- austrianspencer
Burn the plans - Tyler Jones
There’s something very sexy about Tyler Jones’ collection of shorts – Burn the plans. From the lush cover by Scot Cole to the internal illustrations from Ryan Mills, this is a book that could sit beside your bed on a nightstand and tantalize you to spread its cover, immerse yourself in it just one more time, pound you with… Oh – sorry – What was I...? … (cough).
It's like a guilty pleasure, Tyler Jones’ voice. By this stage, there’s very little doubt that whatever Tyler writes is going to feel like satin sheets to baby skin. His prose is elegant, brash, evocative, brutal. His descriptions are minimal, lavish, poetic, heart-rendering. But forget all that. We all line up side by side waiting for Tyler’s next book because we all want to be beaten senseless by his emotional horror.
And the man provides.
Straight up, this collection gets 5 out of 5 ⭐ ‘s from me on the basis of the short -Trigger -alone. Brilliantly placed second in the collection, Tyler delivers an engaging visceral horror story with Corporation to start with, a piece about self-mutilation and ruthlessness, gives us a glimpse of the breadth of his playing hand – just one of the many cards in his deck, and then he slaps us with Trigger, an emotional rollercoaster that staggers.
Absolutely staggers.
I can’t emphasize just how good this short is. I’ll be recommending it for short story in the 2022 Stokers – it’s that good. I’m not going to give anything away. Go read it, go have your heart broken and bleed with the characters. Exceptional writing. Wonderful craft. Perfect pacing, heartbreaking prose. I’m devastated it isn’t a novel. I could read 1000 pages of this and never get bored, just float in my own misery and bleed for the characters.
Honestly, the collection could just have had that one story in it and it would have been worth the cover cost, but Tyler's just getting started. My second favorite – “Boo!”, is wonderful, what a great setup, delivery, execution. You leave it shaking your head, smiling, you crafty lad – it’s a lovely play on a horror reader's expectations.
How we learn is great, Lion's den delivers on accent and diversity. Full fathom five – the longer novella at the end of the collection, shows us a wonderful premise, Tyler bleeding for his art.
But no matter what I say about this phenomenal collection, I am drawn back to Trigger, and just how wonderful it is. It has the emotional damage of Almost Ruth but in a short. I can’t emphasize that you need to read this short. Other reviewers can expound on the other stories, can marvel at the brilliance of the man, and his extraordinary range of diversity and approach to telling the short story, but I'm going to tell you before anyone else does that this short blows everything out of the water. Tyler's in a lake of his own.
Mr Jones is only getting better and better. An instant-buy author. 🤜🤛
My regards to both Mr Cole and Mr. Mills. whose artwork makes this package complete.
Outstanding work, Gentlemen. .
You can buy Burn the plans - by clicking on the link to your appropriate Amazon, below:
You can visit Tyler's website, HERE
You can find Tyler on Twitter, HERE
You can find Tyler on Facebook, HERE
You can find Tyler on Instagram, HERE
