Customer Reviews

Dream Sequence, And Other Tales From Beyond

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Sixteen stories told by a Master of Speculative Fiction. A world of
sentient insects; a realm that bans childbirth and holds death
lotteries to control the population; time diving to find a lost love;
angel and demon races in Destiny--sixteen impossible gems, all
stories with that characteristic Steve twist. A fast-rising star
in the world of spec fiction and fantasy. Opening a Steve Lazarowitz
book will open your mind.

Dream Sequence is a collection of imaginative short stories from the 21st century's bad boy of speculative fiction. Steve Lazarowitz, who started life as a techie and sales executive with NYC's "Crazy Eddie," is a natural storyteller who crafts stories with more insane twists and turns than a Crazy Eddie commercial. Maybe Steve's writings are the natural outgrowth of his tech/sales career, or maybe it was spending way too much time reading Zelazny, Ellison, Asimov and Bradbury. Whatever - you are going to enjoy Steve's stories and come back for more.

Steve covers all bases in this collection from the outright weird to funny, horrific, and thought provoking. The title tale is a fantasy that weaves between sanity and madness until you are bobbing with the story yourself. My favorite, "Brimstone and Nitro," has the spiritual leaders of eternity drag-racing muscle cars for soul rights to Mother Earth's own. "The Fate of Ambrose Colony" is a chilling work that will make you think twice the next time you brush off a Gypsy Moth and "The Gift," is about friendship and sacrifice, but outdoes O'Henry by a long shot. "Tales from Beyond," is a writer's story with a tip of the hat to Rod Serling. All in all, this is one cool collection from someone who has been honing his craft for over a decade.

I love stories that twist, but I'm usually disappointed. I can almost always figure out the end of a story, long before I reach it. Dream Sequence was different. Every story kept me guessing. Even when I was sure I'd got the ending, the rug would be yanked from under me. Not in an underhanded way either. It was the type of thing I could have seen coming or at least should have. My hat is off to any author who can do that to me.