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Friends, Lovers, & Other Gaslighters: 25 Tales of Terror and the Bizarre
Since 2019, writer B.A. Ries has churned out dozens of stories of dark thrills and edge-of-your-seat suspense, garnering praise and attention in Reddit's NoSleep horror writing community. Many of these stories have been adapted for audio by podcasts such as The NoSleep Podcast and Creepy, and several have been published in written anthologies. Now, for the first time, B.A. Ries presents a compilation of his writing in
Friends, Lovers, and Other Gaslighters
.
These 25 tales of the macabre and the bizarre feature an assortment of menacing minions, from hitchhiking ghosts to sentient scarecrows to vindictive vending machines. A washed-up star from a children's television show is hired to appear at a mysterious gathering. A woman returning home for the holidays finds herself drawn into a strange Christmas village. Two girls bond at summer camp, only to learn that they each harbor a dark secret. An ideal job comes with a shocking drawback.
Don't expect formula from these stories. They go to weird, dark places. Some are just spooky; others also explore social soul-sucking jobs, opioid addiction, the lingering impact of pandemic-era isolation, compulsory heterosexuality, and sexual repression. More than anything, these stories are about the worst demons of all - those who abuse the trust you put in them to make you question yourself, your identity, and whether your loved ones love you back. Friends, Lovers, and Other Gaslighters provides a glimpse into a world of those who trick you into letting them into your life. And, by the time you realize that your friend - or even your lover - is your enemy, it's already too late.
These 25 tales of the macabre and the bizarre feature an assortment of menacing minions, from hitchhiking ghosts to sentient scarecrows to vindictive vending machines. A washed-up star from a children's television show is hired to appear at a mysterious gathering. A woman returning home for the holidays finds herself drawn into a strange Christmas village. Two girls bond at summer camp, only to learn that they each harbor a dark secret. An ideal job comes with a shocking drawback.
Don't expect formula from these stories. They go to weird, dark places. Some are just spooky; others also explore social soul-sucking jobs, opioid addiction, the lingering impact of pandemic-era isolation, compulsory heterosexuality, and sexual repression. More than anything, these stories are about the worst demons of all - those who abuse the trust you put in them to make you question yourself, your identity, and whether your loved ones love you back. Friends, Lovers, and Other Gaslighters provides a glimpse into a world of those who trick you into letting them into your life. And, by the time you realize that your friend - or even your lover - is your enemy, it's already too late.
- GenresHorror
298 pages, Paperback
Published January 13, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 18, 2025
This was a fun, quirky short story collection. Reminded me a lot of old Twilight Zone episodes. Has the surreal, nightmarish quality of David Lynch mixed with maybe some Stephen King and Lovecraft. The content is very fresh with much of it pertaining to the horror of online work, Covid isolation, and dating in the 2020s.
August 22, 2025
I listened to this as an audio book. The narrator was amazing! These stories were right up my alley of weird and bizarre! Muck was my absolute favorite of all. This book is very much worth reading!
August 28, 2025
25 of pure sinister stories. Ghost stories, shape shifter stories, etc to tell during a campfire. They'll give you a double take on whats reality and what isn't.
October 1, 2025
Found this through our Reddit group! Awesome set of stories.
February 8, 2025
Fans of The Nosleep Podcast will already be fans of B. A. Ries's terrifying and eclectic work. In this, his first and hopefully not last collection, you'll find macabre tales of summer camps, sentient scarecrows and vengeful vending machines amongst other imaginative horrors.
I especially enjoyed Class of 2013, Straw Men, First Heat and (personal favourite) There's no Leaving Evergreen, although the whole book had me gripped. These are the kind of stories that lurk in dark corners of your mind long after you finish reading.
Fantastic and I look forward to more!
I especially enjoyed Class of 2013, Straw Men, First Heat and (personal favourite) There's no Leaving Evergreen, although the whole book had me gripped. These are the kind of stories that lurk in dark corners of your mind long after you finish reading.
Fantastic and I look forward to more!
September 8, 2025
This should be a 3.5 star review.
I received a complementary audiobook version in return for an honest review.
Tension and release. Expectation and subversion. Blood and guts. These are the key elements of horror. The best horror writers know how to execute these elements seamlessly while telling a compelling, poignant story. Everyone else finds ways to work in these elements as best they can throughout their stories. I found that a couple of the stories in gaslight's twenty five tracks were able to engage with all these elements at once. Most of the stories were well crafted and perfectly functional if not run of the mill tales of terror. Only a couple I found downright terrible, but I do wonder how much better the stories would have resonated with a more capable reader. The real downfall of this collection is a rather poor performance by the voice over artist, who doesn't understand horror storytelling. Better yet, this would be wonderfully served by a cast of horror versed voice actors endeavoring to bring these audio tales to life.
Highlights-
B.A. Ries writes well. Characters are interesting, plots pay off in satisfying ways. I never outright disliked anything I heard, which isn't often the case. That being said, it doesn't rise to the heights of Poe or King, but what does?
Originality is sadly difficult to find in horror. So when Transformations began with a former child star pedaling nostalgia to pay the bills, I was genuinely intrigued, how would this pay off? Fortunately the visit to a strange home and ensuing situation thrust upon this erstwhile star was very rewarding. It is a truly great horror story that takes familiar elements and finds ways to make them surprising and satisfying.
First heat is great, sadly the version on the no sleep podcast is far superior than the version found here, for reasons discussed below.
Weaknesses
Too often the author fell upon the same old tropes. The thing our protagonist sees isn't really there. The circumstances weren't what they seem. Plots that feel copied from twilight zone episodes. Often the stories lack subversion or surprise, at least for the listener with a decent level of awareness of horror telling tools. That might not be a weakness for everyone, I personally enjoy when the story ends up in a different place than I expect. In nearly every story, I knew the end by the middle or earlier. That may just be my experience.
If I'm being kind, the voice actor is passable at best. Which just doesn't cut it for an audio book, especially in the world of horror lit. As this author has been adapted multiple times in well known horror podcasts, I would have hoped for a more professional presentation, but it just wasn't there. Often times I wondered if they kept a first pass at the material. Worse it's marred with mispronunciations, which takes me out of the story. I want to feel like this was a crafted experience, not a voice for hire gig. For instance, listen to the no sleep rendition of first heat, and then listen to this version, the differences between the productions are stark and obvious.
Worse still are stories that seemingly exist to nail home a message rather than tell a story. Galapagos is some kind of polemic either for or against darwinism, but told very poorly with characters that felt two dimensional and farcical. All I heard was the authors ace, grinding along. It didn't sound good.
Lastly, and this is a nitpick, but it really annoyed me. The author or publisher decided to sequence part 1 of a story and part two and three twenty tracks apart. It's just annoying for the listener to attempt to recall the original story told at such a distance from the rest.
Over all this is a fine if somewhat formulaic collection of stories with a couple real highlights there were unfortunately tarnished by a poor voice over artist. I'm certain that the no sleep podcast version of this authors stories are performed and produced in a much more satisfying way. I would be surprised if that's true for all of the tracks in this group of stories.
I received a complementary audiobook version in return for an honest review.
Tension and release. Expectation and subversion. Blood and guts. These are the key elements of horror. The best horror writers know how to execute these elements seamlessly while telling a compelling, poignant story. Everyone else finds ways to work in these elements as best they can throughout their stories. I found that a couple of the stories in gaslight's twenty five tracks were able to engage with all these elements at once. Most of the stories were well crafted and perfectly functional if not run of the mill tales of terror. Only a couple I found downright terrible, but I do wonder how much better the stories would have resonated with a more capable reader. The real downfall of this collection is a rather poor performance by the voice over artist, who doesn't understand horror storytelling. Better yet, this would be wonderfully served by a cast of horror versed voice actors endeavoring to bring these audio tales to life.
Highlights-
B.A. Ries writes well. Characters are interesting, plots pay off in satisfying ways. I never outright disliked anything I heard, which isn't often the case. That being said, it doesn't rise to the heights of Poe or King, but what does?
Originality is sadly difficult to find in horror. So when Transformations began with a former child star pedaling nostalgia to pay the bills, I was genuinely intrigued, how would this pay off? Fortunately the visit to a strange home and ensuing situation thrust upon this erstwhile star was very rewarding. It is a truly great horror story that takes familiar elements and finds ways to make them surprising and satisfying.
First heat is great, sadly the version on the no sleep podcast is far superior than the version found here, for reasons discussed below.
Weaknesses
Too often the author fell upon the same old tropes. The thing our protagonist sees isn't really there. The circumstances weren't what they seem. Plots that feel copied from twilight zone episodes. Often the stories lack subversion or surprise, at least for the listener with a decent level of awareness of horror telling tools. That might not be a weakness for everyone, I personally enjoy when the story ends up in a different place than I expect. In nearly every story, I knew the end by the middle or earlier. That may just be my experience.
If I'm being kind, the voice actor is passable at best. Which just doesn't cut it for an audio book, especially in the world of horror lit. As this author has been adapted multiple times in well known horror podcasts, I would have hoped for a more professional presentation, but it just wasn't there. Often times I wondered if they kept a first pass at the material. Worse it's marred with mispronunciations, which takes me out of the story. I want to feel like this was a crafted experience, not a voice for hire gig. For instance, listen to the no sleep rendition of first heat, and then listen to this version, the differences between the productions are stark and obvious.
Worse still are stories that seemingly exist to nail home a message rather than tell a story. Galapagos is some kind of polemic either for or against darwinism, but told very poorly with characters that felt two dimensional and farcical. All I heard was the authors ace, grinding along. It didn't sound good.
Lastly, and this is a nitpick, but it really annoyed me. The author or publisher decided to sequence part 1 of a story and part two and three twenty tracks apart. It's just annoying for the listener to attempt to recall the original story told at such a distance from the rest.
Over all this is a fine if somewhat formulaic collection of stories with a couple real highlights there were unfortunately tarnished by a poor voice over artist. I'm certain that the no sleep podcast version of this authors stories are performed and produced in a much more satisfying way. I would be surprised if that's true for all of the tracks in this group of stories.
August 22, 2025
I received a complimentary Audible audiobook of Friends, Lovers, and Other Gaslighters: 25 Tales of Terror and the Bizarre by B.A. Ries from the author in exchange for an honest review. I was intrigued with spooky reading season right around the corner.
The collection of 25 short stories certainly delivers an appropriate amount of extraordinary horror, paranormal, and macabre elements. It’s an ideal read for my favorite Halloween season, which is fast approaching. Each story is well-written and brims with creativity and creepiness. I particularly enjoyed how characters reappear in different stories, creating a nice connection between them.
However, I must admit that I didn’t connect with the stories as much as I would have liked. The characters seemed much younger than myself, which made it difficult for me to relate to a 10-year high school reunion or a teenage swim competition. A few stories also revolve around teleworking due to the pandemic and vaccines, which I’ve been burned out on for a while now. I don’t particularly enjoy reading stories that take me back to that era.
While this collection may not be my cup of tea, I’m certain that it’s the perfect read for many others who can connect with the characters and plots.
The audiobook is narrated by Rayne Botello, and I found the narration to be good and enjoyable. I increased the speed to find a pace that suited my ears. However, at times, I got confused and couldn’t remember the gender of the protagonist because the narrator’s voice had very little fluctuation for the different characters. It would have been helpful if the voice had changed enough to differentiate between the characters, especially since we see a return of the characters in other stories. Alternatively, it could have been helpful to have a male narrator for the stories in which the protagonist is a man.
I have photos and additional information that I'm unable to include here. It can all be found on my blog, in the link below.
A Book And A Dog
The collection of 25 short stories certainly delivers an appropriate amount of extraordinary horror, paranormal, and macabre elements. It’s an ideal read for my favorite Halloween season, which is fast approaching. Each story is well-written and brims with creativity and creepiness. I particularly enjoyed how characters reappear in different stories, creating a nice connection between them.
However, I must admit that I didn’t connect with the stories as much as I would have liked. The characters seemed much younger than myself, which made it difficult for me to relate to a 10-year high school reunion or a teenage swim competition. A few stories also revolve around teleworking due to the pandemic and vaccines, which I’ve been burned out on for a while now. I don’t particularly enjoy reading stories that take me back to that era.
While this collection may not be my cup of tea, I’m certain that it’s the perfect read for many others who can connect with the characters and plots.
The audiobook is narrated by Rayne Botello, and I found the narration to be good and enjoyable. I increased the speed to find a pace that suited my ears. However, at times, I got confused and couldn’t remember the gender of the protagonist because the narrator’s voice had very little fluctuation for the different characters. It would have been helpful if the voice had changed enough to differentiate between the characters, especially since we see a return of the characters in other stories. Alternatively, it could have been helpful to have a male narrator for the stories in which the protagonist is a man.
I have photos and additional information that I'm unable to include here. It can all be found on my blog, in the link below.
A Book And A Dog
July 7, 2025
This is an excellent collection of twenty five horror stories and even a few very short bonus stories at the end. And these stories are the kind that keeps you awake at night. Terrifying, twisty, disturbing, and some that are grandly bizarre!
There are also several stories which are connected. We'll see the same characters popping up as in previous ones but each one feels like it could be a standalone even though they work great taken as a whole.
The first story sets the horrifying tone with a story about a woman leaving a hospital after surgery and a man who claims to be her husband picks her up. Yet she remembers nothing about him. He has a marriage certificate, all her friends and family tell her he's her husband, and photos on the wall and on social media seem to bear that out. But is he really? The entire saga unfolds in a few stories throughout and it's terrifying once the truth is revealed.
Murderous vending machines, vengeful refrigerators, ghastly ghosts, betrayel, revenge, guilt and grief are all included in these tales. You'll never know which direction a story is going because the author does a great job at twisting things around just when you think you know what's happening. Some of these are also bery heart wrenching despite the macabre proceedings.
This is a highly engaging, frightening, and well written collection of stories that you seriously don't want to miss. I highly recommend it.
There are also several stories which are connected. We'll see the same characters popping up as in previous ones but each one feels like it could be a standalone even though they work great taken as a whole.
The first story sets the horrifying tone with a story about a woman leaving a hospital after surgery and a man who claims to be her husband picks her up. Yet she remembers nothing about him. He has a marriage certificate, all her friends and family tell her he's her husband, and photos on the wall and on social media seem to bear that out. But is he really? The entire saga unfolds in a few stories throughout and it's terrifying once the truth is revealed.
Murderous vending machines, vengeful refrigerators, ghastly ghosts, betrayel, revenge, guilt and grief are all included in these tales. You'll never know which direction a story is going because the author does a great job at twisting things around just when you think you know what's happening. Some of these are also bery heart wrenching despite the macabre proceedings.
This is a highly engaging, frightening, and well written collection of stories that you seriously don't want to miss. I highly recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews