Man F*ck This House (And Other Disasters) by Brian Asman is a collection that features the title novella and 6 other short stories. The stories are all very unique. The writing balances humor and horror. Asman has a way with words and has some descriptions that made me wince. The stories all take place in California. The stories make use of California’s setting of hills, deserts, and the ocean. Almost every story starts with a forewarning, this story will not work out great. Every story has some moment of horror. The horror toes the line of being extreme but never crossing over. The gore is throughout, but no story is revealed in the details of the suffering. Asman’s specialty seems to be his endings. I did not like every set, but for the most part, I loved every ending but 1 story. A new publisher, Blackstone Publishing, asked Asman to expand Man F*ck This House and add 6 short stories. Originally, it was sold as a novella. I rated all the short stories and the novella. I ended up giving one 5 stars, five 4 stars, and one 3 stars. I read Man F*ck This House (And Other Disasters) by Brian Asman due to NetGalley and Blackstone Publishing giving me a free copy to review. Man Fck This House (And Other Disasters) will be published on October 7, 2025.

Why did I read Man F*ck This House (And Other Disasters) by Brian Asman? I’m a fan of Brian Asman through his appearances on the podcast: This Is Horror. His interviews are often hilarious. He is witty and knows his pop culture. His writing reflects that. I was happy to get selected to read this collection early. I do own his novel Good Dogs. It is about werewolves. I plan to read it in the next few months.

I’m going to rank all 6 stories and 1 novella from my favorite to least favorite. I will give a summary and overview of what I liked and disliked. I broke the stories down by categories of 5-stars, 4-stars, and 3-stars.

5-Star Stories From Favorite to Least Favorite:

Seven Years is about a guy, Grant, who goes out on a date with Sasha. Everything is going well, and they start seeing a lot more of each other. Grant likes Sasha but finds it weird that she lives so bohemian, no TV, just books and paintings. She has no mirror in her bathroom. Sasha never wants to go to Grant’s house until one day she begrudgingly agrees. Sasha acts a little weird, then settles down. At night, Grant sneaks out of bed. He goes to his bathroom mirrors. He hears and sees a long, sharp fingernail tapping from the inside. Then things get crazy. The title seven years refers to seven years if you break a window. I loved this story, the budding relationship, and the horror moments all work very well. The ending was great. The story reminded me of a good episode of Tales from the Crypt.

4 Stars Stories From Favorite to Least Favorite:

The Tire Swing is about Keith and his family moving to a new house. The house is quaint. It has a creek nearby and a tree with a tire swing deep in the woods. Keith is told not to go to the creek, but finds the tire swing. The swing is just a little too tall, Keith. He will need a ladder or a chair to swing on. He goes home thinking about the tire swing and its odd oval shape. When he notices a figure outside, shadowed by the night. The figure walks into the house, and Keith follows. The figure goes into his parents’ room and starts whispering in his mother’s ear. Keith freaks out and turns on the light. He sees something that can’t be real. The Tire Swing is cosmic horror at its best. The ending is so creepy. The twist of what the horror is and what is responsible is great. This story was almost perfect. It was almost a 5-star story, but the beginning drags. I felt the story missed a scene when Keith figured it all out.

Razor Bill is about a haunted outhouse in Blythe, CA. The setup is the best yet. I loved the sheriff and the old-timey dialogue. The horror was great. I liked that some of it was left unknown. Razor Bill’s backstory was great and seemed terrifying. I like the kid setup and the dare gone wrong. Asman made a haunting about a outhouse creepy.

In the Rushes is about a mother and daughter bike ride that turns to horror. When ghosts from the past want to join in and keep you forever. I loved the setup of the story. I was very intrigued by the ghost story that was set up. The mother-daughter relationship was strained, but written well, where I believed it. The horror took a little while to happen, but when it did, it was great.

Man F*ck This House is about a family moving into their dream house. Sabrina is a neglected housewife who does a lot for the house that nobody notices. Hal, her husband, is a happy-go-lucky dad who would rather joke than talk seriously. Damian, the youngest child, is named after the kid in The Omen. In the womb, he absorbed his twin sister. Sabrina, the mom, has forgiven him. Yet, she is still disturbed by it. Damian, who is super intelligent, knows his mom is still, to this day, disturbed by what he did in the womb. And he plays a game where he acts disturbed. Michaela, the older sister and the good one, knows the real Damian, but keeps his secret. She would rather listen to music than interact with her family. Damian starts receiving messages calling out his bad behavior. Sabrina starts seeing a ghost in the house. The haunted house is not what you think. It takes a long time for the house to show what it wants. The plot moves slowly at the beginning. I did not mind too much. The interesting characters of Damian and Sabrina kept me engaged. Michaela is quite underwritten. This wasn’t a big deal at the beginning. However, in the end, she plays a significant role. I thought more of her perspective is needed. The ending of this book rocks so much. I have never read a book where everything turned around so much. The ending is everything and more than I wanted. It has a great holy crap moment. I did like that a character finally says the title line, but I didn’t like it that it was a throwaway character. The book has humor in it; some of it lands, but some of it gets in the way. The ending was a great way for Sabrina to end, but not for the other characters. The history teacher was a nice throwaway character who tried to teach history through popular movies.

Line of Sight is about a cop, Wynn, who is investigating the death of a fellow cop he saw the man flee with a cat carrying case. The way the fellow cop died was by having his spine break. There’s no way the killer could have done it so fast and so brutally with Wynn stationed far enough to hear the screams. The investigation takes many turns, but he finds what is responsible and maybe wishes he hadn’t. The story is 75% police procedural and 25% supernatural. When it gets to the supernatural, it is great. But the case kind of meanders a little. The story could have been tighter. The ending is great with a fun showdown.

3 Stars Stories From Favorite to Least Favorite:

Beware the Hurlyburly is about Wesley Franz, who has allegedly stabbed another boy in their middle school. The reason he stabbed him was because of the Hurlyburly, an urban legend. The story had some potential. The story has a shocking moment in the middle that was very effective. The story is psychological and has some themes of abandonment. The ending was okay, I wanted a lot more and some answers.

Recommendation: Man F*ck This House (And Other Disasters) is a good collection. The collection shows a range of different horrors, cosmic, psychological, and haunted objects. I can say every story had one great moment of horror in it. Asman is talented and still rather new. I think in a couple of years, he could be one to watch out for. I recommend my followers check out Man F*ck This House.

Rating: Man F*ck This House (And Other Disasters) by Brian Asman. I rated 4.0 out of 5.