Gristle & Bone

A Collection

By: Duncan Ralston

Narrated by: Craig Beck

Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Gristle & Bone: Seven Delectable Tales of Terror

Short and novella-length fiction from the twisted imagination of Duncan Ralston, author of Salvage. Including a new Introduction from Chris Hall of DLS Reviews!

Monsters lurk among us. Cannibals. Werewolves. Artificial intelligence. The vengeful dead. Some want to harm us. Some to help. Others seek to enslave us. Whatever their motives, we can't ignore them any longer.

They are in our businesses. Our homes. They are our neighbors and families.

They are us.

©2014 Duncan Ralston (P)2016 Duncan Ralston

Awesome!

Truly enjoyed all the stories in this collection. I love the tension and unease that was built and there was enough scare without resorting to gratuitous gore or shock.

There is still meat on those bones

This anthology makes me want to go back and reduce all the other anthologies I have listened to by 1 star. I just don’t feel like rating this book 5 stars is fair because it will be grouped with all the other 5 star reviews I have given. I absolutely will take this into consideration for all future reviews. So for now please note that while I am rating this book 5 stars across the board I would much rather give it higher.
I enjoyed the writing in this book immensely. The maturity of the writing, the humor, and the psychology of each story were top notch. The descriptions that the author provides perfectly paints everything such that I would never need to see a movie of these. I already watched it exactly as the author intended in my head.
I’m not going to go on and on about how great I think these stories are because you will get a little bit of that when you first start the book and I am sure I won’t be able to as eloquently review the stories as Chris Hall did. I will say that I felt the stories are presented in the same order I would rank them. I was still super excited about the book by the time I finished it although I would say that as with any anthology not every story is a 10, but even the worst was better than a lot of others I have read lately.
The narrator was also fantastic. He has a deep dark tone, had to adjust the speakers in my car while driving, but that richness is perfectly paired for these style stories. Looking forward to more work by Duncan with the same narrator.
I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Excellent Anthology Horror

'Gristle & Bone' is a series of satisfying stories of the horror variety by Duncan Ralston. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the stories, while of course some where better for me than others, they were all worth listening to. Ralston does a great job of keeping the stories fresh and interesting throughout and the pace moving forward smoothly. Craig Beck gives a top notch narrative performance. If you enjoy short form horror, this is a great one for you!

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Excellent collection of stories!

I received this audio book for free in exchange for my honest review. If you liked The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, then you will love these stories. The writing and narration are both top notch.

Another disappointingly typical set of stories

As with most British horror authors ( except Ramsey Campbell) this was so mild and basic, with absolutely nothing original. Each story is basically your average, someone did something wrong, something knows and forces them to confront and confess, all moving toward cosmic justice, ( haven't heard that one before 🙄), unimaginative and boring!! I feel completely duped and misled by the positive reviews this received. I wasted a credit and I have wasted credits before on books I hated, but I have heretofore, not been completely blah!! I honestly feel justified in begging for a refund for this beige and colorless book..... I mean in one story the guy discovers his Long time crush was really a.......a.....WEREDAWG!!! AWWWWW!!! so scary right!?! and how stinking original !!!

Uniquely horrifying

This collection was well written and narrated, my only complaint is that I want more. It takes a lot to surprise or unnerve me (horror, thriller, and suspense are my favorite genres) and this book succeeded. The author has crafted a deliciously horrifying collection of unique stories that filled me with dread and suspense. Some of the subject matter was graphic and gory, but just the right amount in my opinion. Many authors excessively use nauseating details to carry their plots but that’s not the case here. Grossness is not the foundation of the stories nor the reason it’s classified as horror fiction.

There were a couple of stories that didn’t grab my full attention, but as a whole this was a fabulous horror anthology. I highly recommend this for true horror fans who aren’t offended by a *sprinkling* of graphic, sexual, sickening content.

kept me wanting more

The stories weren't as good as some of his other works but his character development and description keeps you wanting more. You get attached to characters pretty quickly. Duncan is definitley a new favorite author.

Well-written, intelligent, dread-filled horror...

My second outing with Duncan Ralston was an eye-opening, dread-filled experience, but in a good way.

Within these pages, Ralston has penned a collection of short work that positively drips with dread. That was the thing that kept coming to me during this entire read, that Ralston is masterful at building dread. Which is quite different than suspense, but no less enjoyable. Something in the way he strings the words together, the way things unveil themselves to the reader, slowly peeling back the layers until you’re presented with stark horror and shocking revelations.

None of the stories felt like they didn’t belong, like they didn’t measure up to the others. That’s impressive in collections. Usually, there will be at least one story that seems to be the nadir, standing out against the others because it just doesn’t belong. Not the case with Gristle & Bone at all. From the beginning with BABY TEETH and all the way through the final novella, SCAVENGERS, each story has been loved and crafted specifically to create that lead weight of dread that descends your throat and settles so deep inside it feels as though it’s in your knees. The characters are all lovingly and truthfully drawn, believable, and flawed. They make decisions like you or I would, and even if it’s a different choice than you’d have made, you see why they made it anyway. That’s good writing when you can empathize with characters with whom you disagree or even are vile. And we get the full spectrum here.

Ralston’s prose is, frankly, unmatched. It’s liquid, polished, and flows like a mighty current beneath a seemingly still surface. So much is happening, so much being conveyed. It’s a real craftsman at work here, and it was a joy to consume. The only other author I could compare the prose of with Ralston is Clive Barker. It’s in a similar vein, though Duncan has his own voice, and it sings through all the terror.

There are extreme stories in here, but not all of them are. Just be warned before diving in, if extreme horror or frankly written, explicit sex is not your thing, then skip this. If, however, you’re not bothered by such things, I think you’ll have a great time with this collection. YMMV, but I really enjoyed it.

Well-written, transcendent, full of dread, Duncan Ralston’s GRISTLE & BONE is a winner. Don’t miss out on the writer who is sure to be the future of horror.

very good stories!

A VERY good collection of tales. Not a bad one in the bunch! I'd recommend it to anyone who likes Clive Barker, Stephen King, or likes their horror somewhat gritty and based in reality (reality that has some holes in it, that is).

Almost

Good but too wordy and descriptive to a fault in many places. This author is talented there is no doubt, however.

I was provided a copy of this audiobook for free in return for an honest and unbiased review.