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Spooky Smutty Stories: Classic Tales Gone Gay
An old-school scary story collection—grown up and gone gay.
If you love classic scary stories and steamy gay romance, you’re in for a treat. This collection of seven creepy, delicious m/m stories is filled with ghostly hitchhikers, haunted ships, seductive witches and more classic tropes from urban legends and oral traditions around the world. There's a tale here for everyone who likes it weird, so creep in and treat yourself to a shiver.
"Backwoods Beast"
Kyle hates small towns. But when his car breaks down outside of Nester on a full moon, a sexy redneck shows him what the backwoods are really about.
"Runner, Runner"
Driving alone on a dark and stormy night, Simon sees a beautiful young man stranded by the side of the road…and can’t resist helping him out.
"The Dress"
Poor Jaime works himself ragged to please his high-maintenance boyfriend. But when Alex demands a fancy gown, things really start to get toxic.
"The Cat’s Paw"
Corey doesn’t care what the villagers say about the woman across the pond. He just wants her brother Sam…and to catch whatever’s been killing his chickens at night.
"Strange Waters"
When an uncanny fog surrounds their ship, two sailors find themselves tangled in dark dreams about a legendary creature from the deep.
"Babe in the Wood"
On the way to his isolated summer cabin, Bobby meets a brawny woodsman with sparkling eyes and a very sharp ax.
"Backwoods Boomerang"
When the next full moon rises over Nester, Eli can’t stop thinking about that city boy who wandered into town. If only he could get another taste…
For content warnings, visit clairecraybooks.com.
If you love classic scary stories and steamy gay romance, you’re in for a treat. This collection of seven creepy, delicious m/m stories is filled with ghostly hitchhikers, haunted ships, seductive witches and more classic tropes from urban legends and oral traditions around the world. There's a tale here for everyone who likes it weird, so creep in and treat yourself to a shiver.
"Backwoods Beast"
Kyle hates small towns. But when his car breaks down outside of Nester on a full moon, a sexy redneck shows him what the backwoods are really about.
"Runner, Runner"
Driving alone on a dark and stormy night, Simon sees a beautiful young man stranded by the side of the road…and can’t resist helping him out.
"The Dress"
Poor Jaime works himself ragged to please his high-maintenance boyfriend. But when Alex demands a fancy gown, things really start to get toxic.
"The Cat’s Paw"
Corey doesn’t care what the villagers say about the woman across the pond. He just wants her brother Sam…and to catch whatever’s been killing his chickens at night.
"Strange Waters"
When an uncanny fog surrounds their ship, two sailors find themselves tangled in dark dreams about a legendary creature from the deep.
"Babe in the Wood"
On the way to his isolated summer cabin, Bobby meets a brawny woodsman with sparkling eyes and a very sharp ax.
"Backwoods Boomerang"
When the next full moon rises over Nester, Eli can’t stop thinking about that city boy who wandered into town. If only he could get another taste…
For content warnings, visit clairecraybooks.com.
97 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 13, 2019
17 people are currently reading
62 people want to read
About the author
Claire Cray
21 books180 followersClaire Cray writes M/M Romance featuring hot, complicated men in weird situations. Offbeat and character-driven with a Gothic bent, her work is often described as atmospheric and a little strange.
Born and raised in the rural Pacific Northwest, Claire takes inspiration from its wild, moody vibes. Her stories often combine vivid natural settings with steamy sensuality and psychological drama.
Claire lives, writes, and independently publishes in Portland, Oregon, USA.
Born and raised in the rural Pacific Northwest, Claire takes inspiration from its wild, moody vibes. Her stories often combine vivid natural settings with steamy sensuality and psychological drama.
Claire lives, writes, and independently publishes in Portland, Oregon, USA.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 29, 2021
I loved all of these stories. Each one is spooky in its own way and leaves you with a little creeping sense of dread in the best way possible. Perfect for kicking off your Halloween reads! Horror romance wasn’t something that I knew I was missing from my TBR this year, but I can’t wait to dig into some more. I think my top favorite story is a tie between Runner, Runner and Backwoods Boomerang. They were both so good and I just want more! Spooky Smutty Stories is getting a solid four stars. 🐺
January 7, 2021
Definitely more smutty than spooky. Had some aspects that could be considered spooky though. Some stories used the words too much. Some I didn't even notice if it was there or not. Or it wasn't annoyingly so to have remembered.
Overall I'd read this author again for sure.
Backwoods Beast
3 star. Would really have liked more of this story.
Runner, Runner
4 star. Such a bittersweet story. Perfect length.
The Black Dress
2 star. Definitely got me to dislike Alex so props for that. Nothing else to really say about this one though.
The Cat's Paw
2 star. I didn't appreciate Corey's views on women: "a good home required a good wife, and one year was long enough without a woman to take care of things." I also don't understand how
Strange Waters
2 star. Interesting elements here. But we get it. It's all very spooky. Trigger warning: rape.
Babe in the Wood
3 star. Thought something would involve the dog. But didn't need to. Good length.
Backwoods Boomerang
3 star. Not spooky at all. Rather sappy actually. But I did like the return of Kyle and Eli. Talk about instalove...
Overall I'd read this author again for sure.
Backwoods Beast
3 star. Would really have liked more of this story.
Runner, Runner
4 star. Such a bittersweet story. Perfect length.
The Black Dress
2 star. Definitely got me to dislike Alex so props for that. Nothing else to really say about this one though.
The Cat's Paw
2 star. I didn't appreciate Corey's views on women: "a good home required a good wife, and one year was long enough without a woman to take care of things." I also don't understand how
Strange Waters
2 star. Interesting elements here. But we get it. It's all very spooky. Trigger warning: rape.
Babe in the Wood
3 star. Thought something would involve the dog. But didn't need to. Good length.
Backwoods Boomerang
3 star. Not spooky at all. Rather sappy actually. But I did like the return of Kyle and Eli. Talk about instalove...
January 23, 2019
I love Claire Cray. Love her. Love her characters and her conflicts, and this was seriously a TREAT. I do love a bit of sex with my horror, and Cray delivered. My personal faves were "Backwoods Beast" and "The Dress" (plus the backwoods epilogue ...). Each of these stories were super creepy with surprising twists and colorful characters. And, oh, The Sex. Some seriously hot stuff here. If you're a fan of M/M fiction (and a spook like me), buy this one immediately. So much fun. Wish Cray would do another collection like this!!!
February 12, 2024
I picked up this short story collection to try something different than I normally read and because I enjoy retellings of classic stories, especially if they’re gay retellings. Spooky Smutty Stories are gay retellings of urban legends and oral traditions from around the world. I recognized some of the urban legends and tales, while others I couldn’t place.
The first story, “Backwoods Beast”, is the longest of the seven stories at 28% of the full collection. The stories I enjoyed the most were “The Cat’s Paw” and “Babe in the Wood”. “The Cat’s Paw” was a story in which I was engaged and I didn’t want it to end so quickly; I could see that story being expanded on its own as a standalone short book. “Babe in the Wood” has a very interesting premise, and I’m not sure if Cray came up with that concept on her own or if it was based on an urban legend. Either way, I think it was one of the more interesting stories.
I think it needs to be mentioned it seems to almost be bordering on appropriative that a female writer almost exclusively focuses on m/m stories. I’m wondering if the m/m focus sells better than other queer lit, or if there’s some other reason Cray focuses on gay men. I did make the choice to read this short story collection knowing the author is female, though, so I have supported their appropriation on some level. I did find the descriptions of the m/m “sultry” scenes rang hollow, and I’m not sure if that had to do with the shortness of the stories and not being able to build fully realized characters, or because I knew this isn’t a topic or space the author is a part of.
This collection was very well copy edited, especially for an ebook. Cray has done a very good job in turning out a product that doesn’t have punctuation errors. Nothing pulls me out of a story quicker than when a page is riddled with mistakes. Readers will not find that with this collection.
Overall, this wasn’t a collection I’d revisit or recommend, though it may be others’ cup of tea.
The first story, “Backwoods Beast”, is the longest of the seven stories at 28% of the full collection. The stories I enjoyed the most were “The Cat’s Paw” and “Babe in the Wood”. “The Cat’s Paw” was a story in which I was engaged and I didn’t want it to end so quickly; I could see that story being expanded on its own as a standalone short book. “Babe in the Wood” has a very interesting premise, and I’m not sure if Cray came up with that concept on her own or if it was based on an urban legend. Either way, I think it was one of the more interesting stories.
I think it needs to be mentioned it seems to almost be bordering on appropriative that a female writer almost exclusively focuses on m/m stories. I’m wondering if the m/m focus sells better than other queer lit, or if there’s some other reason Cray focuses on gay men. I did make the choice to read this short story collection knowing the author is female, though, so I have supported their appropriation on some level. I did find the descriptions of the m/m “sultry” scenes rang hollow, and I’m not sure if that had to do with the shortness of the stories and not being able to build fully realized characters, or because I knew this isn’t a topic or space the author is a part of.
This collection was very well copy edited, especially for an ebook. Cray has done a very good job in turning out a product that doesn’t have punctuation errors. Nothing pulls me out of a story quicker than when a page is riddled with mistakes. Readers will not find that with this collection.
Overall, this wasn’t a collection I’d revisit or recommend, though it may be others’ cup of tea.
January 18, 2019
This was a fun collection of shorts that definitely lived up to their title of being smutty and spooky. Most of the stories were very short and have a very eery feel, it reminded me of classic style scary stories that leave you with that feeling of unease – which most of these did for me. I personally feel like these stories put more empathizes on the horror then the smut, not saying this is a bad thing. I found it refreshing that the stories were actual horror and not just sex with shifters in there somewhere.
There is smut and it is very well written(I don't know how to compliment sex scenes), I did sometimes feel it was hard to get invested in them because I was distracted waiting for the bad thing to happen; but that's pretty much the point of horror.
We also get more on Kyle and Eli's story from "Backwards Beast", which is also included in the book for those who haven't read it yet. I would say buy it if you've enjoyed Claire Cray's work; and if you haven't, you should buy it anyway because it contains cool stories and it's only $0.99 on amazon or free with Kindle's Lending Library.
There is smut and it is very well written(I don't know how to compliment sex scenes), I did sometimes feel it was hard to get invested in them because I was distracted waiting for the bad thing to happen; but that's pretty much the point of horror.
We also get more on Kyle and Eli's story from "Backwards Beast", which is also included in the book for those who haven't read it yet. I would say buy it if you've enjoyed Claire Cray's work; and if you haven't, you should buy it anyway because it contains cool stories and it's only $0.99 on amazon or free with Kindle's Lending Library.
May 21, 2020
I really enjoy Cray's writing and have been reading my way through her catalog, but this one was probably my least favourite. Some of these stories didn't feel as developed as they could have and left me feeling like I didn't get the full story or didn't understand what Cray was going for. I really enjoyed her separately published short story Thirsting for More and the previously published Backwoods Beast that's been included in this collection (along with its sequel/continuation story) but not many of the other stories in this collection captured me in the same way.
April 22, 2019
This was so much fun to read. Sure. Sometimes a little spooky but it was mostly very interesting. They are all very short stories, only the first one is a little longer. I particularly liked that one, maybe because of that, because it was longer and there’s also another one about a dress that have a guy with such attitude that just got me very interested. The other ones are nice too, one of them, one with a cat, particularly spooky to me because of some cultural stuff and it hit too close to home.
Definitely recommend it to someone looking for something short to read. Not too much angst, spooky but not impossibly creepy. It was a good read.
Definitely recommend it to someone looking for something short to read. Not too much angst, spooky but not impossibly creepy. It was a good read.
October 22, 2020
I enjoyed these - I was trying to guess which of these folktales I have read before and only one was familiar (Runner, Runner).
The tree one was crazy (Babe in the Wood) - I want to know the urban legend/tale behind that one!
Awwww, I like the sequel to the Backwoods Beast - I would read more Eli/Kyle, just saying. :)
The tree one was crazy (Babe in the Wood) - I want to know the urban legend/tale behind that one!
Awwww, I like the sequel to the Backwoods Beast - I would read more Eli/Kyle, just saying. :)
March 29, 2021
Totally Enjoyable ~
I liked these stories. I got this book, because it expanded on the story ‘Backwoods Beast’, with ‘Backwoods Boomerang’, which I read first. I enjoyed that story more than all the others. I liked how different all the tales were, making this a vastly creative collection of stories that would be perfect to read around scary a campfire!
I liked these stories. I got this book, because it expanded on the story ‘Backwoods Beast’, with ‘Backwoods Boomerang’, which I read first. I enjoyed that story more than all the others. I liked how different all the tales were, making this a vastly creative collection of stories that would be perfect to read around scary a campfire!
May 1, 2022
Read this last year but forgot to mark here. Worth it for for Backwoods Beast and Backwoods Boomerang alone (very hot werewolf sex FTW), but also love that we get tentacle porn, ghost fucking, and a black widow getting what he deserved. These are all tasty short story nuggets, but I would have loved to get more of Eli and Kyle.
November 23, 2020
I really liked the first and the last stories. The other stories were quite good and pretty dark. But when it comes to Cray’s stories, I really want her to write longer works so I can immerse myself in them.
September 5, 2020
Overall a 4.5
September 28, 2020
Weird stories, but it has the epilogue to Backwoods Beast, so there's that.
December 18, 2020
Sexy and fun, exactly what i wanted. There was just one story I didn't completely vibe with.
July 19, 2021
4.5 stars
I like these stories better than the ones in book two. There was only one story that was a bit meh, but the rest was both spooky and smutty!
I like these stories better than the ones in book two. There was only one story that was a bit meh, but the rest was both spooky and smutty!
July 9, 2024
Kyle and Eli.
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This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews