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Something Happened at 2 a.m.
In this moving collection of interrelated stories, B F Jones illuminates every modern anxiety of life in a fictional English town. And through her artistry, weaves these stories into a powerful portrayal of community life, and, ironically, of the isolation this close atmosphere can sometimes engender.
169 pages, Paperback
First published February 18, 2022
14 people want to read
About the author
B.F. Jones
14 books22 followersB F Jones is French and lives in the UK. She is the author of Something Happened at 2am, a collection of interlinked short stories, 5 years, a chapbook inspired by the song titles of David Bowie, and the Edge of Nowhere a poetry collection. Her next collection, Nobody thought to look under the floorboards, will be released in the summer of 2024.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 19, 2023
The prose flowed well, but I don't think I'll remember much of it.
3.5 twighlit stars
3.5 twighlit stars
December 8, 2022
I’ve long been a fan of Jones’ work and this is why.
Some of my favorite stories were:
A Very Polite Town
Vile Creature
Twinkle Twinkle
The Important Meetings That Take Place In Conference Room C
William’s Last Words
The Gateway to Hell
Jones’ writing reminds me of Richard Matheson mixed into a cocktail with Raymond Carver and The Twilight Zone. I’m very much looking forward to her next collection.
This is the kind of collection that deserves a second read and then a third and a fourth.
5/5
Highly Recommended
Some of my favorite stories were:
A Very Polite Town
Vile Creature
Twinkle Twinkle
The Important Meetings That Take Place In Conference Room C
William’s Last Words
The Gateway to Hell
Jones’ writing reminds me of Richard Matheson mixed into a cocktail with Raymond Carver and The Twilight Zone. I’m very much looking forward to her next collection.
This is the kind of collection that deserves a second read and then a third and a fourth.
5/5
Highly Recommended
April 28, 2022
This is one of my favorite books of the year. Top Five for sure -- and I've read some really, really good books this year. For starters, I’d say I love the concept of flash fiction, but it’s tough to pull off. This is a collection of absolutely top-drawer flash, but so much more. The stories are varied. Some so lyrical that I feared I was being tricked into reading poetry (I didn’t mind it so much, to be honest). Some a straight punch to the face . . . or gut. Some dark humor. Some just plain dark. Some supernatural. Some seemingly mundane. All of it clever AF. But, and this is the big thing, despite the diversity found within, it all makes sense as a collected body of work. The stories interconnect through events and characters, but mostly the distinct voice of the writer.
Some of my favorite stories were Important Meetings, William’s Last Words, Five Trees (with a gun to my head, my favorite of all), Panic Attack, Waiting for Death, and the eponymous Something Happened at 2 A.M.
Finally, I feel I must use this book as a defense for hard-copy books. I’m no Luddite. I have a Kindle and I read about 50-50 e-book/paperback. But Something Happened at 2 A.M. is a stand-alone argument for the continued importance of physical books. It is an incredibly well-designed book, inside and out. Kind of like how downloaded music, with all its advantages, has robbed us of great album design, I sometimes miss that element when reading an e-book. I love everything about this book; the size, the cover design, they typography, the little cigarettes – in color, all of it. I liked this book from the moment I took it out of the mailer.
All of it . . . *chef’s kiss*
Some of my favorite stories were Important Meetings, William’s Last Words, Five Trees (with a gun to my head, my favorite of all), Panic Attack, Waiting for Death, and the eponymous Something Happened at 2 A.M.
Finally, I feel I must use this book as a defense for hard-copy books. I’m no Luddite. I have a Kindle and I read about 50-50 e-book/paperback. But Something Happened at 2 A.M. is a stand-alone argument for the continued importance of physical books. It is an incredibly well-designed book, inside and out. Kind of like how downloaded music, with all its advantages, has robbed us of great album design, I sometimes miss that element when reading an e-book. I love everything about this book; the size, the cover design, they typography, the little cigarettes – in color, all of it. I liked this book from the moment I took it out of the mailer.
All of it . . . *chef’s kiss*
March 17, 2022
Jones uses a variety of tales: length, style and content to paint a greater story. Readers can be enveloped by each piece alone, but will see the whole masterpiece as they work their way through this collection. Some of the pieces are overt and leave the reader shocked in a great way and others are subtle leaving the reader to think a bit more. Jones takes us through this collection and it quite possibly could keep you up thinking about this one until 2AM.
March 30, 2022
Maybe it’s the Poe quote giving me shades of a gothic fairytale, but the first flash reminds me of Little Red Riding who can’t escape a shadowy wolf—we soon see are a wooly pack to use a proverb. Lots of Stepford squabbles, implied stalkers, perhaps Sweeney Todds.
Cute, married irony. Frown-inducing nostalgia. So much tragedy tied to Mother Nature and slight missteps. Stories told by many active middle-agers to senior citizens, an impressive feat for an author so young. She also makes good use of olfactory description (though I don’t know what “TCP smell” is), especially in the prosey-sweet surgical story, “Quicksand.”
Memorable, meaningful gross-out gore—albeit slight—in “Vile Creatures” with lesbian lovers and a hint of connective tissues to previous stories. After that story, a ton of parallels and webs thankfully easy to recall from the diversity and brevity of each piece. “Tuesday is the armpit of the week” is a fun phrase I’ll be nicking.
We meander into office politics that thankfully veers into funner subjects like what you can snort, who you wish you could slap around, et cetera. The lack of quotations throughout the whole book make me question the reality of each event, how much we express through physicality IRL.
It seems all the nightmares come at 2AM, so the attacker is routinely one’s self which is actually a pleasant twist executed with enough flare and eventful-ness not to grow trite. Great perverted male POVs, crass quips, quite a few surprises to answer questions at the beginning of the book and raise new ones.
Hypochondriacs, mourning parents, sad spirits. Less my cup of tea but easily digestible. Never read a collection that builds and twists in and out of itself so much, so this is quite refreshing. “A Kiss?” is for sure my favorite, “Three Decades in a Drawer” a close second. Grimly cute twist end!
Cute, married irony. Frown-inducing nostalgia. So much tragedy tied to Mother Nature and slight missteps. Stories told by many active middle-agers to senior citizens, an impressive feat for an author so young. She also makes good use of olfactory description (though I don’t know what “TCP smell” is), especially in the prosey-sweet surgical story, “Quicksand.”
Memorable, meaningful gross-out gore—albeit slight—in “Vile Creatures” with lesbian lovers and a hint of connective tissues to previous stories. After that story, a ton of parallels and webs thankfully easy to recall from the diversity and brevity of each piece. “Tuesday is the armpit of the week” is a fun phrase I’ll be nicking.
We meander into office politics that thankfully veers into funner subjects like what you can snort, who you wish you could slap around, et cetera. The lack of quotations throughout the whole book make me question the reality of each event, how much we express through physicality IRL.
It seems all the nightmares come at 2AM, so the attacker is routinely one’s self which is actually a pleasant twist executed with enough flare and eventful-ness not to grow trite. Great perverted male POVs, crass quips, quite a few surprises to answer questions at the beginning of the book and raise new ones.
Hypochondriacs, mourning parents, sad spirits. Less my cup of tea but easily digestible. Never read a collection that builds and twists in and out of itself so much, so this is quite refreshing. “A Kiss?” is for sure my favorite, “Three Decades in a Drawer” a close second. Grimly cute twist end!
February 18, 2022
B.F. Jones is a writer I discovered via online journals and zones and I've been mesmerized by her stunning poetry and her amusing, insightful short stories. This i arrived a purchasing the above and it is laced with Jones mix of wit and wonder to make a tantalising collection of flash fiction.
The stories all happen in one small English town with characters and incidents referred to in other stories. The tales are a mix of kooky and creepy as the citizens succumb to their fears and desires throughout. Jones is great with a final line that can either twist the knife deeper or flip a story on its head.
Jones is adept at writing characters even in the small space each yarn inhabits and manages to !and then and the town feel real even with the increasing amount of bizarre things going on.
Jones is a wonderful, vibrant writer that often leaves me in awe of her skills. I am more than excited to see where her career takes her next.
The stories all happen in one small English town with characters and incidents referred to in other stories. The tales are a mix of kooky and creepy as the citizens succumb to their fears and desires throughout. Jones is great with a final line that can either twist the knife deeper or flip a story on its head.
Jones is adept at writing characters even in the small space each yarn inhabits and manages to !and then and the town feel real even with the increasing amount of bizarre things going on.
Jones is a wonderful, vibrant writer that often leaves me in awe of her skills. I am more than excited to see where her career takes her next.
February 15, 2022
Something happened at 2am is a collection of subtly unsettling, cleverly interconnected vignettes, each composed with the biting shrewdness that has become Jones’ trademark. These micro-fictions feature astute examinations of death and ill health, explorations of the dynamics between mothers and their children, and scenes of the absurdity of corporate life, all written in taut, precise prose, and peppered with dark humour and sardonicism throughout. A sense of creeping paranoia runs through these pages like a tripwire, and there is a certain sadness to be found in these stories as well as wry hilarity. Something happened at 2am is a quietly satisfying collection from a master storyteller, and a wonderful companion to Artifice.
February 17, 2022
Something happened at 2am is another dominant display of BF Jones undeniable ability to entertain through short stories. Jones draws readers in using relatable scenarios before pulling the floor away to leave you falling into a palatable slice of darkness. This skill is a hallmark of the authors writing and 2am is no exception. Let the beauty resonate and the horror shock as Jones entices you back time after time
February 17, 2022
B.F Jones collection Something Happened at 2. am is some of her finest work, a collection of short stories that pack the same emotional punch as that of full-length novels in far fewer pages. Each story is written with a flair and precision to get you hooked instantly and ultimately leaving you breathless by the end.
April 4, 2022
These interconnected stories are darkly hilarious, sweet, sad, cutting, and written with an economy so that not a word is wasted. Jones is one of my favorites. You should also check out her collection Artifice.
May 4, 2022
This is really an excellent little book. The efficient use of language in this collection of short short stories is engaging and in places poetic. Each story full of surprises. Some funny, some sad, some surreal, and then all tied together in thought provoking ways. Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews