Baby Bones

by Ryan J. Powell

In a lone trailer at the edge of town lives a little girl named Tawny. She has no friends. The teachers ignore her. And her mama isn’t paying any attention... but deep within her belly grows a fire no one saw coming until it was too late.

43 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 11, 2025

Reviews

[Klaus Kinion · Rating 5 out of 5]

BABY BONES achieves what few books do for me; it conjured imagery so crushingly cruel that it made me think, : "This might be too much". It is an absolute rollercoaster that takes you from the heights of cheering on the violence to the depths of heartbreaking tragedy. One of the best and most memorable extreme horror shorts that I've read this year.

[Steph's_Creepy _Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was brutal. Kids in horror are always tricky, and usually divide readers, but a child villain! I lost count of how many times I begged this little girl to stop.

[Lesley Camphouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Baby Bones lives in my head rent-free. I lost sleep over this book as I wanted to finish it.

Poor Tawny, all she wanted was her mother's attention, a loving cuddle, instead of the burden imposed on her young life. I seriously just wanted to pull her in for a hug myself!

This book is not for the faint of heart; it's brutal and raw and will suckerpunch you from directions you don't expect, the way only RJ can. I promise you that Tawny and Baby Bones will engrain themselves in your soul, and you'll carry them around ever since.

P.S. I LOVE the character's name, Tawny Carol. <3

[Magpie Cleaver · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the wonderful pleasure of editing this excellent book from R.J.Powell.

This story centres around young Tawny and her fight for her mother’s attention, an emotional and violent journey.

This book is raw, emotive and visceral. Tawny is a multi faceted character that we can’t help but feel for. In short, she is just a little girl wanting her family to herself.

Descriptive and vivid, I couldn’t put this book down.

[SeveredTherapy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Coming off the heels of "Taking Melody" probably put me in the wrong mindset to read this. The first half of this developed Tawnya in the absolute best way, before it just devolved into a violent and depraved festival of blood and guts. I mean that in the best possible way.

The ending was fitting and appropriate, given the rest of the story. Unfortunately, I believe there are far too many of these types of situations in the world (albeit without this particular ending).

3.75 out of 5 severed thumbs-up.

[E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a unique and concerning protagonist to follow!! Once all hell breaks loose you’re in for a ride, wow just wow!!

[kelseyslibrary_ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is by far my favourite of all of Ryan’s books that I’ve read. And I had the absolute pleasure of beta reading. ❤️

[John Raptor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! Baby Bones by R.J. Powell grabbed me by the guts and unspooled them on the floor.

At first, Baby Bones feels like one of Dorothy Allison's stories from her collection TRASH, depicting a broken mother/daughter relationship and the poverty-stricken environment where abuse festers due to a lack of resources like a steady job, healthy food, and safe shelter. Much like TRASH, sadness and desperation cry out from these pages and the prose is beautiful. And then the book quickly descends into the madness of a splatterpunk tragedy.

And this truly is a tragic tale. A tale of a young girl named Tawny who is being raised by a neglectful mother and whose father is also abusive and absent. She lives in a trailer and listens to her Momma hook up with a married man every Thursday night. At school, she is bullied by her peers. Her only escape is inside her closet where she studies the human anatomy and daydreams about melting faces, flames, drownings, suffocations, decapitations. Sometimes, Tawny and her brother play dolls and pretend they live a better life in a nice house with nice kids and good food --- instead of over-salted meatloaf. But sadly, these are only fantasies, and reality is grim and dark.

Tawny has a fire growing in her belly and it's about to be unleashed and no one may survive.

This is such a dark, heartbreaking book. The ending is perfect.

I love the scene where Tawny is in art class and she's painting a dead horse being eaten by flies and the teacher asks if she should call her mother. It reminds me of being young and constantly getting in trouble for writing f*d up stories.

Great book! Love the artwork on the cover! Really captures Tawny's obsession with art as well as her madness. Sometimes art and madness are one and the same ;)

[Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm fully convinced R.J Powell doesn't have a bad book.

In Baby Bones, we follow Tawny. Tawny is a troubled little girl with pent up feelings. She loves her little brothers, but she has always been a mommy's girl and wants mommy all to herself. Tawny also really hates mommy's boyfriend, Kenny.

On one Friday afternoon, Tawny comes home from school excited to spend the rest of the evening with her mom and brothers. Fridays were her favorite as they order pizza and enjoy time with mommy, except THIS Friday, mommy's boyfriend is there.

Mommy and Kenny have a surprise for the kiddos and it really lights a rage within Tawny...

[A.D. Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Equal parts sad and brutal. There’s a captivating bleakness to this read that gives way to some truly gut-wrenching stuff(I will come back to that in a bit), and while done in a minute number of pages, it’s filled out in a way that doesn’t feel remotely rushed.

I have read multiple books from Powell, and found them to be heavy-hitting when it came to the stomach churning moments, but also found them thoroughly enjoyable. A sweet spot that worked perfectly for me. Baby Bones is the splatterpunk that works for me, and it’s definitely worth picking up if you’re a fan of the more intense horror reads.

[Jolene · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Baby Bones, Tawny is a lonely girl living on the outskirts of town, ignored by everyone around her. But beneath her quiet exterior, something dark and powerful grows. I absolutely will read anything and everything that RJ writes bc there is no holding back!!! Powell crafts a story that is both eerie and intense, with a simmering tension that feels too real. It’s a raw, disturbing look at what happens when no one sees you, and what you might become when you’re finally pushed too far and it is way too late.. Be ready!!

[JWo1855 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another short yet intense read from Ryan J. Powell that gives a view inside the bleak life and mind of Tawny Carol.

Tawny already was responsible for taking care of her little brother’s, and tolerated the various men who visited her Mom, which often resulted in Golden Jesus falling off the wall.

I could smell where Tawny lived & felt for her when she was picked on at school.

All she wanted was to spend time with her Mom, but when she found that she had to share more that she wanted is when Tawny decided to do something about it.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a way to start my reading journey of 2026. This was heartbreaking to its core, Tawny was truly living in horror until she decided not to anymore. The story and imagery that came with it made this another intense read by Powell that sucked me in from the beginning!

[Lisa van Dam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how easy to they are to read. As in you finish them fast. Short horror storys i love it. Also i hope she was able to make it out… the mom and kyle had it coming…. The brothers didnt… and im kinda sad tawny didnt see flesh melting of bones..

[Jaiden Harding · Rating 5 out of 5]

Violent, raw, and heartbreaking. A tough one to get through and not for the faint of heart.

I’ll be thinking of Tawny for some time after finishing this. Hug your kids.

[SJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

R.J is one my favorite authors. And her books never disappoint. But this one had me in my feelings. 🥲

This book was brutal, heartbreaking, and hard to put down.

[Jojobean_reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

horrific and heartbreaking

[William Becker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like a coming of age story out of hell, Baby Bones made my stomach churn.

[☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ · Rating 5 out of 5]

this one had me in my feelings.
hit close to home.

[Lizi McIntosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jesus fucking Christ that was heavy!
Solidifies my choice of never having children though, that was heartbreaking yet disturbing and I am here for it. Absolutely love R.J Powell 💅🏻

[Rainbeaux Harvest · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yikes

I'm speechless! Tawny got a little spice in her. She does not have thoughts like other kids. This girl has a crappy life.

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is kind of a waste of time. Nothing happens. It’s just gore. No story to speak of. I guess some people like that. I was bored.

[LADY BUGG · Rating 5 out of 5]

When fucked up intrusive thoughts win.

RJ nails everything she writes. well done!

[sigourney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda wondering if the author is mentally ok lol, it was an easy read, short but still enough depth

[Tee Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lol

Aww good horrible read Tawny is not a nice little girl. This a good short read. I really wish it was a novel. She got what she deserved at the end.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

LOVED this

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

wtf

[..: · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was so so so sad.

[Dee Readz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a sad story I felt so bad for tawny it’s as though she understood but was also too young to understand, she definitely had deep seeded issues and needed counselling because all the signs were there and the school noticed and her dad but because her mother defended it as normal I guess that’s how it got to that point