Member Reviews
Goddamn Electric Nights; A Collection of Short Stories by William Pauley III was trash. I highly dislike this author and will definitely not be requesting any more arcs from him going forward. Obnoxious as fuck.
Goddamn Electric Nights by William Pauley III
Narrated by Connor Brannigan, I just love this guys books ....Especially as I binged some of these over the last few days. This is another weirdest book you will ever read and I loved it, especially the cover.......Don't judge the book by its cover.......Well I did with all his books and I didn't know what I was letting myself into lol.
But, I am glad I did. Brilliant!
This was very weird and a couple of the stories were definitely on the gross side. After reading this and Hearers of the Constant Hum, I think I’ve determined that this author’s writing just isn’t for me.
I rarely enjoy short story collections. I think I just prefer reading one full length story at a time rather than a bunch of short ones thrown together. I don’t know if that makes any sense or not 😅
I had originally requested an audio arc of this from NetGalley before I discovered how weird my brain is about audiobooks so I read the finished kindle version. Thanks to NetGalley for the audio arc!
*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Read a couple books by this author (one of the short stories being part of the one) and they are always super weird lol these ones did give me the creeps for sure!
Each story was like plunging head first into a weird dream where you can’t tell if it’s a nightmare or not. I found some of the tales to be more gripping than others but still a fun little read. There are a lot of fun and interesting characters jammed into these short stories and they all tend to find a perfect balance of dread and lightness. I would’ve loved to see some of these stories expanded upon as the endings seemed to come around very quickly given the amount of time the author would take to build a character or world.
The narrator was great, as was the production.
I am slowly but surely reading William Pauley III books and I am really enjoying it. Goddamn Electric Night is a short story collection and every story was weirder than each other. Apart from being weird, they were also funny too. I think listening to the audiobook was a really good choice too because Connır Brannigan is an excellent narrator. If you like horror mixed with fun this was definitely worth to read. Thanks again to the publisher for this amazing arc.
Another great set of horror short stories. I saw this one and had to grab it. I am a fan of short stories and just loved this. These are weird and unique. I didn't want to finish. Each story is so different. I will definitely read more from this author. Thank you to NetGalley and the author/publisher for the arc in exchange for my honest review.
This book wasn’t for me, but I can see why other enjoyed it. It’s definitely a strange book, which is literally what was advertised, I just underestimated it! I think I would have enjoyed reading this one more, but I did enjoy the different narrators.
This is a book of bizarre short stories that I just couldn't get into, although I went into the book expecting the stories to be weird. I enjoyed the narrators and that there was a different one for each story. It is difficult to rate a book with different stories but my rating is for overall.
Not my usual listen and I did not care for narrator, however truly funny in retrospect. I unique take on humor! I truly feel as though it was a very fresh take. Second or third in books with similar writing styles, author is very clever in delivery of content!
I love the narrator's voice, it fit perfectly with this collection of short stories and I will definitely look for more books narrated by Connor Brannigan in the future.
This was an interesting collection of short stories, each story was unique and entertaining. I look forward to reading more of William's work.
I’ve read another amazing book by William Pauley III!
These stories were fun, weird and fascinating, I really enjoyed all of them but my favorite was the third, Killing Teddy.
I highly recommend this fun, horror short story collection!
Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher for an AudioARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
William Pauley the third, has a weird ass brain ... and I am ready to read everything that comes out of it, because it had me reacting vivildy to it. Discoverings his world, full of broken people (or things) was an enchanting time for me. I have spent the best afternoon, reading and re-listening to his universe !
I would definitely recommend it. Even more so for the narrator, who's voice and talent, I fell in love with !
Once again William Pauley III and the narrator Connor Branagan have made my ears fall in love. I absolutely cannot get enough of this authors audio books, the stories are awesome (every single one reminds me of the old time radio series) and the narrator is just crushing it and making the stories come alive. My thanks to netgalley and the publisher for giving the the chance to listen to this. You really should listen to it. It’s a fun ride.
4.5 stars
Goddamn I love this book! The audio production was top notch, the stories were weird, gross, funny…everything in between.
This was my first experience with this author, but I think I may be completely hooked!
What a good audio production!
I have not read the physical book, so this review will not apply to that -- instead, I'll focus simply on the audio portion: having a different narrator for different stories in a short story collection is SO SMART. It helps the listener break up the different portions of the collection so well, and kept me engaged when some collections have me zoning out. Of course, the content of the stories being bizarre and strange definitely helped my engagement -- I never really knew what to expect. This brand of horror is NOT going to be for everyone, so read the reviews before you consider picking it up, but I enjoyed it.
Goddamn Electric Nights by William Pauley III was extraordinary! Each of the short stories in this collection elicited a response from me. I laughed and cringed and smiled!
I just genuinely enjoyed this collection of short stories. Pauley is officially one of my auto-buy authors. What genius storytelling with original stories and horrific elements. BRAVO!
I received a review copy of this book from the author/publisher through NetGalley for my honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.
Goddamn Electric Nights is a collections of various stories. I have reviewed each one separately below.
Slime Night!: (about 40 minutes). Out of all the stories, this one was my least favorite. It depicts the tale of two teenage boys vying for the affections of the same girl. However, their portrayal of her is unflattering, portraying her as promiscuous and having undergone multiple "wire hanger" abortions. The boys engage in a bizarre pinball game known as Slime Night!, where losing results in being drenched in slime. By the conclusion, one of the characters experiences a significant personal revelation. While not terrible, I believe the story could benefit from more extensive exploration of the emotional complexities, perhaps through a longer narrative.
Killing Teddy: (about 20 minutes). The story opens on an excellent note, with the first-person protagonist, who is the superintendent of a building, abruptly awakened by a deafening scream followed by the menacing sound of a chainsaw. To his horror, he finds a woman and a colossal ant inside one of the apartments. The woman recounts an implausible tale of a Japanese game show where the prize money is 500k, and the contestant, Teddy, must be killed and transformed into hundreds of distinct species to entertain the audience. Without weighing the consequences, the superintendent agrees to help the woman for a hefty sum. However, unforeseen events unfold as a result. Overall, this story is a delightfully imaginative and entertaining read.
The Spiders of Honeyville: (about 28 minutes). The story commences with a plumber visiting his lover's residence to unclog her shower drain. However, after he eliminates a snake, a yellow fog bursts out from inside it, killing both the plumber and his mistress and turning them into zombies. In the second part, we learn that the snake species has evolved a revenge mechanism, which results in the predator's death. Scientists are studying this phenomenon and come across a pregnant woman infected with it, from whom they deliver the baby via cesarean section. But the baby is promptly stolen, and in a pursuit, the thief drops the baby, causing it to explode and release a yellow cloud over the entire town. Consequently, the scientists devise a plan to combat the zombies with genetically engineered spiders, which backfires, creating a town full of zombie Spider-Men. Overall, this story is hilarious and had me chuckling throughout. This one is probably my favorite story in the collection.
Hynagagia: (about 15 minutes). This was the first part of The Tower, another novella by the author, which I reviewed here.
$5 Electric Suzie: (about 17 mins). In this story, Susie, an anthropomorphic VCR, needs blood to stay alive. The protagonist of the story becomes infatuated with Susie and starts feeding her his own blood. Eventually, he develops an obsession with her and begins to kill people, starting with his own parents. The tale begins with the protagonist as a young boy, and as he grows up, he continues to feed her. He spends his whole life in the service of the VCR. This story was weird, and not one of my favorites. Nothing much happened from a plot perspective, and the sexual connection with the VCR was uncomfortable.
Spin Doctor Mix Tape: (about 38 mins). The story begins on a somber note, with the protagonist's girlfriend's cat dying accidentally. However, the narrative is imbued with a sense of humor, as the narrator adopts the tone and delivery of a newscaster. The girlfriend forgives him, and when he invites her and his parents over for dinner, everything goes smoothly until they realize that he fed them the cat instead of the planned chicken. The protagonist explains that he was short on cash and had no other option. The girlfriend breaks up with him again, but after listening to a Spin Doctor mixtape he made for her, she decides to give him another chance. Although the cat's death and consumption were a bit off-putting, the story was enjoyable overall.
When I think I have listen to my favourite from William Pauley III, he says “hold my beer” and there I go! This was my favourite so far, one story (hypnagogia, the story about 2 guys that live in 8 block and they have a god that is a deflated mattress, it was a story in the book the tower), this was the second time I have listen to it, and it gets funnier in each time, like always this isn’t a story collection for children, it is weird, funny, crude and very different, and very worth of our time. I have some favourites, Killing Teddy, the spiders of honeyville, hypnagogia and $5 electric Suzie.
The book was read by Connor Brannigan, and it gets so much better because of that, one can say, he alone is one man band, all the characters are brought to life in a brilliant manner, and it really seems like he is having as much fun as we listening to him, so I can only give high praise and I really recommend to everyone to get the audiobook.
Thank you NetGalley and Doom Fiction Audio for the free AAC and this is my honest opinion.
Jesus this was dark and twisty! While I enjoyed this, I'm still processing it all. Going into this, I knew it would be weird, but it certainly surpassed all 'weirdness' in every possible way!