Welcome to Litsy!

A weird psychological horror story about a group of friends who try to play a prank at a movie theater with a mannequin but things go wrong and then they get worse 🐈‍⬛
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My friend & I had a similar experience. We were driving down the highway & friend thought she spotted a dead or unconscious body up this hill. Only it was just a Halloween display body so she swiped it. We figured this was perfect for a prank.

There was a dilapidated house we all called the haunted house. We put it at the top bedroom & drew a bunch of symbols we thought would seem Satanic. That night our other friends went to the house…

Stephen Graham Jones is such a reliable horror writer for me. I always know 100% I‘m going to enjoy whatever he‘s written for me and this was no exception. Very strange, very slasher-y, a perfect litlte Halloween novella to prove why you can‘t trust eerie mannequins or high school boys.

#hauntedshelf #skeletoncrew

A weird little horror novella. Overall, solid quick read! 4⭐️

Lol WTF.
What a creepy little novella that had little to do with mannequins, and a lot more to do with being a complete Psicópata 🫢
#bookreview #novella #horror #indigenousauthors
⭐️⭐️⭐️

A group of teens finds a mannequin and decides to use it for a prank. The aftermath goes sideways to dark and unexpected places. I really liked that I didn‘t see where this novella was going. It was an entertaining, quick read. #ReadYourEbooks

Horrifying 🥶

Ok so to be perfectly honest I wasn't paying enough attention to the first couple of chapters, which i realize now was a big mistake lol. Because halfway through I was like, wait...what just happened?! But kept trucking along because it's only a 3 hour long audio so figured it'd all wrap itself up soon. And it did...so...SPOILER: This book is not actually about mannequins 😂

Enjoyable weird short read. Sawyer & his friends pull a harmless prank (maybe involving said mannequin) on a movie theater attendant who‘s caught them sneaking in unpaid.

As things go it‘s not so harmless and then the story takes off on how they can fix the situation … it lost me for a second … it got me back in the end & even had a laugh or two.

A good choice for a quick Halloween book!!

⭐️⭐️⭐️3/4

EDIT - #31by31 30/31

“One last laugh for the summer as it winds down. One last prank just to scare a friend. Bringing a mannequin into a theater is just some harmless fun, right? Until it wakes up. Until it starts killing.”

#night #scarathlon #blackcatcrew

#Two4Tuesday

1. Do taffy apples count because they are my absolute favorite treat this time of year. Otherwise, I‘m a big fan of peanut butter cups.

2. A favorite spooky read is the tagged novella which surprised me in all sorts of ways (and I don‘t want to say more because no spoilers). Can‘t go wrong with Gaiman‘s The Graveyard Book or Coraline (which is a delightfully creepy read) either.

@TheSpineView

So, Shana got a new job at the movie theater.
#FirstLineFridays

Just starting this horror novella a touch ahead of Spooktober 🎃

This unfortunately was a no for me. It did reel me in for a little bit, that's the reason it's not getting 1 star. But I felt like it just went down hill. Fast. I was trying not to scream WHY everytime the main character would do something. And I thought the whole thing was obvious. 2/5

A sweet sample from the author's Acknowledgements, because I need something fluffy to end on.

OKAY! First page of first chapter, I believe that's what they call a 'hook'.

After recently reading SGJ‘s The Night Cyclist, I think I‘ll read this one next! #ScarathlonDailyPrompts Day 6: #Night

#Scarathlon2022 #TeamSlaughter #PhotoChallenge

This was bonkers and I really enjoyed it! I can honestly say this was not the direction I thought it was going in 🤣. I don‘t want to say too much in case I spoil anything but it was creepy and weird and a super quick listen/read. Perfect to begin October/spooky season/Scarathlon 2022! 🌟🌟🌟🌟 #scarathlon #teamslaughter

Book 24🎧

LOL what the actual fuck😂 A quick and twisted little listen!

Sawyer will be a hero! And he doesn‘t care who he needs to kill to save his town!🤦🏼‍♀️

This little novella was so interesting and well written. It‘s not that spooky, but what kept me turning pages was the mystery, anecdotes, and the slow reveal of the narrators reliably. For that last reason, it kind of reminded me of the yellow wallpaper, but completely different subjects though.

Overall, a very interesting exercise in writing a different type of narrative, well done.

#Halloween #20in4 #readathon

1st book read

This is a perfect little Halloween slasher novella. I thought it was excellent. It was so messed up. The characters are so well drawn, it makes crazy events seem real. This is a fabulously funny, horrific time.

@Andrew65

Finished this one over the weekend. What a weird novella. I'm not sure what to make of this one, but I like it. Lol

#Scarathlon2021 #TeamSlaughter #LittenListen #Screamathon #bookspinbingo #necronomathon #readlikehellathon #spookoweenreadathon #wickedathon #outstandingoctober #halloweenreadathon @Clwojick @TheSpineView @4thhouseontheleft @StayCurious @Patchshank @Andrew65

Decided I should actually get up and do something. I guess a day off is the perfect time to get my last mow of the season in & the perfect time to start a new audio.

What did I just read? It was definitely unique. I think I liked it, but I need more time before I can actually rate it. #Screamathon 😱 @4thhouseontheleft

Night of the Mannequins by Stephen Graham Jones is an unnerving story of prank gone very, very wrong.

This is a must read for fans of horror! It‘s dark, it‘s brutal, and it certainly makes you question things! But the biggest question of all you‘ll be asking yourself is, can I trust my friends?

https://www.ericarobynreads.com/book-review-night-of-the-mannequins-by-stephen-g...

This book was SO weird and amazing and I loved every bit of it. SGJ is fast becoming a favorite and I love that he has a full backlist to explore!

A massive congrats to SG Jones, winning not just one, but two Stoker awards! Night of the Mannequins won Superior Achievement in Long Fiction & The Only Good Indians won Superior Achievement in a Novel. 🎉🎊 It was interesting because he said that Only Good started as a novella. Overall I was pleased with this year's winners. If you want to watch the ceremony:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=035TKPBN_LQ

What a wild ride, SGJ is scary in his execution of horror and thriller. It feels like he really gets into your head and makes you wonder if you could do something so heinous so terrible as the main character. Wild, brilliant author.

That was a wild ride!!!

Jones is often hit or miss for me, but this story was excellent!

It's creepy in its own unique way and the use of the mannequins really kept me on edge and hearing things go bump in the night while I was reading it.

It's a short read that I recommend if you want a quick read that will leave you feeling a bit unsettled once you finish.

One weird book about the horror of obsession and a mind out of control. The author weaves a tale of slow self destruction and insanity but leaves just enough room to get you to think maybe everything that is said to be false is actually real.

I wasn't on Litsy this weekend, so posting late:
1) The Stand. It's in my top 5 King. Nobody does epic horror like King.
2) Shanna was the first to go. And by "go" I mean die. And by "die" I mean get killed
As I have stated my unpopular opinion before, Night of the Mannequins was THE Stephen G Jones book of last year. I am also genuinely pleased by all of the new readers that The Only Good Indians converted. #spookysaturday @TheNeverendingTBR

Another novella that went in a completely different direction than I thought it would. Although it‘s strange, there‘s something compelling about this given how short it is. I enjoyed my time reading this even though I was staring at the page wondering if I was reading what I was truly reading at times. Unreliable narrator, a rouge mannequin and murder. How could you go wrong with that?

I‘m going to continue the spooky books, but really want cozy Christmas romances. 🎅🏼 🌲 🧝‍♀️

Fun spooky story for Halloween!

The main reason for the lukewarm rating is that I really loved some of the author‘s other work and was expecting something more and/or quite different here. That‘s the downside of having lofty expectations going into a book. It took me a very long time to get into this story, but I have to admit the last chapter or two grabbed my attention. If you love slasher movies and stories, you‘ll probably enjoy this story.

46 pts

It wasn‘t really for me I feel like this was more of a slasher book so not sure if it actually fits #TeamHarkness theme. But I don‘t want to spoil this too much. I didn‘t really like this one too much. +5 points for book. Spent a little over 2 hours reading, so +20 points for #screamathon +1 for participation so a total of 26 points so far

Hoping to start this off tonight as a good way to start off #scarathlon2020 with a short story. Hoping this counts for 15 but might only be worth 5. EDIT: +15 points for book if I read it and 1 point for participation. #teamharkness #screamathon

I'm not a contrarian. Honest, I'm not. But, my hot take of the year is that Night of the Mannequins is a better book than The Only Good Indian. I will say that I am genuinely delighted by the scores of new readers due to the success of TOGI. In Night of Mannequins a prank in a movie theater amongst HS friends backfires. Sawyer's good intentions for a solution soon spin out of control. I loved this one.

Loved it! SGJ is most definitely an automatic buy author for me.

Starting this one tonight.

That is quite the first sentence. I needed a snack of a novella at work and got more than I bargained for. This was disturbing and creepy and just great. A group of friends plan to prank a friend working at a movie theatre by sneaking in a mannequin. Everything goes wrong. This is only a 132 pages. Give it a shot. Photo from the Twilight Zone episode: The After Hours.

Have to say, Jones is officially one of my new favorite authors. This novella is a fantastic horror story—it‘s a fast read but that doesn‘t mean it‘s any less engrossing. Four friends decide to prank a friend so they bring a mannequin to a theatre where she works. Real funny, right? Yeah, well, it is until the mannequin wakes up & starts killing. Funny, tense, atmospheric...all the things. Great story, wonderful writing, & creepy mannequins.

Gotta say: upsetting! Highly recommended.

This novella seems to have revealed where it is going and YIKES
(Stephen Graham Jones is good at horror novellas)