AUTHOR: Stephen King (Editor)
PUBLISHER: Cemetery Dance Publishing
PUBLISHING DATE: August 25, 2016
FROM GOODREADS: #1 bestselling horror author Stephen King introduces and present six gripping and chilling stories in this captivating anthology.
King discovered these stories when he judged a competition run by Hodder & Stoughton and The Guardian to celebrate publication of his own collection The Bazaar of Bad Dreams. He was so impressed with the entries that he recommended they be published together in one book, which has finally become a reality.
Reader beware: the stories will make you think twice before cuddling up to your old soft toys, dipping your toes into the water, or county spots on a leopard.
MY THOUGHTS: This book contains six pretty short stories. Some I loved and some were just "meh." They're so short they are actually rather hard to review so here's a breakdown of my thoughts and ratings on each.
WILD SWIMMING: (3/5)This one is represented by the cover art and sort of gave me a "creature from the black lagoon" vibe.
EAU-DE-ERIC: (4/5)A maniacal dead husband returns in the form of a stuffed teddy bear - or does he?
THE SPOTS: (2/5) Counting spots on a leopard - my least favorite.
THE UNPICKING: (4/5) So this is what my dogs stuffed toys do while we're sleeping each night?
LA MORT DE L'AMANT: (3/5) Stupid cop!
BEAR TRAP: (3/5) This book is obsessed with stuffed animals! Wait until you meet Diablo!
So overall it was a pretty decent collection. I didn't think I'd make it through THE SPOTS but I did. It was really the only one I didn't find entertaining. I figured since Stephen King recommended these, there would be some decent finds within the pages and I wasn't entirely wrong.
RATING: 3 PAWS
I think I saw this ARC and almost requested it. I used to love short stories yeeeeears aaaagoo but not sure now. Glad it did work for you :)
ReplyDeleteI grabbed a copy over Christmas and ended up picking it up on a whim a few days ago - TBR be damned! It was a quick short read.
DeleteI like the idea of stories about stuffed animals! I love my stuffed monkey collection and they are my very best friends!
ReplyDeleteThe stuffed animal tales were the best. And while I'm sure your monkey is nothing like the ones I read about, these tales definitely give you food for thought.
DeleteI have a hard time with short stories, ones with stuffed animals creep me out! :)
ReplyDeleteI think I share the same short story difficulty. However, I found these to be about the length of my attention span lately so they worked this time around. The stuffed animal stories were the best!
DeleteSome of these sound creepy fun. I'll be checking them out. It's Stephen King! I read everything he writes. I'm with Stormi, stuffed animals, and dolls. Yikes!
ReplyDeleteHe actually picked the tales in the book from a competition he judged. I figured if he liked them, then so would I. I would love to get another take on The Spots because I just didn't get that one!
DeleteI'll be skipping this one. I'm all done with short horror stories for a few months at least.
ReplyDeleteI figure you've had your share lately!
DeleteI love the ideas of these anthology/short story collections but from experience I've found that they most often aren't worth it. Looks like that's what happened with this one. Glad to hear it though I was wondering if it was worth it.. now I know. :)
ReplyDeleteYea but I really did enjoy the ones with the stuffed animals.
DeleteI love that cover and a Creature from the Black Lagoon vibe? Awesome!
ReplyDeleteThe cover art is awesome!
DeleteI'm a huge fan of short stories- probably because of Stephen King, but so many anthologies can be uneven. The only short story anthology where I really loved every single story was Slasher Girls and Monster Boys. I might have to check this one out!
ReplyDeleteI still need to read this one. If you can find this reasonable, the stories with the stuffed animals are really worth the read.
DeleteFor some reason I never stopped to figure out what that anthology was all about. That's pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteI was always afraid of my stuffed animals. I may have to give it a read. :)