Nightmares And Dreamscapes (1994) - Plot & Excerpts
AUDIO BOOK :The thing that pees me off when listening to some audiobooks is the music. It’s annoying and distracting and this one was no different!Dolan’s Cadillac – Narrated By Rob Low – Excellent narration!The End of the Whole Mess – Narrated by Matthew Broderick – Excellent narration.Suffer the Little Children – Narrated by Whoopi Goldberg – Excellent narration.The Night Flier – Frank Muller – Muller is one of my favourite narrators. Excellent narration.Popsy – Joe Mantegna – Good narration.It Grows on You – Stephen King – Excellent narration, although at times he reads a little too fast.Chattery Teeth – Kathy Bates – Excellent narration, but she also reads a little too fast at times.Dedication – Lindsay Crouse – Good narration.The Moving Finger – Eve Beglarian – Good narration.Sneakers – David Cronenberg – Good narration.You Know They Got a Hell of a Band – Grace Slick – Good narration.Home Delivery – Stephen King – I always enjoy listening to King read to me. Excellent narration.Rainy Season – Yeardley Smith –To begin with I wondered if Smith had been sucking on a balloon filled with helium, but once I got used to her voice I thoroughly enjoyed listening to her. She was excellent!My Pretty Pony – Jerry Garcia – Average narration.Sorry, Right Number – (Ensemble Cast) I don’t like ensemble cast audios at the best of times, and this wasn’t the best. It was like listening to a bad soap opera. Terrible!The Ten O’Clock People – Joe Morton – Good narration.Crouch End – Tim Curry – Excellent narration.The House on Maple Street – Tabitha King – I didn’t enjoy it. Average narration.Fifth Quarter – Gary Sinise – I’ve never listened to Gary Sinese before. I’ll be looking for more books he’s narrated. He was excellent.The Doctor’s Case – Tim Curry – Excellent narration.Umney’s Last Case – Robert B Parker – Good narration.Head Down – Stephen King – Excellent narration.Brooklyn August – Stephen J Gould – Good narration.The Beggar and the Diamond – Domenic Cuskern – Good narration.***EBOOK:DOLAN’S CADILLAC - 4****I loved this the first time I read it and my enjoyment hasn’t lessened after many re-reads. I still love it!***THE END OF THE WHOLE MESS: 3***Wish it had been longer.***SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN: 3***Enjoyed it immensely.***THE NIGHT FLIER: 4****I enjoy this every time I read it. Something about a vampire with a private pilot’s license and his own plane appeals to me.***POPSY: 3***Another vampire or the Night Flier??***IT GROWS ON YOU: 4****Castle Rock! Need I say more?***HOME DELIVERY: 2** I was bored. Not one of my favourites.***RAINY SEASON: 3***Good story, good characters…but kinda gross. I enjoyed it.***MY PRETTY PONY: 2**I’ve never liked this story and I’m not sure why. This time was no different. All I can put it down to is that I didn’t like Clivey, which is unusual for King because he does kids so well. ***SORRY, RIGHT NUMBER: 1*I don’t enjoy reading screenplays. I find them tiresome. And there was nothing at all to redeem this one. Even the audio was terrible!***THE TEN O’CLOCK PEOPLE: 3***I’m one of the Ten O’clock People! ☺***CROUCH END: 3***I really enjoyed this story set in England.***THE HOUSE ON MAPLE STREET: 3***I really liked the kids in this story. And as for Daddy Lew? He got just what he deserved!***THE FIFTH QUARTER: 2**The best thing about this story was the audio.***THE DOCTOR’S CASE: 3***I’ve read this book more than once but I didn’t remember this story. It’s extremely well written. I was so immersed in the tale, and the way it was told, that I forgot I was reading Stephen King. He captured Holmes, Watson and Lestrade perfectly.***UMNEY’S LAST CASE: 4****Maybe King should have used Umney for his main character in the Bill Hodges trilogy. I like him a hell of a lot more. ☺***HEAD DOWN: 2**Well written but I found it boring. It’s not just about baseball, it’s about American baseball, so a lot of references flew straight over the top of my head.***CONNECTIONS, COINCIDENCES AND CHESTNUTS: DOLAN’S CADILLAC:The line "For the love of God, Robinson!" is a direct reference to "For the love of God, Montresor!" from "The Cask of Amontillado" by Edgar Allan Poe.The audiobook version of this story is read by Rob Lowe, who played the part of Nick Andros in the ABC miniseries version of The Stand. ***THE END OF THE WHOLE MESS: North Conway – (DT6: Song of Susannah) and where Danny Torrance (Doctor Sleep) went to AA meetings. Trisha (The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon) was on the walking trail to North Conway when she became separated from her mother and brother. Jamie (Revival) played with the band at Scooter’s Pub in North Conway. North Conway was part of the no-fly zone that included Chester’s Mill (Under the Dome)White Mountains – Dan Torrance (Dr Sleep) takes a bus to the White Mountains town of Frazier, where he works at a local hospice.White Mountain National Forest is where Trisha McFarland (The Girl Who Loved Tm Gordon) gets lost for nine days.Drew University – Stephen King was accepted at Drew, a Methodist college in Madison, NJ. As he couldn’t afford to go there he went instead to the University of Maine in Ororno.The Black Clock/The Doomsday Clock (The Tommyknockers) http://thebulletin.org/timeline***SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN: Juniper Hill (It, The Sun Dog, The Tommyknockers, Insomnia, Needful Things, Bag Of Bones, 11/22/63, The Dark Half, Fair Extension, Gerald’s Game)***THE NIGHT FLIER: The Inside View (The Dead Zone, Needful Things, From A Buick 8, Home Delivery, Insomnia, Desperation, DT3: The Wastelands, Popsy)Richard Dees (The Dead Zone)Cumberland County (Jerusalem’s Lot, ‘Salem’s Lot), Bridgeton (The Mist) King’s parents were married in Cumberland CountyFalmouth (Jerusalem’s Lot, Salem’s Lot, One For The Road, Mile 81, Gerald’s Game)Dwight Renfield was so named after the actor Dwight Frye who played Renfield in the 1931 movie Dracula. ***POPSY: Another vampire or the Night Flier?? Sheridan saw a billowing cape, black on the outside, lined with red silk on the inside. Claire said the guy was even wearing a big cloak. Red as a fire engine inside, black as a woodchuck's asshole outside. (The Night Flier)The Inside View (The Dead Zone, Needful Things, From A Buick 8, Home Delivery, Insomnia, Desperation, DT3: The Wastelands, The Night Flier)***IT GROWS ON YOU:Epilogue to Needful Things.Castle Rock Lewiston (Carrie, ‘Salem’s Lot, Cujo, IT, The Dead Zone, Rage, The Running Man, Mrs Todd’s Shortcut, Nona, The Reach, Thinner, The Long Walk, The Woman in the Room, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, The Body and (Stud City, by Gordon Lachance) Needful Things, Bag of Bones, Lisey’s Story, Doctor Sleep, 11/22/63, Revival, The Sun Dog)Mechanic Falls (‘Salem’s Lot, Mrs Todd’s Shortcut, Needful Things, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, Lisey’s Story, Everything’s Eventual, Secret Window, Secret Garden)Gates Falls (Rage, Graveyard Shift, Mrs Todd's Shortcut, Gramma, Bag Of Bones, The Dark Half)Chamberlain (Carrie, The Body, Salem's Lot, Thinner, Gerald's Game, It Grows On You)Motton (Carrie, Gerald’s Game)Kittery (The Long Walk, Nona)Town Road #3 (The Dark Half, Cujo, Needful Things)Joe Camber (Cujo) owned Seven Oaks Farm at the end of Town Road 3. The Stackpole “boneyard” (The Dark Half) was located at the intersection of Stackpole Road and Town Road #3.There were eight crosses marked on the map that Leland Gaunt (Needful Things) had given Ace Merrill, supposedly showing the locations where Pop Merrill had hidden his money. Two of those crosses were on Town Road #3 near Joe Camber’s Seven Oaks Farm.The Newall House (It Grows On You) is on Town Road #3Tin Bridge (The Sun Dog, Needful Things)Brownie’s Store (Revival, Under The Dome, 11/22/63) Also mentioned in Stud City, a short story by Gordon Lachance (The Body) published in a college literary magazine.Kitty Korner Store – Kitty Korner was an actual store, now closed, in Lisbon Falls.Homeland Cemetery (The Dark Half - The Tommyknockers - Needful Things - The Sun Dog - Gerald's Game)Revere – Revere Beach (Misery, Hearts In Atlantis)Gorham – The rock musical Carrie premiered in Gorham, Maine in 2013.Andy Clutterbuck (The Sun Dog, Needful Things, Lisey’s Story, The Dark Half, Gerald’s Game)Lenny Partridge (Needful Things) Lenny is Castle Rock’s oldest resident and premier gossip. Also, Lenny Partridge is mentioned in On Writing… “I have a memory of being led onto the elevator later that night—or maybe it was early the next morning—by Peter Higgins (Old Cue-Ball’s son), Butch Michaud, Lenny Partridge, and John Chizmar.”Paul Corliss – shares his name with Richard Corliss, an American film critic. In August 2004, Stephen King, criticizing what he saw as a growing trend of leniency towards films by critics, included Corliss among a number of "formerly reliable critics who seem to have gone remarkably soft – not to say softhearted and sometimes softheaded – in their old age.” Amused me!Cora Leonard – Shares her surname with Mrs Leonard, King’s secretary for many years.***HOME DELIVERY: Little Tall Island (Dolores Claiborne, The Storm of the Century)The Reach (The Reach, Dolores Claiborne)The Outer Islands (Dolores Claiborne)Ellsworth (Dolores Claiborne) Ellsworth was also one of the primary shooting locations for the film Pet Sematary. The Island Princess (Dolores Claiborne)Fudgy’s Tavern (Dolores Claiborne)Machias (Dolores Claiborne)Selena St George (Dolores Claiborne)The Inside View (Needful Things, From A Buick 8, The Dead Zone, The Night Flier, Insomnia, Desperation, Dt3: The Wastelands, Popsy)***MY PRETTY PONY: While being questioned by Dr. McAuliffe about her husband's death, Dolores (Dolores Claiborne) thinks to herself, "One, my-pretty-pony...two, my-pretty-pony...three, my-pretty-pony," to give herself time before answering the questions. ***THE TEN O’CLOCK PEOPLE: The audio is narrated by Joe Morton, who played the role of Dan Richler in the movie Apt Pupil.***UMNEY’S LAST CASE: ?Verrill – Shares his surname with Hannah Verrill (The Library Policeman), Grover Verrill (‘salem’s Lot), Jordy Verrill and Mr Verrill (The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill), Meleusippus Deere Verrill and Mr Verrill (The Sun Dog) and King’s literary agent, Chuck Verrill.
The title is a tad bit misleading as there are very few nightmares and hardly any dreamscapes. I bought the book thinking that, perhaps, the stories would be aimed at more psychological/dream-like horrors, but instead you get a very random collection of short stories that make the title simply something to grab the eye.King has his fair share of horror in here but there is also some metaphysical stuff, a straight up caper-esque story, a Sherlock Holmes mystery, and, to make nightmares and dreamscapes even more of a strange title, a 50+ page non-fiction piece on Little League baseball.Overall, a fun collection of stories, just wildly different and all over the place.Here is a run down:"Dolan's Cadillac" **** out of **** A man wants to get revenge on the man who killed his wife and the key is the man's beautiful Cadillac and a hole in the earth"The End of the Whole Mess" **1/2 A man's brother, with good intentions, may have doomed the planet"Suffer the Little Children" **1/2 A story of a teacher encountering true evil in her junior high classroom."The Night Flier" *** A tabloid trash reporter starts tailing, by plane, a serial killer who may just be beyond human."Popsy" *** A man in heavy debt abducts children for a crime boss. . .only he might have abducted the child of a wild creature this go around."It Grows On You" *1/2 I remember nothing of this story. King says its a sequel to Needful Things"Chattery Teeth" ***1/2 A very Clive Barkian tale of a harmless toy turned human annihilator"Dedication" **1/2 This one was hard to stomach though interesting. A nurse maid thinks an author is the true father, in spirit, to her son."The Moving Finger" ***1/2 Another Clive Barker-esque story about a finger, and just a finger, living, and growing, in a man's sink."Sneakers" **** A man becomes addicted to entering a bathroom that may be haunted by a man in sneakers."You Know They Got a Hell of a Band" *** Interesting, moderately scary story about a couple who enter Rock and Roll Heaven"Home Delivery" ** A standard zombie tale"Rainy Season" **1/2 Goofy but fun yarn about killer frogs from the sky"My Pretty Pony" 1/2 The momentum killing dread of the book. Absolutely bone chillingly boring and sophomoric in it's description of time and age."Sorry, Right Number" **** My favorite of the book, told in teleplay format. It concerns a woman who hears a terrifying phone call that she is convinced is someone she knows, but can't determine who."The Ten O'Clock People" **1/2 Good execution of a bad and goofy premise. A group of smokers know they are what stands between the destruction of man by the hands of 'batmen'."Crouch End" *** A solid horror story of an American couple getting lost in an English suburb that happens to be currently in another dimension."The House on Maple Street" **** Another highlight concerning a group of kids who find that their house seems to be growing a meal layer underneath the floors, walls, and ceiling."The Fifth Quarter" 1/2 A waste of time about criminals looking for a map"The Doctor's Case" ** A solid concept in which Dr. Watson solves a crime instead of Sherlock Holmes"Umney's Last Case" *** A fabulous story with a terrible beginning in which a 1930s detective thinks he may be visited by God."Head Down" *** A rather straight-forward, but still effective, piece on Maine Little League baseball. Non-fiction."Brooklyn August" ** A poem by King about baseball"The Beggar and the Diamond" **1/2 A very short story on faith and love in God.These are all followed by a Notes section that explains how King came about writing the stories you just read. That is one of the best part of the books as you get to see what goes through King's mind during his writing. He'll also admit what works and what doesn't work and isn't afraid to confront his critics.The book also opens with an introduction by King.
What do You think about Nightmares And Dreamscapes (1994)?
It is difficult to rate a collection of short stories, but I'll give it a shot. In King's world, career options are limited to writer or traveling salesman. Everyone smokes. After the men are no longer around (and it's always the men who aren't around), the women look after the children. Children find plenty of time to escape from their mothers' tired and less-than-watchful eyes. As King explains it in his notes for The Moving Finger: "[T]hings happen just because they happen."Individual ratings below. I tried to remove spoilers but I wasn't over careful.(view spoiler)[Dolan's Cadillac -- 3/5I don't really go for revenge fantasies, but I do enjoyed well-laid traps.The End of the Whole Mess -- 1/5Adrian Veidt from Watchmen meets Flowers for Algernon.Suffer the Little Children -- 4/5The verdict is in: children are creepy. Especially children who are probably demons.Night Flier -- 2/5One thing I really enjoy about Stephen King is that he brings traditional horror monsters -- velvet-lined capes and all -- into a modern setting. His vampires don't sparkle and his werewolves don't want to hump you. This is one of two traditional vampire stories in the collection, and (in my opinion) the weaker of the two.Popsy -- 3/5 And here is the stronger one.It Grows on You -- 5/5While Crouch End is the more obvious Lovecraft homage, I think this story is truer to the feel of the Arkham stories. It is simple in concept and expertly executed.Chattery Teeth -- 2/5Meh.Dedication -- 3/5I don't think I can say it any better than this quote from this review: "Steve put it best: "I recognize terror as the finest emotion, and so I will try to terrorize the reader. But if I find I cannot terrify him/her, I will try to horrify; and if I find I cannot horrify, I’ll go for the gross-out. I’m not proud." 'Nuff said."The Moving Finger -- 2/5Of all the mundane things to make objects of horror, why the bathroom?Sneakers -- 1/5Another bathroom story about the least effective ghost ever.You Know They Got a Hell of a Band -- 4/5Campy not creepy, but fun and well done.Home Delivery -- 5/5At least one of these stars may be from nostalgia. I first read this story as part of a collection of stories depicting what was happening around the world in the setting of Romero's Night of the Living Dead. My family thankfully doesn't believe in censoring books from children, but as I was only around eight when I read it, it made a profound impact. (And gave me a lifelong phobia of zombies.) This story is actually more sweet than gross.Rainy Season -- 3/5Unsuspecting out-of-towners fall prey to a ritual which must be completed every seven years. Classic, good stuff.My Pretty Pony -- 1/5King only put this in here because he likes old man talk. Not a nightmare, not a dreamscape. Just old man talk.Sorry, Right Number -- 2/5Written as a screenplay, the choice of medium keeps the twist from the reader until the end.The Ten O'Clock People -- 4/5This one simultaneously creeped me out and made me crave a cigarette. Crouch End -- 3/5King's Lovecraft homage. It was interesting but -- having just read through H.P. Lovecraft: The Ultimate Collection earlier in the year -- it did not feel very special. King inserts eerie and disturbing elements, but the story doesn't add much to Lovecraft. The Briticisms were also a tad overdone. Indeed. The House on Maple Street -- 3/5This is personal to me, but the idea of a bunch of kids standing up to their evil stepdad gets an automatic three stars from me. The ingenuity of the kids made it read like a Boxcar Children book, if the Boxcar Children had to solve The Mystery of the House-Transforming Space Parasite.The Fifth Quarter -- 2/5Good ole' fashioned double-crossing crook tale.The Doctor's Case -- 4/5I loved Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as a kid, and this story hits all the elements of a good Sherlock Holmes mystery to me. Umney's Last Case -- 3/5 A gumshoe meets his God... and then things get interesting.As I am not a baseball fan, I did not read Head Down. (hide spoiler)]
—Kasey Jane
Drawn to engaging stories, Different Seasons was my first Stephen King exposure, a collection of four novellas, three made into movies - The Shawshank Redemption, Apt Pupil, and Stand By Me. It wasn't till I went back to college for a Master's in Liberal Arts degree when King resurface as a required read for a course in Gothic fiction - Salem's Lot, Pet Sematary, and The Shining - novels strongly laden with the macabre, but with powerful themes and credible characterizations.Ten years later, I decided to pick up King again, this time through one of his collection of short stories - tales with intense creativity and literary variety, blended with doses from the ghastly to gruesomeness. It's not the sensationalism that pulls the reader into his stories, but King's ability to present convincing characters and dialogue - everyday people and expressions - and use his creative spirits for an unconventional and twisted yarn. Yet, his variety in writing styles, subjects, themes, and plots is his strongest forte, and why his books remain popular; but most importantly, he's not just a good writer ... but a great one.
—Randy
Nightmares and DreamscapesI find with Kings collections of short stories they vary; some are just bone chilling, and others are duds. I found with this collection it was no different. All the stories had their own little gems, but some just weren't my thing. I mean, one can't like EVERYTHING, right? My favorites were the following:(I listened to the audio book, which had the BEST cast reading Kings stories....)Suffer the Little Children:(narrated by Whoopie Goldberg)This story was super creepy. The feel to this set the perfect 'King mood'. It had the perfect amount of bone chilling creepiness.Rainy Season:(narrated by Yeardley Smith)The story was great. It was short ans sweet. But what did it for me was the narration. I had a blast listening to, well, pretty much Lisa Simpson read me a King story - never thought that would happen. The story was about a couple on vacation where they meet an ood ball man and woman who warn them about something that happens every seven years. Toads. They fall from the sky, hundreds of them. Sorry, Right Number:(performed by a full cast)Apparently the inter-web says this was a teleplay created by King for Tales from the Dark Side. This is probably my favorite out of the whole sha-bang. I don't want to give anything away, you just have to experience it.I look forward to tackling Kings other short story collections. I love the wide variety of ideas for his stories, they're all so unique in their own weird ways. I would recommend listening to the audiobook, the full cast really nailed it.
—Jason P
