Nightmares and Dreamscapes: Volume 2 (Vol 2)

i like SK particularly as a short story writer. if he has a good story he never fails then. considering his other collections, this was not as inventive as the two previous. not as matheson-like as the first. this was a great collection. a bit mixed. the end of the whole mess and umney's last case seemed to be the most inventive ones. but his other horror stories were good too. there are even some crime stories here, they are actually pretty good. although SK delivers, his collection is all in all very readworthy, his writing style good, this collection marks the sad decline of SK. some of the stories are great, true. some of the stories, however, are only good in the hands of a master. and some of the stories are completely uninteresting. it's very enjoyable, but don't expect too much.

I'm not a big Stephen King fan but Nightmares & Dreamscapes is quite good. I worked for three years as a summer camp counselor and when you have a group of 15 year old boys, they don't want to hear cheesy ghost stories or little kid stories. I read them a few of King's short stories and they LOVED them. While his Novels tend to drone on a bit too much for my taste, his short stories are just right. Some of the ones in this book are better than others, but they're all pretty good. I actually think the stories in "Night Shift" are a little better, but both books are excellent.

Good old fashioned horror, and when the master speaks we listen. I dug into a used copy of this after finishing "Night of the Beast," Harry Shannon's rollicking, behind-kicking pulp horror novel (the best of 2002 IMHO) and loved every story. "Dolan's Caddilac" alone is worth the price of admission. Wish King's later novels were half this good.

At 692 pages, "Nightmares & Dreamscapes" is a doorstopper of a book. I planned to read it a story at a time over a period of weeks, but as usual got hooked on King and read it straight through, right from his usual folksy introduction (each of which I am sure he writes solely for me!) to the charming little moral folktale tacked on at the end. The stories are to say the least, diverse. I would call this collection "King's Scrapbook."

"Dolan's Cadillac" highly regarded by most Amazon reviewers is very hard tech for King. Interestingly, he says in his notes that technical stuff bores him, but it had to be done for this story. I have no more interest than he does in the proper "arc of descent;" I would have been just as mindlessly satisfied if he had shot the Cadillac out of a cannon, so it's not one of my favorites.

"Clattery Teeth" I just know SK had a hoot of a time writing it. He lovingly sets the scene and characters and then puts them at the mercy of a set of not-so-funny joke teeth (that wear spats). It's 80 degrees more grotesque than the "Young Frankenstein," and I felt guilty for laughing.

"The Moving Finger" Mr. Mitla is the perfectly normal man living a perfectly normal life when one morning he goes into his bathroom, and a finger is emerging from his bathroom sink drain and tapping on the porcelain. No one can see this finger except Mr. Mitla, and he slowly goes bonkers and his entire life is in a shambles. Unlike "Clattery Teeth" this one is terrifying. See for yourself.

"My Pretty Pony" though highly acclaimed, didn't much interest me UNTIL I read in Notes that the exquisitely sensitive little boy, Clive Banning, grew up to be a hardened killer in an unpublished Richard Bachman novel. We leave Clive at 7-years old in the Pony story.

"The House on Maple Street" delighted me because children are empowered and the bad guy gets his just desserts in a most explosive fashion. I was all-around satisfied.

"Umley's Last Case" is my favorite. SK takes a spin in Raymond Chandler land. He sets the scene meticulously and the characters are perfect. I was reminded of Nathaniel West's "Day of the Locust." Then things start going askew in a very King-like way. What if the author of P.I. books decided he liked the detective's life better than his own, and decided to swap places? What would happen? Would it be too far out if the detective who has never lived outside a book set in the 1930's had to spend a week toilet training himself? (Characters in hard-boiled novels never have to go to the bathroom.)

There are 20 stories in "Nightmares & Dreamscapes." It is not as brilliantly crafted as "Everything's Eventual" nor is it as well organized as "Skeleton Crew" and "Night Shift." I don't think many readers will like ALL of the stories, but there are such a variety, that most of the readers will like SOME of the stories, and some will like MOST of the stories. Chances are everyone will find one or two that will stay with them forever.

I will admit to being totally incapable of understanding Stephen King's fans. It's not that I don't like him. Owning every book the man's ever published should probably be enough evidence to refute that idea. It's just that I don't understand what some of these people think when they decide what it is about Stephen King that they actually like. By any estimation, this collection is easily the worst that Stephen King ever released in his history as a writer, ranking as a failure near the level of 'Salem's Lot.

Perhaps the greatest problem with these stories is that most, if not all of them have been done before. "Dolan's Cadillac" is not just reminiscent of Poe--it is a flagrant, bloated rewrite of "The Cask of Amontillado." What's more, it's an uncredited rewrite in the notes--I'll just assume that he missed that one. Generally, the stories in this book can all be characterized as chronicles of strange events that happen to people for little apparent reason, which can be amusing one or two pieces at a time, but tends to wear quickly.

There are still good stories in this book, however. "My Pretty Pony" manages to capture what King refers to as the "plastic nature of time" very well. "Dedication" is another fine piece of work that probably ought not be missed by any fan of King's writing. Apart from these standouts, however, most of the other pieces in the book could be mixed or traded with little or no impact.

That's not to say that the book is bad--just a shake overdone. Although I will be puzzled until the end of my days with the idea that anybody could be held in suspense by a book, if the other reviews on this site are any indication, this book manages to pull it off for those who are looking for it. The book contains no small number of homages (the only other discernable theme) to other writers as well, which could be entertaining for cross-fans. In other words, if you're looking for more Stephen King that's no worse than the worst novel he'd written to this point, you won't be disappointed.

If you're looking for revelations or groundbreaking work, however, you can easily pass this collection up. King's talent lies with a particular variety of narrative prose--the long nonfiction piece at the end, the mysteries, and the single poem included only go to convincingly prove that point. This novel is not good, and not recommendable, for any transcendant qualities, but rather because it is more of the same. This is, for the most part, Stephen King in his niche. Fans will be satisfied. Newcomers would be advised to try a more solid piece.