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Tyler Jones

Criterium: Extended Edition Hardcover – October 18, 2021

by Tyler Jones (Author)

68 ratings

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Criterium
Extended Edition
Includes an introduction by Jeremy Robert Johnson (The Loop) and the novella Enter Softly

Fighting the same addiction that killed his father, a young man stumbles across a strange bike that takes him on a terrifying ride into darkness.

"This is small-town Bradbury with a world-weary mean streak: even the magic here seems perfectly happy to break your bones and drag your face across asphalt."
- Jeremy Robert Johnson, author of The Loop and Entropy in Bloom

""A truly excellent novella. The prose is perfect, the story beautifully balanced, and the atmosphere is so strong it feels like you could cut it with a knife. Haunting, uncanny and profound: the strongest and most compelling new voice that I've read in a very long time."
- Michael Marshall Smith, author of Only Forward and The Straw Men

“A haunting masterclass in storytelling.”
– Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke

"Criterium is a haunting, visceral, gripping story filled with symbolism and allegory. Buckle up for a wild ride that will leave you bruised, shaken, and filled with dread. Tyler Jones is an author to keep an eye on."
- Richard Thomas, author of Disintegration and Spontaneous Human Combustion

"Jones’ prose in Criterium is like a shot of adrenaline to the heart. Once you turn that first page, you give over any control you once had, and this book will steamroll you into the ride of your life…you can almost feel the wind in your face and the heat on your flesh…he writes this story to within an inch of its life… there are moments of frenzied paranoia and then subtle and melancholic moments of sadness, grief and aloneness. It’s intoxicating.
- Ross Jeffery, Bram Stoker nominated author of Juniper and Tome

“Criterium is a high-octane ride in every way imaginable. A magnificent example of the type of storytelling that can be achieved through the novella form…mixes relatable real-life grief with metaphor that embodies what addiction horror can be.
– Brennan LaFaro, author of Slattery Falls

“Criterium is a gut-wrenching emotional rollercoaster into the real-life horrors of addiction and sorrow. Tyler Jones knows how to hit you where it'll hurt. I highly recommend this story to readers of the supernatural horror genre that are looking for a story that will leave you numb and breathless.
– Andrew Fowlow, The Horror Oasis

“Jones managed to write one of my favorite books of the year and I don’t say that lightly. His prose is flawless, the ambiance is stunning, and the story has a beautiful darkness…it consumed me in a big way. It will eat you up and spit you out. Criterium is intelligent, haunting, and emotional with a compelling plot that combines the hell of addiction with horror seamlessly. I couldn’t put it down if I wanted.
– Janelle Janson, SheReadsWithCats

“Tyler Jones’ first novella is an unflinching and compassionate view into the black hole of addiction and grief. An intriguing and novel premise that drags real life horror into the depths of the supernatural—compulsively readable.”
– Laurel Hightower, author of Crossroads and Whispers in the Dark

“What a ride. Criterium is unpredictable, fast-paced, and bleeds with heart. Tyler Jones is one to watch.
– Scott J. Moses, author of Hunger Pangs

"This book spoke to me on an emotional and spiritual level. I was moved. Haunted. An arresting story from start to finish...such a powerful piece. I'm adding Zach Ayers to my list of fictional characters who live in my soul forever. His story is achingly beautiful."
- Sadie Hartmann, Cemetery Dance

Print length

268 pages
Language

English
Publication date

October 18, 2021
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.86 x 8.5 inches
ISBN-13

979-8700191166
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B09JRGC1X5
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Independently published (October 18, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 268 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 979-8700191166
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.86 x 8.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #4,242,409 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #25,086 in Occult Fiction

Customer Reviews:
68 ratings

About the author

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Tyler Jones

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Tyler Jones is the author of CRITERIUM, THE DARK SIDE OF THE ROOM, ENTER SOFTLY, ALMOST RUTH, and BURN THE PLANS (a short story collection coming from Cemetery Gates Media in 2022).

His work has appeared in the anthologies BURNT TONGUES (edited by Chuck Palahniuk), MIDNIGHT FROM BEYOND THE STARS, CHILLING CRIME SHORT STORIES (Gothic Fantasy), 101 PROOF HORROR, CAMPFIRE MACABRE, PARANORMAL CONTACT, and in Dark Moon Digest, Aphotic Realm, Coffin Bell, Cemetery Dance, LitReactor, and The NoSleep Podcast.

His stories have been optioned for film.

He lives in Portland, Oregon.

www.tylerjones.net

twitter: @tjoneswriter

instagram: @tjoneswriter

Customer reviews

5 star		63%
4 star		22%
3 star		12%
2 star		3%
1 star 0% (0%)		0%

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Face Your Demons

Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2020

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4.5 (Rounded Up for Amazon)

A family is being torn apart from the inside out due to the inability of the man of the house to shake his demons and out-run the ghost. The ghost unfortunately is drugs.

Now gone, but not forgotten, the void the father of two has left behind causes turmoil to the surviving members of the family. This would be the perfect time for teenager Zach to step up and become the man of the house. Instead, Zach becomes the disappointment in his mother’s eyes due to him following his father down the same road.

After being kicked out, we can only hope Zach does the right thing, and turns his life around. Instead he decided to make bad choice after bad choice, before coming across a bike that will change his life forever.
Criterium is laced with grief and heartbreak throughout, as a Supernatural force makes Zach realize how his actions affect those he loves.

This is a remarkable story, told with gut-wrenching details, causing emotions from deep within. Tyler Jones hits hard, hard enough to knock the reader on their butt. Complete with fast paced details, the transitions from page to page and chapter to chapter are flawless. Once the ride starts, your adrenaline starts to pump and doesn’t let up until it’s finished.

The tale is brilliantly presented, with a smooth prose. Tyler Jones presents a very honest and straight to the point story. Haunting throughout with a dark and eerie figure looming overhead, you feel the hair on your arms to stand up when Zach is faced with pending doom.

A fine crafted story.

2 people found this helpful

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Janelle

Intelligent, haunting, and emotional

Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2020

Verified Purchase

CRITERIUM is a heart wrenching story about a father who gave his life to addiction and a son who followed in his footsteps.

Addiction horror has a special place in my heart for two reasons: one, the stories always seem to suck me in and two, addiction runs deep in my family. Oddly enough, the horror aspect makes a difficult story easier to digest, and even though there might be a supernatural or unconventional element to it, the emotions feel incredibly real.

Zach Ayers is the son of an addict, overwhelmed with grief over his father’s death. Zach wants it all to stop, to stop the excruciating pain of grief, sadness, and resign himself to the inevitable life of drugs. Zach is a character that truly comes to life and will forever be seared into my mind.

Jones managed to write one of my favorite books of the year and I don’t say that lightly. His prose is flawless, the ambiance is stunning, and the story has a beautiful darkness. Although, technically a novella, it consumed me in a big way. It will eat you up and spit you out. Seriously, I cannot stop thinking about this book.

CRITERIUM is intelligent, haunting, and emotional with a compelling plot that combines the hell of addiction with horror seamlessly. I couldn’t put it down if I wanted.

2 people found this helpful

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Phil

Taking addiction for a spin

Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2020

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I think “Criterium”, by Tyler Jones, is a true example of how to use the novella format when writing fiction. At 172 pages, the story moves swiftly and effortlessly, not a word wasted or an allegory strained.

“Criterium: a one day bicycle race on a circuit road course.” And that is exactly what we get.

Zach Ayers comes from a broken home. With a severely addicted father comes a struggling wife trying to make ends meet. To do so, she certainly needs Zach’s help, especially when it comes to helping raise his younger sister, Tessa. But family cycles are hard to break and Zach, a once promising basketball player in high school, rides down some of the same roads his father did, which ended in disaster.

Allegorical in its structure and straightforward in its tone, Jones pens a sharp novella fraught with pain, empathy, and the nature of addiction. Can Zack break the cycle? The custom bike he finds left alone outside a rundown house which he hopes to sell for drug money has a mind of its own and lessons to teach. Think Dickens’ A Christmas Carol on amphetamines by way of Aranofsky’s Requiem For a Dream. Unflinching and brutal with redemption and salvation at its core.

And just sitting here typing all of this reminds me how perfect a tale this is. Jones makes his point succinctly with no wasted words or ideas. It wants to be exactly what it is. You WANT to see Zach break the cycle and overcome his past. 200 pages would have been too much to tell this tale. And this novella is definitely best read in one sitting.

5 out of 5 Schwinntastic stars.

2 people found this helpful

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Coffee, Books, and Oxford Commas

Deep and Meaningful

Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2021

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"For the longest time he had no idea that the worst pain, the ache he felt now, came from hurting for your own flesh and blood."

“When you love someone,” Thayer said, “however much time you have with them is never enough. Young, old, doesn’t matter. You always want more.”

This is filled with such sadness and grief. Drug addiction and loss of a family member. A son following the same path as his father. Neglecting himself and his family on the road to a possible bleak ending.

Then it takes a supernatural twist, and he's riding the bullet!

It oozes mystery and deep hidden meaning. Very metaphorical and symbolic. A truly unique and haunting perspective, written in a very effective manner. The pages bleed with edginess and looming dread!

It was quite gripping, as I read this in one day, it truly had me enthralled!

2 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Michael Sellars

An intense novella.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 4, 2020

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Criterium combines 'It's a Wonderful Life' emotions, streetwise smarts and bizarro-horror energy. The writing is fresh, honest and to-the-point, the prose of a far more experienced writer. If you like your supernatural fiction to stray into the realms of fable whilst delivering the occasional gut-punch, this is the right book for you.

Nichole Tiffin

Dark yet poetic a look into real life horror

Reviewed in Canada on March 4, 2021

Verified Purchase

Criterium is a dark story filled with so much anguish and grief, but from this story comes a great underlying message.
This was my first experience with Tyler’s work and it won’t be my last.
This short read is packed full of emotion and I feel Criterium will hit so different for each individual that picks up this read.
Experiencing the loss of a loved one can be so traumatizing, losing someone from addiction can be angering and confusing. Perhaps with the entire pain, one may fall into the same dangerous footsteps that took this person away from us to begin with.
In this heart breaking story, you get to follow Zach as he slowly takes that ever so dangerous path towards a gut-wrenching outcome. A young man with so much innocence left and an extremely bright future in front of him, you can only hope something steers him in the best possible direction.
Criterium is a delicate yet poetic story all around the realities and true horrors in life. Although incredibly grim and terrifying this story will have you inhaling deep and holding your breath hoping for the best possible outcome.
I look forward to experiencing more from Tyler! This small taste of his writing talents has me hooked.
Thank you all for reading!
Your Blue Bike Owner Book Worm
-Nichi

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Criterium: Extended Edition Hardcover – October 18, 2021

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Tyler Jones

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