Please Remain Seated

by Marcus Kliewer

From the author of the horror sensation We Used to Live Here and The Caretaker comes a bingeable and perfectly unsettling audio collection of three brand-new short stories, taking listeners all the way from a nightmareish flight through unfriendly skies to a submarine in the darkest depths of the ocean.

In Please Remain Seated, a young woman misses her flight home, and in her desperation to rebook, accepts a ticket on an airline she’s never heard of. She soon discovers she is the only passenger.

Backroads opens with a car somewhere deep in the woods of the Pacific Northwest, a disoriented driver spins out off the road after hitting…something. Calling out to offer help, what he finds is not a creature in need, but a dangerous, inexplicable predator, and a life-or-death chase begins.

And Anomaly brings listeners on a deep-sea a first-time diver joins an experienced crew on what should be a simple mission—before all goes horribly wrong.

This collection of stories, all never before published, is the first original audiobook by Marcus Kliewer, “titan of the macabre and unsettling” (Erin A. Craig, #1 New York Times bestselling author).

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Audiobook, Adult, Anthologies, Short Story Collection, Paranormal

Audible Audio

First published September 22, 2026

About the author

Marcus Kliewer is a writer and stop-motion animator. His debut novel We Used to Live Here began life as a serialized short story on Reddit, where it won the Scariest Story of 2021 award on the NoSleep forum. Film rights were snapped up by Netflix, and it was acquired by Simon & Schuster for publication even before it had been extended into a full-length novel. He lives in Vancouver, Canada.

Follow him on Instagram @marcus_kliewer for exclusive book updates / writing things / stop motion animation & a lot of pet videos.

Reviews

[Gabby]

I loveeeee Marcus Kliewer's storytelling and I loveeee short horror stories! I love how these were themed after the land, sea, and sky. They were all eerie and creepy and weird. I also really enjoyed the audio experience for these! Lots of cool sound effects, adding to the creepy vibes!

Please Remain Seated - 3/5
Backroads - 4.5/5
Anomaly - 4/5

Here's the reading vlog where I read this book and a few others: https://youtu.be/kg2nVMvRMsI

[Sharmyn]

I really enjoyed all 3 of these short stories, they were certainly “spine-chilling” as the title suggests. The voice actors did a great job and the sound effects really added to the dread filled atmosphere.

Please Remain Seated - 5 stars ⭐️
This one was my favourite, I have a fear of flying so it resonated with me the most. The idea was so cool and unique and I thought the ending was executed perfectly.

Backroads - 4 stars ⭐️
This was super atmospheric, reminded me of Killer on the Road by Stephen Graham Jones. It was a bit more introspective and less scary than the other 2 in my opinion though.

Anomaly - 4.75 stars ⭐️
The shortest of the 3 stories, this was so creepy, felt like a deep sea exploration horror video game. This would have been a 5 star if the main character didn’t offhandedly mention he didn’t know who would feed his cat if he didn’t return home and then I spent the rest of the audiobook worrying about his cat 😅

[Lena]

LET'S
FUCKING
GOOOOOOOO
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

[Scott Neumann]

The title novella is my favorite, like a 'Twilight Zone' episode on steroids.`

[Tucker Almengor]

Have I ever successfully loved a Marcus Kliewer novel? No

Will I be reading this anyway? Duh

[Fern]

Just know this truly pains me… but I was so excited to listen to this on my flight and it actually put me to sleep. I never sleep on planes because I am anxious af. I’ll be eagerly awaiting the next novel, with hopefully more of the style that I love this author for.

[Brandy Leigh]

A very mid collection from a top favorite author.

SKY: Major potential, but I needed MORE. The production was chef’s kiss, though.

LAND: Haunting, but not a subject I gravitate toward

SEA: Honestly? Forgettable

Final verdict: I wanted to love this. Instead… meh I could have lived without it.

[The Morbid Mama ☠︎︎]

This was my first audiobook as a Libro.fm ALC influencer and what an awesome start! I enjoyed Marcus Kliewers other two books, so I just knew this was going to be good. In Please Remain Seated, we get 3 short stories that take place in 3 different elevations: the sky, the land, and the sea. All 3 stories were super eerie and the atmosphere was tangible. As someone who HATES flying, the first story, which is the same as the book title Please Remain Seated, was definitely my top choice of the three! But the other two were equally as terrifying! This was the perfect short story collection for someone who is looking for a quick read and good palette cleanser! So be sure to add this to your list and place your preorder! Yall won’t want to miss it 🥰

Thank you so much Libro.fm for accepting me into the program and for my alc of Please Remain Seated!

[Ash]

Attention passengers, you may face some spooky turbulence when listening to Marcus Kliwer's newest work, Please Remain Seated.
I listened to this via Libro.fm ALC program. Thank you so much for my advanced listener copy.

AFFILIATE LINK: https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?awinm...


All of these stories were fantastic. I loved how immersed I felt with the audiobook. There were sound effects and each story had a new narrator. It truly felt like I was watching a movie in my head. Kliwer always does a fantastic job at making unique and memorable characters.

[Joshua Waselynchuk]

I received the ALC from Librofm. This is three short stories. One told with the backdrop of a plane in the sky, the second on land and third in the sea.

I loved the first story and was genuinely creeped out by it.

The second and third were fine. I do recommend checking it out

[Sammy 💗]

This was creepy at certain points, and I really enjoyed it! The first story was my favorite. But the short story Backroads was especially creepy since I was listening to it while driving and it was dark out.

This audiobook is made up of a few short stories, and I enjoyed them!

[Lauren.booksalways]

Thank you Libro.FM for the gifted ALC!

Marcus is one of my favorite authors and these three short stories were perfect! The creep factor was strong, they make you think, and it was a perfect treat to start the fall season off with.

Highly recommend

[QHuong(BookSpy)]

Lần đầu tiên, chính thức lần đầu tiên nghe audiobook. Không quá khó khăn như mình nghĩ :)))
Hiệu ứng âm thanh tuyệt vời luôn. Giọng đọc rất truyền cảm. Từng nhân vật rõ lời thoại, sắc thái.


1. Please remain seated: Lily missed her flight and was rebooked for a flight of a different airline. This flight is super weird, with cross attendants whose behaviours are very strange. The safety rules on this plane are also unexplained. Lily must remain at her own seat, as well as remain silent when necessary. Lily is the only passenger on this plane. There are also weird noises and sounds that she can't understand where they come from. I like the isolated atmosphere which is really creepy and unnerving. The whole thing, never-heard-of online airline, this flight where there are no passengers, strange behavior of the crew and also being treated quite cruelly by the flight attendant, is like a surreal dream. Until Lily realizes the truth. She is the prey. A decoy. For a much much more terrifying thing than anyone can ever imagine. The entire final scene is the culmination of both stupidity and sudden clarity from Lily. Why on earth must she push the call button any way? I understand her reason, but it involves lives of other people too. And by clarity, I mean "brilliant" - quick thinking and taking risks.
These aren't just invisible monsters with vague, undefined forms. We get to see exactly how terrifying they really are. The descriptions paint a picture of a bloodthirsty, deformed creature that's drawn to sound and can mimic other people.
I'm still amazed that the pilot ended up being the safest person on the entire flight.

2. Backroads:

[Courtney]

𝖳𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖼𝗋𝖾𝖾𝗉𝗒 𝖼𝗈𝗅𝗅𝖾𝖼𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇 𝗈𝖿 𝗍𝗁𝗋𝖾𝖾 𝗌𝗁𝗈𝗋𝗍 𝗌𝗍𝗈𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗌 𝗍𝖺𝗄𝖾𝗌 𝗎𝗌 𝗈𝗇 𝖺 𝗍𝗁𝗋𝗂𝗅𝗅𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗃𝗈𝗎𝗋𝗇𝖾𝗒 𝗍𝗁𝗋𝗈𝗎𝗀𝗁 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗌𝗄𝗒, 𝗅𝖺𝗇𝖽, 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗌𝖾𝖺. 𝖤𝖺𝖼𝗁 𝗌𝗍𝗈𝗋𝗒 𝗂𝗌 𝗇𝖺𝗂𝗅-𝖻𝗂𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀𝗅𝗒 𝗀𝗈𝗈𝖽, 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝗂𝗍𝗌 𝗈𝗐𝗇 𝗇𝖺𝗋𝗋𝖺𝗍𝗈𝗋 𝖽𝖾𝗅𝗂𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖺𝗇 𝖾𝗑𝖼𝖾𝗅𝗅𝖾𝗇𝗍 𝗉𝖾𝗋𝖿𝗈𝗋𝗆𝖺𝗇𝖼𝖾.

✈️ 𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃: A woman is trying to get home, but after delayed and missed flights, she feels hopeless. Then, a flight boarding at the farthest, darkest end of the airport opens up. She gets there in the nick of time but is surprised to find that she is the only passenger.

🚗 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊𝐑𝐎𝐀𝐃𝐒: In the Pacific Northwest, a driver accidentally hits something in the road and finds himself in a bizarre situation. 

🌊 𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐘: A first-time diver is retrieving an underwater collection in the ocean with a crew when things go wrong.

𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗿𝘁, 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗽𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝘂𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗼𝗸𝘆 𝘀𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻, 𝙋𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙍𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙎𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗿.

[Krissy (books_and_biceps9155)]

Thank you @macmillian.audio for my copy! I have a love/hate relationship with Kliewer and this didn’t help LOL Three short stories from different modalities: air, land, sea. I thought that was interesting and I enjoyed the mix of all locations.

Please Remain Seated was my favorite and made me LOL . I mean…one pretzel. It sent me. Sosie Bacon is awesome and she has the perfect amount of biatch to her voice.

Backroads was a bit darker and sad. War time stories/combat PTSD are always hard for me. I felt for Reed. Love the baritone of Jeremy Bobb. He could put me to sleep.

Anomaly was just silly and honestly, didn’t keep my attention. Kyle Beltran…was perfect for this and that’s all I will say

[K]

This was fun! I wish each story was longer and had a bit more character development. But each story was a fun little psychological romp that I enjoyed!

[Babbie]

Disappointing.

[Christina Faris (books_by_the_bottle)]

Thank you to Atria and Simon & Schuster audio originals for the ALC!

Three short stories, three different ways to scare me 😆

The first story puts you on a flight where a woman realizes she’s the only passenger…which is already creepy! Then we’re thrown into the woods for a an encounter with something that definitely should NOT be there, and the last story journies deep into the ocean where things go very wrong...

This was such a spooky little treat!! I loved how unsettling these stories were. They’re short, atmospheric, and each one is just enough to get under your skin. I highly recommend this for spooky season!!

“Please Remain Seated” releases September 22, 2026! This review will be shared to my Instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly :)

[Addicted To Books]

I’m a HUGE fan of Marcus Kliewer and absolutely loved his other two books, so obviously I had pretty high hopes for his short stories. And while this collection definitely delivered some of his trademark “WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL?!” moments, in the end it was a bit more hit-or-miss for me 😬🫣🤷🏻‍♀️.

„Please Remain Seated“ is a collection of three short stories and all three are completely different: one takes place in the air, one on land and one deep beneath the sea. And honestly … they’re ALL pretty damn out there 😅😂 Every single story goes completely over the top in its own way but unfortunately not all of them managed to hold my attention 🤷🏻‍♀️.

The first story “Please Remain Seated” was absolutely NUTTERS … and I LOVED it 🤭😂❤️ This was exactly the kind of weird, disturbing, WTF madness I was hoping for and I was hooked and had absolutely no idea where it was going. It was easily my favourite of the three!!!

The other two were much more of a mixed bag for me. There were definitely creepy and unsettling moments and Kliewer’s imagination is clearly still operating on a completely different level 😅 but both stories went so far into what-the-hell-land that I sometimes found myself more confused than invested.

The audiobook, though? ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT 🎧❤️ The narration was fantastic but the background noises and sound effects really took it to another level. They created such an immersive atmosphere that it often felt like I was experiencing the scenes rather than simply listening to someone tell me a story. Absolutely perfect for this kind of horror!!!

My biggest complaint is actually that it was WAY too short. 😂 I could have happily listened to several more hours of these weird little nightmares … especially if they had the same completely bonkers energy as the first story!!!

So, compared with the two books of Kliewer’s that I absolutely adored and devoured within one sitting this collection didn’t quite hit the same for me. It felt a little all over the place and the three stories were very different in terms of how much I enjoyed them.

But that first story? HOLY SHIT!!! 😂🤯

Marcus Kliewer remains firmly on my author-to-watch list. Because when this man goes completely off the rails, he REALLY goes off the rails … and I love everything about it 😅❤️🖤 And honestly … that first story alone deserves a round of applause for being completely and gloriously BONKERS 😂🤯🫪🤣😂👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻!!!

[Amanda (spooky.octopus.reads) Turner]

✈️𝙋𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙍𝙚𝙢𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙎𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙// 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘒𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘦𝘳✈️ ⁣
⁣
Marcus Kliewer had solidified himself as an auto-buy, I have to have everything he writes, author for me with 𝘞𝘦 𝘜𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘓𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦 and 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳, and this short story collection only added to my obsession. ⁣
⁣
This collection is available exclusively in audio format. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about that, but it was totally immersive and held my attention. The first story, the namesake of the book, was my absolute favorite of the collection. The atmosphere as set not only with Kliewer’s masterful language, but the background sounds and narration made me feel just like I was on the airplane with the MC. And, goodness, I’m so glad I wasn’t on that plane because hooollllyyyy terrifying!!!! Since it’s a short story, I don’t want to give away too much, but if I ever had a flight like that, I think you’d find me locked in a cabinet somewhere, hyperventilating. ⁣
⁣
The other two stories were pretty solid as well, but I didn’t feel like they had the same punch and creativity as the first. The second story was a land based story, and the third took place on a diving expedition (felt a little claustrophobic listening to that one). Together the stories proved that horrors truly can exist anywhere! ⁣
⁣
🖤🖤🖤🖤💕/5 ⁣
⁣
💫 Thank you @atriabooks and @simonaudio for my ALC of this amazing collection.

[Geneva.Bookdiary]

👻🎧 Please Remain Seated by Marcus Kliewer — ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

If you loved We Used to Live Here, then you’ll probably want to add this one to your TBR!

This is a collection of three short, spine-chilling stories, and it’s an audio-only release, which honestly made the experience so much better. The sound effects really pulled me into the stories. If someone was crawling, you could actually HEAR them crawling. 😳 It made certain moments extra creepy and definitely gave me a few “WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING?!” moments.

I especially loved the first story. It gave me major Goosebumps vibes and reminded me of being younger and reading something that was just creepy enough to keep me completely hooked. 👻

The stories are quick, fast-paced, and definitely have that supernatural/spooky element. I never really knew where things were going, which made this such a fun listen.

If you enjoy short stories, supernatural reads, creepy audio experiences, or books that make you sit there wondering WTF just happened, I think you’ll really enjoy this one!

📚 Releases September 22nd

4 ⭐️ — creepy, quick, supernatural, and SO much better with the sound effects. 🎧👻

[♡•☆Mint☆•♡]

3.5⭐️

I really enjoyed this graphic audiobook collection!

I'm a massive Marcus Kliewer fan, and when I heard that this was coming out this year, I was hyped. And I had so much fun listening to these creepy stories.

In the first story, please remain seated, we follow a girl whose flight gets canceled, and she has to go on another flight. It turns out that she is the only passenger on this flight, and on this flight, she has to follow these really weird rules.

This was the only story out of the three that doesn't take place in the We Used to live here and the caretaker world (old house world), and I really enjoyed it. Super interesting concept, and I was hooked.

The other two stories are in the same world, though. And I really enjoyed them aswell. I just thought that the second story, backroads, was kinda boring.

Overall, I enjoyed this, and I'm looking toward to what Marcus Kliewer writes in the future.

[Kera’s Always Reading]

This was awesome! You get a little of everything in here. These stories are imaginative and scary, and they are each so different. The immersive audio gave so much suspense and fear. The narrators were incredible.

My personal favorite was the titular story “Please Remain Seated.” It was supernatural. It was terrifying. It was NUTS! I want more of this story so badly.
“Backroads” was scary for an entirely different reason. Putting you in the headspace of what haunts you when you’re alone with your thoughts…
“Anomaly” was short, but powerful, taking you to the depths of the ocean where, I’m sorry… but nothing good ever happens. Deep sea horror is some of my absolute favorite and I would love to see this one expanded.

This was an awesome audiobook, all around.

[Katie]

4.25 stars!
I have read everything by this author thus far, so I was intrigued when I saw this was announced even though I am not generally an audio only kind of person for fiction horror stories. I am glad I picked it up though, because it was quite entertaining! The audiobook was produced so well that it actually added to the 3 stories - with sound effects and some light acting from some of voice actors to make it feel more real. Much like any other collection of short stories, I found I enjoyed some more than others but overall the collection felt cohesive and I was happy to see this author write more of a "creature feature" type story rather than the supernatural stories I have read from him so far. It is definitely worth the quick listen!

[ᯓ★ emely ⋆˚✿˖°]

2,5/5 ⭐️

marcus kliewer really said "keep it one hundred on the land, the sky, the sea", huh?

please remain seated was definitely the strongest story out of the three and the only one that really left an impression on me. the other two just felt a little too messy and muddled (the ideas behind them were great though). wouldn't exactly recommend but it's a fun enough pastime.

please remain seated - 4/5 ⭐️
backroads - 2/5 ⭐️
anomaly - 2,5/5 ⭐️

[Chris M.]

The production on the audible version was nicely done. The stories themselves were okay. They weren't great, but they weren't terrible either. They were entertaining enough, but there was nothing that really stood out. The only thing that I noticed was that the main character in the story "Please Remain Seated" was very similar to the main character in his other novel "Caretaker". I would recommend if you like horror anthologies, but that's really it.

[Lex Miller]

Not giving Marcus 5 ⭐️’s hurts me. The first story was amazing and I want so much more from before, middle, and after. I would eat it up. I think this one just gave me all the insane weirdness I crave.

The other two were not huge hits for me but that doesn’t change the fact that Marcus is truly an amazing writer 🖤

[Sarah]

I just finished this and only am now realizing that it was released 4 days ago - what a keener.

This was a spooky time! The first story was definitely my favourite and the most entertaining (the single pretzel really got me). The second was spooky and lowkey had a lot to say about the experience of veterans, and the third was very meh.

[KDub]

Well, this was a little disappointing. Please Remain Seated is a set of 3 short stories, one set in the air, one on land, and one in the deep sea. Please Remain Seated (air) is definitely the weirdest, and Anomaly (deep sea) is the creepiest/most claustrophobic. But all three failed to completely capture my attention. I may give it another shot sometime since it’s fairly short.

The audiobook's narration and audio production are excellent. The sound effects make it truly immersive.

Thank you to Libro and S&S Audio for the ALC.

[Alli Marion]

Marcus WHAT are they feeding you?!


Spooky spookyyy