Jewniverse

The Horror of the Bible, in Nine Creepy Tales

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These aren’t the Bible stories you grew up with.

In the anthology She Nailed a Stake through His Head: Tales of Biblical Terror, nine writers reconceive biblical stories in their own unique voices–and put their own spins on the originals.

In “Jawbone of an Ass,” for instance, Delilah’s seduction of Samson takes place in a British-controlled Ireland where the IRA is still active. “Judgment at Naioth” paints a picture of King David as an elderly musician who’s mixed up with Philistine drug dealers. And “Whither Thou Goest” recasts the familiar story of the Bible’s most famous convert. Ruth still tells her mother-in-law, “Wherever you live, I will live; Your people will be my people” (Ruth 1:16). Here, however, it means something completely different, since this Ruth is a bloodsucking demon.

She Nailed a Stake isn’t for everyone. It’s a bid to reclaim the Bible from the touchy-feely folks who like to paint it as a book about loving and caring. These stories are as bawdy and lustful and horrifying as the originals, filled with sex, savage violence, horrific curses…and, of course, vampires

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