"Nightmares and Dreamscapes"

“Nightmares and Dreamscapes”

Written by Stephen King

Review written by Diana Iozzia

            “Nightmares and Dreamscapes” is a collection of short stories written by the beloved author, Stephen King. There are 23 in the collection, and I was pretty pleased with the stories. As with most of Stephen King’s work, there is a very large range of types of stories and who would enjoy the stories most. I have always said that his stories fit a shotgun effect for me, I have to read a few before I find one that I really enjoy. I loved reading the introduction and the “Notes” sections. His introductions aren’t that amusing or funny to me usually, but I enjoyed this one. The “Notes” section always includes little explanations or inspirations for each story.

             I don’t particularly enjoy his short stories about revenge, so I didn’t like “Dolan’s Cadillac” and its theme, but the quality of the story was intriguing. A man whose wife was killed by this horrible man seeks revenge after years gone by.

            In “The End of the Whole Mess”, we learn of two brothers. One brother, Bobby, is a child genius and prodigy, while his brother, the narrator, Howard, was smart, but lesser in comparison. Bobby is a flighty person, spending many of his years on his own, learning interesting things about the world and conducting experiments. One day, he shows up on Howard’s porch, explaining his new discovery. His discovery is a form of medicinal chemical that is supposed to stop a volcano from devastating the south of Earth. When this chemical does not work, many people begin to die. We read Howard’s narration after he’s put his brother down and is slowly dying by suicide. This was really sad, but very interesting. I always enjoy a good science-fiction, alternate future story.

            “Suffer the Little Children” follows Miss Sidley, a boarding school teacher, whose students start to creep up on her and drive her paranoid. The results of her paranoia and insanity are heartbreaking. As with most good science fiction / horror stories, this ends off on a cliffhanger, a strange future to come after the story ends. I enjoyed this, “Crouch End”, “Home Delivery”, and “The End of the Whole Mess” best out of the stories in this collection.

            “The Night Flier” is a sort of noir detective story where a man becomes obsessed with following and finding a mysterious serial killer who drains his victim’s blood during night flights. This was weird and creepy, but I liked it.

            “Popsy” is a creepy, kidnapping story, where you read through the perspective of the pedophile, which was uncomfortable. King always has a fantastic habit of making readers feel very unsettled. Not to spoil the ending, but the characteristics of the person who rescues the little boy, his Popsy, was an interesting twist.

            “It Grows on You” is a depressing epilogue to King’s “Needful Things”, my least favorite book by him so far. Needless (no pun intended) to say, I didn’t want to read or enjoy this story. Spoiler alert, I didn’t enjoy it.

            “Chattery Teeth” was a hitchhiker story gone wrong. I tend to like King’s hitchhiker stories. This was odd, but enjoyable.

            “Dedication” was about a woman whose son dedicated a story to her. We learn of her not-very-interesting backstory of her first husband, and then her second husband. Domestic abuse stories aren’t interesting to me.

            “The Moving Finger” came across as a campfire scary story for adults. A man is haunted by a little finger that pops up in his bathroom. He’s driven insane by this little finger. It’s comical and also slightly disturbing. I also enjoyed the characters as well as the story. A strange, but enjoyable read.

            “Sneakers” is about a man who sees a specific pair of sneakers at work, in the bathroom, and in other places in public. I didn’t understand this story, and I don’t think I’m missing out.

            “You Know They Got a Hell of a Band” is a great. My father is a collector and big music fan, so imagining my father finding himself in a rock-and-roll hell was an amusing time. Probably the worst version of Hell for him, so it was funny to read a story like that. A couple finds themselves trapped in a small town that turns out to have evil versions of Janis Joplin, Buddy Holly, and Roy Orbison. This read like a “Goosebumps” story / “Twilight Zone” story combined. I thoroughly enjoyed this funny but spooky read.

            “Home Delivery” is a really cool zombie story, but it doesn’t feel at all like a “Walking Dead” type story. I really enjoyed this science fiction, zombie horror story for many of its elements. Our narrator, Maddie, is pregnant. We learn of her horrific, abusive marriage. Maddie lives on a little fishing island, and we start to learn how on the mainland across the United States, corpses are coming back to life. We have a mini version of an epic story, where we witness the stopping of the corpses, her husband come back to life, and we resolve with Maddie becoming ready for her child to come, in a home delivery of course. This was great.

            “Rainy Season” follows a couple who find themselves on vacation in a strange town where every seven years, killer toads rain down from the sky. Weird, but pleasant story.

            I didn’t understand the story, “My Pretty Pony”. It first sounded like a predatory grandpa telling his grandson about life. I have no idea what happened in it.

            “Sorry, Right Number” is a creepy and twisty screenplay, where a mother Katie thinks she is receiving phone calls from her daughter, who seemingly is perfectly fine and not in danger.

            “The Ten O’Clock People” was my least favorite short story I’ve ever read by King. A man discovers that people around him are like secret alien / lizard creatures.

            “Crouch End” follows a team of London cops who try to help a woman find her husband who has disappeared. We read the story in two parts, the cops trying to find the husband and her story that she tells to the police. I really liked this, but I don’t want to reveal anymore, because there are great twists and turns.

            “The House on Maple Street” follows the children in a family explore their summer home and also find a way to seek revenge on their disliked stepfather. This was strange, but I enjoyed it. It reminded me a little of the books by Lemony Snicket.

            “The Doctor’s Case” is a story written through the perspective of Dr. John Watson, following a case in which Watson works with Sherlock Holmes. I liked Sherlock Holmes when I was younger, but this was a trip down memory lane. It was written in the same melodic style as Arthur Conan Doyle.

            In “The Fifth Quarter”, Jerry Tarkanian seeks revenge for his friend who died. He shows up to make a deal with Barney’s killers.

            “Umney’s Last Case” follows a private investigator who meets his last client, the author who created him. Then, Umney finds himself in a worse situation than he began.

            I didn’t read “Heads Down”. It chronicles his son’s baseball season and is practically a diary. “Brooklyn August” is a poem that coincides.

            “The Beggar and the Diamond” is a re-written Hindu teaching. It was similar to a cautionary tale.