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Skeletons
Skeletons, everyone has one, and in this collection of dark short stories they're scratching their way to the surface for the world to see. In Skeletons you'll meet a man who confesses his secret time traveling fetish, a cashier who investigates the eerie behavior of his retail co-workers, a torn lover who travels to her boyfriend's haunted retreat, a teenager whose town undergoes some unusual changes, and a father whose personal time is moving a little too fast.
- GenresHorror
92 pages, Paperback
First published November 8, 2014
4 people are currently reading
739 people want to read
About the author
Kenneth Buff
25 books63 followersKenneth Buff was born and raised in Wichita, Kansas. He moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma in 2007 to attend Oklahoma State University. He graduated in 2013. He currently spends his days working as an elementary special education teacher and his nights at Aspen Coffee, writing his next novel.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 7, 2015
I’ve become hooked on short stories and collections and these are some good ones.
I’m going to break it down a tell a little about each one and then give an overall rating.
And Then There Was Only Us
They say sometimes psychopaths will be drawn to each, like a shared sickness. These two lovers find a portal to other dimensions and take their killing games to a new level.
They enter a dimension and torture and kill their other selves.
“You wouldn’t believe the shock on their faces the first time they saw us. You wouldn’t believe the pleasure on ours.”
Sooner or later something has to happen. The fun stops being fun, at least for one. Then what?
This was the first story and pretty horrific. Twisted psyches and a lust for pain and blood doesn’t make for happy ever after. Even killing yourself gets old. I kept waiting for one to turn on the other.
Re – Tailoring You
2PM. Punch the clock. Work. Punch out. Go home. Repeat.
The man is stuck in his dead end job at All-Mart, the store that has, “Everything you need.” Days, weeks, months, years pass in a blur, and he dies a little each day.
It didn’t come to him all at once. But gradually he realized the other employees were acting strange. They stopped talking. Some of his co-workers noticed too. They started calling them the pod people. I guess that’s from the movie, The Body Snatchers. I called them The Stepford Clerks.
Knowing its becoming dangerous, the group that hasn’t changed split up, trying to reach others like them. Trying to warn them and make their escape.
But, like with all good horror stories, it’s not going to be easy.
I kept waiting for Bruce Campbell to jump on a counter with his boom stick and shout, “Shop Smart. Shop All-Mart!”
Mom’s House
When Henry’s mother dies, Alice knows she has to go with him. She’s all out of excuses for not going to that house. Who would want to. They siblings claim they commune with the ghosts that haunt that place. What would Alice have to say to them?
The funeral is over and the days pass. Alice waits for them to go through their mothers stuff, but soon gets bored. They sit at the breakfast table every morning relating the ghostly visits they had the night before. Felling left out, she takes Henry’s advice and goes for a walk.
Something, a niggle of doubt, causes her to sneak back and peek in the window. They are sitting around laughing, not packing things up.
When Alice confronts them, things get ugly. Then dangerous. It seems Henry had a big secret. One about why he truly brought her there.
This one creeps up on you. Then the secret is revealed and the action kicks in. Alice didn’t strike me as tough or resourceful, but she fooled me. Let’s hope she fools them too.
The Second Coming Of Cortes
He’s come! Jesus has come to Pike’s Peak in Colorado.
It came straight from Jesus on the TV. He appears, inviting all the people of Colorado to climb to the top of Pike’s Peak, to be received by him and enter heaven. There’s a catch. They only have three days to get there.
Brian and Karen drag their son, Alex, to the greatest show on earth. He scoffs at this person. Would Jesus pull a stunt like this? Why Colorado and Pike’s Peak? Why only three days?
His parents are bound and determined he make the climb with them, but Alex wants nothing to do with it. Can he hold out or will he be dragged kicking and screaming to the top of the peak? And who or what awaits them there?
This was creepy. I’d be with Alex. I hardly think Jesus would appear on TV telling us to come to him. Yet again, modern times call for modern measures. Who knows.
You can imagine how bad it gets. All those frenzied people crawling over each other to get to the top, to Jesus and heaven.
It became a bloody mess, people crushed or shot to death. Makes you wonder how they ever thought those actions would get them anywhere but a fast drop to Hell.
The Decoder
Everyone is required to use their decoder until noon. Most of them keep it on until the mandated shut off time of 4 PM. But not him.
He can’t wait for noon so he can shut of the decoder. When it’s on, by the time you think about what you are going to do, it’s done. Time flies by in a blur.
A normal day for him is work, then home. Mow the lawn, do laundry, vac and dust, maybe paint the walls. It’s only 11:30. Imagine watching time crawl while everything you do flies by.
Noon. Done. Decoder off. He sits down to work on the book he’s writing. It’s a good story. Opposite from his, where the decoder slows time down.
I got dizzy just reading this. I’ve seen some movies where they show a person standing still while everything rushes by in a blur of shapes and colors. That’s how this story felt.
I felt the man’s book was about his wish. Perhaps he should write a story about no decoders at all.
All of these were good. I don’t usually play favorites but several scenes in re-Tailoring You got my blood pumping.
For most of you, all of these will creep you out.
Scare a few minutes off your life.
Or at least give you some nightmares.
Horror is as horror does.
I received this book for my honest review.
I’m going to break it down a tell a little about each one and then give an overall rating.
And Then There Was Only Us
They say sometimes psychopaths will be drawn to each, like a shared sickness. These two lovers find a portal to other dimensions and take their killing games to a new level.
They enter a dimension and torture and kill their other selves.
“You wouldn’t believe the shock on their faces the first time they saw us. You wouldn’t believe the pleasure on ours.”
Sooner or later something has to happen. The fun stops being fun, at least for one. Then what?
This was the first story and pretty horrific. Twisted psyches and a lust for pain and blood doesn’t make for happy ever after. Even killing yourself gets old. I kept waiting for one to turn on the other.
Re – Tailoring You
2PM. Punch the clock. Work. Punch out. Go home. Repeat.
The man is stuck in his dead end job at All-Mart, the store that has, “Everything you need.” Days, weeks, months, years pass in a blur, and he dies a little each day.
It didn’t come to him all at once. But gradually he realized the other employees were acting strange. They stopped talking. Some of his co-workers noticed too. They started calling them the pod people. I guess that’s from the movie, The Body Snatchers. I called them The Stepford Clerks.
Knowing its becoming dangerous, the group that hasn’t changed split up, trying to reach others like them. Trying to warn them and make their escape.
But, like with all good horror stories, it’s not going to be easy.
I kept waiting for Bruce Campbell to jump on a counter with his boom stick and shout, “Shop Smart. Shop All-Mart!”
Mom’s House
When Henry’s mother dies, Alice knows she has to go with him. She’s all out of excuses for not going to that house. Who would want to. They siblings claim they commune with the ghosts that haunt that place. What would Alice have to say to them?
The funeral is over and the days pass. Alice waits for them to go through their mothers stuff, but soon gets bored. They sit at the breakfast table every morning relating the ghostly visits they had the night before. Felling left out, she takes Henry’s advice and goes for a walk.
Something, a niggle of doubt, causes her to sneak back and peek in the window. They are sitting around laughing, not packing things up.
When Alice confronts them, things get ugly. Then dangerous. It seems Henry had a big secret. One about why he truly brought her there.
This one creeps up on you. Then the secret is revealed and the action kicks in. Alice didn’t strike me as tough or resourceful, but she fooled me. Let’s hope she fools them too.
The Second Coming Of Cortes
He’s come! Jesus has come to Pike’s Peak in Colorado.
It came straight from Jesus on the TV. He appears, inviting all the people of Colorado to climb to the top of Pike’s Peak, to be received by him and enter heaven. There’s a catch. They only have three days to get there.
Brian and Karen drag their son, Alex, to the greatest show on earth. He scoffs at this person. Would Jesus pull a stunt like this? Why Colorado and Pike’s Peak? Why only three days?
His parents are bound and determined he make the climb with them, but Alex wants nothing to do with it. Can he hold out or will he be dragged kicking and screaming to the top of the peak? And who or what awaits them there?
This was creepy. I’d be with Alex. I hardly think Jesus would appear on TV telling us to come to him. Yet again, modern times call for modern measures. Who knows.
You can imagine how bad it gets. All those frenzied people crawling over each other to get to the top, to Jesus and heaven.
It became a bloody mess, people crushed or shot to death. Makes you wonder how they ever thought those actions would get them anywhere but a fast drop to Hell.
The Decoder
Everyone is required to use their decoder until noon. Most of them keep it on until the mandated shut off time of 4 PM. But not him.
He can’t wait for noon so he can shut of the decoder. When it’s on, by the time you think about what you are going to do, it’s done. Time flies by in a blur.
A normal day for him is work, then home. Mow the lawn, do laundry, vac and dust, maybe paint the walls. It’s only 11:30. Imagine watching time crawl while everything you do flies by.
Noon. Done. Decoder off. He sits down to work on the book he’s writing. It’s a good story. Opposite from his, where the decoder slows time down.
I got dizzy just reading this. I’ve seen some movies where they show a person standing still while everything rushes by in a blur of shapes and colors. That’s how this story felt.
I felt the man’s book was about his wish. Perhaps he should write a story about no decoders at all.
All of these were good. I don’t usually play favorites but several scenes in re-Tailoring You got my blood pumping.
For most of you, all of these will creep you out.
Scare a few minutes off your life.
Or at least give you some nightmares.
Horror is as horror does.
I received this book for my honest review.
December 19, 2014
As is very often always the case, I received this book free in exchange for a review. Despite the kindness of receiving a free book I'm absolutely candid about the book because I want everyone to know what they're getting as much as I hope to when I'm shopping.
The nutshell view on this book is that it's a collection of dark Twilight Zone-like short stories centering on topics such as the second coming of Christ, inter-dimensional travel, temporal manipulation and human sacrifice. This book is 83 pages double spaced so it's about an hour read.
To the positive side, the author certainly doesn't mess about. His stories are extremely brief and get right to the point. If you don't like what you're reading by the second sentence then you can be assured that you need not read the rest because he's on point pounding away at his topic from the very, very beginning. He's also not afraid to cover some pretty grim material and pulls no punches.
To the negative, the writing generally lacks subtlety and refinement. This is the textual equivalent of being bashed about the head with a large hammer. His stories, while varied, are exceptionally predictable and he telegraphs his endings with great consistency. The text is riddled with grammatical errors and his writing is overly simple relying on short, choppy sentences; it's reminiscent of work my teenage children would submit to their English classes. Even the back of the book suffers from textual errors and the body of the story just isn't strong enough to distract from the mistakes.
In summary, I'd assess this as a promising first collection that needs lots of clean up and I expect that after the author has a bit more writing under his belt things may improve significantly. Until that time, I'd not recommend this book if you have to spend any money on it. It's sufficiently entertaining for free but not worthy of hard-earned entertainment dollars. Stand by for further offerings from this author though as there may be much goodness to come.
PS: It occurs to me that those who are experienced and consistent readers of fiction will not find this title appealing but those who only pick up 1 or 2 books a year might find it appealing exactly because of its brevity and lack of subtlety. Probably a reasonably appropriate title for teenagers as well but they would have to be accustomed to a fair amount of violent imagery.
The nutshell view on this book is that it's a collection of dark Twilight Zone-like short stories centering on topics such as the second coming of Christ, inter-dimensional travel, temporal manipulation and human sacrifice. This book is 83 pages double spaced so it's about an hour read.
To the positive side, the author certainly doesn't mess about. His stories are extremely brief and get right to the point. If you don't like what you're reading by the second sentence then you can be assured that you need not read the rest because he's on point pounding away at his topic from the very, very beginning. He's also not afraid to cover some pretty grim material and pulls no punches.
To the negative, the writing generally lacks subtlety and refinement. This is the textual equivalent of being bashed about the head with a large hammer. His stories, while varied, are exceptionally predictable and he telegraphs his endings with great consistency. The text is riddled with grammatical errors and his writing is overly simple relying on short, choppy sentences; it's reminiscent of work my teenage children would submit to their English classes. Even the back of the book suffers from textual errors and the body of the story just isn't strong enough to distract from the mistakes.
In summary, I'd assess this as a promising first collection that needs lots of clean up and I expect that after the author has a bit more writing under his belt things may improve significantly. Until that time, I'd not recommend this book if you have to spend any money on it. It's sufficiently entertaining for free but not worthy of hard-earned entertainment dollars. Stand by for further offerings from this author though as there may be much goodness to come.
PS: It occurs to me that those who are experienced and consistent readers of fiction will not find this title appealing but those who only pick up 1 or 2 books a year might find it appealing exactly because of its brevity and lack of subtlety. Probably a reasonably appropriate title for teenagers as well but they would have to be accustomed to a fair amount of violent imagery.
July 21, 2016
I really liked it.
This book held my interest the entire time. I read it through in one sitting. If you're a fan of the Twilight Zone then you will likely enjoy these short stories.
This book held my interest the entire time. I read it through in one sitting. If you're a fan of the Twilight Zone then you will likely enjoy these short stories.
January 11, 2015
I decided to read one book every week for New Years and I'm glad I started my year off with a book written by a friend. I gave three stars because it was an easy read in the sense that I appreciate a good story that can be short, sweet, and to the point but still leave you wanting to know what happens next. I love that each story is completely different and that each has a different element of "scariness". I'm proud of you Mr Kenneth Buff, can't wait to read the others!
January 10, 2016
A series of short stories that I would best compare to RL Stine or the twilight zone. I really enjoyed each of the stories but the endings all fell a little short for me. Kind of like a big lead up and then a let down at the end so I missed my aha moment. A Nice short read that I finished in a couple of hours. A good reads giveaway thank you.
March 3, 2023
Skeletons
Contains 18+ situations. A collection of true horror. I loved it. With terror, horror and not the normal workplace comradery.
Contains 18+ situations. A collection of true horror. I loved it. With terror, horror and not the normal workplace comradery.
March 3, 2023
Five tales , all different, all interesting
January 23, 2015
What did I think?
I think that this is a 5 stars book. Why?
Well, all starts with the first story, when I was reading it I was thinking, "Mmmm, interesting concept, very twisted, but I like it!" From there till the end, the book is a fantastic journey in to the dark, really dark mind of the author.
Each one of them are pure terror, mainly because they are setting on familiar places with each day situations, I felt related with one or two of them, and that scared me, a lot.
The stories are short, but the author was able to gave us so many details and situations thru his excellent narrative, it's excellent written.
This book is a Must Have!!!!
*I received a free copy in exchange for an Honest review*
I think that this is a 5 stars book. Why?
Well, all starts with the first story, when I was reading it I was thinking, "Mmmm, interesting concept, very twisted, but I like it!" From there till the end, the book is a fantastic journey in to the dark, really dark mind of the author.
Each one of them are pure terror, mainly because they are setting on familiar places with each day situations, I felt related with one or two of them, and that scared me, a lot.
The stories are short, but the author was able to gave us so many details and situations thru his excellent narrative, it's excellent written.
This book is a Must Have!!!!
*I received a free copy in exchange for an Honest review*
January 29, 2015
This was a really interesting and unique set of short stories. They all got right to the point and made for fun fast reads. Each story made you think and brought some hidden fear or question to life. A lot of the situations were very relatable so it made for an even more exciting story. I look forward to seeing what Kenneth Buff writes next.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews