Take a photo of a barcode or cover
david611 's review for:
Nightmares & Dreamscapes
by Stephen King
A fine short horror story that shows us not to be mistaken by appearances. The story moves forward in such a way where we come to know that 'this is certainly leading somewhere, but don't know where to'. Loved the ending.
Merged review:
Having a few murders taken place, a reporter goes in search of someone who calls himself a vampire. "Count Dracula with a private pilot's license." Great idea. Mysterious. Well executed. Although the story ends and fades quickly ..., well that is how it seemed to me. Wish it was slightly better developed, and the reader was given more exposure to the Night Flier.
Merged review:
[3.5 Stars]
A disturbing tale!
Are her students, monsters?? or is it her own psyche? King draws a very thin line between 'us' and 'them'. Reminds me somewhat, of [b:Rage|66370|Rage|Richard Bachman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1299003176s/66370.jpg|1657128].
This story is as old as his tales from [b:Night Shift|10628|Night Shift|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1342215309s/10628.jpg|2454497], wherein it was skipped from publication at that time.
Weird shit that only someone like King could write!
Merged review:
A dreadfully dark tale with a unique idea, wherein smokers who are trying to give up smoking (called as the Ten O'Clock People) are able to see some humans as 'bat-faced' inhuman creatures in places of power (like in banks, politics and the police), who are trying to probably take over our planet slowly.
The bat-faced people are metaphorically well-put. I found the story longer than required and slightly dragging, but the cross-mingling of the two ideas, that of the ten o'clock people and the creatures, made it all worthwhile. The idea was scary when seen in relation (metaphorically) to the real world, and so amazing, that it made me force-think as to where in the hell from does Stephen King derive his ideas from?! As he mentions, he found it while he was passing a high-rise building at around ten in the morning, while watching all the people near it while having no sociological sense in it. Ha Ha !! :)
The story reminded me of King's other short story [b:Quitters, Inc|11572|Quitters, Inc|Stephen King|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1354730655s/11572.jpg|1641258], in which a smoker is forced to quit in an unconventionally enforced manner. And also John Carpenter's movie "They Live" (1988), which in turn is based upon the short story [b:Eight O'Clock in the Morning|5841632|Eight O'Clock in the Morning|Ray Faraday Nelson|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1438669504s/5841632.jpg|6013772] by [a:Ray Faraday Nelson|38506|Ray Faraday Nelson|http://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1363382977p2/38506.jpg].
Merged review:
3.5 Stars.
A human finger that moves and keeps gradually growing possessing new knuckles, starts poking out off the protagonist's bathroom's basin's drain ! The idea is creepy, well evolving but finally enters into a gory bloody thingy !!
The metaphor as per King in this story is about why do bad things have to happen to good people, to which King himself mentions he never found any answers, but was happy to explore this thought of his by writing this tale.
I liked the idea of 'a moving finger' a lot, but the story progresses somewhat not to my liking quite much, thereby giving it only three stars. Perhaps more than a decade ago (or two) I might have given this a certain four or more, because I used to like gory horror a lot back then. :P
Merged review:
A couple drives into a deserted area to find a town with a restaurant full of dead rock ('n roll) singers from the 1950s and 60s. :) So awesome !! This was a treat to read with the theme being of dead rock 'n roll musicians from an earlier era. This story reminded me of [b:Children of the Corn|17826887|Children of the Corn|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1373363642s/17826887.jpg|24938704] from his collection [b:Night Shift|10628|Night Shift|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1342215309s/10628.jpg|2454497], a story that dwells upon the idea of "the peculiar-little-town". As the story moves further, the Concert and the concept of the usage of time for playing-all-along, was interesting.
As per King, the impetus of the story was "how authentically creepy it is that so many rockers have died young, or under nasty circumstances, ... while so many younger fans view their high mortality rate as romantic, but when you have 'boogied' your way, you start to see a darker side ..."
The story starts of slow, but picks up pace after half of it. I wish this short story be expanded into a novel, that would be interesting and fun indeed. :)
Merged review:
LOVED IT !!
A pregnant woman who is determined to give birth (transforming from being weak to strong), on an island community, when happening in the background is the end of the world apocalypse due to the dead arising from their graves which is an aftermath of a (very interesting) alien invasion. Loved the inclusion of so many themes in this one: drama, science-fiction, horror, terror, apocalypse, and located on an island. Overall, reading this one put me straight into a sense of nostalgia and terrorising beauty !
According to King, this concept of this story came about when someone was compiling an anthology which was to contain stories that explored how things would be like if George Romero's zombies from his Dead trilogy (Night of, Dawn of, Day of) took over the world.
I would expect not everyone to like this story, because the zombie theme is supposed to be very common these days. But I loved it a lot. In no way would I want to compare this to the TV series that has come to be famous these days. That story and this has nothing in common but the zombies. And hell, this was published in 1989, much before The Walking Dead, whose publication started in 2003.
Merged review:
A black woman is dedicated a new novel by her son. The story is driven by narrative dialogues between her and her friend, about her son's biological father and the natural father, both disgusting men in their own ways. Some gross scenes makes the story weird, in addition to the usage of brujeria (Spanish term for witchcraft in Mexico) which makes it slightly entertaining indeed.
This may be a difficult story to fathom for some King readers to even wonder why is it even here! :P But I am glad it was. It took me a while to get a complete grasp of the story. There is barely any horror in it, but it is nice and weirdish.
Merged review:
Loved this story, of a pair of sneakers that are always seen in a particular stall of the men's room, clubbed with increasing amount of dead flies and spiders over it, for days and months. Starts off creepily and becomes indeed scary, making the reader wonder what's with a pair of sneakers doing there for all the time. I liked it quite much!
Merged review:
A bizarre good road-story with some shades of dark humour.
Bill Hogan picks up 'Bryan Adams', a young kid hitchhiker, after having gained ownership of a pair of metallic Jumbo Chattery Teeth standing in their big orange cartoon shoes. Although fifty percent of the story does not even mention the chattery teeth much, it still creates a good scenario for the tale. Great writing this one, and with a good ending too.
Better b-e-w-a-r-e !!
Merged review:
A very slow yet creepy story, about a house that 'grows'. A story about memories and reminiscences, secrets and gossip, and their connection to the growing house. A seemingly "fitting epilogue" to [b:Needful Things|107291|Needful Things|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1315767817s/107291.jpg|1812101], this, as per King himself. Although a standalone story too. It was slightly dull considering its extreme slowness. And I felt it could have been better. This is a revised version of a story earlier published in a magazine in the early seventies. However, it is good to have read it at least once.
Merged review:
A couple visits a small town, and is warned of raining (pouring) toads in the night which takes place on the same date once every seven years. A ritual, they say. Not believing, they spend the night in their country house in this town.
Interesting idea, well implemented. A good story, nothing too great here though.
Merged review:
In a post-apocalyptic scenario, the narrator's brother, a genius, makes a discovery to put an end to the 'whole mess' of violence and war on our planet. Imagine the price that we have to pay for that ! Neat idea, with a terrifying aftermath !!
One great and very well-written science fiction tale by Mr. King.
Recommended.
Merged review:
A well-written gangster story, although nothing great or horrifying here, of a person trying to find the torn four quarters of a map that discloses a hidden location.
Merged review:
Such a good story, written and published as a screenplay, with good suspense and a touch of science fiction. Enjoyed reading it a lot with its suspenseful creepy atmosphere. :)
Merged review:
A very well knitted creepy story about a couple who ends up visiting Crouch End, a suburb of London, where its 'edges' are so thin leading to one's crossover into another possible dimension. Scary even from this (just touching) sci-fi's point of view. There is no explanation given at the end by the author, making it an interesting speculative fiction. King's inspiration here seems to have been garnered from the influential and the legendary, H. P. Lovecraft!
Merged review:
A creepy story about four children who nearly dislike their step-father, in a house wherein one of the children discovers some sort of a 'growing' metal within the confines of its walls !!
The concept is scary, with no reasons provided by King, which is exactly what I love about his writing. Liked the ending too, which was predictable for this story, yet fun and enjoyable. :)
Merged review:
Having a few murders taken place, a reporter goes in search of someone who calls himself a vampire. "Count Dracula with a private pilot's license." Great idea. Mysterious. Well executed. Although the story ends and fades quickly ..., well that is how it seemed to me. Wish it was slightly better developed, and the reader was given more exposure to the Night Flier.
Merged review:
[3.5 Stars]
A disturbing tale!
Are her students, monsters?? or is it her own psyche? King draws a very thin line between 'us' and 'them'. Reminds me somewhat, of [b:Rage|66370|Rage|Richard Bachman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1299003176s/66370.jpg|1657128].
This story is as old as his tales from [b:Night Shift|10628|Night Shift|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1342215309s/10628.jpg|2454497], wherein it was skipped from publication at that time.
Weird shit that only someone like King could write!
Merged review:
A dreadfully dark tale with a unique idea, wherein smokers who are trying to give up smoking (called as the Ten O'Clock People) are able to see some humans as 'bat-faced' inhuman creatures in places of power (like in banks, politics and the police), who are trying to probably take over our planet slowly.
The bat-faced people are metaphorically well-put. I found the story longer than required and slightly dragging, but the cross-mingling of the two ideas, that of the ten o'clock people and the creatures, made it all worthwhile. The idea was scary when seen in relation (metaphorically) to the real world, and so amazing, that it made me force-think as to where in the hell from does Stephen King derive his ideas from?! As he mentions, he found it while he was passing a high-rise building at around ten in the morning, while watching all the people near it while having no sociological sense in it. Ha Ha !! :)
The story reminded me of King's other short story [b:Quitters, Inc|11572|Quitters, Inc|Stephen King|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1354730655s/11572.jpg|1641258], in which a smoker is forced to quit in an unconventionally enforced manner. And also John Carpenter's movie "They Live" (1988), which in turn is based upon the short story [b:Eight O'Clock in the Morning|5841632|Eight O'Clock in the Morning|Ray Faraday Nelson|http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1438669504s/5841632.jpg|6013772] by [a:Ray Faraday Nelson|38506|Ray Faraday Nelson|http://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1363382977p2/38506.jpg].
Merged review:
3.5 Stars.
A human finger that moves and keeps gradually growing possessing new knuckles, starts poking out off the protagonist's bathroom's basin's drain ! The idea is creepy, well evolving but finally enters into a gory bloody thingy !!
The metaphor as per King in this story is about why do bad things have to happen to good people, to which King himself mentions he never found any answers, but was happy to explore this thought of his by writing this tale.
I liked the idea of 'a moving finger' a lot, but the story progresses somewhat not to my liking quite much, thereby giving it only three stars. Perhaps more than a decade ago (or two) I might have given this a certain four or more, because I used to like gory horror a lot back then. :P
Merged review:
A couple drives into a deserted area to find a town with a restaurant full of dead rock ('n roll) singers from the 1950s and 60s. :) So awesome !! This was a treat to read with the theme being of dead rock 'n roll musicians from an earlier era. This story reminded me of [b:Children of the Corn|17826887|Children of the Corn|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1373363642s/17826887.jpg|24938704] from his collection [b:Night Shift|10628|Night Shift|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1342215309s/10628.jpg|2454497], a story that dwells upon the idea of "the peculiar-little-town". As the story moves further, the Concert and the concept of the usage of time for playing-all-along, was interesting.
As per King, the impetus of the story was "how authentically creepy it is that so many rockers have died young, or under nasty circumstances, ... while so many younger fans view their high mortality rate as romantic, but when you have 'boogied' your way, you start to see a darker side ..."
The story starts of slow, but picks up pace after half of it. I wish this short story be expanded into a novel, that would be interesting and fun indeed. :)
Merged review:
LOVED IT !!
A pregnant woman who is determined to give birth (transforming from being weak to strong), on an island community, when happening in the background is the end of the world apocalypse due to the dead arising from their graves which is an aftermath of a (very interesting) alien invasion. Loved the inclusion of so many themes in this one: drama, science-fiction, horror, terror, apocalypse, and located on an island. Overall, reading this one put me straight into a sense of nostalgia and terrorising beauty !
According to King, this concept of this story came about when someone was compiling an anthology which was to contain stories that explored how things would be like if George Romero's zombies from his Dead trilogy (Night of, Dawn of, Day of) took over the world.
I would expect not everyone to like this story, because the zombie theme is supposed to be very common these days. But I loved it a lot. In no way would I want to compare this to the TV series that has come to be famous these days. That story and this has nothing in common but the zombies. And hell, this was published in 1989, much before The Walking Dead, whose publication started in 2003.
Merged review:
A black woman is dedicated a new novel by her son. The story is driven by narrative dialogues between her and her friend, about her son's biological father and the natural father, both disgusting men in their own ways. Some gross scenes makes the story weird, in addition to the usage of brujeria (Spanish term for witchcraft in Mexico) which makes it slightly entertaining indeed.
This may be a difficult story to fathom for some King readers to even wonder why is it even here! :P But I am glad it was. It took me a while to get a complete grasp of the story. There is barely any horror in it, but it is nice and weirdish.
Merged review:
Loved this story, of a pair of sneakers that are always seen in a particular stall of the men's room, clubbed with increasing amount of dead flies and spiders over it, for days and months. Starts off creepily and becomes indeed scary, making the reader wonder what's with a pair of sneakers doing there for all the time.
Spoiler
The idea about this story is creepy as long as the reader is unaware of it being a ghost story. Once known, the supernatural act is also well-done indeed. I loved the mixing of it all in one story: "a disgusting ghost with a pencil through its eye, taking a poop, in a building full of rock and roll producers, and the bad guy turns out to be an evil homosexual." (quoted text not mine)Merged review:
A bizarre good road-story with some shades of dark humour.
Bill Hogan picks up 'Bryan Adams', a young kid hitchhiker, after having gained ownership of a pair of metallic Jumbo Chattery Teeth standing in their big orange cartoon shoes. Although fifty percent of the story does not even mention the chattery teeth much, it still creates a good scenario for the tale. Great writing this one, and with a good ending too.
Better b-e-w-a-r-e !!
Merged review:
A very slow yet creepy story, about a house that 'grows'. A story about memories and reminiscences, secrets and gossip, and their connection to the growing house. A seemingly "fitting epilogue" to [b:Needful Things|107291|Needful Things|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1315767817s/107291.jpg|1812101], this, as per King himself. Although a standalone story too. It was slightly dull considering its extreme slowness. And I felt it could have been better. This is a revised version of a story earlier published in a magazine in the early seventies. However, it is good to have read it at least once.
Merged review:
A couple visits a small town, and is warned of raining (pouring) toads in the night which takes place on the same date once every seven years. A ritual, they say. Not believing, they spend the night in their country house in this town.
Interesting idea, well implemented. A good story, nothing too great here though.
Merged review:
In a post-apocalyptic scenario, the narrator's brother, a genius, makes a discovery to put an end to the 'whole mess' of violence and war on our planet. Imagine the price that we have to pay for that ! Neat idea, with a terrifying aftermath !!
One great and very well-written science fiction tale by Mr. King.
Recommended.
Merged review:
A well-written gangster story, although nothing great or horrifying here, of a person trying to find the torn four quarters of a map that discloses a hidden location.
Merged review:
Such a good story, written and published as a screenplay, with good suspense and a touch of science fiction. Enjoyed reading it a lot with its suspenseful creepy atmosphere. :)
Merged review:
A very well knitted creepy story about a couple who ends up visiting Crouch End, a suburb of London, where its 'edges' are so thin leading to one's crossover into another possible dimension. Scary even from this (just touching) sci-fi's point of view. There is no explanation given at the end by the author, making it an interesting speculative fiction. King's inspiration here seems to have been garnered from the influential and the legendary, H. P. Lovecraft!
Merged review:
A creepy story about four children who nearly dislike their step-father, in a house wherein one of the children discovers some sort of a 'growing' metal within the confines of its walls !!
The concept is scary, with no reasons provided by King, which is exactly what I love about his writing. Liked the ending too, which was predictable for this story, yet fun and enjoyable. :)