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A review by lanternatomika
Nightmares and Dreamscapes by Stephen King
3.0
We’re doing my usual format for short story collection reviews, but here’s something I need to point out: I’ve ordered these according to the way they’re arranged in my paperback and the ebook I read, which is completely different, for some reason, from the way they’re arranged in the audiobook.
Also, I normally review short story collections in one go after finishing them, but there’s so much content in this book, I had to review it as I went!
Dolan’s Cadillac: A guy is really mad at a high rolling criminal for having his wife murdered, so he sets out on an elaborate scheme for revenge and, SPOILERS, succeeds. This was a compelling read, and King knows how to ramp up the tension, but I was expecting some kind of a twist. I guess the fact that the guy gets his revenge and sleeps like a baby is the twist. 3/5
The End of the Whole Mess: What if you could destroy humanity’s propensity for violence? How much would you sacrifice to make that happen? That’s the question that should be at the heart of the story, but it focuses too much on what the characters are doing and not why. Still, the gimmick in this one is pretty sick, so I enjoyed it overall. 3/5
Suffer the Little Children: I wanna say, without reservation, that this short really showcases the power of the format. It’s got character, it’s got mystery and it’s got spooks. It also has intrigue that’ll leave you thinking about what was actually going on in this story long after you’ve read it. But why does this get to stay in print while the superior, in my opinion, Rage was taken out of print? And if you don’t get why I’m bringing Rage up in this review, well, have a read. 4/5
The Night Flier: How far would a tabloid rag editor go to chase a story? Pretty dang far, as it turns out! I would’ve liked for this story to be a bit longer and fleshed out, but as it is, it’s still a great story, even if one of the two centerpiece ‘action’ scenes goes on for way too long. 4/5
Popsy: A guy with serious gambling debts tries to pay for his habit by kidnapping and selling off kids. The last kid he ever kidnaps sure takes care of those gambling problems for good. This is honestly just a take on the classic hitchhiker story that almost every King short story collection has. 2/5
It Grows on You: As soon as you see the name Castle Rock, you know that creepy stuff is gonna be afoot, and it very much is. The Mainer accents in this story kinda bothered me, ayuh, but overall, this is pretty great. 4/5
Chattery Teeth: Hitchhikers are such a staple of Stephen King shorts that I feel like I’ve read reskins of this story before and after this book. Chattery Teeth is at least a bit funnier than some of the others that I’ve read, but overall, I’m a little tired of this formula. 2/5
Dedication: Every writer writes about the internal complexities that drives writers, but Stephen King may have explored this topic more than anyone else. And why wouldn’t he, when the results usually turn out this strong? Even the ugliest people have some flashes of inner beauty, and art is one of the only ways they can express it. Beware of a pretty yucky ritual, though. 3/5
The Moving Finger: I mean, I’ve gotta give it four stars just because the idea of a finger sticking out of the drain, pointing at and trying to kill someone is the perfect kind of schlocky horror. 4/5
Sneakers: This story brings together two of my favorite things: Stephen King and sneakers. You think you know where this one is going at first, but there’s a neat twist at the end. It’s not exactly top tier, but it’s still a good read. 3/5
You Know They Got a Hell of a Band: It’s an episode of The Twilight Zone, but the only head scratcher in this one is how long you can stand the main couple’s bickering. Cool ending, though! 2/5
Home Delivery: A devoted wife and excited mother to be loses her husband amid the beginnings of the zombie apocalypse. Zombies are something King has never messed with too much, but this is a pretty great take on that shambling old trend. 4/5
Rainy Season: Beware of small towns in Stephen King stories! This is another one that expertly builds tension - in hindsight, I like that you learn early on that the couple in the beginning was being sacrificed for a ritual, ‘cuz it leaves you anticipating what the ritual could be. But there isn’t a lot more to the story than that, which is fine for its length. 3/5
My Pretty Pony: I feel like if King wrote this one in 2023 or later, he’d come up with something far more compelling. As written by a younger King, this story just feels like a boring take on the idea that time sure flies and people get old. 2/5
Sorry, Right Number: I wanna give this one some credit because the title is hilarious. Y’know, I’ve never understood why people would wanna read screenplays. They’re just not as compelling to read as your typical prose would be, and they’re not meant to be read that way. I’d much rather watch the episode than read its script, so I’ll pass on rating this one.
The Ten O’Clock People: I honestly wish I liked this more. It features Can-Toi, and I’m crazy about anything even remotely linked to The Dark Tower. A story about a resistance band of mild smokers taking on the bat people that have infested the highest levels of power in the world is something that I could really get behind, but this story is too loaded with exposition. Like many of the other shorts in this book, this one needed to be a long, and even being the longest short story isn’t good enough. 3/5
Crouch End: I’m not the biggest fan of the trope that you have to make some kind of a reference to Lovecraft whenever you’re going to feature Cthulhu monsters in your story. You know right from the start of Crouch End where things will end up, though things are still scary enough when inevitable happens. Not the best part of the collection, but not a skip, either. 3/5
The House on Maple Street: This story plays right into one of King’s wheelhouses: the Spielbergian story about kids having an adventure. The House on Maple Street boils down the charms of classics like It and The Institute, but in a package that’s less grim than The Body. It’s also not quite as good as The Body, but I did still love it. 4/5
The Fifth Quarter: This feels like the climax of a book that I would’ve enjoyed. Unfortunately, you can’t plop a climax into a short story collection without any context. 2/5
The Doctor’s Case: I’ve read and seen plenty of Sherlock Holmes, but I can’t say that I’ve ever read him in Stephen King’s voice. It doesn’t rank among the best Sherlock tales, but King’s ability to write a mystery pays off in this short. 4/5
Umney’s Last Case: I’m a sucker for stories like these that tie the imagination of a writer to a tangible universe. This one might have been the dry run for a particularly brilliant novella in If It Bleeds, and it really showcases the potential of such a story. 5/5
Head Down: Not gonna rate this one. King’s nonfiction writing is fun to read, but I just don’t care one bit about baseball.
Brooklyn August: So not only is this about baseball, it’s also a poem. Poetry has always been a weakness of mine, it just flies over my head. I’m not rating this one, either.
The Begger and the Diamond: Make sure to stay after the notes section at the end for a post credits scene! A religious parable that’s been adapted from Hindu folklore - except I think the only thing King changed was the name of the god and the angel. It’s like any other religious parable, and while you’d think that would be something to cap off the themes of this book, the collection of stories is too scattershot to have a coherent theme. 3/5
Overall: 3.19, rounded off to 3/5
Also, I normally review short story collections in one go after finishing them, but there’s so much content in this book, I had to review it as I went!
Dolan’s Cadillac: A guy is really mad at a high rolling criminal for having his wife murdered, so he sets out on an elaborate scheme for revenge and, SPOILERS, succeeds. This was a compelling read, and King knows how to ramp up the tension, but I was expecting some kind of a twist. I guess the fact that the guy gets his revenge and sleeps like a baby is the twist. 3/5
The End of the Whole Mess: What if you could destroy humanity’s propensity for violence? How much would you sacrifice to make that happen? That’s the question that should be at the heart of the story, but it focuses too much on what the characters are doing and not why. Still, the gimmick in this one is pretty sick, so I enjoyed it overall. 3/5
Suffer the Little Children: I wanna say, without reservation, that this short really showcases the power of the format. It’s got character, it’s got mystery and it’s got spooks. It also has intrigue that’ll leave you thinking about what was actually going on in this story long after you’ve read it. But why does this get to stay in print while the superior, in my opinion, Rage was taken out of print? And if you don’t get why I’m bringing Rage up in this review, well, have a read. 4/5
The Night Flier: How far would a tabloid rag editor go to chase a story? Pretty dang far, as it turns out! I would’ve liked for this story to be a bit longer and fleshed out, but as it is, it’s still a great story, even if one of the two centerpiece ‘action’ scenes goes on for way too long. 4/5
Popsy: A guy with serious gambling debts tries to pay for his habit by kidnapping and selling off kids. The last kid he ever kidnaps sure takes care of those gambling problems for good. This is honestly just a take on the classic hitchhiker story that almost every King short story collection has. 2/5
It Grows on You: As soon as you see the name Castle Rock, you know that creepy stuff is gonna be afoot, and it very much is. The Mainer accents in this story kinda bothered me, ayuh, but overall, this is pretty great. 4/5
Chattery Teeth: Hitchhikers are such a staple of Stephen King shorts that I feel like I’ve read reskins of this story before and after this book. Chattery Teeth is at least a bit funnier than some of the others that I’ve read, but overall, I’m a little tired of this formula. 2/5
Dedication: Every writer writes about the internal complexities that drives writers, but Stephen King may have explored this topic more than anyone else. And why wouldn’t he, when the results usually turn out this strong? Even the ugliest people have some flashes of inner beauty, and art is one of the only ways they can express it. Beware of a pretty yucky ritual, though. 3/5
The Moving Finger: I mean, I’ve gotta give it four stars just because the idea of a finger sticking out of the drain, pointing at and trying to kill someone is the perfect kind of schlocky horror. 4/5
Sneakers: This story brings together two of my favorite things: Stephen King and sneakers. You think you know where this one is going at first, but there’s a neat twist at the end. It’s not exactly top tier, but it’s still a good read. 3/5
You Know They Got a Hell of a Band: It’s an episode of The Twilight Zone, but the only head scratcher in this one is how long you can stand the main couple’s bickering. Cool ending, though! 2/5
Home Delivery: A devoted wife and excited mother to be loses her husband amid the beginnings of the zombie apocalypse. Zombies are something King has never messed with too much, but this is a pretty great take on that shambling old trend. 4/5
Rainy Season: Beware of small towns in Stephen King stories! This is another one that expertly builds tension - in hindsight, I like that you learn early on that the couple in the beginning was being sacrificed for a ritual, ‘cuz it leaves you anticipating what the ritual could be. But there isn’t a lot more to the story than that, which is fine for its length. 3/5
My Pretty Pony: I feel like if King wrote this one in 2023 or later, he’d come up with something far more compelling. As written by a younger King, this story just feels like a boring take on the idea that time sure flies and people get old. 2/5
Sorry, Right Number: I wanna give this one some credit because the title is hilarious. Y’know, I’ve never understood why people would wanna read screenplays. They’re just not as compelling to read as your typical prose would be, and they’re not meant to be read that way. I’d much rather watch the episode than read its script, so I’ll pass on rating this one.
The Ten O’Clock People: I honestly wish I liked this more. It features Can-Toi, and I’m crazy about anything even remotely linked to The Dark Tower. A story about a resistance band of mild smokers taking on the bat people that have infested the highest levels of power in the world is something that I could really get behind, but this story is too loaded with exposition. Like many of the other shorts in this book, this one needed to be a long, and even being the longest short story isn’t good enough. 3/5
Crouch End: I’m not the biggest fan of the trope that you have to make some kind of a reference to Lovecraft whenever you’re going to feature Cthulhu monsters in your story. You know right from the start of Crouch End where things will end up, though things are still scary enough when inevitable happens. Not the best part of the collection, but not a skip, either. 3/5
The House on Maple Street: This story plays right into one of King’s wheelhouses: the Spielbergian story about kids having an adventure. The House on Maple Street boils down the charms of classics like It and The Institute, but in a package that’s less grim than The Body. It’s also not quite as good as The Body, but I did still love it. 4/5
The Fifth Quarter: This feels like the climax of a book that I would’ve enjoyed. Unfortunately, you can’t plop a climax into a short story collection without any context. 2/5
The Doctor’s Case: I’ve read and seen plenty of Sherlock Holmes, but I can’t say that I’ve ever read him in Stephen King’s voice. It doesn’t rank among the best Sherlock tales, but King’s ability to write a mystery pays off in this short. 4/5
Umney’s Last Case: I’m a sucker for stories like these that tie the imagination of a writer to a tangible universe. This one might have been the dry run for a particularly brilliant novella in If It Bleeds, and it really showcases the potential of such a story. 5/5
Head Down: Not gonna rate this one. King’s nonfiction writing is fun to read, but I just don’t care one bit about baseball.
Brooklyn August: So not only is this about baseball, it’s also a poem. Poetry has always been a weakness of mine, it just flies over my head. I’m not rating this one, either.
The Begger and the Diamond: Make sure to stay after the notes section at the end for a post credits scene! A religious parable that’s been adapted from Hindu folklore - except I think the only thing King changed was the name of the god and the angel. It’s like any other religious parable, and while you’d think that would be something to cap off the themes of this book, the collection of stories is too scattershot to have a coherent theme. 3/5
Overall: 3.19, rounded off to 3/5