the 2nd and 3rd stories alot "Ghost of a chance" and "Wild Onions" but the other two i didnt care for at all.
October 11, 2011
Soul Desire by Laura Baumbach - 2 stars
Ghost of a Chance by Josh Lanyon - 4 stars
Wild Onions by Sarah Black - 3.75 stars
Rendering Souls by William Maltese - 1 star
Ghost of a Chance by Josh Lanyon - 4 stars
Wild Onions by Sarah Black - 3.75 stars
Rendering Souls by William Maltese - 1 star
September 24, 2011
only Josh Lanyon's story.
December 12, 2011
The stars are for Josh Lanyon.
July 28, 2012
Good stories bad cover art :((
March 9, 2013
Laura baumbach's and Josh Lanyon's stories were both great.
March 19, 2013
These were fairly decent for short stories. Definitely worth a look.
August 6, 2012
I liked some of the stories more than others in here, but all four were worth it. Overall 4 stars.
March 29, 2016
3.5-4* for the Josh Lanyon story, which was the one one worth reading.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews