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Walking Alone: Short Stories
From the mind of the man Stephen King calls "a master of the macabre" comes a brilliant new collection of no-punches-pulled horror stories, some never-before-collected and many originals that have never been published anywhere before. In "Sticky Note," Gary finds a note with two simple words on it in the Kill her. Was it part of someone's to-do list? Bentley Little tells us where this yellow square piece of paper takes Gary in a way that only he can. A bad confrontation with a maid at a fancy resort leads a couple on a chilling journey they never dreamed would happen. "The Maid" may make you think twice about asking the front desk for extra towels or complaining about anything ever again. You'll never think of small-town rodeos the same way after reading "The Last Rodeo on the Circuit," and neither will Rob and Teena after they decide to take in the local bizarre entertainment in an unscheduled stop along their road trip to Vegas. Would you anonymously write your negative thoughts about your friends in a slam book? What if the words you wrote changed things? "Slam Dance" shows you what the consequences of that might be. Sometimes, a "Palm Reader" knows more than they're willing to reveal to their customers, chilling things that their clients don't really want to know. Would you tell them anyway? Snowmen aren't scary, right? Hal and April Katz are out on a wintery drive when they see a snowman on the side of the road. Then another that looks almost the same a few miles later. And then, hundreds of snowmen around the next bend. You might think snowmen aren't scary, but "Snow" will prove you dead wrong. Bentley Little can take the innocuous, twist it around, and write a story that will change your way of thinking. Walking Short Stories is a shining example of his talent to scare you, creep you out, and make you shudder. Table of Milk Ranch Point Snow Children's Hospital Palm Reader Slam Dance Last Rodeo on the Circuit The Car Wash The Feeb The Mall Hunting The Piano Player has no Fingers The Man Who Watched Cartoons Apt Punishment Black Friday MoNA Retrospective, Los Angeles Jorgensen's Fence The Silence of Trees Sticky Note The Smell of Overripe Loquats The Maid Schoolgirls Under Midwest Skies Pictures of Huxley My College Admission Essay Pool, Air Conditioning, Free HBO The Train A Random Thought from God's Day
Kindle Edition
First published July 13, 2018
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About the author
Bentley Little
135 books2,570 followersBentley Little is an American author of horror fiction. Publishing an average of a novel a year since 1990, Little avoids publicity and rarely does promotional work or interviews for his writing.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 99 reviews
December 13, 2025
This is why I love Bentley little. Great collection of short stories. Very varied but all on the same vein. I really enjoyed it.
October 10, 2018
Walking Alone is another hit for Bentley Little. All of the stories launch at a rapid pace and kept me engaged. Each story takes the ordinary world we are mostly content with and turns it on its ear. I would have given five stars, but I felt many of the stories just ended without a satisfying, creepy twist.
May 16, 2021
This is a collection of short stories (and some are very short indeed), so there is a variety of horrors. There were some stories I enjoyed and many that I didn't like at all. I think that short stories may just be too short for me. I like to get to know the characters and live in the story. So this was just ok for me.
September 9, 2018
Ah. Eh.
What you have here, though I wasn't aware when I started reading this, is a collection of stories that are (generally?) early-and-uncollected or new by Bentley Little, he who writes novels with the definite-article-then-a-noun titling (The Novel, The Book, The Spookums). Even at his best, which I have only touched upon in my scant reading of his book-a-year-or-so output, I am mostly just-ok with Little. I like his twisted asides, the sense of horror-as-satire-for-the-middle-class-suburbanite, his dedication to making something banal into something that is still sort of banal but also a-bit-to-a-lot creepy. I am not so ok with his tendency to drag things out, to dwell too long on what I might call the emasculation of his protagonists, and the sense that some of his satire is perhaps too sneering. Again, I have touched only like three of his books, so maybe I have hit upon only the ones that have these qualities, but I suspect my assumption that it is more the normal mode than not is correct.
And this collection fairly backs me up.
As said, though, my chief pet peeve while reading is the way things are drawn out, so I figured this stack of short, slight tales might cure it a little. And they are slight. You can easily read two or four in a sitting, finish one off on even the quickest bus ride to work, or squeeze one out during your morning...constitutional. Few of them really challenge the reader, most are pretty plain languaged and are designed around a character encountering some mid-to-high-concept horror pretty much immediately and then reaching a point without resolution as the next story starts. They are set pieces, sometimes reading nearly like pitches for longer works, and rarely do they do much to go into background or fine details. This is a boon and a bane.
Like any collection, you have hits and misses. Generally, though, the misses and near-misses seem to dominate this collection which is about half-and-half pre-heyday Little and post-heyday Little (many are from before his first novel, with a scattering of stories from the 90s and such, and then the last half are generally 2016-2017). Some, such as "Sticky Note," hide the fact they are misses by barely starting - in this case a man finds a post-it-note saying, "Kill her," and later obsesses over his wife possibly cheating on him, but there is little to chew on here because he mostly just thinks a lot about the note and then it ends. Others, such as "The Piano Player has no Fingers," dwell so hard on their failure - the general ick of a convicted man's ex-wife being a demon and the sappy, "I will always love her," with a quasi-happy ending being neither compelling and also a bit...locker-roomy - that I found myself exasperated to keep reading.
And the misses pile on. Such as the "The Feeb," about an abandoned kid with developmental issues fucking a fungus woman and blighting crops (and by Gorn, it should be offensive, but it has so little substance it is hard to care). Or the one about the killer snowmen ("The Snow"). Or the pompous-ass one about Black Friday shopping ("Black Friday") that could have been good had it gone full tilt but instead is just essentially about people getting crazy for deals on Black Friday and some people getting really crazy for deals. You have the college admissions essay that tosses in weird clown abuse and includes infanticide but is told with so little impact that you mostly care about flipping fast through its half dozen pages just to move on from it. Lord, and the "take that, #metoo!" story where the young girl is the real perpetrator of sexual violence against an older man ("The Man Who Watched Cartoons"). And near misses like "Children's Hospital," which is about vampires, but really doesn't do anything for anyone, or "The Silence of the Trees," which could be sort of a good weird-noir only it barely gets weird before it checks out, rarely fill the gaps in between.
In several cases, especially in the post-1990 stories, there is just this sense of Little as an angry old man shaking his fist at those gang-bangers and uppity, murderous youth and poverty-stricken neighborhoods and nagging slut-wives and saying, "back in my day..."
However, there are some good stories in here, and often good in different ways (while the bad tend to be all bad for the same sins*). For instance, you have "The Smell of Overripe Loquats," which deals with a new, wrong religion and, marred as it is by the short and pointless theological asides and by the sexual aspects of the ritual using teenage "slutty-looking girls" [Little's words, not mine], I still liked it. You have "The Last Rodeo on the Circuit," that is nonsensical but effective and any more details would probably would have killed it. You have "The Mall," where a young boy pines for an abusive father to return to his life. You have "MoNA Retrospective, Los Angeles," that is kind of a overblown parody of modern art that goes nowhere but actually lands most of its punches. You have "Car Wash," about a car wash that seems to be a deadly spot for young kids and might also be about how youth is chewed up to feed older generations. And you have "Schoolgirls," the most get-off-my-lawn story of all the old-man-Little stories, but something about actually made me enjoy it.
I don't think I really have a favorite, maybe "Overripe Loquats" if anything, but I did have a few that I really enjoyed. And several of the near-misses, such as "Pictures of Huxley," and "Hunting," I appreciated for their using the subtle brush of near-horror-tropes to deal with issues in mostly a non-horror way (even though "Hunting" is once again ultimately a slut-wife and emasculated man story).
Overall, skip this one and read, if you must "The Collection," instead. Cover price isn't really worth the gems, though if you do buy it try out "Overripe Loquats" and "Schoolgirls" and "Last Rodeo". Those I'd recommend.
* With apologies to Tolstoy. In this case, the sins include: too much gleaming for the reader with "clever" satire**, too fixated on emasculating the protagonist***, too comfortable in tossing cookie-cutter weird shit out to try and unsuccessfully hide bad writing and worse dialogue****
** In one story, "Under Midwest Skies," a New Yorker is harassed by a town where all of the inhabitants are turned into blood-thirsty sheep. And just in case you didn't catch the reference, it includes two explanations: one as the protagonist talks about "I understand why such folks would give into propaganda," and another where he muses on why we call easily lead people "sheep". Also, the next town he runs into are a bunch of chickens. Literally. Christ almighty. And then you have the one about a neighbor in a nice neighborhood turning homeless people into boards so he can make a pretty fence to keep people out (and he uses Swedish technology...ha HA...IKEA, get it!?)
*** I know I said "emasculating" twice in this review already, and that should normally get your hackles up if I don't offer proof, but in "The Maid," not only does a man throw a hissy-fit because the (as Little feels the need to point out) attractive Latino maid doesn't bring him complimentary hair-conditioner right away, but later surprises him in the shower *just* to mock the size of his penis.
**** Look, I'm a fan of weird shit, but sometimes just having a fat man crawl backwards after stealing your ice bucket to wear as a hat ("Pool, Air Conditioning, Free HBO") after a dwarf waggles his engorged penis at your wife isn't really impactful unless you find a way to resonate that, nor does having a diorama about lumberjacks and their women really sell a weird-shit story just because one of them has a slightly larger leg ("The Train").
What you have here, though I wasn't aware when I started reading this, is a collection of stories that are (generally?) early-and-uncollected or new by Bentley Little, he who writes novels with the definite-article-then-a-noun titling (The Novel, The Book, The Spookums). Even at his best, which I have only touched upon in my scant reading of his book-a-year-or-so output, I am mostly just-ok with Little. I like his twisted asides, the sense of horror-as-satire-for-the-middle-class-suburbanite, his dedication to making something banal into something that is still sort of banal but also a-bit-to-a-lot creepy. I am not so ok with his tendency to drag things out, to dwell too long on what I might call the emasculation of his protagonists, and the sense that some of his satire is perhaps too sneering. Again, I have touched only like three of his books, so maybe I have hit upon only the ones that have these qualities, but I suspect my assumption that it is more the normal mode than not is correct.
And this collection fairly backs me up.
As said, though, my chief pet peeve while reading is the way things are drawn out, so I figured this stack of short, slight tales might cure it a little. And they are slight. You can easily read two or four in a sitting, finish one off on even the quickest bus ride to work, or squeeze one out during your morning...constitutional. Few of them really challenge the reader, most are pretty plain languaged and are designed around a character encountering some mid-to-high-concept horror pretty much immediately and then reaching a point without resolution as the next story starts. They are set pieces, sometimes reading nearly like pitches for longer works, and rarely do they do much to go into background or fine details. This is a boon and a bane.
Like any collection, you have hits and misses. Generally, though, the misses and near-misses seem to dominate this collection which is about half-and-half pre-heyday Little and post-heyday Little (many are from before his first novel, with a scattering of stories from the 90s and such, and then the last half are generally 2016-2017). Some, such as "Sticky Note," hide the fact they are misses by barely starting - in this case a man finds a post-it-note saying, "Kill her," and later obsesses over his wife possibly cheating on him, but there is little to chew on here because he mostly just thinks a lot about the note and then it ends. Others, such as "The Piano Player has no Fingers," dwell so hard on their failure - the general ick of a convicted man's ex-wife being a demon and the sappy, "I will always love her," with a quasi-happy ending being neither compelling and also a bit...locker-roomy - that I found myself exasperated to keep reading.
And the misses pile on. Such as the "The Feeb," about an abandoned kid with developmental issues fucking a fungus woman and blighting crops (and by Gorn, it should be offensive, but it has so little substance it is hard to care). Or the one about the killer snowmen ("The Snow"). Or the pompous-ass one about Black Friday shopping ("Black Friday") that could have been good had it gone full tilt but instead is just essentially about people getting crazy for deals on Black Friday and some people getting really crazy for deals. You have the college admissions essay that tosses in weird clown abuse and includes infanticide but is told with so little impact that you mostly care about flipping fast through its half dozen pages just to move on from it. Lord, and the "take that, #metoo!" story where the young girl is the real perpetrator of sexual violence against an older man ("The Man Who Watched Cartoons"). And near misses like "Children's Hospital," which is about vampires, but really doesn't do anything for anyone, or "The Silence of the Trees," which could be sort of a good weird-noir only it barely gets weird before it checks out, rarely fill the gaps in between.
In several cases, especially in the post-1990 stories, there is just this sense of Little as an angry old man shaking his fist at those gang-bangers and uppity, murderous youth and poverty-stricken neighborhoods and nagging slut-wives and saying, "back in my day..."
However, there are some good stories in here, and often good in different ways (while the bad tend to be all bad for the same sins*). For instance, you have "The Smell of Overripe Loquats," which deals with a new, wrong religion and, marred as it is by the short and pointless theological asides and by the sexual aspects of the ritual using teenage "slutty-looking girls" [Little's words, not mine], I still liked it. You have "The Last Rodeo on the Circuit," that is nonsensical but effective and any more details would probably would have killed it. You have "The Mall," where a young boy pines for an abusive father to return to his life. You have "MoNA Retrospective, Los Angeles," that is kind of a overblown parody of modern art that goes nowhere but actually lands most of its punches. You have "Car Wash," about a car wash that seems to be a deadly spot for young kids and might also be about how youth is chewed up to feed older generations. And you have "Schoolgirls," the most get-off-my-lawn story of all the old-man-Little stories, but something about actually made me enjoy it.
I don't think I really have a favorite, maybe "Overripe Loquats" if anything, but I did have a few that I really enjoyed. And several of the near-misses, such as "Pictures of Huxley," and "Hunting," I appreciated for their using the subtle brush of near-horror-tropes to deal with issues in mostly a non-horror way (even though "Hunting" is once again ultimately a slut-wife and emasculated man story).
Overall, skip this one and read, if you must "The Collection," instead. Cover price isn't really worth the gems, though if you do buy it try out "Overripe Loquats" and "Schoolgirls" and "Last Rodeo". Those I'd recommend.
* With apologies to Tolstoy. In this case, the sins include: too much gleaming for the reader with "clever" satire**, too fixated on emasculating the protagonist***, too comfortable in tossing cookie-cutter weird shit out to try and unsuccessfully hide bad writing and worse dialogue****
** In one story, "Under Midwest Skies," a New Yorker is harassed by a town where all of the inhabitants are turned into blood-thirsty sheep. And just in case you didn't catch the reference, it includes two explanations: one as the protagonist talks about "I understand why such folks would give into propaganda," and another where he muses on why we call easily lead people "sheep". Also, the next town he runs into are a bunch of chickens. Literally. Christ almighty. And then you have the one about a neighbor in a nice neighborhood turning homeless people into boards so he can make a pretty fence to keep people out (and he uses Swedish technology...ha HA...IKEA, get it!?)
*** I know I said "emasculating" twice in this review already, and that should normally get your hackles up if I don't offer proof, but in "The Maid," not only does a man throw a hissy-fit because the (as Little feels the need to point out) attractive Latino maid doesn't bring him complimentary hair-conditioner right away, but later surprises him in the shower *just* to mock the size of his penis.
**** Look, I'm a fan of weird shit, but sometimes just having a fat man crawl backwards after stealing your ice bucket to wear as a hat ("Pool, Air Conditioning, Free HBO") after a dwarf waggles his engorged penis at your wife isn't really impactful unless you find a way to resonate that, nor does having a diorama about lumberjacks and their women really sell a weird-shit story just because one of them has a slightly larger leg ("The Train").
September 27, 2020
Not good. Mostly just gross.
December 15, 2020
As with the other collection of stories I've read from Little this was a mix of good stories and why would anyone write this, let alone think I'd want to read it? A couple of the stories seemed completely pointless. However it got three stars because it wasn't all bad.
July 4, 2022
Bentley Little has grown on me over the years. Maybe 20 years ago, I read my first novel by him, The Ignored, and it annoyed me so much, it was very nearly my last.
I'm always looking for new horror writers to add to my list of contemporary favorites: Stephen King, Peter Straub, Joe Lansdale, Robert McCammon, etc., so several years later, I decided to give Little a second chance. The second book I read—I think it was The Town—was a sizable improvement over The Ignored, and I eventually found myself reading a Bentley Little book or two a year as time permitted when I felt like reading a fun, non-demanding book that would keep me entertained.
Walking Alone is the first book of short fiction I've read by Little, and it's good, but not great. Little is more effective in the longer form of the novel where he can dig in and develop his characters, letting them breathe and become human. In these short stories, his characters feel more like game pieces moving from one side of the board to the other.
Another issue I had while reading the collection is that most of the stories feel like gestural sketches, implying the general outline and shape of what might have been a more satisfying story in novel form.
Walking Alone essentially delivers a sampler of "fun size" novels, which, like the diminutive Halloween candy bars, aren't particularly satisfying or all that much "fun."
I'm always looking for new horror writers to add to my list of contemporary favorites: Stephen King, Peter Straub, Joe Lansdale, Robert McCammon, etc., so several years later, I decided to give Little a second chance. The second book I read—I think it was The Town—was a sizable improvement over The Ignored, and I eventually found myself reading a Bentley Little book or two a year as time permitted when I felt like reading a fun, non-demanding book that would keep me entertained.
Walking Alone is the first book of short fiction I've read by Little, and it's good, but not great. Little is more effective in the longer form of the novel where he can dig in and develop his characters, letting them breathe and become human. In these short stories, his characters feel more like game pieces moving from one side of the board to the other.
Another issue I had while reading the collection is that most of the stories feel like gestural sketches, implying the general outline and shape of what might have been a more satisfying story in novel form.
Walking Alone essentially delivers a sampler of "fun size" novels, which, like the diminutive Halloween candy bars, aren't particularly satisfying or all that much "fun."
September 8, 2023
A hit or miss selection of short stories which gives a decent showcase for the author's abilities in the horror genre.
Well, for the most part this was pretty good and there was a good variety of creepy and weird tales to choose from.
In Little's longer fiction that I have read so far he seems to run out of steam or change direction but with short fiction he was able to keep most stories on track and to the point.
Well, for the most part this was pretty good and there was a good variety of creepy and weird tales to choose from.
In Little's longer fiction that I have read so far he seems to run out of steam or change direction but with short fiction he was able to keep most stories on track and to the point.
October 22, 2020
Short story collections are always a gamble in my experience. There have been only a handful that come mind where I've connected with the majority of the stories in a given collection. So, I wasn't disappointed not to have connected entirely with most of the stories in Walking Alone. That said however, Bentley Little has a remarkable ability to extricate the creepiness factor out of any normal situation, such as a snowy weekend getaway for a young couple. The story entitled Snow was especially creepy in the best way.
⭐⭐⭐
⭐⭐⭐
April 10, 2019
Greatest straight-up horror author period.
Bentley Little outshines every modern contemporary in today's horror field, including King. If you want the absolute best in horror, then you need to start reading Bently Little's masterful works.
Bentley Little outshines every modern contemporary in today's horror field, including King. If you want the absolute best in horror, then you need to start reading Bently Little's masterful works.
January 19, 2019
Lets see. How does one describe BENTLEY LITTLE'S newest volume of short stories titled WALKING ALONE? Weird,creepy, and downright good reading! I have been hooked on Mr.Little's book for quite awhile & he never fails to creep me out. This book is a collection of short stories from the past . Published in various media ,they are short and sweet and definitely not recommend to read late at !
night.( Now that I'm done with the book,hopefully, the nightmares will ease up a little! ) Definitely a keeper and re read !
night.( Now that I'm done with the book,hopefully, the nightmares will ease up a little! ) Definitely a keeper and re read !
January 20, 2019
I've always enjoyed Bentley Little's books and excitedly read each one every time I visit my local library. When this showed up, I grabbed it immediately.
A book of short stories, it isnt much different from his typical novels. He has the ability to turn ordinary situations....sinister. or unnerving. Or just downright creepy. These were easy to read through (I finished this book in a day) and held my attention quite well. I wouldnt go so far to say these are the best horror stories but definitely great for when you want something quick or something that will give you a few heebie jeebies.
A book of short stories, it isnt much different from his typical novels. He has the ability to turn ordinary situations....sinister. or unnerving. Or just downright creepy. These were easy to read through (I finished this book in a day) and held my attention quite well. I wouldnt go so far to say these are the best horror stories but definitely great for when you want something quick or something that will give you a few heebie jeebies.
August 24, 2018
Um... I hate to do this but.....
I adore Bentley Little stories so I guess I was let down by these short stories. It was definitely not my favourite anthology and I felt that the majority of the stories felt unfinished. Bentley has an amazingly unique voice and his ideas were gold but somehow they just didn’t translate.
Of the gems, read :
Slam Book
Children’s Hospital
Last Rodeo on the Circuit (my favourite by far)
The Mall
I adore Bentley Little stories so I guess I was let down by these short stories. It was definitely not my favourite anthology and I felt that the majority of the stories felt unfinished. Bentley has an amazingly unique voice and his ideas were gold but somehow they just didn’t translate.
Of the gems, read :
Slam Book
Children’s Hospital
Last Rodeo on the Circuit (my favourite by far)
The Mall
August 23, 2018
I really, really enjoyed this collection.
I have never read a collection with as many creepy, chilling, and yet compelling stories as this.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to walk on the Darkside, for a few hours.
Marc
I have never read a collection with as many creepy, chilling, and yet compelling stories as this.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to walk on the Darkside, for a few hours.
Marc
September 24, 2018
I usually enjoy a Bentley Little book. It’s good entertainment when I want something scary but a quick read. But these short stories were just...I hate to say it but, just bad. Some were stupid, some annoying, some pure “ wtf?” Wish I hadn’t bothered
July 22, 2018
Fantastic collection
Amazing and fascinating collection of unique and creepy short stories. Bentley Little knows how to put in the chill. Loved reading it!
Amazing and fascinating collection of unique and creepy short stories. Bentley Little knows how to put in the chill. Loved reading it!
January 25, 2019
I love Bentley's bizarre stories as always. he is my favorite author!
September 13, 2022
Unfortunately, I do not have a lot positive to say about this compilation of 27 tales. Little’s approach here, it seems, was to come up with a somewhat interesting, often creepy and/or bizarre premise and then write a story about it without much thought toward offering anything unexpected, original, or satisfying.
Imagine, for instance, a premise where a mouse finds itself locked in a cage with a cat. In Little’s hands, the story would go: mouse realizes it is locked in a cage with a cat; the mouse is scared that the cat will eat him; the cat eats the mouse. The end. There are no twists, turns, or fascinating developments. Almost all of these stories proceed in exactly the direction the reader can predict. It’s the literary equivalent of getting into a roller coaster, reaching the top of the incline, and then proceeding in a straight, flat line until the ride ends.
Additionally, a good chunk of these tales conclude (for lack of a better word) very abruptly. I love a good ambiguous ending, especially the kind that leave you shaken and chewing on what might have happened after the last word. Here, however, it seems very much like Little could not come up with an ending himself and decided to just stop writing, leaving the reader with dangling threads that aren’t engaging or interesting enough to mull over.
There are a few rare exceptions: “Palm Reader” shows how the titular character would function as the world is coming to an end; “The Smell of Overripe Loquats” is about a group of kids who create a wish-granting god out of fruit; and “The Maid” revolves around a couple being terrorized by an increasingly inhospitable housekeeper at a resort. But these gems are few and far between.
No doubt Little can write well, and I was hardly ever bored, but these stories fail pretty badly at being memorable, engrossing, or unpredictable, not to mention scary. I understand Little’s earlier The Collection (2002) is a much better compilation of his short fiction. I will have to check that out at some point, because I can see Little’s potential here, but it’s far from fully realized.
Rating: 2 stars (fair)
Imagine, for instance, a premise where a mouse finds itself locked in a cage with a cat. In Little’s hands, the story would go: mouse realizes it is locked in a cage with a cat; the mouse is scared that the cat will eat him; the cat eats the mouse. The end. There are no twists, turns, or fascinating developments. Almost all of these stories proceed in exactly the direction the reader can predict. It’s the literary equivalent of getting into a roller coaster, reaching the top of the incline, and then proceeding in a straight, flat line until the ride ends.
Additionally, a good chunk of these tales conclude (for lack of a better word) very abruptly. I love a good ambiguous ending, especially the kind that leave you shaken and chewing on what might have happened after the last word. Here, however, it seems very much like Little could not come up with an ending himself and decided to just stop writing, leaving the reader with dangling threads that aren’t engaging or interesting enough to mull over.
There are a few rare exceptions: “Palm Reader” shows how the titular character would function as the world is coming to an end; “The Smell of Overripe Loquats” is about a group of kids who create a wish-granting god out of fruit; and “The Maid” revolves around a couple being terrorized by an increasingly inhospitable housekeeper at a resort. But these gems are few and far between.
No doubt Little can write well, and I was hardly ever bored, but these stories fail pretty badly at being memorable, engrossing, or unpredictable, not to mention scary. I understand Little’s earlier The Collection (2002) is a much better compilation of his short fiction. I will have to check that out at some point, because I can see Little’s potential here, but it’s far from fully realized.
Rating: 2 stars (fair)
December 7, 2023
After reading DMV, I decided to have another poke at this creative hornet’s nest of an author. I can’t remember reading a more expansive collection of stories before. Every story had a strange and surreal premise. It begs the question, what is wrong with this writer?
Whatever abnormalities are at work, I can assure you that the net result is a positive for all readers.
Notable Stories:
- Milk Ranch Point - messed up in a great way, needs to be a short film
- Snow - surreal and Christmas-themed
- Children's Hospital - amps up the mystery and keeps you guessing
- Palm Reader - wow, payoff could have been handled better but a great idea
- The Car Wash - actually more funny than scary
- The Mall - weird yet one of the most conventional stories in the mix
- Black Friday - pair this one with The Mall and they work together well
- MoNA Retrospective, Los Angeles - interesting, Inside Number 9 (tv show) did something similar - I wonder if they read Bentley.
- Jorgensen's Fence - just mental
- Sticky Note - 3 star but stuck with me
- The Smell of Overripe Loquats - one of the best stories in the collection
- The Maid - this is the actual best in the collection
I’ve really enjoyed reading more horror over the last two years. I’ve found the genre to be really fresh and alive with creativity in a way that literary fiction just can’t match. It deals with current events so well.
Will be seeking out more like this. If you know of stuff like this, drop me a message.
Whatever abnormalities are at work, I can assure you that the net result is a positive for all readers.
Notable Stories:
- Milk Ranch Point - messed up in a great way, needs to be a short film
- Snow - surreal and Christmas-themed
- Children's Hospital - amps up the mystery and keeps you guessing
- Palm Reader - wow, payoff could have been handled better but a great idea
- The Car Wash - actually more funny than scary
- The Mall - weird yet one of the most conventional stories in the mix
- Black Friday - pair this one with The Mall and they work together well
- MoNA Retrospective, Los Angeles - interesting, Inside Number 9 (tv show) did something similar - I wonder if they read Bentley.
- Jorgensen's Fence - just mental
- Sticky Note - 3 star but stuck with me
- The Smell of Overripe Loquats - one of the best stories in the collection
- The Maid - this is the actual best in the collection
I’ve really enjoyed reading more horror over the last two years. I’ve found the genre to be really fresh and alive with creativity in a way that literary fiction just can’t match. It deals with current events so well.
Will be seeking out more like this. If you know of stuff like this, drop me a message.
December 22, 2022
Since I recently discovered Bentley Little, I was delighted to read this book which is a collection of short stories of different kinds of horror. This book is right up my alley with my kind of stories. I love how Little converts a mundane, ordinary, everyday incident or scenario into an unimaginably scary situation which tugs at the reader’s deepest fears. And then there are stories which creep up during a feverish dream, or during those typical bouts of crazy imagination.
There are 27 stories, each a pretty quick read. Milk Ranch Point actually made me look behind my back as I lay listening to the audiobook in the dark, at night. Last Rodeo on the Circuit & The Man Who Watched Cartoons, made me feel a little sick. I loved the contemporary setting of Black Friday & MoNA Retrospective, Los Angeles. Pictures of Huxley was sweet & relatable as it involved death & loss of a loved one.
I absolutely loved the wide variety of these stories. Many readers complain that the stories seem incomplete. It’s like having to explain a witty joke, some dots are meant to be connected by the readers.
Overall, this is a highly recommended book for fans of horror & dark stories.
There are 27 stories, each a pretty quick read. Milk Ranch Point actually made me look behind my back as I lay listening to the audiobook in the dark, at night. Last Rodeo on the Circuit & The Man Who Watched Cartoons, made me feel a little sick. I loved the contemporary setting of Black Friday & MoNA Retrospective, Los Angeles. Pictures of Huxley was sweet & relatable as it involved death & loss of a loved one.
I absolutely loved the wide variety of these stories. Many readers complain that the stories seem incomplete. It’s like having to explain a witty joke, some dots are meant to be connected by the readers.
Overall, this is a highly recommended book for fans of horror & dark stories.
December 16, 2020
In 'Walking Alone: Short Stories', horror is just around the corner in the form of pretty much anything, from loquats to snow.
Little's creativity shone through. The most innocuous things were turned into the stuff that nightmares are made of. The stories were entertaining with nary a dull moment. Some of my favourites were:
'The Car Wash' - Timmy can't help but long to explore the car wash that his grandfather claims is haunted. This, of course, turns out to be a really bad idea.
'Overripe Loquats' - Johnny finally has a reason for wanting to stay at his grandmother's house. With actions come consequences...
'Pictures of Huxley' - Jillian is still struggling to come to terms with her son's death when she notices something strange about his photos.
Overall, 'Walking Alone: Short Stories' was mostly interesting and imaginative. On the downside, a number of stories ended abruptly and / or in an open-ended manner and could've been explored further. I would've preferred conclusive endings considering the brevity of the tales.
Little's creativity shone through. The most innocuous things were turned into the stuff that nightmares are made of. The stories were entertaining with nary a dull moment. Some of my favourites were:
'The Car Wash' - Timmy can't help but long to explore the car wash that his grandfather claims is haunted. This, of course, turns out to be a really bad idea.
'Overripe Loquats' - Johnny finally has a reason for wanting to stay at his grandmother's house. With actions come consequences...
'Pictures of Huxley' - Jillian is still struggling to come to terms with her son's death when she notices something strange about his photos.
Overall, 'Walking Alone: Short Stories' was mostly interesting and imaginative. On the downside, a number of stories ended abruptly and / or in an open-ended manner and could've been explored further. I would've preferred conclusive endings considering the brevity of the tales.
March 23, 2023
I'm torn with these stories, some really delivered, most were ok and a handful I despised. S̶o̶ ̶I̶ ̶g̶u̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶3̶/̶5̶ ̶
I've changed my rating to 2/5. This is because of one particular story, The Man Who Watched Cartoons.
The white little girl was framed as a villain, as a sexual predator, really rubbed me the wrong way. Any child who is acting like that is usually the victim of some kind of sexual abuse or grooming. To say that an adult acting in an inappropriate sexual manner with a child is not at fault because the child acted sexually is literally an argument pedophiles use to justify their crimes. This feels dogwhistle adjacent. I also hated The Feeb. The ableism is strong with this one. Overall, in rethinking my rating, I came to the conclusion that the stories I hated, I hated them so much it made the other stories less enjoyable.
I will say, I loved Black Friday
I've changed my rating to 2/5. This is because of one particular story, The Man Who Watched Cartoons.
The white little girl was framed as a villain, as a sexual predator, really rubbed me the wrong way. Any child who is acting like that is usually the victim of some kind of sexual abuse or grooming. To say that an adult acting in an inappropriate sexual manner with a child is not at fault because the child acted sexually is literally an argument pedophiles use to justify their crimes. This feels dogwhistle adjacent. I also hated The Feeb. The ableism is strong with this one. Overall, in rethinking my rating, I came to the conclusion that the stories I hated, I hated them so much it made the other stories less enjoyable.
I will say, I loved Black Friday
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 1, 2022
Bentley Little likes to creep people out.
Its his calling.
So some of these stories are not about demons and monsters and old evils.
Some could be just creepy because the bad guys are the humans. Or the circumstances humans are in.
I really liked this collection. Maybe one or two stories were not creepy enough for me but other than that, most of them really got you thinking.
A good variety of lenghts of stories, one even being a two sentence horror type and one being so long, you almost want a full novel or novella on it.(The smell The loquats...im looking at you)
If you don't know his style of writing, this is a good intro. Some of them are classic gory graphic and all of them have that atmosphere building he is so good at.
Its his calling.
So some of these stories are not about demons and monsters and old evils.
Some could be just creepy because the bad guys are the humans. Or the circumstances humans are in.
I really liked this collection. Maybe one or two stories were not creepy enough for me but other than that, most of them really got you thinking.
A good variety of lenghts of stories, one even being a two sentence horror type and one being so long, you almost want a full novel or novella on it.(The smell The loquats...im looking at you)
If you don't know his style of writing, this is a good intro. Some of them are classic gory graphic and all of them have that atmosphere building he is so good at.
October 20, 2022
Most stories were decent, if not very forgettable. This felt to me like a collection of ideas the author had that didn't know how to develop.
The best story imo is the first one.
The Man Who Watched Cartoons should have never made it to print.
And most stories had promise - The Maid, Black Friday - but then infuriatingly faded to black.
I've read Bentley before and he is best when he is describing a seemingly normal situation that gets progressively weird - Pool, Air Conditioning, Free HBO - but too many of the stories decided to go in strange, underdeveloped directions.
Note for audible listeners: why the hell the man with dwarfism in the Pool, Air Conditioning, Free HBO story had a high pitched voice? Completely soured the experience.
All in all I wish he had a better editor.
The best story imo is the first one.
The Man Who Watched Cartoons should have never made it to print.
And most stories had promise - The Maid, Black Friday - but then infuriatingly faded to black.
I've read Bentley before and he is best when he is describing a seemingly normal situation that gets progressively weird - Pool, Air Conditioning, Free HBO - but too many of the stories decided to go in strange, underdeveloped directions.
Note for audible listeners: why the hell the man with dwarfism in the Pool, Air Conditioning, Free HBO story had a high pitched voice? Completely soured the experience.
All in all I wish he had a better editor.
February 23, 2023
Positive first: my favourite story was, ‘Jorgensen’s Fence’ as it had a great dark humour to it.
Niggle: a lot of the stories have open endings which can be effective however it started to feel really overused.
Big WTF: Little people / people with dwarfism and people with disabilities are only ever the villains / monsters in these stories. The biggest offender is, ‘The Feeb’ which is grotesque for all the wrong reasons. It felt like a disabled person had been chosen to do disgusting things because their disability made them more disgusting in Little’s eyes. It left a real bitter taste in my mouth. Due to the ablism, it doesn’t matter how good I thought the other stories were, I can’t recommend this book and I feel quite skeptical towards Little now too.
Niggle: a lot of the stories have open endings which can be effective however it started to feel really overused.
Big WTF: Little people / people with dwarfism and people with disabilities are only ever the villains / monsters in these stories. The biggest offender is, ‘The Feeb’ which is grotesque for all the wrong reasons. It felt like a disabled person had been chosen to do disgusting things because their disability made them more disgusting in Little’s eyes. It left a real bitter taste in my mouth. Due to the ablism, it doesn’t matter how good I thought the other stories were, I can’t recommend this book and I feel quite skeptical towards Little now too.
February 3, 2024
Bentley Little translates pretty well to short stories. This was the first collection of his I've read, and it has the hallmarks of his longer works: malicious blue collar workers fucking with regular people, dwarves, extremely uncomfortable social situations, and ideas so wild you think he must be dropping acid when he comes up with some of this stuff (a dog "statue" made of cuts of meat on a children's train ride?). I thought these succeeded pretty well, and I didn't really see any change in quality throughout the 30 or so years this collection covers.
One strange thing though, one of the earlier, stories, written in 1986 I think, has girls talking on cell phones. Were these stories updated or are the dates fake? Any info in the physical copy of this on the copyright page?
One strange thing though, one of the earlier, stories, written in 1986 I think, has girls talking on cell phones. Were these stories updated or are the dates fake? Any info in the physical copy of this on the copyright page?
October 7, 2025
I listened to this collection of short stories after rating The Haunted 5 stars. Some of these are good, some are bad, most are in between. My ratings average out to a 3.35. Ratings below:
Milk Ranch Point: 3
Snow: 4
Children's Hospital: 4
Palm Reader: 3.5
Slam Dance: 4
Last Rodeo on the Circuit: 4
The Car Wash: 4
The Feeb: 3
The Mall: 4
Hunting: 3.5
The Piano Player Has No Fingers: 3.5
The Man Who Watched Cartoons: 1
Apt Punishment: 1
Black Friday: 4
Mona Retrospective, Los Angeles: 3.5
Jorgensens' Fence: 4
The Silence of Trees: 3.5
Sticky Note: 3.5
The Smell of Overripe Loquats: 4
The Maid: 4
Schoolgirls: 3
Under Midwast Skies: 3.5
Pictures of Huxley: 3.5
My College Admission Essay: 3
Pool, Air Conditioning, Free HBO: 3.5
The Train: 3
A Random Thought From God's Day: 2
Milk Ranch Point: 3
Snow: 4
Children's Hospital: 4
Palm Reader: 3.5
Slam Dance: 4
Last Rodeo on the Circuit: 4
The Car Wash: 4
The Feeb: 3
The Mall: 4
Hunting: 3.5
The Piano Player Has No Fingers: 3.5
The Man Who Watched Cartoons: 1
Apt Punishment: 1
Black Friday: 4
Mona Retrospective, Los Angeles: 3.5
Jorgensens' Fence: 4
The Silence of Trees: 3.5
Sticky Note: 3.5
The Smell of Overripe Loquats: 4
The Maid: 4
Schoolgirls: 3
Under Midwast Skies: 3.5
Pictures of Huxley: 3.5
My College Admission Essay: 3
Pool, Air Conditioning, Free HBO: 3.5
The Train: 3
A Random Thought From God's Day: 2
November 24, 2021
This was my fourth Bentley Little book. I have enjoyed all of them to varying degrees -- Little can write, no doubt about that -- but this was my favorite. The stories are very much hit or miss, though more hits than misses, but they are so different and unique and weird I couldn't help but enjoy myself. I also couldn't help but wonder what wonders the next story might bring.
I don't know how I didn't know about Bentley Little until this past year, but I'm extremely glad to have found him. He really is one of the masters of the horror genre. I love short fiction, and Bentley Little's stories are just so freaking out there one can't help but admire his versatility.
I don't know how I didn't know about Bentley Little until this past year, but I'm extremely glad to have found him. He really is one of the masters of the horror genre. I love short fiction, and Bentley Little's stories are just so freaking out there one can't help but admire his versatility.
February 3, 2022
Odd!! Bizarre!! I think about two kept my attention … the rest were all ok I guess … not really my thing!!
I’m not a big fan of short story collections and didn’t realise that this was what this was!! That’ll teach me to not read properly 😉
I did actually laugh at one (the man who watched cartoons I think!) cause it was amusing but the ones with snowmen and sheep … hmmm warped … someone has a very bizarre mind!!!!
2 stars is a bit harsh more like 2.5 but then I’m not prepared to give it three cause I was just glad to get to the end of it!!
I’m not a big fan of short story collections and didn’t realise that this was what this was!! That’ll teach me to not read properly 😉
I did actually laugh at one (the man who watched cartoons I think!) cause it was amusing but the ones with snowmen and sheep … hmmm warped … someone has a very bizarre mind!!!!
2 stars is a bit harsh more like 2.5 but then I’m not prepared to give it three cause I was just glad to get to the end of it!!
April 7, 2022
Wow! This little diddy is just what I needed. I love short shorties and Bentley Little is one heck of a story teller. Some stories had abrupt endings, some you wanted to end and others, well I need to know what happened! So good, quick, a touch of horror, some sexual humor and some WTF moments. I’m going to need a few more just like this! Also, the multiple talented narrators did a phenomenal job making the words jump off of the page and into my mind. So descriptive and imaginative, I absorbed it in two days.
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