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Lessons
A man learns a painful and valuable lesson… one finger at a time.
An old couple bickers over disgusting leftovers.
Kids go ignored when they tell their parents about the horrors that lurk in their bedrooms, until it’s too late…
LESSONS AND OTHER MORBID DRABBLES is a collection of 25 100-word shorts that range from darkly comic to downright terrifying and wrong. Some shorts feature ghouls and monsters while others are simply about people behaving very, very badly. Which is scarier? Find out in this sick and twisted collection.
They may only be a few words long, but that doesn’t lessen the bloodshed any…
An old couple bickers over disgusting leftovers.
Kids go ignored when they tell their parents about the horrors that lurk in their bedrooms, until it’s too late…
LESSONS AND OTHER MORBID DRABBLES is a collection of 25 100-word shorts that range from darkly comic to downright terrifying and wrong. Some shorts feature ghouls and monsters while others are simply about people behaving very, very badly. Which is scarier? Find out in this sick and twisted collection.
They may only be a few words long, but that doesn’t lessen the bloodshed any…
35 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 18, 2010
1 person is currently reading
62 people want to read
About the author
Michael Crane
62 books21 followersMichael Crane is an indie author and scribbler of inane babble that can sometimes end up as stories. He went to Columbia College Chicago where he earned a BA in Fiction Writing and drank way too many Red Bulls. He is the author of IN DECLINE and LESSONS AND OTHER MORBID DRABBLES, and he also might've written two books while he was in high school, but they are absolutely dreadful and he cautions people to stay far, far away from them. He lives in Illinois and is always trying to work on something new, unless he's battling stupid writer's block.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
December 20, 2010
It takes talent to engage a reader in a hundred words, and then to shock her. Each of Michael Crane’s drabbles did just that. Each story is a nugget of unexpected evil. Mr. Crane’s style is easy and enjoyable, journeying the reader into a false sense of security and then, bam! I look forward to the next collection of drabbles from this gifted author.
February 18, 2011
Not really my cup of tea. I did enjoy one of two of the stories, but I need more then 100 words to do it for me, ya know?
April 8, 2011
This was pretty boring.
May 7, 2025
It's like appetizers for creepy pasta!
May 12, 2011
Storyline: Michael, you leave me CRANE-ing my neck for more! (And she’s back with the puns! HI OH!)
Lessons and Other Morbid Drabbles is a collection of shorts with a most decidedly humorous and horror-filled twist. Each short, or “drabble” as they’re called in the Biz, (I was just educated about this particular style myself. Thanks, Michael!) is a little snippet of a potentially whole story – usually only the most amusing and horrific bit. They’re almost like one-liners for horror writing.
Grammar/Spelling: I noticed no issues with grammar or spelling.
Character Development: Since these are each less than 100 words, there really is no need to develop characters in-depth. But in this case, each character adds their own unique morsel of delicious drama to the story.
I especially liked the doting father. That poor kid should have listened and made sure his daughter was home on time! Reminds me of my own father…
I know that I’ve had similar thoughts regarding nearly every story involving a child’s fear of a monster… because sometimes, there really IS a monster, even if the adults don’t see it!
Writing Style: The writing style is quirky and hilarious. Even though each blurb is quite short, there’s no lack of talent. I’m dying to read more of his short stories! A few of these might even make great short stories themselves.
Continuity: No concern with continuity given the style of the work.
Overall Rating: 4+
Michael Crane does a phenomenal job with his dribbles and drabbles in Lessons and Other Morbid Drabbles. I hope that he continues to churn these out and maybe even consider making them into an anthology. Maybe release a new one each October…? (I’ll be expecting SOMETHING for that brilliant suggestion. Maybe even a new pair of shoes?! Hmmm?!)
I would say that this is definitely not for the young, the old or even the infirm. And if you have a fear of clowns or puppets: FORGET IT! There are some pretty serious scenes of gore and quite a bit of adult language.
Lessons and Other Morbid Drabbles is a collection of shorts with a most decidedly humorous and horror-filled twist. Each short, or “drabble” as they’re called in the Biz, (I was just educated about this particular style myself. Thanks, Michael!) is a little snippet of a potentially whole story – usually only the most amusing and horrific bit. They’re almost like one-liners for horror writing.
Grammar/Spelling: I noticed no issues with grammar or spelling.
Character Development: Since these are each less than 100 words, there really is no need to develop characters in-depth. But in this case, each character adds their own unique morsel of delicious drama to the story.
I especially liked the doting father. That poor kid should have listened and made sure his daughter was home on time! Reminds me of my own father…
I know that I’ve had similar thoughts regarding nearly every story involving a child’s fear of a monster… because sometimes, there really IS a monster, even if the adults don’t see it!
Writing Style: The writing style is quirky and hilarious. Even though each blurb is quite short, there’s no lack of talent. I’m dying to read more of his short stories! A few of these might even make great short stories themselves.
Continuity: No concern with continuity given the style of the work.
Overall Rating: 4+
Michael Crane does a phenomenal job with his dribbles and drabbles in Lessons and Other Morbid Drabbles. I hope that he continues to churn these out and maybe even consider making them into an anthology. Maybe release a new one each October…? (I’ll be expecting SOMETHING for that brilliant suggestion. Maybe even a new pair of shoes?! Hmmm?!)
I would say that this is definitely not for the young, the old or even the infirm. And if you have a fear of clowns or puppets: FORGET IT! There are some pretty serious scenes of gore and quite a bit of adult language.
February 2, 2013
I came across this collection while I was perusing for eBooks that were similar to that of Jeremy C. Shipp, one of my favorite authors and a horror/creepy-humor specialist. For whatever reason I didn’t get around to reading it until now, but I’m glad I did! As Lessons is a collection of 25 “drabbles”, or 100-word short stories, it is only fitting that I do a top five, so without further ado, my favorites in reverse order!
5. Bedtime – A father refuses to believe his young son when the boy says there is a monster underneath his bed. The dad checks it out refusing to believe and pays the price. Let’s just say his…view on life has been adjusted.
4. Grim – When a couple cops investigate a home where Death is supposedly trying to kill a guy (go figure) they are surprised to meet a dark hooded figure. The solution? Go drink at a bar, can’t go wrong with alcohol right?!
3. S.O.L. – A combination of zombies and a teacher goes all to right for a student who received an unwanted grade. Suffice it to say that the teacher won’t be giving out anything anytime soon.
2. Detention – A homage to Bart Simpson lurks in this drabble, and just as the spiky-haired fiend would believe, the teacher really is a monster.
1. Overreaction – Marriage is never easy, and sometimes one person goes a bit too far, that is certainly the case when Monday Night Football is threatened. I recommend you just let them watch, pick your battles folks!
Rating 4/5
5. Bedtime – A father refuses to believe his young son when the boy says there is a monster underneath his bed. The dad checks it out refusing to believe and pays the price. Let’s just say his…view on life has been adjusted.
4. Grim – When a couple cops investigate a home where Death is supposedly trying to kill a guy (go figure) they are surprised to meet a dark hooded figure. The solution? Go drink at a bar, can’t go wrong with alcohol right?!
3. S.O.L. – A combination of zombies and a teacher goes all to right for a student who received an unwanted grade. Suffice it to say that the teacher won’t be giving out anything anytime soon.
2. Detention – A homage to Bart Simpson lurks in this drabble, and just as the spiky-haired fiend would believe, the teacher really is a monster.
1. Overreaction – Marriage is never easy, and sometimes one person goes a bit too far, that is certainly the case when Monday Night Football is threatened. I recommend you just let them watch, pick your battles folks!
Rating 4/5
December 10, 2010
Rating: 5 out of 5
When you have a collection of twenty-five stories, and they're all exactly one hundred words long, it's not really practical to give a full five-part breakdown of them. Mainly because, if a story is that short, it either grabs you or it doesn't. There's really no other way to judge them.
Lessons by Michael Crane is a wonderfully campy, disgusting, funny, and ironic collection of the aforementioned 100-word "drabbles". They snag you by the title and by the time you reach the last sentence, you excitedly turn to the next page, where even more snippets of horror goodness awaits you.
Every...single...one...of these short tales are fantastic. Some rise above others - such as the hilarious Grim, the darkly ominous Spoiled, the masterfully ironic Haunted, and finally the masterful and creepy slice-of-regret Simple, which might well be the best piece of microfiction I've ever read. But all of them are fantastic. There is not a lacking tale to be found.
This is a great - and brisk - little collection, folks. It's well worth the dollar you'll spend on it. I highly recommend it to any lover of horror out there. They'll grab you by the throat, shake you around a bit, and then spit you out wanting more.
Good times. Seriously.
When you have a collection of twenty-five stories, and they're all exactly one hundred words long, it's not really practical to give a full five-part breakdown of them. Mainly because, if a story is that short, it either grabs you or it doesn't. There's really no other way to judge them.
Lessons by Michael Crane is a wonderfully campy, disgusting, funny, and ironic collection of the aforementioned 100-word "drabbles". They snag you by the title and by the time you reach the last sentence, you excitedly turn to the next page, where even more snippets of horror goodness awaits you.
Every...single...one...of these short tales are fantastic. Some rise above others - such as the hilarious Grim, the darkly ominous Spoiled, the masterfully ironic Haunted, and finally the masterful and creepy slice-of-regret Simple, which might well be the best piece of microfiction I've ever read. But all of them are fantastic. There is not a lacking tale to be found.
This is a great - and brisk - little collection, folks. It's well worth the dollar you'll spend on it. I highly recommend it to any lover of horror out there. They'll grab you by the throat, shake you around a bit, and then spit you out wanting more.
Good times. Seriously.
August 16, 2012
"Lessons (and other morbid drabbles)" by Michael Crane, starts out with a lesson, by defining what a "drabble" is: it is a very short piece of fiction written with no more than 100 words. This book contains 25 drabbles. Some are very amusing, some are real groaners, some are just ...ehhh. Overall, though, the book has entertainment value. If nothing else, it's interesting just to see how somebody can write a coherent story using 100 or fewer words. It makes a great filler, for those times you're waiting in line, or even sitting at a traffic signal, because it does not take very long at all to read a 100-word story! In fact, if the individual titles didn't take up so much space, I'm fairly certain each of these would fit on a single page.
I'd have to say I recommend this book because it is somewhat unique (I'm sure there are other "drabble" books out there, but I haven't run across any yet). I also recommend it because it is entertaining and fun. Even those "groaners" are stories you will find yourself wanting to retell!
I'd have to say I recommend this book because it is somewhat unique (I'm sure there are other "drabble" books out there, but I haven't run across any yet). I also recommend it because it is entertaining and fun. Even those "groaners" are stories you will find yourself wanting to retell!
March 24, 2011
Just finished and thought "Now that was fun"
This is a very short read (10 minutes), a fabulous way to kill time while waiting in line at the Post Office, well...as long as it doesn't encourage you to do something that'll land you in jail.
My first adventure into drabble and I loved it. It reminds me of an adult version of The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg. Actually, if you've read The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, you may argue that it's really not just for kids, so let me rephrase: It reminds me of a written version of the Mysteries of Harris Burdick. Drabbles can satisfy you on their own or inspire a series of events that happened before and after the moment you get to witness.
I will go on to get the second collection of Lessons and look into more drabbles.
This is a very short read (10 minutes), a fabulous way to kill time while waiting in line at the Post Office, well...as long as it doesn't encourage you to do something that'll land you in jail.
My first adventure into drabble and I loved it. It reminds me of an adult version of The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg. Actually, if you've read The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, you may argue that it's really not just for kids, so let me rephrase: It reminds me of a written version of the Mysteries of Harris Burdick. Drabbles can satisfy you on their own or inspire a series of events that happened before and after the moment you get to witness.
I will go on to get the second collection of Lessons and look into more drabbles.
October 18, 2012
What a twisted soul this author has. I don't normally read horror, it scares me. But I had heard things about this book and was curious. Curiosity killed the cat you know. So I dove in head first, not understanding what a drabble was.
As I read these quirky tales of horror (not really understanding what in the world the point was) I just kept cringing and shaking my head and then I would laugh out loud and think you should have listened.
Then at the end the author explains what this exercise was all about, and I thought COOL! The author did a fantastic job using just 100 words to tell a twisted tale. That takes a lot of talent. This book was perfectly edited and formatted as far as I can tell.
Of course I went straight into Lessons II: Another Morbid Drabble Collection.
As I read these quirky tales of horror (not really understanding what in the world the point was) I just kept cringing and shaking my head and then I would laugh out loud and think you should have listened.
Then at the end the author explains what this exercise was all about, and I thought COOL! The author did a fantastic job using just 100 words to tell a twisted tale. That takes a lot of talent. This book was perfectly edited and formatted as far as I can tell.
Of course I went straight into Lessons II: Another Morbid Drabble Collection.
December 8, 2010
If you like Edward Gorey or Tim Burton's Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories, then I'd highly recommend this book. It's all flash fiction - so the stories are 100 words or less - but they all seem complete and fun. They have twists in them but not in a bad way. Like a punchline of a good joke. I did feel like it could be improved by illustrations, but they could be just because have Burton and Gorey in my mind.
In any event, it was a fun, quick read, and definitely worth the price.
In any event, it was a fun, quick read, and definitely worth the price.
January 4, 2011
What I liked:
-Successfully tells a story in 100 words
-The stories are very visual and haunting
-30 short stories mean more 'punchlines' and climaxes than one long horror story
What I didn't like:
-Some of the stories sounded too similar in plot
Bottom line:
-I'm looking forward to my next set of Lessons.
Update 01/03/2010: I just read this book for the second time. Why? Because I couldn't stop thinking about the stories. I guess I liked it more than I thought I did. I realized you have to read it slowly to get the most out of it. Adding another star to the rating. ;)
-Successfully tells a story in 100 words
-The stories are very visual and haunting
-30 short stories mean more 'punchlines' and climaxes than one long horror story
What I didn't like:
-Some of the stories sounded too similar in plot
Bottom line:
-I'm looking forward to my next set of Lessons.
Update 01/03/2010: I just read this book for the second time. Why? Because I couldn't stop thinking about the stories. I guess I liked it more than I thought I did. I realized you have to read it slowly to get the most out of it. Adding another star to the rating. ;)
July 11, 2011
What a great, super-fast read! Drabbles are stories in 100 words or less (according to my understanding).
I've never read anything like this book, and hadn't even heard of the concept of drabbles until someone recommended it. Now, I can't imagine how I've gone so long without them!
They are awesomeness in 100 words - and there's a TON of them in this book. It's like getting the Cliff's Notes version of 25 different books in ten minutes.
If you like horror, good writing, or out-of-the-box thinking (or all of the above), you will really like this book. Highly recommended!
I've never read anything like this book, and hadn't even heard of the concept of drabbles until someone recommended it. Now, I can't imagine how I've gone so long without them!
They are awesomeness in 100 words - and there's a TON of them in this book. It's like getting the Cliff's Notes version of 25 different books in ten minutes.
If you like horror, good writing, or out-of-the-box thinking (or all of the above), you will really like this book. Highly recommended!
December 28, 2010
Micro-short-stories (exactly 100 words each) ranging from horror to humor (dark as it may be). You’ll be laughing and cringing from the first drabble, “Bedtime,” that deals with the monster under the bed until the last, “Something,” which puts a new spin on ending a relationship. Or not.
An easy one session read or maybe read one a night as bedtime stories. Oops, maybe Michael Crane’s sense of humor is rubbing off.
An easy one session read or maybe read one a night as bedtime stories. Oops, maybe Michael Crane’s sense of humor is rubbing off.
October 26, 2010
An experiment in Fun & Terror
A fun collection of stories 25 in all wrote in 100 words each. I't takes some talent to form a story in 100 words or less and he accomplished it with no problem at all. all for .99 cents is a great buy for entertainment. Lessons was probably my favorite, going to ask the author if I can turn it into a short film, it would be a blast.
A fun collection of stories 25 in all wrote in 100 words each. I't takes some talent to form a story in 100 words or less and he accomplished it with no problem at all. all for .99 cents is a great buy for entertainment. Lessons was probably my favorite, going to ask the author if I can turn it into a short film, it would be a blast.
April 24, 2011
I love experimental writings like this, and many of these "lessons" really worked well for me. My only compliant with this book is that with just 100 words allowed (and required) per story, many of the word choices could have been so much better. Another round of editing/revisions could really have saved this book.
September 6, 2011
LOVED this collection. Most notable in my opinion were Lessons and Victim. This was such a great change of pace for me; like eating a piece of candy after having just devoured a gigantic meal. Fantastic!
May 2, 2013
I enjoyed this book a lot. It was a quick read and very entertaining.
A few of the stories do seem kinda repetitive, but it was good.
Looking forward to Lessons II.
A few of the stories do seem kinda repetitive, but it was good.
Looking forward to Lessons II.
May 13, 2011
Love these 100 word stories!
October 8, 2011
Biggest waste of 99 cents thus far. Avoid at all costs. Boring. Amateurish. Unoriginal. Shall I continue?
July 21, 2020
A perfect horror anthology in "drabble" format. Cleverly expressing so much using so little (one or so sentences), Michael Crane has won my continued patronage in his future "drabble" endeavors.
February 10, 2011
Pretty good quick short horror/dark comedy stories. Will take you about 1/2 to read.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews