Saving Granny from the Devil

by Todd Keisling

Granny is the center of Toddy's world, helping to raise him following his parents' divorce. She is his moral compass, his mentor, and more importantly, his best friend.

But Toddy has another friend: an odd man in a black suit who answers to the name of Harvey J. Winterbell. He once saved Toddy from a pair of neighborhood bullies, and since that day, Harvey has followed Toddy into his drawings, into his toys, and even into his nightmares.

When Granny falls victim to a series of debilitating strokes, Toddy's world is shattered, and Harvey emerges from the turmoil to pick up the pieces. This time he wants to teach Toddy a valuable lesson: everything comes with a price, and the Devil always collects his due.

In the third installment of Todd Keisling's Ugly Little Things series, SAVING GRANNY FROM THE DEVIL blends memoir and horror into a harrowing exploration of selfishness and regret as one man tries to face his demons once and for all.

56 pages, Paperback

First published March 2, 2014

About the author

TODD KEISLING is the two-time Bram Stoker Award®-nominated author of Devil’s Creek, Scanlines, Cold, Black & Infinite, and most recently, The Sundowner’s Dance, among several others. A pair of his earlier works were recipients of the University of Kentucky’s Oswald Research & Creativity Prize for Creative Writing (2002 and 2005), and his second novel, The Liminal Man, was an Indie Book Award finalist in Horror & Suspense (2013). He lives in Pennsylvania with his family.

Reviews

[Peter]

Another great tale from a modern master storyteller! Toddy is saved by the devil when being attacked by two bullies. He's afraid the devil might take his granny but obviously the devil has other plans. Superb coming of age story. The author has the eye for details and comes up with a convincing, sometimes a bit melancholic tale. His characters are lively and the devil is depicted in an extraordinary way. What is the message here? Don't forget your grandparents before it's too late... Highly recommended!

[Maxine]

Yet another great story from the pen (or laptop) of Todd Keisling. He is growing on me as a writer as I give him more and more fan club *waves* from England.

This was a very sophisticated story, not gore-splatter-blood-guts type of horror but story telling with chills and fear built in. Todd is a very good writer, his stories are incredibly good to get locked into and not want to put down.

In this story a young man who adores his Grandmother is having a pretty crappy time in his life, bullied all the time, and all round miserable until one day a man (ahem!) comes to save the day, but there is a price to pay and the price is high.

And the debt collector is going to come calling, you betcha, no doubt about that.

With good character development and subtle creepy moments that have the hairs on your arms waving in the breeze (what? wait, no this is is a horror review). It will have the hairs on your arms standing on end in pure fear. There better?

Not the scariest horror story I have ever read, not even one of Todd's scariest but very well done. An author to try if you have not already and enjoy the modern urban horror genre. 4 stars.

I received a copy of this story from the author in exhange for an honest review.

[Eryk Pruitt]

Todd Keisling is at it again with his short but powerful series UGLY LITTLE THINGS. Fresh off the heels of "Radio Free Nowhere" and "When Karen Met Her Mountain," he delivers a knockout punch with "Saving Granny from the Devil." Fans of Stephen King will really dig this one and no one will know what to expect as Keisling proves dynamite comes in small packages.
This semi-autobiographical Faustian tale centers on a young boy who encounters neighborhood bullies while playing and, little does he know, this sets up his initial encounter with an alleged demon. Keisling is at his best when his version of the devil is presented, whether it be present in a dead dog, a stuffed monkey, or... Well, I don't want to give away any of the horrors in a review, so I'll let you read for yourself.
If you're a fan of King-ian horror... If you're a fan of stories involving Faustian deals... If you're a fan of good fiction,..
You can do no wrong by fetching yourself a copy of Todd Keisling's "Saving Granny from the Devil."

[Mercedes Yardley]

A young boy is raised by his great-grandmother. He ends up making a deal with a blue-eyed devil and we follow the effects of this deal throughout the boy's life.

This is, hands down, my favorite piece by Todd Keisling. It's chilling, brutal, evocative, and still manages to be infused with warmth.

Todd does something unusual in that he takes actual moments from his life and tangles them with fiction. In this way, it's vaguely reminiscent of Paul Park's Nebula-nominated piece "Ghosts Doing the Orange Dance." Dark with a thin vein of sweetness running through it, "Saving Granny From the Devil" is a deceptively deep and intriguing tale that tells us more about the author than perhaps even he realized. His love for his Granny is so genuinely demonstrated that it's enormously touching. Juxtapose this with the horrifying, creepy elements of the story and you have a quality tale that any author would be proud of.

[Jason Nickey]

This was not what I expected. From the title and cover, I figured this would be a funny little horror comedy story. It was more like a grown up version of a Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark story. Very well done!

[Matthew Rogers]

Ok, just to note I managed to get a copy of this story waaaaaaay before the publication because of a contest of sorts.

Now, about my thoughts on this story. First off this story really takes a detour from Todd's familiar work to a point. I've read both his novels, and I'm getting around to reading the other two stories that are a part of his Ugly Little Things collection; but like I said, this story does take a turn down familiar, and unfamiliar roads.

What I mean is this is part supernatural and yet part memoir, and it works with his talent of writing such tales of the former, as well he is speaking from the heart about his own self.

Since he is able to blend both very well, and while one knows this comes off as part fact and part fiction, then it doesn't feel like it's really fake, despite that he uses the Devil as opposite of his own self. So yes, he is adding another story about making a deal the Devil to the ever growing list that many have contributed before. But since he is speaking from a more personal point of view, it doesn't come across as, again, fake. This is an important topic for Todd to talk about, and he is expressing in the best manner possible for the rest of us to understand. Obviously his Grandma was important to him, and was a major influence over him as a child, and as a writer (to me at least) he is trying to find a way to honor her through his craft.

A story like this came come from anyone. I can write one, Joe Somebody down the street can write one. But it takes a person who is very talented, or has a personal stake in it, or both, to write one and have it mean something.

Todd is of the third option. But just because it's not his usual work (despite that the devil makes contact through him in the most interesting way), doesn't mean one should skip this story. Trust me, I mean it. Ernest Hemingway said that, “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed,” and despite that Todd probably uses a laptop, he obviously bled for this tale.

[Zakk Madness]

"Saving Granny from the Devil", young and bullied Todd makes a pact with Harvey J. Winterbell for the wellbeing of his grandmother. Emotional and heavy, I fell into it immediately and spent the next hour and a half equal-parts concerned for Todd and charmed by the smooth as a breast Harvey (the Devil).

I haven't yet read either of Mr. Keisling's Monochrome books (strong emphasis on yet), so I can't say if the "Ugly Little Things" tales are out of character for him or not. What I can say is that these four tales prove that he is perfectly capable of bringing the tension, pulling on your heartstrings and splattering the gore. Whatever is next for Mr. Keisling's "Ugly Little Things", I am fully invested and I will gladly pay with my sleep. For what better way is there to spend a few hours in the dark, more than likely with all four appendages tucked safely under a tight blanket (and possibly a night light), than with some truly enjoyable tales that are assured to linger in your skull, stain your psyche.

Dark, dirty, captivating and nasty, I had a great time playing with this ugly little thing.

The Mouths of Madness Podcastshow
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[Paula]

Saving Granny from the Devil is part of Todd Keisling’s Ugly Little Things series. This story is a work of fiction but it reads like an autobiography. Just like Toddy, Todd did have a Granny that was a very important part of his life.

The story is about 8 year old Toddy who has been bullied a lot by classmates Gerald and Brent. One day while out on his own he encounters the 2 bullies and ends up being locked in a kennel with a dead dog. It is there through the dead dog that he first encounters the Devil.

The devil takes on the form of a man and becomes Toddy’s “imaginary friend,” whom he calls Harvey J Winterball. As time passes he begins to realize just who Harvey really is but it is too late. A deal had been struck and now Toddy must abide by it.

This is a bittersweet tale, a coming of age story without all the sugarcoating. It’s about choices and the consequences of said choices. I really enjoyed this story along with the other 2 books in this series, Radio Free Nowhere and When Karen Met her Mountain. All of these stories can be read in any order and stand alone, so do yourself a favor and check them all out!

[Pheebz]

An Excellent thought provoking,trip back to childhood.The fears and joys and never ending quest of what is life all about and self discovery.Will you be the driving force of your own life...or will you let circumstance and others dive your life,while you sit back a and let it happen?
What a Brilliant piece of work!Todd Keisling takes you back to being a kid.The hopes and fears,the joy and times of utter love and stability,the per sauna that are trust on us by others,even though that is not who we really are inside.
Todd takes you on a trip that allows you to visit thoughts and feelings from childhood ,teen,to adulthood.
This story is about a little boy who has a hard working mom and a grandmother that is also his best friend and playmate.He would do anything to save his grandmother.Pick up this heart warming thought provoking story of love ,fear,turmoil, self resentment and realization.I don't want to give too much away but it is a great read ,hard to put down short story.
Keisling is a Master of story teller.He is Brilliant!

[Andrea Wilson]

This book is a departure from Keisling's usual psychological/sci-fi/horror-ish sort of writing. It's much more memoir-like, although there are certainly fantastical elements, such as the always-mysterious and more than slightly sinsister Harvey J. Winterbell, who might or might not be the titular Devil, and might (or might not) have a hankering for Toddy's eternal soul. There's even some theology, as seen through the eyes of a child who just doesn't get why Jesus would turn down the Devil's thoughtful gesture of assistance. But at its heart, this is a book about love, loyalty, sacrifice, and the loss and guilt that we all must, at some point in our lives, deal with. It's a fascinating look into the human soul, and the choices that we make as we manuever through the entangled world of human devotion. This is a thought-provoking, deeply personal narrative, and I strongly suggest you give it a try.

[D.B.]

This story came to me by way of recommendation, as the best stories often do. I was captivated by the get-go - a boy in the middle of a perfectly ordinary everyday horror is rescued by the master of all horrors. I love that Keisling's devil creeps in out of nowhere and spends a good deal of time off stage/page. It makes him all the more terrifying and intriguing. He represents our everyday demons and deeply rooted fears, insecurities, and reflections we'd rather ignore.

Loved the voice, the tone, and the fact that this story will stick with me, as the best stories always do.