The bazaar of bad dreams stories

I love a good Stephen King short story, and this is a book full of good Stephen King short stories. Some are better than others, of course, but I don't think there's a single dud here, not even the one written to help promote the then-new Amazon Kindle. I particularly enjoyed the brief introductions King wrote for each story. It's fun to get a glimpse into the process and inspiration for some of his tales.

I love a good short story - especially from Stephen King! This collection covered everything: sports, thriller, general insanity. All written so well and none like the previous.

I think I prefer King's shorter works, because often with his novels I find he can go on and on and on, run out of steam and then slap a crappy ending on it. With shorter works, at least the bad endings come before you've invested so much in the story. Not that he's a bad writer - in fact, it's because you can get so lost in the worlds he creates that the bad endings are like a slap in the face. (I found it quite funny to find, in one of the story 'intros', a complaint from the author that the TV movie 'I Bury The Living' was wrecked by its denouement, and his wish that someone would remake and fix it. How about you rewrite the end of Needful Things, then, Steve?!) His ability to sketch a scene or a character with a few strokes is on display in this volume, as is his imagination, some fantastic ideas (what if...) and - dare I say it - even one killer ending. He also showcases that he doesn't have to rely on horror or sci-fi to tell a good tale. In fact, all of my favourites here are just these kind of stories: character studies. 'Morality' is a brilliant thought experiment riffing on the old premise: what would you do for a million dollars? 'Premium Harmony' and 'Herman Wouk is Still Alive' are two stunning little vignettes of desperate lives and sorry ends. 'Under the Weather' is a great little tale of delusion (with the second best ending of the book); 'Blockade Billy' is a proper Boys Own sporting adventure, (with a Kingian twist); and 'Drunken Fireworks' is a pretty hilarious tale of back country one-upmanship. I also enjoyed his attempt at poetry in the style of the Ancient Mariner: 'The Bone Church' telling the maniacal tale of death and hallucinations deep in the jungle, in the voice of a man driven mad by the experience and faring worse than those who never made it back. Most of the 'typical' King stories here were of course entertaining and fun to read (a Kindle that predicts the future, a malevolent devil in the guise of a small boy, a monster car from another dimension) but for me, the glory of this collection are the stories that ditch the silly gimmicks and get to the heart of who we are. King includes an anecdote about meeting a lady in the supermarket who recognises him as the author of "scary stories" that she doesn't care for. Instead she prefers "uplifting stories, like 'Shawshank Redemption'". "I wrote that, too" he says. "No you didn't" the lady replies, and goes on her way. This sums up how I feel about this book, and perhaps King in general. He has such capacity for hope and beauty and can startle us with a view of ourselves and the human condition (I think this is why his horror leaves us so breathless and engaged) - but this element of his range is often lost or ignored in the majority of his books. King clearly writes what he loves, and that, mainly, is horror. But it's a shame that his chosen genre and populist tag overshadows his talents, and that critics and fans alike overlook these less fantastical revelations of his skill.

Summer Thunder had me bawling while I did the dishes. Hell of a way to end things.

King has a very visceral way of writing that very much suits the horror genre. His words are uncomfortable and sticky in an intellectual sense. His sentences burrow into your brain and get stuck there. A Death is about a man accused of murder. He continues to protest his imprisonment and eventual death sentence, but the sheriff is concerned that a key piece of evidence is missing, and perhaps the accused did not actually commit the crime. (view spoiler)[However, after the man was hanged, the evidence, a silver dollar, is found in his feces. He had swallowed it before he was imprisoned and kept picking it out of his waste and re-ingesting so that he could maintain his innocence. It's a twist ending that is rather sad. Sure, readers no longer have to worry that an innocent man was just killed. But the sheriff is much less liable to trust people in the future, and it was still a terrible set of circumstances overall. (hide spoiler)] So short, yet so effecting.

* Mile 81 - 5 stars * Premium Harmony - 2 stars * Batman and Robin Have an Altercation - 3 stars * The Dune - 4 stars * Bad Little Kid - 5 stars * A Death - 2 stars * The Bone Church - 1 star * Morality - 5 stars * Afterlife - 5 stars * Ur - 4 stars * Herman Wouk Is Still Alive - 3 stars * Under the Weather - 5 stars * Blockade Billy - 3 stars * Mister Yummy - 2 stars * Tommy - 1 star * The Little Green God of Agony - 2 stars * That Bus is Another World - 2 stars * Obits - 4 stars * Drunken Fireworks - 3 stars * Summer Thunder - 2 stars Average - 3 stars

Actually 3 1/2 stars. It's Stephen King so the actual writing is excellent but it lacks the visceral, heart pounding quality of previous works such as Skeleton Crew, Night Shift, Everything's Eventual and Nightmares & Dreamscapes. Good reading but there's that "but"...

nice title

I really enjoyed some of the stories but generally wasn't for me.

"Mile 81" 🚘 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ "Premium Harmony" 💍 ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ "Batman and Robin Have an Altercation" 👨‍👦⭐️⭐️⭐️ "The Dune" 🏖 ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ "Bad Little Kid" 🎒⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ "A Death" ☠️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ "The Bone Church" 🍺 ⭐️⭐️ "Morality" 💵 ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ "Afterlife" 👾 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ "Ur" ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ "Herman Wouk Is Still Alive" ⭐️⭐️ "Under the Weather" ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ "Mister Yummy" ⭐️⭐️ "Tommy" ⭐️⭐️ "The Little Green God of Agony" ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨ "That Bus Is Another World" ⭐️⭐️⭐️ "Obits" ⭐️ "Drunken Fireworks" ⭐️ "Summer Thunder" ⭐️⭐️⭐️

It was fine. The stories that were good were really good and the stories the rest I just didn't care about. Also the typical Stephen King things: using the n-word, the r-word, the f-word are there and there's a discussion to be had about having characters use those words. Idk that's really all I have to say whenever it comes to SK.

I think the Bone church was an excellent horror poem

Drunken Fireworks ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Summer Thunder ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Some stories are really great and some I did not enjoy at all.. So three stars it is :D

** spoiler alert ** Overall, I liked a lot of the short stories in this anthology but there were some that made this anthology drag. I'm going to include my overall ratings for each story below but I just wanted to say right here that Summer Thunder, Ur, and Batman and Robin Have an Altercation really stood out to me as my top three. Mile 81- three stars A nice opening story mostly. I liked the car and thought the plot was interesting but it wasn't a story that will stick with me. Premium Harmony- two stars Nothing happened in this story and every character kind of sucked. They were purposefully hurtful towards each other and even when the death occurred, I couldn't really summon much emotion. Batman and Robin Have an Altercation- four stars This and Ur were my favorite stories. I loved the relationship between the boy and his father and found myself wishing it were longer. I would have gladly read a full length novel version of this story. The Dune- three stars This one was pretty boring and kind of easy to guess where it was going. The ending was sort of surprising, however it felt like the second of two options for the ending. Bad Little Kid- two stars While I liked this story in the beginning, looking back on it now I wouldn't want to reread it. I didn't care for any of the characters and I found myself just waiting for it to end. A Death- three stars Not a bad story and I liked the twist ending but I've had to google it multiple times writing this review just to even remember what it's about. Very forgettable. The Bone Church- two stars This could be due to the fact that it kind of involves the Dark Tower series and I haven't read enough to understand it, but I found it kind of meh. Morality- four stars I found this one to be one of the most interesting. The husband and wife were very interesting characters to me and I liked poking through their personalities and their thoughts after the main event occurs. Afterlife- four stars I liked this view of the afterlife and the commentary on the inability people have of moving on. This perspective was really interesting and I liked both of the characters involved. I feel like King thrives when he has very few characters to work with. Ur- five stars As someone who likes reading, I found this story to be very thought-provoking. It was probably my favorite story in this anthology and I've been asking people which author they would search for if they had the opportunity to look in multiple timelines. Herman Wouk is Still Alive- four stars I loved the two differing perspectives we got and the ending caught me off-guard. Two different pairs of people are on a journey however one of them comes to a very startling end. Under the Weather- four stars This story was really predictable, but I still found it enjoyable. Blockade Billy- two stars Holy crap, I spent this whole story waiting for it to end. I would never read this one again. Mister Yummy- three stars Kind of a basic story but I felt a vague connection to Batman and Robin Have an Altercation. Not bad but definitely forgettable. Tommy- three stars This poem wasn't bad but I didn't form much of an emotional connection. I did like the look into the 60s but that was pretty much it. The Little Green God of Agony- two stars Very boring. I feel like King always paints women in a very negative light and that showed a lot here in this story. It never really freaked me out and I kind of just waited for this one to be done as well. The Bus is Another World- two stars Very stupid. A woman is literally murdered and a guy witnesses it but is more concerned about his business meeting. I hope he failed the pitch, even if he is fake. Obits- two stars Another story where I felt the women were all made out to be shrews. It felt very childish and I didn't find myself caring for any of the characters. It's a very interesting take on what could happen if someone was given the power to end someone's life without actively doing anything, however I just couldn't give a shit. Drunken Fireworks- one star I could not wait for this story to be done honestly. I absolutely hated it. Every character was childish and I couldn't relate to anyone's motivations. Summer Thunder- four stars Overall I really liked the commentary this made about death and our decision to embrace it instead of living in denial and suffering. Average rating of stories: 2.95 Ironically the average rating was exactly how I felt about the novel. Sometimes math is amusing.

The Bazaar of Bad Dreams is a collection of short stories Stephen King has written over the years. I liked how he wrote a short introduction for each story explaining where he got the idea from and just kind of explains what being a writer means. The stories aren't necessarily scary, but do have some disturbing aspects in them.