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Skinner
The terrifying tale of six internet celebrities who accompany a superstar survivalist on a one-week trip deep into the remote Canadian wilderness.
After their plane crashes, the influencers and their guide are stalked by a mountain man of local legend—Skinner. When the celebrities mount a desperate counterattack, they discover that there is much more to the skinner myth than any of them could have imagined. Will the celebrities survive, or be permanently canceled?
After their plane crashes, the influencers and their guide are stalked by a mountain man of local legend—Skinner. When the celebrities mount a desperate counterattack, they discover that there is much more to the skinner myth than any of them could have imagined. Will the celebrities survive, or be permanently canceled?
88 pages, Hardcover
Published July 23, 2024
1 person is currently reading
16 people want to read
About the author
Micky Neilson
63 books60 followersMicky Neilson is a two-time New York Times best-selling author whose graphic novels, Ashbringer (#2 on the list) and Pearl of Pandaria (#3) have both been published in six languages. As one of the first writers at Blizzard Entertainment, he has more than two decades of experience in the cutting edge of the gaming industry. He has self-published three horror novels in his original series The Turning, on Amazon. In 2017 Micky was tapped to write The Howling: Revenge Of The Werewolf Queen, a comic book continuation of the beloved 1981 Joe Dante horror film The Howling. In 2018 Micky completed his first original sci-fi novel, Ridgerunners, and co-wrote the graphic novel The Invisible Empire: Madge Oberholtzer And The Unmasking Of The KKK, as well as the illustrated novel Strange Highways. Most recently Micky wrote the bestselling book The Art Of Spyro: Reignited Trilogy and completed his sci-fi trilogy Skiptracer. Micky lives in beautiful Washington State with his wife and daughter where he enjoys life's essentials: movies, comic books, chocolate and sushi.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
November 8, 2024
A generic, b-movie level offering that seems like a failed straight to dvd movie script.
Six internet celebrities accompany a survivalist in the woods where they are picked off, one by one, by a fur trapper in the style of “Predator”.
It’s the normal, ho-hum mystical nature being manifesting the form of something else, taking out its rage on the mostly self-centered imbeciles that scurry around the forest.
Of course, in the end, Skinner isn’t really dead, he lives on eternally… unlike this forgettable book.
Six internet celebrities accompany a survivalist in the woods where they are picked off, one by one, by a fur trapper in the style of “Predator”.
It’s the normal, ho-hum mystical nature being manifesting the form of something else, taking out its rage on the mostly self-centered imbeciles that scurry around the forest.
Of course, in the end, Skinner isn’t really dead, he lives on eternally… unlike this forgettable book.
August 30, 2024
An intriguing though overused and somewhat cliche concept about a group of social media people playing survival but there's something unnatural in the woods hunting them down. The characters didn't seem (personality wise) as type-casted as how the host labelled them, but the book was shockingly short so I didn't feel I got to really know any of the characters. It felt like all the depth/character building was skipped over to stay in the action, which also made it feel like the monster showed up very early and . Interesting monster but pretty standard horror ending. It almost felt like combining every monster/invasion/alien/etc horror movie and using the most common elements to make an abbreviated summary version. It's not bad by any means, and not even boring or anything like that. Just very quick and very shallow.
March 28, 2025
Could have been a c*nty Until Dawn moment, but the deaths were so rushed. This could’ve been such a good story if it were 2-3 times the length and more fleshed out (also a little disappointed that AngelaGrace didn’t come from a cult and her sad backstory was just a hunting accident). It was fun, a quick read, and the gore surprised me but i didn’t hate it.
January 11, 2025
This has a feel of one of those campfire stories, which I was lucky enough to experience one of in my time, and it was a besut.
The scene: Ben Delatour Scout Ranch.
I was in the Boy Scouts for just over a year. See, I'd done Cub Scouts, which is kind of the same thing as Boy Scouts, but the key difference is that in Cub Scouts, you're kind of...pushed along a little bit more to level up and get your badges and so on, where Boy Scouts definitely expects the kids to be a little more proactive and to have, you know, vague interest in doing activities.
Of course, lots of the boys in Boy Scouts are there because their dads want them to be there. Lots of cops' kids, business-y guys with traditional values, all that shit. You never really hated the other kids in Scouts because of what their parents did, though. Not like it's some kid's fault his dad is an asshole. Now, once that kid turns about 25 and goes to work for his dad, or maybe makes some stupid invention because his dad was super rich and bought him like 5 businesses, none of which were successful, but all of which he could run into the ground more and more slowly--this is what progress looks like in the world of business, or perhaps I should say, "The world of businesses my dad bought me": It takes you longer to fail, and your crash landings go from total losses to losing the plane, but landing softly enough that you don't actually kill anybody.
There was one kid, Seth, whose dad was a real dick. There were rumors about this kid's dad, doing stuff like screaming at Scouts for various things, being a jerkoff when they were on a super long hike and got whiny, shit like that.
This was the 90s, by the way, a time when it wasn't totally crazy for a teacher to scream at a class full of kids for almost no reason. Maybe that still happens today? I don't know, I'm not in touch with that shit.
Seth's dad seemed like a jerk, but there was one thing we all wanted him to do at Scout Camp: Tell the story of Stumpy.
Stumpy was THE ghost story for our Troop. It was the signature seasoning that we brought to the table.
Every night for the week of camp, everyone asked Seth's dad to tell us the story of Stumpy.
Before I relate the story to you, there are some things you need to understand about campfire stories.
When I saw my first Freddy movie, which was, unfortunately, Freddy's Dead, as a youth, I didn't think it was scary in the least.
It's when I went to bed that night and thought about the movie, watched the shadows on the walls of my bedroom--that's when you're like, "Oh, shit. Freddy isn't scary in the daytime, even at night when you're watching a VHS. Freddy is scary because when you sleep, you're all alone, and he's got all the power to slice you up, probably calling you a bitch while he does it."
Campfire stories are a little the same. A good campfire story has to involve some kind of murderous something that may just still be in these very woods.
It's not too scary, but then you go to bed that night, in a shelter made of canvas, in the dark, with a flap instead of a door to protect you, that's when Stumpy is scary.
Okay, here's basically how I remember Stumpy. And please excuse me, I'm just going to run through this without much fanfare:
Stumpy, before he was stumpy, was a regular guy. Due to a freak accident, possibly while trying to chop down a tree, stumpy lost an arm, then the other arm, then both legs (my memory of how this all happened is hazy, but it was something like the tree fell on him or some shit. Maybe he was seated with his legs out in front of him, stretching to touch his toes, in the worst possible spot?).
After losing all his limbs, Stumpy (who we are now all comfortable calling Stumpy), stayed in the woods, and he learned to live off the land. He became faster than any two-legged man when he ran through the woods on his stumps, and he learned to use his powerful muscles to drive his bony stumps into animals for food, and to occasionally do the same to people...for fun.
Or, possibly, Stumpy was jealous of us long-limbed people. Hard to say.
But if you listen, you might hear a rustle. Probably not, Stumpy is super quiet.
But if you listen, you might hear just a little something before Stumpy dives through your tent and drives what used to be an elbow through your face.
~
Told seriously, unlike how I told it here, it's a pretty great scary story. It's got an extra element to it, which is that it's kind of funny at first, then becomes terrifying, and then you're like, "Oh, shit, I was laughing at Stumpy. I don't think he's going to be happy about that!"
Anyway, as it relates to Skinner, I think these kinds of stories almost have to be told by a campfire, in the woods, when you're not about to go sleep in a soft, warm bed surrounded by all the great Green Day posters that a girl in your class cut out of Tiger Beat for you (because you're not reading Tiger Beat, but you do like Green Day, although it has nothing to do with them being hunky boys).
Those gifted Tiger Beat posters were one of the nicest things anyone ever did for me.
The scene: Ben Delatour Scout Ranch.
I was in the Boy Scouts for just over a year. See, I'd done Cub Scouts, which is kind of the same thing as Boy Scouts, but the key difference is that in Cub Scouts, you're kind of...pushed along a little bit more to level up and get your badges and so on, where Boy Scouts definitely expects the kids to be a little more proactive and to have, you know, vague interest in doing activities.
Of course, lots of the boys in Boy Scouts are there because their dads want them to be there. Lots of cops' kids, business-y guys with traditional values, all that shit. You never really hated the other kids in Scouts because of what their parents did, though. Not like it's some kid's fault his dad is an asshole. Now, once that kid turns about 25 and goes to work for his dad, or maybe makes some stupid invention because his dad was super rich and bought him like 5 businesses, none of which were successful, but all of which he could run into the ground more and more slowly--this is what progress looks like in the world of business, or perhaps I should say, "The world of businesses my dad bought me": It takes you longer to fail, and your crash landings go from total losses to losing the plane, but landing softly enough that you don't actually kill anybody.
There was one kid, Seth, whose dad was a real dick. There were rumors about this kid's dad, doing stuff like screaming at Scouts for various things, being a jerkoff when they were on a super long hike and got whiny, shit like that.
This was the 90s, by the way, a time when it wasn't totally crazy for a teacher to scream at a class full of kids for almost no reason. Maybe that still happens today? I don't know, I'm not in touch with that shit.
Seth's dad seemed like a jerk, but there was one thing we all wanted him to do at Scout Camp: Tell the story of Stumpy.
Stumpy was THE ghost story for our Troop. It was the signature seasoning that we brought to the table.
Every night for the week of camp, everyone asked Seth's dad to tell us the story of Stumpy.
Before I relate the story to you, there are some things you need to understand about campfire stories.
When I saw my first Freddy movie, which was, unfortunately, Freddy's Dead, as a youth, I didn't think it was scary in the least.
It's when I went to bed that night and thought about the movie, watched the shadows on the walls of my bedroom--that's when you're like, "Oh, shit. Freddy isn't scary in the daytime, even at night when you're watching a VHS. Freddy is scary because when you sleep, you're all alone, and he's got all the power to slice you up, probably calling you a bitch while he does it."
Campfire stories are a little the same. A good campfire story has to involve some kind of murderous something that may just still be in these very woods.
It's not too scary, but then you go to bed that night, in a shelter made of canvas, in the dark, with a flap instead of a door to protect you, that's when Stumpy is scary.
Okay, here's basically how I remember Stumpy. And please excuse me, I'm just going to run through this without much fanfare:
Stumpy, before he was stumpy, was a regular guy. Due to a freak accident, possibly while trying to chop down a tree, stumpy lost an arm, then the other arm, then both legs (my memory of how this all happened is hazy, but it was something like the tree fell on him or some shit. Maybe he was seated with his legs out in front of him, stretching to touch his toes, in the worst possible spot?).
After losing all his limbs, Stumpy (who we are now all comfortable calling Stumpy), stayed in the woods, and he learned to live off the land. He became faster than any two-legged man when he ran through the woods on his stumps, and he learned to use his powerful muscles to drive his bony stumps into animals for food, and to occasionally do the same to people...for fun.
Or, possibly, Stumpy was jealous of us long-limbed people. Hard to say.
But if you listen, you might hear a rustle. Probably not, Stumpy is super quiet.
But if you listen, you might hear just a little something before Stumpy dives through your tent and drives what used to be an elbow through your face.
~
Told seriously, unlike how I told it here, it's a pretty great scary story. It's got an extra element to it, which is that it's kind of funny at first, then becomes terrifying, and then you're like, "Oh, shit, I was laughing at Stumpy. I don't think he's going to be happy about that!"
Anyway, as it relates to Skinner, I think these kinds of stories almost have to be told by a campfire, in the woods, when you're not about to go sleep in a soft, warm bed surrounded by all the great Green Day posters that a girl in your class cut out of Tiger Beat for you (because you're not reading Tiger Beat, but you do like Green Day, although it has nothing to do with them being hunky boys).
Those gifted Tiger Beat posters were one of the nicest things anyone ever did for me.
April 7, 2025
This was not at all what I was expecting it to be but it was fun enough
August 26, 2024
Bought this for the Piotr Kowalski art and got a pretty solid horror story with really good art. Reminded me a little of a Wendigo but it is not. Good story not totally original but good. I could totally buy using a Survivor type type story with influencers as contestants/victims and a slasher type as the "monster" of the story. Good stuff. I think that if this were a better known writing talent then I would have given it a 4. It has flaws but is good.
September 14, 2024
A mutating creature who kills people. A bunch of dumb people doing a online TV show. Kill. Slash. The end.
It's okay. But the art is stiff. The people are dumb. It feels to generic to really push past "Okay" at best.
It's okay. But the art is stiff. The people are dumb. It feels to generic to really push past "Okay" at best.
November 30, 2024
Quick and easy horror read. Unprepared internet celebrities fend for their lives in the wilderness and are pitted against an ancient evil. Gore ensues. Decent artwork. Liked the story enough that I would check out more from the author.
January 11, 2026
I enjoyed the gore and cryptid back story. The characters were very basic but I did enjoy the relationship that was made between the few at the end. The story was a fun folklore that didn't give much of a background on but the gore was amazing in the graphics to match the story.
August 22, 2024
2 1/2 stars
A decent horror premise but overly rushed. Could have used, at least, another issue to let the story breath.
A decent horror premise but overly rushed. Could have used, at least, another issue to let the story breath.
September 20, 2024
The gore was SICK. Loved the kills.
September 28, 2024
I enjoyed it. I would’ve loved for this to be a longer novel!
November 27, 2024
A fair attempt at a somewhat derivative piece of horror literature with disinteresting characters, poor pacing, and inevitably, an anticlimactic conclusion.
April 11, 2026
Älskade den här! Klassisk skräck. I skogen, en historia om en varelse som lever i den förbjudna zonen. Det är brutalt. Man älskar inte karaktärerna. 90-tals skräck som serie. Mumma
July 15, 2024
A sci-fi channel level horror story about some influencers who crash land in Canada and come across a killer. I almost immediately wanted them all to die. There's nothing special to this. It's all sizzle at three issues. I'm also not sure why one of the influencers brought their dog. That just seemed like the dumbest thing ever.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews