by Jay Wilburn
The plan is to reread all of Stephen King’s works in the order that they were published. Richard Chizmar of Cemetery Dance had the vision. I’m doing it because I am a writer and I want to improve my fiction. And I love Stephen King’s stories. I think there is something to be learned through this process.
You can also go back to the beginning and read Before Carrie or any of my other posts up through this one and beyond by checking out this link to the Master List of all my #StephenKingRevisited posts.
Nightmares & Dreamscapes is dedicated to the poet and novelist Thomas Williams.
King’s introduction on the unfiltered belief of childhood reminds me of the more recent release of Triangle of Belief by Brian Keene.
Stephen King admits to voting for Nixon because Nixon said he had a plan to get us out of Vietnam and King believed him. It is something his wife teased him about.
Every “old story” he intends to publish is done here in Nightmares & Dreamscapes. Collections released after this one will all be stories written after this release, he says. The book does read a little bit like a clearing house of everything that was left. Of course, there is yet another farewell to Castle Rock in this book.
The Notes at the end of the book after all the stories provide good insights into the stories themselves. John Skipp was mentioned by name in the notes. It is surreal to me that I know Skipp now and he knows me at this stage of my life.
Dolan’s Cadillac
When I started reading the Bachmann book Roadwork much earlier in this #StephenKingRevisited process, I was thinking about this story. I had forgotten that Roadwork was a completely different novel. In this one, we have a classic tale of a teacher taking on a mob boss. There is backbreaking accuracy in the detail so that any victory that may come barely did. The “hero” paid for his revenge in the hardest of hard work. Great story.
The End of the Whole Mess
Another really good story that I remembered liking, one that stuck with me after reading. We have a first person narrator who is on a deadline with oblivion. We have good foreshadowing throughout. “They’re either dead or driveling idiots by now.” Outlandish future terrorism is predicted for the early 2000s. Not too far from the truth, I suppose. Outside of Waco, Texas becomes the epicenter for the most peaceful place on Earth. Some irony in that. “Bracelets of Fortune” are used for describing wrists as they were in Gerald’s Game, too.
Suffer the Little Children
Miss Sidley was her name and teaching was her game. Good Old Juniper Hill comes into play again. It could all be true or she could be crazy. Another good one.
The Night Flier
I’m surprised this one wasn’t linked to Jerusalem’s Lot in any explicit way. We follow an Inside View Reporter. I think it may be the same one from The Dead Zone and maybe It. These reporters put a lot of work into a magazine that might make up some of its stories. A standout story for sure.
Popsy
King identifies this character as probably the same one from “Night Flier.” Kreig, the only company that makes locks and handcuffs for the evil characters in King’s universe. I remember this story, but thought the van got farther before the confrontation occurs.
It Grows on You
We have a little drop in quality with this story maybe. It’s a slower tale. It has that gothic quality of events being told second and third hand within the narrative of the story itself. Clut lost his wife in the slaughter of Needful Things and life went downhill for him after that. We see him mentioned as the old men a generation or two older from the characters in that novel gather to discuss an old, cursed house. This quietly cursed house haunts the old men of Castle Rock who have survived a lot to get old. “The moon” an old man whispers in death after a brain busting sexual dream/memory that has haunted him in secret all his days.
Chattery Teeth
An odd, but interesting horror story. What do they want? As odd as this story is, it has one of the most straight forward narratives and good action scenes.
Dedication
It’s hard to know what to think about this one. The subject is the idea of a spiritual/natural father beyond biological fatherhood. This story was a bit longer than I think it needed to be for the content. The only time you can never change someone’s mind is when they think they’re helping you. A powerful line.
The Moving Finger
This is one of the stronger stories which is unique in its approach to horror. The scenario for this story was spelled out almost exactly in a hallucination described in the novel Roadwork.
Sneakers
I still don’t really get this story. There are a handful of Stephen King short stories that miss me like this. This one may be part of King’s ongoing fascination with gangster created ghosts that didn’t quite make it into The Shining. I didn’t remember the ghost talking. You always see your own face first is an interesting ghost rule in King’s story.
You Know They Have a Hell of a Band
The scenic route to an impossible town. The wife’s premonition to turn around and drive away without going into town was their moment where they could escape. Rock Star heaven ain’t so nice.
Home Delivery
I talked about this story on an episode of Castle Rock Radio. This is my favorite zombie short story of all time. It is twisted up with the extended flashbacks Stephen King employs liberally. The main character’s deliberation over what can of soup to buy endeared me to her on my first reading and every reading since. Everything from the space scenes to guarding the cemetery is great. I love the curse-filled Lord’s Prayer of a dying man. Little Tall Island from Dolores Claiborne makes an appearance here. I’d have her on my zombie apocalypse team. Selena St. George from that novel is mentioned in this story. The characters move to a smaller island with just the one cemetery. Our pregnant character’s indecisiveness in civil society changes into being well-equipped to survive an apocalypse on this island. “Coping” … she waited for fear but none came. Inside View is the first magazine to report on zombies. No wonder people doubted.
Rainy Season
We find ourselves in another creepy small town in Maine with a secret. The Ritual … the characters even mention “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson outright.
My Pretty Pony
An indulgent story, which isn’t necessarily a bad type of story for Stephen King readers, this one feels like a fragment of a novel which it was.
Sorry, Right Number
I liked this story/screenplay. I feel like I saw this episode, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t. King plays with telephones from beyond in other stories. Uses “her pretty pony” for the passage of time again.
Ten O’clock People
Seeing your first batman can do that to you. Special types of smokers are the only ones who can see the world the way it really is. “Achy Breaky Heart” plays on a bar jukebox. I hated that song after working in a Waffle House the summer it came out. King’s characters figure out each other’s thoughts too easily. The Patriots are still a disappointing team in the era Stephen King writes this story. A very strong story.
Crouch End
Another deep dive into Lovecraftian storytelling to mixed results. Don’t visit this London neighborhood in King’s universe.
The House on Maple Street
I remember this story fondly and the original book from which the inspiring illustration arose. The kids in this story are brilliantly heroic.
The Fifth Quarter
Another journey into crime fiction. “Face the color of cheese” is used to describe a pale complexion. Some hide and seek in this story creates moments of horror. This one reads like part of a bigger novel which it is not.
The Doctor’s Case
King writes a Sherlock Holmes story in which Dr. Watson gets a win and the heroes make a morally questionable choice.
Umney’s Last Case
Every encounter is ending oddly and “wrong.” Too much history exists with every minor character like a P.I. who has lived through hundreds of noir novels. “Writers don’t do their best work in interesting times,” declares a character in this story. I think more highly of this story upon reading it again than I did the first time through.
Head Down
This is a nonfiction essay that first appeared in The New Yorker and must have taken up almost half that issue. It is good, but adds to the hodgepodge feel of this collection. Revisiting this piece makes me feel better about reading Faithful coming up in my #StephenKingRevisited reading. King writes baseball well. I’m looking forward to Blockade Billy further down the line, too. We follow his son Owen’s team on their quest for the Maine Little League State Championship.
Brooklyn in August
This poem was for Jim Bishop. It gives us a gritty baseball scene where real people are described as ghosts and they haunt the field detailed in the verses.
The Beggar and the Diamond
This is a bit of a “hidden track” at the end of this collection.
There are some standout stories in this collection, a collection I have always held as one of my favorites among King’s works. There are enough really good stories to pay for all, if there are a few stories that don’t please me as much. On a new reading, I recognize it is not as strong as some of his other collections. I still like it and many of the stories in it, but I appreciate the strength in some of King’s other collections more now.
My next post in this series will be Before Insomnia which will be linked on the Master List of all my Stephen King Revisited posts.
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