Weirdly enough this summer is a short story summer for me. I’ve read a lot of collections by authors I really, really love. Stephen Graham Jones, Josh Malerman, and now Paul Tremblay. I really like Paul Tremblay’s writing style. It’s always ambitious and wildly creative. And this collection is no different. Surreal at times these stories cover so many different vibes, and I really appreciate what Tremblay is attempting here. However, it really wasn’t for me. I think I went into this expecting like super horror vibes, and this isn’t that. It’s the exact same reason I didn’t click with his last novel- The Pallbearers. It just wasn’t what I was looking for, and felt a little sloggy. That being said, this collection contains one of the best short stories I’ve ever read??? It’s called “The Last Conversation”, and it’s told almost exclusively in dialogue, but it’s absolutely profound and heartbreaking. Ugh what a story! I also really liked “The Large Man”. But that’s really all that resonated with me, and both for super different reasons. Also this cover is stunning!

I'll be posting my review on my Instagram closer to the Pub date- @boozehoundbookclub

I love Paul Tremblay so much, especially Head Full of Ghosts. So all these short stories about Merry and Marjorie (no spoilers) made me really excited. So excited that I almost missed my gym class, and after what happened to David, you might want to skip a workout every once in a while.

It’s not all horror, there is some speculative work in here as well. There were a few stories that I would have loved to see longer pieces about. Aka the clone and the house of windows.

Just an FYI, I got this as an advanced ebook from NetGalley and the publisher. There were a bunch of typos so I hope they were caught in copy editing.

I’m new to Tremblay’s work and was really excited to get a taste of it via short stories. This consisted of 14 short stories and one novella that took about half of the page count. While the collection is marketed as horror, most of them had a sci-fi vibe. I really appreciated Tremblay’s author notes for each story and wish I read each note immediately after it’s respective story. If you plan on reading this, I absolutely recommend doing that! The stories were hit or miss for me, mostly miss. But the ones I enjoyed were so good that I find myself still thinking about them days later: The Blog at the End of the World and The Last Conversation. I think the great thing about this collection is that the stories are all so different that you’ll definitely vibe with at least one of them. If I liked the novella The Beast You Are, this would’ve been a lot better. I enjoyed the fact that Tremblay did that in free verse, it was so different. But the novella itself ended up just being okay, started off strong but then dragged. The whole concept of this collection was really unique, experimental, and was clearly a passion project. Worth checking out if you’re a fan of his work or like horror story collections.

Paul Tremblay never let's me down. This is a worthy addition to his library of work. I highly enjoyed the stories in this collection.

What an eclectic, creative, and creepy collection of horror stories from one of my favorite horror authors. Paul Tremblay is one of those writers who knows how to stretch the limits of the horror genre with his experimental styles and ideas, and I think that THE BEAST YOU ARE is a great gathering of his different styles and the chances he's willing to take. The stories in this range from straight up horror to dark fantasy to weird fiction to flash fiction, and they go to places that aren't obvious or expected without losing focus. Whether it's meta fiction, stream of consciousness style, or anthropomorphic animals on a dark fantasy quest, there are so many interesting stories here that there is sure to be something for everyone.

THE BEAST YOU ARE is another creepy, ambiguous, and at times emotional work from Paul Tremblay. I found it very well done.

Honestly, this ended up being kind of a chore to get through for me. There were ups and downs but the last bit especially dragged for me. I'm not really sure why this is being marketed as Horror, while you can feel then tension/anxiety in these stories it still felt much closer to Sci-fi with a splash of thriller. I think I've read too many fantastic Horror short story compilations recently to thoroughly enjoy this enough. It was not what I was anticipating. I was never truly invested in any of these tales.

As with most story collections, some stories are definitely better than others. Overall I'd give this collection a chance, at least for the namesake story. Also, make sure you read the story notes in the back of the book. I read them after I finished a story which gave me a better idea of what went into the works.

Ice Cold Lemonade Not overly impressed by this one. Our narrator finds drawing which brings back childhood memories. Local children, including Kelly Bishop who the narrator had a bit of a crush on, were selling tours of their haunted house. After legitimately getting scared in the house, the narrator steals a drawing when he leaves. Flash back to the present day, he hears noise in his house which he goes to explore. Just a very basic story and not really that creepy/scary in any way.

Mean Time I do not get the point of this story. A confused man makes chalk lines to get around their small town. A girl erases one and man gets lost somehow. Extremely short thankfully.

I Know You're There The one is not scary but intense and I really enjoyed it. The telling of a man who finds his husband dead. Each time he tells the story something changes; David moving his head, opening his eyes, etc. Seems to me to be a story of what it means to lose someone and the fault of memory.

The Postal Zone Just weird and mostly skimmed it. Letter to the editor (Fangoria magazine in this case) style. References to Tremblay's book "A Head Full of Ghosts."

Red Eyes More "A Head Full of Ghosts" characters in this one. I didn't particularly get/care for this one either. Monsters appear and Merry goes running of to them. She reappears after a few days. And that's the end of the story.

The Blog at the End of the World: I really enjoyed this one. It is selected blog posts from a world in which there is possibly an epidemic making people die of "brain aneurysms." Very quick to read and just a glimpse into what it's like to live through a pandemic/epidemic and not really understand what is going on to make people sick. Also crazy to think this was written in 2008 (per the story notes).

Them This is a pitch for a comic strip. The story doesn't really work for me.

House of Windows A house of windows pops up overnight. Very eerie feel to the story and leaves the reader wondering.

The Last Conversation To me, this is the best story in the collection so far. A man wakes up in a chamber, unable to see. We follow him through his days as he progresses through trials to improve his health with the doctor who is just an omnipresent voice.
[Turns out he's just a clone, and she has been bringing him back so she doesn't have to be alone since everyone else has died from the sickness. Very interesting take on a sickness/end of
world story. (hide spoiler)]

Mostly Size This is a tale of a boy during a monster attack. This story is cute, short and to the point.

The Large Man That story was weird but I kind of loved it. A man, Mr C, is a problem solver in this mysterious unexplained world. He must go find the large man that is plaguing the current society.

The Dead Thing The little brother to the narrator brings home a mysterious shoebox with him. I liked the juxtaposition between possibly dangerous box and the living conditions
(alcoholic dad, missing addict mom). Overall a good story.

Howard Sturgis Another really great one in this collection. The title pretty much says it all. Howard gets mysterious letters, as he's supposedly sent a package that has helped a company create a unique product. He has no memory of this. Things get weirder as more letters come.

The Party A couple arrives at a party where the theme is end of the world. Is it really the end? Apparently the host likes to exaggerate and host parties with weird themes like this. The story is left open.

The Beast You Are The novella that is the namesake for this collection. This one is written in verse form which I think worked really well for the story. Anthropomorphic story about a beast that culls this village every thirty years based on different criteria. I really enjoyed this and don't want to give too much away, even hidden behind a spoiler tag.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC, in exchange for an honest review!

I unfortunately could not bring myself to finish this anthology. It seemed to be just a collection of ideas instead of short stories. While I did enjoy one or two, there were many of them that I just did not get the point of. This speaks to my preferences more than to the author’s writing skills, so do not be reluctant to give this a try based off of my review alone! I personally just could not get into the stories or the format. I hope to try one of Tremblay’s full-length works in the future!

If you’re looking for a disorienting collection of short stories with unique characters and concepts, The Beast You Are is a perfect match. From nostalgic stories to pandemic stories to dystopic (yet applicable to current times) stories, Paul Tremblay’s collection of short stories covers a myriad of topics and themes. Notes of loneliness, curiosity, grief, isolation, empowerment, memory, trust, connection, and the passage of time arise throughout these diverse stories. A man loses his life partner and is stuck in a perpetual loop of anxiety and grief. A woman uses a blog to cope with the sudden loss of her friend. A large building with only windows appears in the middle of a town. An old man receives a strange letter and gets roped into an even stranger series of correspondences. In an anthropomorphic free verse narrative, characters challenge the social tradition of providing sacrifices to a beast at the start of a new age.

Some of the stories were stronger than others, which would be my only critique of the collection. Some of the stories were promising but were not explored to their fullest potential. The stronger ones included “I Know You’re There”, “The Last Conversation”, “The Dead Thinh”, and the title story “The Beast You Are” where you can tell the author spent a good amount of time with the characters, plots, and premises. In these stories, these aspects were well-developed and explicated.

This is a strong collection. Each story felt wholly unique, as if Paul was showing off his range. My favorite story is one I had read prior in Blake Crouch's collection, titled "The Last Conversation." The title story, a novella, was such a wild ride. Kind of like Animal Farm meets the Hunger Games but it also had slasher elements and some fantasy stuff too. And it was written in verse! I think Paul was showing off, but I loved it regardless. Just a rock solid collection that showcases his short fiction and hands out bits of subtle fan service for those who are familiar with his work. Must-read for fans of Tremblay's work.

This book collects several of Paul Tremblay's short stories previously published elsewhere as well as the title novella. Some of the stories, especially the early ones in the book, are reminiscent of classic Ray Bradbury and Stephen King, though the writing is all Paul Tremblay. They have perfect build up of foreboding and intense sense of dread to them. As it turned out, I had previously read three of the stories. As I often seem to find with collections and anthologies the stronger tales seem to be in the beginning, with some of the later ones not being as strong. The short stories take up the first 45% of the book while the novella takes up the remainder. And the novella just didn't do it for me. It was an anthropomorphic tale written in free verse style, and both those factors took me right out of the story. Because of the novella this will be the lowest rating I've given to a Tremblay book, as usually I love his writing and rate his novels 4-5 stars.

As a short story collection, I find this to be intriguing, unsettling, and sometimes horrific. In a good way of course. My favorite stories have a similar trope, and this is something that this author does well. The solitary main character who doesn't quite fit in, or have that inner circle of strong relationships. We are alone with their thoughts as strange things happen to them. Paul Tremblay is really good at that POV, but he shows that he can do more in other stories using different styles and POV.

The main story The Beast You Are is where he really shines. It is a 5/5 star read for me. I am so disappointed that it is only 80 pages, because I could easily see this as a 400 page fantasy/horror novel with multiple POV, including political and environmental themes. There could've been a heroes journey for a few different characters. The seeds are there. In just 80 pages I experienced so much but I wanted more. There's a cult, a serial killer, and they are all animals which is adorable. I hope there is a way to expand this story. The characters are so fleshed out and separate from one another. You think you know who the villain is in the beginning, but by the end it's too late to stop the real evil that was in front of you all along. So, so good.

I have always been a big fan of Tremblay's writing style. This one was not my favorite but overall I enjoyed this book of short stories. I definitely liked some more than others. I really liked that a few of the stories have characters from his other novels.
If you're a Paul Tremblay fan, give this book a go!

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for sharing an advanced copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts

I was more than disappointed by this collection. After great reads like Survivor Song, The Pallbearers Club, and my favorite, Disappearance at Devil's Rock, I expected more. Unfortunately, this didn't do it for me. I found one or two stores to be okay.

I'll admit that I'm a Paul Tremblay newbie. "A Head Full of Ghosts" and "A Cabin at the End of the World" have been on my TBR list for a while, but this short story collection (plus a novella?) is the first thing of Tremblay's that I've actually read. This was a bit hit and miss for me, but the stories I really enjoyed I *really* enjoyed. "House of Windows" was my favorite - very trippy and Lynchian. I also really liked "The Last Conversation" (sci-fi horror), and "Howard Sturgis and the Letter and the Van and What He Found When He Went Back to His House" (I'm not sure how to categorize, a sort of sideways thriller maybe?). The titular story, which is almost novella length, was fun in an "Animal Farm" meets "American Psycho" kind of way. The collection is definitely worth checking out if you're into stories that are unsettling/spooky/weird.

A collection of short stories- I found some more captivating than others. Not the typical Tremblay that I’ve grown very fond of, but some real gems mixed in. “The Last Conversation” is the stand-out short story in the collection that will remain with me for a long time. Truly haunting. All-in-all, though, I’m just not sure if short stories are for me. There just isn’t enough time to build characters and care about what happens to them. Thank you for e-access in exchange for an honest review.

My favorite thing about Paul Tremblay is how he plays with the idea of novel/la. A great example is his last book, The Pallbearers which included notes and scribbles and scrawls. I loved it and love anytime someone colors outside the lines.

This series of shorts is similar. There are multiple stories where you need to catch up quickly to what Tremblay is doing - some are super short and more like a draft of something we will see in the future. All require your full attention for the conclusion, in class Tremblay style.

If you are a Tremblay fan, or just love haunting short stories, this is a fun and creepy book for you!
#WilliamMorrow #TheBeastYouAre #PaulTremblay

The title novella, “The Beast You Are,” is a mini epic in which the destinies and secrets of a village, a dog, and a cat are intertwined with a giant

In this house we stan Paul Tremblay. This is a great and varied collection of short pieces. I also really appreciated the notes at the end. This collection is perfect for already established fans and people looking to get into Tremblay,

I didn't find this as gripping as one of Tremblay's full length novels. The stories were neat but maybe short story format really isn't for me.

A big fan of Paul , and I think this short story collection is wonderful. I especially like that a few of the stories pull in characters from his longer novels. Would definitely recommend for fans of short, spooky stories!