Devil's Jawbone

by B.J. Sheppard

As night descends on the town of Devil's Jawbone, no one is safe. The veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest, and the darkest side of human nature is boiling to the surface. The supernatural and the natural are colliding, and in this sleepy town, the bump in the night is taking human form. Innocence will be lost; the villain will become the victor; spirits will rise and Satan himself will come to town. In an eerie collection of short speculative fiction, author BJ Sheppard will grab your imagination, bringing new life to the classic campfire tales synonymous with the scariest of occasions. Halloween will never be the same again.

Genres: Horror, M M Romance

182 pages, Paperback

Published October 28, 2015

About the author

I'm new to this game, so bear with me while I struggle my way blindly through, with only the help of half a road map and a crystal ball that's more paper-weight than portent. This series of short stories is a nice respite from the Shakespearean melodramas I usually produce, and I hope they give you half the laughs they gave me when I wrote them. More of the series will be available soon, so drop by and check them out when they find their way our of my brain and onto a page.

Reviews

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I think BJ's passport bears many stamps from the border crossing station between the two. This collection blew my mind. At times while reading it I was one or all of the following; sure he's completely off his rocker, convinced that he's a serial killer of the most gruesome persuasion, desperately wanting to be his BFF and live in his basement. Oh, and positive that he is a supersmart, brilliant beyond words rock star of a writer. Well, I already knew that.
Devil's Jawbone is the kind of anthology that'll keep you up at night, afraid of every noise you hear. It'll make you cringe, cheer, cry, curse and cower in a corner. My favorites by the end (and as I read each story, IT became my favorite du jour) are Monsters Ball and Midnight in Eden, because, well... read 'em and find out.
The combination of B.J. Sheppard's wonderfully twisted sense of humor and warped depravity make for a great read. I have read all of BJ's work. I've edited most of it. He writes romance you want to believe in. He writes comedy that make you laugh til you cry, horror to rival any big name in the business. His ability to move between these sub-genres and to weave them together so seamlessly is what makes his work so compulsively readable. I can't wait to see what comes next. (Hopefully it has a little something to do with an e-zine reporter and his mail-Manny. Just sayin'.)

[Bookworm of the Damned · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here's my Youtube book review for "Devil's Jawbone!"

https://youtu.be/6hoU_fd8mgg

[multitaskingmomma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Original Blog Post: Review Request: Devil's Jawbone by BJ Sheppard

Review by: multitaskingmomma
My Rating: 5 of 5 Stars



There is something about an anthology of horror stories—campfire-type-of-stories—that makes it impossible for me to get back to the real world. Some of the stories make no sense but make perfect sense, and some make perfect sense but make no sense at all. It boggles the logical mind. What makes this the perfect read is—it makes the reader react. Some nicely like, 'holy cow!' or 's**t' and then there's the, 'wtfh????' followed by the, 'holycraps!'

There are eleven tales of horror and extreme here. Some are shorter than others. Some are longer. I cannot review each one for fear of spoiling the details. This is too good to spoil. One thing is certain: they all make the goosebumpbs bump and the mind shut down in terror.

Devil's Jawbone is now on my list of favorite horror books. Read if you dare.

Note: eARC provided by Pride Promotions for an terrifying honest review.

[Vivian]

Pretty, pretty cover.
Vengeance how I love thee.

Legion
Likes shades of ancient Greece they observe, sharing as one until they tear the veil and let loose vengeance. Nice set up for the group of stories.

What Lies Beneath
The Lion and the Lamb
Long Pig
Monster's Ball
The Ties That Bind Us
Midnight in Eden
Hooked on You Highway East-11
May Contain Nuts
The Devil at the Crossroads

[Sarina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review written for Love Bytes Reviews

Oh my god. Just seriously, oh my god. Devil’s Jawbone is not a quaint little town, it is not a vacation destination and I’m sure if there were any yelp reviews they would all be one stars and something along the lines ‘abandon all hope ye who enter here’ or ‘just run very far away’. Going into this book I thought I had a good grasp of what a horror story was but before I was even halfway through the stories in this collection I was proved wrong. So very, very wrong. There are eleven stories in this book that I’ve heard compared to the type of horror ‘campfire stories’ that people used to hear as children. All I can say is that these aren’t like any tales that I ever heard. I think there are maybe two stories in the collection where someone doesn’t end up dead and in the remaining stories there is still some form of torture.

The first story in the book, Legion, was a good first glimpse of the town though it did leave me with more questions than answers; I also found myself expecting to read something that dealt more with ghosts but that wasn’t the case. The tales that followed were varied and dealt with a laundry list of different horror story types from the murderer in the woods to a mad scientist conducting sci-fi like experiments. The last story is what brought the book together, however, and finally explained just what was going on with Devil’s Jawbone, which I thought was awesome. Now, while this is also a m/m book, in most of the stories that aspect is a background thing and nothing is really shown as far as sexual content is concerned; the focus of the stories is horror, plain and simple. I did enjoy the anthology and if I had read it in the dark I’d probably be worried about my dreams later ( I am not ashamed to admit that I’m still fairly horrified by one story, Long Pig and probably will be for a while.) but this isn’t a book for everyone. You really need to love horror stories to get the most out of this collection and if too much murder and gore sends you running for the hills (or the bathroom) I’d steer clear of this one.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

So while I really liked this authors writing there were a few things that did not make sense to me in this book.
So I know it is a bunch of horror stories in one book all in this one town but the part I don't get is all these murders are happening and I mean a lot but no one finds anything weird about it at all? No cops nothing.. There were also a few stories that left me feeling confused and few that were just too gory for even me. I guess from my stand point I wanted to know why all these people in this town were either serial killers or other monsters that go bump in the night. But because this book really did freak me out and I know I will not be going through any small towns at night now for awhile or feel comfortable shutting my lights of tonight lol I want to give this book 4 stars. I just needed a little bit more to understand why all these people in this small town were evil and crazy.

So all together I really did like most of these horror stories! This book is perfect for Halloween!
I received this book free in exchange for an honest review from Inked Rainbow Reads.

[Louisa Mae · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a copy this book in return for an honest review. Right, now I have that cleared up and out of the way, I can start to tell you just how much I LOVED this book.

The author is new to me, so obviously I jumped at the chance to read something different, and different is the right word, although it’s not enough to explain how unique the world of The Devils Jawbone is. It’s almost as if you’ve stepped through the looking glass, but you’re in a parallel universe where you really need to be very, very careful what you wish for, and who you trust.

Each story is unique in its concept, characters and overall theme, although there is an underlying theme of horror and suspense woven through. With each story being short, it would be easy to miss out the small details that you have the time to put into a longer story, but they are packed in here without losing anything.

I was totally drawn into each story, and there were many twists and turns which, again with a limited amount of words is a real talent. There were moments of pure brilliance in each of the stories where I marvelled at the intricacy and depth of the emotions and feelings they brought out in those words.

Devils Jawbone is not like any other town, and the people inhabiting it should beware, for those things that lurk in the dark and go bump in the night are the least of their worries. The dangers are real and live amongst them, interwoven into the fabric of the town so deep it would be impossible to remove it.

The last story gave me a real ‘eureka’ moment and it the whole collection of stories took on a new angle for me, but I think everyone will get something different, which is the beauty of this book, even though when I did ask, my suspicion was neither confirmed or denied. This only means I will read again with a whole new, more experienced eyes.

I have a high tolerance for horror and I will be honest, there was only one part that made me wince slightly, but there was nothing too graphic in my eyes with this, everything fit the story perfectly and was well placed. Be prepared for some jaw dropping moments when you will go, OMG did that really happen?!

This is one author I am going to be adding to my favourites list, and definitely look forward to reading more from him.