Boarded Windows, Dead Leaves

By: Michael Jess Alexander

Narrated by: Jonathan Sleep

"In Mister Alexander's neighborhood, it gets very dark very early.” (Steve DuBois)

“The nine stories in Michael Alexander's creepy collection, Boarded Windows, Dead Leaves, explore the creepier side of humanity. The tone is set by 'A Profound Impact' and doesn't let up. He takes on some of the standard horror tropes but also explores new grounds, all the while staying faithful to the theme that there are some very scary things out there, and you'd better be afraid.” (Vincent Moore, professor of English and humanities, Tiffin University and author of Emily Dickinson, Ninja Assassin)

“It depends on what you fear more, visiting the dead or being visited by the dead, which of these 'nine macabre tales' you will find the most macabre. Will you be haunted more by living (and dying) the last moment of a laser-sliced brain, or by the returning soul able to possess many bodies at once, or by the experience of being eaten alive? Regardless of which one digs deepest into your anxieties, you won’t soon forget any of the stories in Michael Jess Alexander’s Boarded Windows, Dead Leaves.” (H. L. Hix, author of Demonstrategy)

From cultish rituals to cosmic horror, Michael Jess Alexander's collection of horror fiction will leave you disquieted and unsettled.

In "Chatterbox", a college professor is haunted by the spirit of a former student.

"A Profound Impact" tells the story of a lost group of people who finally find a place they belong.

In "Space for Amateurs", a science experiment goes horribly awry.

These tales and six others await you in this haunting volume of horror fiction.

©2020 Robert P. Ottone (P)2021 Robert P. Ottone

horrifying, unique and funny in a twisted way

This is hands down, one of the absolute best audio narrations I've ever heard. These terrifying tales are brought to life in a provocative fashion by amazing voice actors and dramatic sound editing. Not only that but the stories told in this short collection are horrifying, unique and funny in a twisted way. This is an absolute blast and a must-have audiobook.

Such a fun listen!

What a great collection of spooky stories. With unexpected outcomes and fun characters brought to life my Mr. Sleep! I highly recommend.

Great book, loved the irony

I really liked this book. The Author does a great job of explaining the characters and the setting. His descriptions are wonderful, I feel like I'm in the story. I also like the irony the author uses. I particularly liked in "Warm and Tender", the idea of the man who decided to become a zombie so that he could at least still be in intact, but then is all gone at the end.

I want MORE from this author!

Okay, this was a surprise hit for me.

The publisher contacted me about sending the audiobook after my recent Top 5 Favorite Audiobook Narrators video went live. I did not know this author, I did not know this narrator. The person who runs the small press - I know and trust, so I said I would be delighted to give this short story collection a listen. (FWIW, I was not asked for a review in exchange for the audiobook)

With short story collections, I like to savor them and listen or read one per day so I can mull over that one story and keep it separate from its bookmates. I couldn't do that with this collection. The narrator, Jonathan Sleep, had a very pleasant voice with what sounded like a Southern drawl. I instantly wanted to hear him read me some of Faulkner's classics.

WHAT GOT ME, however, were the stories!

I have a few favorites, but they were all so different. I love when short story collections in horror have different themes. Some were creepy. A couple had some hilarious humor moments that had me cracking up even though bad things were happening. (whoops, lol!) A couple were sad or tragic. There were a couple that ended mysteriously. EVEN BETTER - Michael Jess Alexander writes so smart. What I mean by this is I love his word choice, or how he worded sentences. I kept hitting the rewind 15 seconds button on my audiobook because I wanted to hear sentences or paragraphs again.

I sincerely hope we get more from this author in the very near future - I would gladly take another short story collection because these were absolutely fantastic!

Thank you so much to Spooky House Press for the audiobook and introducing me to a new author!

Variety of Horror

You get a gambit of different horror tropes in this crafted collection. Zombies, werewolves, disturbing fanatics...oh my. I like the build up in each of the stories but unfortunately they are short stories. This left me wishing these were a lot longer to build off a very fertile beginning. So you have a lot of good beginnings that are worth checking out. And eventually, hopefully, they will bloom into something longer now that a reader got a taste of what Michael Jess Alexander has to offer.

And I have to say one of the reasons I listened is Jonathan Sleep as narrator. He got to use a full range of emotional performances to get me feeling I was listening to several different people speaking. As usual, a top performing voice actor.