Escapement

by Kristopher Rufty

Collected here for the first time, three stories of violence, betrayal, and the dark temptations that dwell in us all.

In Scraps, two people break into a junkyard and find depraved horrors hiding inside.

A man contemplates killing his abusive wife for his lover and sinks deep into a perverse nightmare in Dig My Own Grave.

In The Bass Player, a musician learns the heavy metal band he wants to join will sacrifice everything to be famous.

“Rufty’s writing encapsulates a profound sense of dread and realism that few others can.”
—Aron Beauregard, author of Playground.

Cover design by Christy Aldridge of Grim Poppy Design.

Genres: Fiction, Horror

168 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 23, 2022

About the author

Kristopher Rufty lives in North Carolina with his three children and pets. He’s written over twenty novels, including ALL WILL DIE, THE DEVOURED AND THE DEAD, DESOLATION, THE LURKERS and PILLOWFACE. When he’s not spending time with his family or writing, he’s obsessing over gardening and growing food.

His short story DARLA'S PROBLEM was included in the Splatterpunk Publications anthology FIGHTING BACK, which won the Splatterpunk award for best anthology. THE DEVOURED AND THE DEAD was nominated for a Splatterpunk award.

He can be found on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. For more about Kristopher Rufty, please visit: www.kristopherrufty.com

Reviews

[Jason Nickey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The newest from Rufty, Escapement is 3 novelette size stories compiled together. Each of the three stories brought something different to the table, but The Bass Player was definitely my favorite of the bunch.

[DA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent!

I'm a big fan of Rufty's writing so it's no surprise I loved this collection of novellettes. Each one offered a different brand of horror.

Scraps was the most extreme of the three. I kind of wished it hadn't been the first story. I was expecting more extremeness from the other two. In my mind when I started reading I was like ok I think this is going to be about scrap metal. Whoa Nelly was I wrong!

Dig My Own Grave was more of a thriller in my mind, but I still loved it. I felt bad for the main character and I'm glad the story ended the way it did.

The Bass Player was a fun story. Wasn't quite sure what was going to happen, not when things started rolling it was quite the adrenaline rush.

If you've never read Rufty before, this book will give you samples of how versatile he is as a horror writer.

[renee w · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Stephen Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 great stories all with different feels and violences. Loved the characters in all of them. Think my favourite was probably the first story but all were super enjoyable as is always the case when I read any of Kristopher Rufty's work.

[DJMikeG · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of most of what I have read by Kristopher Rufty. I was mostly underwhelmed by this collection of 3 novelettes, unfortunately. Of the three, the third one, The Bass Player, had a good premise, but shared the problem with all three stories in this volume, it felt too short and underwritten. I feel like Rufty is a novelist, first and foremost, and his style of writing doesn't quite work as well in this shorter format. These novelettes were underwritten to the point where it was hard to tell what was going on, as so many details were left out. It was like the opposite of bloated writing, that goes on too long, it was emaciated writing, there just wasn't enough to it.
I will continue to read Rufty's stuff, as again, I am a big fan of his novels, I think his short work is not for me.

[stwdscrwdntat2d · Rating 4 out of 5]

This author was recommended to me by a few other extreme horror authors and I had to know what I was missing. Based off the reviews, You ALL are missing out! This book has three short stories and all of them were great.. Read the book. Leave a review! Support indie authors