Burn the Plans

By: Tyler Jones

Narrated by: Connor Brannigan, Tyler Jones

From Tyler Jones (author of Criterium, The Dark Side of the Room, and Almost Ruth) comes Burn the Plans, a collection featuring 15 tales of supernatural suspense.

In “A Sharp Black Line”, children go missing whenever a ghostly island appears in the center of a river during a storm, and a father must make a terrible choice.

Two young brothers are tasked with burying the family dog and uncover dark family secrets in “Trigger”.

In “Red Hands”, a disturbed man goes on a killing spree, and his childhood friend suspects it has something to do with what they found, many years ago, hidden in a cave.

A courtroom sketch artist draws the evil she cannot see in “The Devil on the Stand”.

A young boy sets out to get photographic proof of the ghosts that haunt his home in “Boo!”

Grotesque government experiments, a remote viewer who blurs past and future, a crate that contains ancient evil, and bloodthirsty machines are all part of the world in which these tales take place.

Featuring 14 short stories and one novelette, Burn the Plans is a relentless journey into the dark places we end up when all of our plans go wrong.

©2022 Tyler Jones (P)2023 Tyler Jones

Critic reviews

“Original and highly entertaining with storytelling prose that refuses to let go. You’re going to have fun with this one.” (Chad Lutzke, author of Of Foster Homes and Flies)

“At turns disquieting and surreal, Burn the Plans demands we chase shadows through unlit cities and down painful roads. Jones paints the grim portrait of a shattered-glass world and then throws us inside with no way out. In this collection, everywhere and everyone is a haunted house.” (Hailey Piper, author of The Worm and His Kings)

“In his first collection Burn the Plans, Tyler Jones is an author who has found his voice, and it’s a confident, assured one. From the opening story’s look at guilt and penance to the closing story’s tale of a Christmas gone horribly wrong, Burn the Plans features real characters caught up in unreal situations. Recommended!” (John F.D. Taff, Bram Stoker Award-Nominated author of Little Black Spots and The Fearing)

What a collection

So many impactful short stories. What an amazing collection. Believe the hype on this one. Do you want to know which one is my favorite? Choose one. The answer is yes. Pick another. Yes again

A good collection of short stories

I really enjoyed this collection. My favorite by far was Boo. Hearing the authors thoughts on each story at the end of the collection was great.

Captivating and Immersing

A collection of short stories blended into a cocktail of absolute perfection. Some of the stories are just stories to be told. Some end with a cliffhanger. Some end at the right time on a high note. Then there’s the one will slap the s*it out of you and have you reflecting life at 7:30 in the morning.

Good variety

This is a collection of different horror stories. There were a few cliffhangers that I would have liked to end differently. Every story kept my attention and made me want to keep listening. Overall a good collection.

One of the best short story collections I’ve ever read

Slinging out a bunch of superlatives about the stories in this collection feels disingenuous. It’s way beyond that. It’s real life, but for people experiencing it at its most surreal and traumatic - like a peek behind the curtain at the ugliest, most confusing, terrifying, and life altering bits - the stuff we are afraid might exist just below our conscious awareness, but don’t know for sure. The stories don’t tread familiar ground. The trajectory is harrowing and haunting. The existential dread lingers. That’s all you can really ask for in a reading experience.

The narrator was fantastic and the stories provided a lot of variety

This is the second work I've read from Tyler Jones, the first being "The Dark Side of the Room" (which was fantastic, if a hair too long). I think he did well with a short story format and provided a solid variety of concepts, narrators, settings, and characters. A few stories really stood out ("Trigger" and "The Lion's Den" come to mind). The only negative thing I could say is that the structure of the plots and the often abrupt or open endings became a bit too similar, to the point where I was able to anticipate what was going to happen or how the story was going to end just by the pattern of storytelling beats. Overall a highly recommended collection of short stories!

Fantastic!

Burn the Plans by Tyler Jones -
This short story collection is such a wild ride! I absolutely loved it! I won’t take the time to review each story here. You’re gonna have to check it out for yourself to do that. Let’s just say it’s a fantastic collection!

Jones has the ability to tell stories in such a way that pulls you in from the beginning and keeps you hanging on every word. Some of the stories made me think, some were freaky as hell, and some were down right trippy.

Corporation will have you looking at businesses in a whole new way and questioning everything. White Glove is a delightfully twisted Christmas tale. And the ending of Boo! left my jaw on the floor! What?!?!?!

Man! Give this one a read or a listen! You won’t be disappointed!