Beautiful Ugly

And Other Weirdness

By: Thomas S. Flowers

Narrated by: Tim Carper

Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

Eleven bizarre short stories from the mad mind of Thomas S. Flowers ranging from Cronenberg-styled body horror to John Carpenter-inspired dark science fiction. Stories include:

• "Gone": A UFO crashes on a family farm setting in motion events that will lead to tragic results.
• "Happiness": A peculiar salesman comes to Happiness, Texas with nothing but an scarlet suit and a briefcase, and the ability to resurrect the dead...but his services come at a cost.
• "The Abigail": A crack-whip special tactics squad investigates a supposedly derelict spaceship only to find that some things are better left alone.
• "Ultrasound": Soon-to-be parents face their worst nightmare come true.
• "The Witch of Staunton County": Zealots find that sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.
• "Marrow": A homeless man is introduced to a secret Order with curious appetites.
• "The Ascension of Henry Porter": With a prognosis grim as his, Henry will do whatever it takes to cheat death...but as the saying goes, there are worst things than dying.
• "Apocalypse Meow": Jill always hated cats. Now weird glowing strays are invading her town.
• "The Foree Farm Massacre": He came home from war with a curse. Now the townspeople will learn just how dangerous he really is.
• "Beautiful Ugly": Martin wanted nothing but for the world to see him as he truly was. Beautiful. Exotic. To be seen as Martha. But when he attempts the impossible at the promise of a strange doctor, what people see is not him at all, but a monster.
• "The Philosopher": Even in a nuclear-eradicated world populated by mutants, the truth must be heard.

©2017 Thomas S. Flowers (P)2018 Thomas S. Flowers

Good Stories

The stories varied from fair to good to very good.They were definitely good enough to give this collection a listen. The narrator needed to do more polishing: too many repeated phrases or sentences and even a sigh. However, the stories were sufficiently unusual and entertaining to overcome his lapses.

A Good Listen

I enjoyed this book. I am a new listener of Thomas Flowers and liked what I heard so i will be exploring more of his works. Although I thought a few stories could have used a bit more background or explanation, the stories were enjoyable. I particularly liked The Ascension of Henry Porter. My only real critique was all of the background noise. At times there was enough background noise to make me think there was something wrong with my phone or PC when listening.
I provided this review voluntarily even though this book was given to me for free at my request.

Short, Weird Tales

Thomas S. Flowers writes some of the most bizarre and compelling content I've ever read. This collection of short form horror definitely delivers on the 'bizarre' part I was expecting! As with most collections, not every piece is a winner. That said, I found something to enjoy about every single one of the stories. I also think there is something to be said for listening to short stories as a change of pace from long narratives. If you're not prepared for some serious weirdness, this collection is not for you! Tim Carper does a fine job with narration, though I'm not sure he was the best choice for this collection.

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

Middle of the road, but nonetheless entertaining

"I received a complimentary audiobook of this title from the author and have voluntary left this honest review.”

A middle of the road, but nonetheless entertaining, collection of shorts.

Nothing spectacular or overly weird here, despite the title. The stories seemed a bit elementary. Felt like horror for beginners. Goosebump-ish. There’s nothing wrong with that, if that’s your bag, but I was hoping for something darker.

The narration was good at times, however, there were quite a few errors throughout - yawns right in the middle of a sentence, double words, mini pauses etc. I’ve never experienced that before in an audiobook and it threw me off on more than one occasion.

Overall, a decent collection, but could have used some “juice” and a sound editor. 2.5 Stars

Overall decent Scifi horror anthology

Thought this was a decent horror/Scifi anthology with a few issues. For one there is a massive amount of recording errors in it. More than I've ever seen in a book. The story about the giant blob creature. That had repeated scentences back to back, yawning, even throat clearing if I recall. This was just poor editing sadly and took away from the expirience. This happened throughout the book. Besides that the stories were interesting if not short. But that's what you get with short stories!

I recieved this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

More ugly and less beautiful

I hate to give out a negative review. I know what it is like to work hard, and put it all out there, but I have to be honest.

First, Tim Carper is a fine narrator I am sure. He is clean in his delivery and he is not static or monotone, but his accent for this book does not fit. He has a strong southern flavor that would be fine in another genre, like a western, but not here. In a case like this the narration should be free of accent, unless being used to color a character. Here, it was a constant distraction.

Second, Flowers stories are really simple and straight forward. They all have a good gem inside, but it has not been polished. For example, his werewolf tale is just about a werewolf killing some people that came to kill him. It plays out more like a scene in a movie than a short story. The same with the first tale, about the pregnant girl, has a good start, but the ending has 0 punch. It just felt like there should have been more. Alien abduction? Same. I do note a lot of scientists are evil vibes, and maybe that is meant to be an overarching theme, but none of them carried enough weight for me to go WOW! Short stories need impact, something that comes from the weight of events that occur or a good twist at the end. None of these had that. Sorry, but between the narration, and the lackluster stories I cannot give this book a thumbs up. Which is a real shame, because these are the stories I would love to read if they had some more zip and zing to them.