Customer Reviews

Bedtime Stories to Darken Your Dreams

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Imagine sweet nightmare fables for the adult within your inner child...

This is a masterful, rather Escherian collection, of twisting subtle stories that begin with deceptive simplicity and almost childlike naivete on the surface, which suddenly turns around and blossoms into dark agelessness.

Bruce Holland Rogers is a brilliant award-winning author whose work I watch for closely. Not only does he edit this collection, but he also has three of his own tales showcased here, including the mesmerizing fable ""The Dead Boy at Your Window" which has already garnered the Bram Stoker Award, and which -- in its intensity -- will make you feel a bittersweet wise nostalgia for love. Incidentally, it is my favorite in this collection. There is also "The Apple Golem," a haunting erotic and luscious treatment of the love slave trope. Finally, Bruce gives us "the Goblin King" that will make you shudder, and yet, overcomes you ultimately with ghostly beauty arising out of the night, and safe familiarity melting into deep toothsome darkness.

It is hard to pick favorites, because every story is a dark jewel. I will therefore highlight those that had struck me particularly. "The Still-Life Drama of Passing Cars" by Gary A. Braunbeck and Lucy A. Snyder, is a tragedy, heart-wrenching and yet oddly comforting. "King for a Day" by Leslie What takes you to a place where Elvis is faced with the ultimate heaven or hell fate. "Mouths to Feed" by Rusty Nixon, is filled with living hungry walls of grotesques. And "Souls" by Jane Yolen is a piercing universal fable that asks the ultimate question.

Oh, did I mention this is an illustrated work?

At first, think of a children's storybook of black and white pictures. Now take a dash of madness, a pinch of darkness, and some midnight black crumbling charcoal... Let strange realistic yet unreal shapes emerge like spiders crawling through the gossamer of your imagination.

Such is the effect of Alan M. Clark's black and white subtly shaded illustrations. Sprinkled all throughout, even as running motifs, they perfectly reflect the odd dissonant intensity of the stories.

I recommend this collection more than highly -- I recommend it as a thing unforgettable.

But a bit of caution -- it is never for meant for your child, but for the ancient inner child in you.

Therefore, hide this book.

In his Introduction to this anthology, Rogers fondly recalls his father's lively readings of scary bedtime stories--a tradition he calls "Scary Daddy". Presented here are more than twenty tales aimed at giving the reader that same creepy-but-good feel. Like a children's book, Bedtime Stories is set in large, almost calligraphic type and amply illustrated with full-page artwork opposite each story.

There are a few standout stories here. Rogers's own "The Dead Boy at Your Window" is haunting, unsettling, yet amazingly tender and uplifting. Elizabeth Engstrom's "Vargas County" also transcends its own eeriness as a grandfather discovers his long-buried capacity for love and tenderness. And one of the best stories I've read this year is the well-crafted "The Still Life Drama of Passing Cars."

Unfortunately, Bedtime Stories confounds far more often than it thrills. Jane Yolen's "Souls" begins well, but ends with a twist that is--literally--heavy-handed. Steve Resnic Tem's "There's No Such Thing as Monsters" is just too vague to be unsettling--a problem with nearly all stories in this volume. And the few stories that are meant to be humorous are instead ridiculous.

Ultimately, these bedtime stories (and the low-resolution illustrations) lack the edge to darken any dreams. Recommended only if you are willing to pay for three good stories out of twenty-three.

THIS BOOK HAS GOT TO BE ONE OF THE MOST BORING I HAVE READ IN AWHILE. NONE OF THE STORIES WERE SCARY. WHAT WAS SCARY WAS HOW MUCH I PAID FOR IT! THEY SAY THAT THE STORIES IN THIS BOOK ARE NOT INTENDED FOR CHILDREN BUT I HAVE TO TELL YOU THAT MY YOUNGER SISTER READ IT AND FOUND IT HILARIOUS! DO YOUR SELF A FAVOR AND DON'T BUY THIS BOOK. IT'S NOT WORTH THE TIME AND MONEY.

When I got this book I returned it right away. What is with the overly large print? I'm not blind and I'm not 4 years old. I thought it was a children's book. I didn't buy it from Amazon and the other internet company did not let me know that this was large print. Was the publishing company trying its best to fill up enough pages so that they could release this as a book? I want more bang for my buck.