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Almost Anything: A Collection of Twisted, Short Horror Stories Based on Almost Anything
A collection of obscure, weird, offensive, gross and twisted short stories!
Matt Shaw put a listing up in his store asking people to challenge him. The idea was, they paid a small fee and gave him a single word. He then had to write a story based upon that word. Why? He wanted to test his imagination and put his brain into overdrive, trying to think of stories based on obscure suggestions which he didn't control.
Now some of the suggestions that came through were fairly “normal” and expected but, in those cases, he tried to do something unexpected. We really cannot go into more about that without ruining the surprise for some of the stories but, we are sure you will see what we mean when you get to reading. Essentially he took their word and twisted it. Don’t worry, it’s not cheating though. The word still figures in the story and is the basis of the story, he just looked at it in a different way is all.
Before each story is the name of the person who brought the suggestion to him. He has then given a little introduction to each story and then that leads directly to the short itself. There are some sad stories, some disgusting ones, weird ones, funny ones… Basically this book is a mixed bag when it comes to its genre but, as a result, we think this book is probably the closest you can get to actually seeing his true, weird personality shining through. Or should that be, his personalities?
Matt Shaw put a listing up in his store asking people to challenge him. The idea was, they paid a small fee and gave him a single word. He then had to write a story based upon that word. Why? He wanted to test his imagination and put his brain into overdrive, trying to think of stories based on obscure suggestions which he didn't control.
Now some of the suggestions that came through were fairly “normal” and expected but, in those cases, he tried to do something unexpected. We really cannot go into more about that without ruining the surprise for some of the stories but, we are sure you will see what we mean when you get to reading. Essentially he took their word and twisted it. Don’t worry, it’s not cheating though. The word still figures in the story and is the basis of the story, he just looked at it in a different way is all.
Before each story is the name of the person who brought the suggestion to him. He has then given a little introduction to each story and then that leads directly to the short itself. There are some sad stories, some disgusting ones, weird ones, funny ones… Basically this book is a mixed bag when it comes to its genre but, as a result, we think this book is probably the closest you can get to actually seeing his true, weird personality shining through. Or should that be, his personalities?
- GenresHorror
112 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 5, 2022
31 people are currently reading
52 people want to read
About the author
Matt Shaw
534 books2,213 followersBiography
MATT SHAW was born, quite by accident (his mother tripped, he shot out) September 30th 1980 in Winchester hospital where he was immediately placed on the baby ward and EBay. Some twelve years later (wandering the corridors of the hospital and playing with road kill when he was on day release), the listing closed and he remained unsold, he was booted out of the hospital to start his life as a writer and hobbit – beginning with writing screenplays and short stories for his own amusement before finally getting published when he was twenty-seven years and forty-five seconds old.
Once Published weekly in a lad's magazine with his photography work, Matt Shaw is also a published author and cartoonist. Has to be said, can be a bit of a flirt and definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, somewhat of a klutz.
Favourite books
"Roald Dahl's Collection of Short Stories"
Tim Burton's Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy
Anything, really, written by himself. Because he is that good.
MATT SHAW was born, quite by accident (his mother tripped, he shot out) September 30th 1980 in Winchester hospital where he was immediately placed on the baby ward and EBay. Some twelve years later (wandering the corridors of the hospital and playing with road kill when he was on day release), the listing closed and he remained unsold, he was booted out of the hospital to start his life as a writer and hobbit – beginning with writing screenplays and short stories for his own amusement before finally getting published when he was twenty-seven years and forty-five seconds old.
Once Published weekly in a lad's magazine with his photography work, Matt Shaw is also a published author and cartoonist. Has to be said, can be a bit of a flirt and definitely, without a shadow of a doubt, somewhat of a klutz.
Favourite books
"Roald Dahl's Collection of Short Stories"
Tim Burton's Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy
Anything, really, written by himself. Because he is that good.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 20, 2023
4.5⭐'s
November 19, 2022
All kinds of Matt!
This one is actually a bit of almost anything, a great collection of shorts all very different styles. When you see the word you automatically think you know where Matt will go with this…….. you will be wrong! Anyway I’m going to go and try “ not to blink”
This one is actually a bit of almost anything, a great collection of shorts all very different styles. When you see the word you automatically think you know where Matt will go with this…….. you will be wrong! Anyway I’m going to go and try “ not to blink”
March 21, 2023
This was very good. I really like Matt shaws books and this was one of my favourites
January 4, 2023
Remove Gag Reflex before reading….
The first story actually DID make me gag! Matt’s imagination ran wild this time for sure. His challenges were tough (I thought) writing a story with a one word inspiration and he came through with some doozies. Always love his collections/anthologies and will keep reading them long as he keeps writing them!
The first story actually DID make me gag! Matt’s imagination ran wild this time for sure. His challenges were tough (I thought) writing a story with a one word inspiration and he came through with some doozies. Always love his collections/anthologies and will keep reading them long as he keeps writing them!
November 10, 2022
I nearly didn’t make it past the first story Say Cheese. I’m beyond grateful that I did.
None evoked such a visceral reaction as Say Cheese but I didn’t think they would. How do you top that shit? However, some favourites of this collection include Sticky, The Boy So Pale, and Ghost. Especially Ghost. Honourable mentions go to Trash and Snow Globe.
As is always the case with short story collections, some were let-downs. Don’t Blink and Writing is on the Board were my least favourite - I felt like they were missing a little something, but that’s the way life goes.
The other stories not mentioned were completely enjoyable, I could separate them all into favourite/let-down, but what’s the point in that? Ghost could be someone’s least favourite with Don’t Blink being the best thing they’ve ever read. Go give it a try for yourself.
None evoked such a visceral reaction as Say Cheese but I didn’t think they would. How do you top that shit? However, some favourites of this collection include Sticky, The Boy So Pale, and Ghost. Especially Ghost. Honourable mentions go to Trash and Snow Globe.
As is always the case with short story collections, some were let-downs. Don’t Blink and Writing is on the Board were my least favourite - I felt like they were missing a little something, but that’s the way life goes.
The other stories not mentioned were completely enjoyable, I could separate them all into favourite/let-down, but what’s the point in that? Ghost could be someone’s least favourite with Don’t Blink being the best thing they’ve ever read. Go give it a try for yourself.
November 6, 2022
love it
Crazy little collection!!
Defiantly a mixed bag of short stories, a couple of which were pretty gross but enjoyable all the same and gotta say the cover is awesome!!
To take random words and turn them into stories is madness, I honestly don't think I could do it but would defiantly like to see more of this in the future.
Crazy little collection!!
Defiantly a mixed bag of short stories, a couple of which were pretty gross but enjoyable all the same and gotta say the cover is awesome!!
To take random words and turn them into stories is madness, I honestly don't think I could do it but would defiantly like to see more of this in the future.
December 3, 2022
perfection!
Another great read by Matt Shaw! Cheese …. Ugh, the cheese!!!! S0 much talent with this anthology, I couldn’t put the book down!
Another great read by Matt Shaw! Cheese …. Ugh, the cheese!!!! S0 much talent with this anthology, I couldn’t put the book down!
January 26, 2023
Great read
Extreme horror at its best once again. Matt Shaw has horrified us in ways we couldn't imagine. Which is why it's
such a great read.
Extreme horror at its best once again. Matt Shaw has horrified us in ways we couldn't imagine. Which is why it's
such a great read.
January 6, 2023
Saw this mentioned on tiktok, and wasn't sure if I could get through the first story . Absolutely love the cover art! The censoreds stories were my favourite out of all of them (not sure what that says about me as a person) a few I wasnt a fan of, but overall it was a decent quick read
November 16, 2022
This is a prime example of Shaw showing off his skills. He challenge was readers giving him a single word to base stories upon. So the stories are his, just inspired by other people's words. And he went above and beyond. It started off really disgusting (in a good way), but changed tones after that.. this truly is a mixed bag of all kinds of different stories. 5 stars
July 27, 2025
I thought it would take me 2 to 3 days to finish this book but nope. It was full of sexual stories, and I kept skipping words just to see when they’d finally end. My reading basically went like:
“Uhm okay… yes, clothes... stroke… tongue… finger… "I’m going to kill you" okay, good, next story 👍” 😂
Some of the non-sexual stories were either sad or just plain disgusting.
“Uhm okay… yes, clothes... stroke… tongue… finger… "I’m going to kill you" okay, good, next story 👍” 😂
Some of the non-sexual stories were either sad or just plain disgusting.
April 3, 2023
I’ve just read this book, I really enjoyed it!! The stories are short, but each one is good, if you like his other books then you’ll love this one. Some are weird, funny, a bit scary and downright absurd, but each one is great and you’ll finish the book wanting to read another series.
March 13, 2023
Matt shaw
Have read many of Mattsh aws short stories and this one didn't disappoint up to his usual standard of shockers
Have read many of Mattsh aws short stories and this one didn't disappoint up to his usual standard of shockers
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews