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Night Visions #5
Night Visions 5
Douglas E. Winter presents a collection of all-new, tantalizingly terrifying stories by masters of horror. "Strong stuff, with good shudder potential ... A success ... You'll want to read this one!"--Locus.
* Introduction - Douglas E. Winter
* The Reploids - Stephen King
* Sneakers - Stephen King
* Dedication - Stephen King
* Metastasis - Dan Simmons
* Vanni Fucci is Alive and Well and Living in Hell - Dan Simmons
* Iverson's Pits - Dan Simmons
* The Skin Trade - George R.R. Martin
[Some sources give Paul J. Mikol, the Dark Harvest publisher, as editor.]
* Introduction - Douglas E. Winter
* The Reploids - Stephen King
* Sneakers - Stephen King
* Dedication - Stephen King
* Metastasis - Dan Simmons
* Vanni Fucci is Alive and Well and Living in Hell - Dan Simmons
* Iverson's Pits - Dan Simmons
* The Skin Trade - George R.R. Martin
[Some sources give Paul J. Mikol, the Dark Harvest publisher, as editor.]
274 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 1988
About the author
Douglas E. Winter
94 books52 followersDouglas E. Winter is an American writer, critic and lawyer. A life-long interest in horror has led him to develop a parallel career as horror writer and horror critic. Winter edited horror anthologies Prime Evil (1988), and Revelations (1997) as well as the interviews collection Faces of Fear (1985, revised 1990). He has also written biographies of Stephen King and Clive Barker. He is a member of the National Book Critics Circle.
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October 2, 2017This hardcover is numbered 154 of 850 copies and is signed by by Stephen King, Dan Simmons, George R.R. Martin. Illustrated by Ron Lindahn and Val Lakey Lindahn. Calligraphy by Gregory Manchess.
October 4, 2022
By Stephen King:
The Reploids - ⭐⭐
The down side to short stories is they often make their mark with a shock ending with no explanations.
This is the story of mistaken identity, but it's clear from the start something is hinky. I found the 'shock reveal' ending was just what I'd assumed reading the whole thing, so it was rather disappointing. The story was too short to really pack a punch, and while the idea it presented was interesting, there just wasn't enough detail on it to give it any real emotional response. A disappointing beginning.
Sneakers - ⭐⭐⭐
This one was better and drew me in more, but it was another ending that fell flat for me. The mystery of the sneakers drew me in for sure and kept me hooked, but ultimately I got less than I expected from the reveal. I was also quite confused about Tell's role towards the end. So getting better, but still a bit underwhelming for King's work.
Dedication - ⭐⭐⭐
Ah. There's that classic King sexual weirdness.
A little black magic happening here, but aside from being disturbingly gross, there wasn't anything too horrific here. Just confusing again in what the point was. I get it - hoodoo magic - but ... why? I think sometimes the bizarreness is just not enough to outweigh the question of why we care. Again, the twist ending just didn't really mean a lot to me. An interesting, curious read, but ultimately disappointing.
By Dan Simmons:
Metastasis - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Oooh now this is some creepy horror!
I honestly had no idea what was going on with this story but the descriptions are horrifying. These are some freaky creatures taking centre stage here and I loathed them.
I don't know that I've actually read anything by Dan Simmons before but I like! His words are crafted quite well and this was a brilliantly unique horror story that I felt fit well enough in with reality that it added that extra creep factor.
Again, the ending was a little confusing, but I had an easier time with it than the previous King stories.
Vanni Fucci is Alive and Well and Living in Hell - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
YES! This is the standout so far.
I love the way this story built; you could really sense the momentum building, and feel the atmosphere of the story getting thicker.
I loved the Dante references here and I particularly love how much this story created from it. This story features rich religious jerks getting some karma so I was all in for that.
Loved the descriptions, the set up, the build, and the grand finale. Just a great story all round.
Iverson's Pits - ⭐⭐⭐
Writing, yes; story, no.
This is the story of a boy who accompanies a war veteran to the scene of a horror from his past. It's long and a tedious trek until you get to the point, which when it finally came was a good hit but just a little too late for me.
The writing, on the other hand, was fantastic. Proper creepy stuff going on, with descriptive passages that soak you in the miasma of this story's horror scenes. I really enjoyed that aspect.
So while the story didn't quite grab me and was a little too long, there was a reward in the language used to tell it.
By George R. R. Martin:
The Skin Trade - ⭐⭐⭐
This was more like a novella, so the length frustrated me a bit, but once I sunk into it it was a pretty decent story.
This is a fun werewolf story with murder, carnage, and all kinds of messiness. Which is kind of my happy place when it comes to horror.
However, it does often bother me how much some male authors focus on sex and make their characters naked for no discernable reason, and Martin is one of the worst for this. It tends to draw me out of the story because the lack of logic gets in my head.
Aside from that nitpick and the length of this one, it was actually a pretty decent story. It had some classic werewolf tropes but it also went into some unexpected territory that I really enjoyed. The writing is mostly crass but Martin deals in blunt force shock more than finesse, so the horror comes from the level of gruesome more than any kind of building tension or anticipation.
A memorable story for sure.
Overall thoughts:
I mostly enjoyed this collection, as it was quite an addictive read. Short stories are always easy to get through, but I think that notion is also why I get a bit frustrated with the longer ones.
Dan Simmons was the standout for me here: King's stories felt like they were scraps that he'd thrown to this book so it could have his name as a selling point, and Martin's single story seemed like it would have been better off on its own. But this is my first time reading Simmons and his writing really drew me in. I'll be looking for more of his work in the future.
A bit of a hodgepodge collection but fun and addictive all the same.
The Reploids - ⭐⭐
The down side to short stories is they often make their mark with a shock ending with no explanations.
This is the story of mistaken identity, but it's clear from the start something is hinky. I found the 'shock reveal' ending was just what I'd assumed reading the whole thing, so it was rather disappointing. The story was too short to really pack a punch, and while the idea it presented was interesting, there just wasn't enough detail on it to give it any real emotional response. A disappointing beginning.
Sneakers - ⭐⭐⭐
This one was better and drew me in more, but it was another ending that fell flat for me. The mystery of the sneakers drew me in for sure and kept me hooked, but ultimately I got less than I expected from the reveal. I was also quite confused about Tell's role towards the end. So getting better, but still a bit underwhelming for King's work.
Dedication - ⭐⭐⭐
Ah. There's that classic King sexual weirdness.
A little black magic happening here, but aside from being disturbingly gross, there wasn't anything too horrific here. Just confusing again in what the point was. I get it - hoodoo magic - but ... why? I think sometimes the bizarreness is just not enough to outweigh the question of why we care. Again, the twist ending just didn't really mean a lot to me. An interesting, curious read, but ultimately disappointing.
By Dan Simmons:
Metastasis - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Oooh now this is some creepy horror!
I honestly had no idea what was going on with this story but the descriptions are horrifying. These are some freaky creatures taking centre stage here and I loathed them.
I don't know that I've actually read anything by Dan Simmons before but I like! His words are crafted quite well and this was a brilliantly unique horror story that I felt fit well enough in with reality that it added that extra creep factor.
Again, the ending was a little confusing, but I had an easier time with it than the previous King stories.
Vanni Fucci is Alive and Well and Living in Hell - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
YES! This is the standout so far.
I love the way this story built; you could really sense the momentum building, and feel the atmosphere of the story getting thicker.
I loved the Dante references here and I particularly love how much this story created from it. This story features rich religious jerks getting some karma so I was all in for that.
Loved the descriptions, the set up, the build, and the grand finale. Just a great story all round.
Iverson's Pits - ⭐⭐⭐
Writing, yes; story, no.
This is the story of a boy who accompanies a war veteran to the scene of a horror from his past. It's long and a tedious trek until you get to the point, which when it finally came was a good hit but just a little too late for me.
The writing, on the other hand, was fantastic. Proper creepy stuff going on, with descriptive passages that soak you in the miasma of this story's horror scenes. I really enjoyed that aspect.
So while the story didn't quite grab me and was a little too long, there was a reward in the language used to tell it.
By George R. R. Martin:
The Skin Trade - ⭐⭐⭐
This was more like a novella, so the length frustrated me a bit, but once I sunk into it it was a pretty decent story.
This is a fun werewolf story with murder, carnage, and all kinds of messiness. Which is kind of my happy place when it comes to horror.
However, it does often bother me how much some male authors focus on sex and make their characters naked for no discernable reason, and Martin is one of the worst for this. It tends to draw me out of the story because the lack of logic gets in my head.
Aside from that nitpick and the length of this one, it was actually a pretty decent story. It had some classic werewolf tropes but it also went into some unexpected territory that I really enjoyed. The writing is mostly crass but Martin deals in blunt force shock more than finesse, so the horror comes from the level of gruesome more than any kind of building tension or anticipation.
A memorable story for sure.
Overall thoughts:
I mostly enjoyed this collection, as it was quite an addictive read. Short stories are always easy to get through, but I think that notion is also why I get a bit frustrated with the longer ones.
Dan Simmons was the standout for me here: King's stories felt like they were scraps that he'd thrown to this book so it could have his name as a selling point, and Martin's single story seemed like it would have been better off on its own. But this is my first time reading Simmons and his writing really drew me in. I'll be looking for more of his work in the future.
A bit of a hodgepodge collection but fun and addictive all the same.
August 2, 2016
iverson's pit really shook the shit outta me, it's my fave in this book and i almost had forgotten the other stories for it
in deed i got inspired by the dan simmons's story. 4 years ago, i wrote a short horror tale which was just based on real characters and real incidents, set in the time of Cultural Revolution, resembling iverson's pit
i rolled this story of mine into a collection which has 2 other horror tales, all of them have the backgrounds of true events which happened in the miserable era of Cultural Revolution started by Mou tse tung
here are the other 2 storylines:
an old porklard pie baker told me, when he was a little kid, he knocked some other little kid's pate with a dead man's thigh bone, and that kid got possessed by the grudgy spirit of the bone's "owner" right by nightfall. boy healed? i don't think so, and holding an exorcism something like that was definitely a capital crime (the dead man was died by Mao's CR for sure)
~~
a friend of mine told me, a dawdling man fed his family and his pregnant wife with the meat that brought back home by the stray hogs of their household, they really enjoyed the meat, but then he turned out to find that the meat was all of human flesh which was dug out by those swines in a mass grave (tens of millions of victims of CR, at that time it was "normal" that a whole village got massacred by Red Guards and People's Army, the killing was just like one snow flake on a winter mountain ). you may ask why not they just ate the pigs? cuz villagers butchered livestocks under the permission of village authority, otherwise they'd’ve been executed...
~~
i mailed the collection to a taiwanese publishing company(you know why) and got a lousy pay, they issued my stories on a mag and wanted me to write more
but i had shortage of afflatus, mainly because that i didn't wanna risk my life by interviewing the people who went thru that disaster and gathering info from them, you know what i meant. and i was a full-time bartender, still i am
if you gotta ask me that if i will translate the three stories into english or not, or whether i will write more, i'm saying "not yet"
in deed i got inspired by the dan simmons's story. 4 years ago, i wrote a short horror tale which was just based on real characters and real incidents, set in the time of Cultural Revolution, resembling iverson's pit
i rolled this story of mine into a collection which has 2 other horror tales, all of them have the backgrounds of true events which happened in the miserable era of Cultural Revolution started by Mou tse tung
here are the other 2 storylines:
an old porklard pie baker told me, when he was a little kid, he knocked some other little kid's pate with a dead man's thigh bone, and that kid got possessed by the grudgy spirit of the bone's "owner" right by nightfall. boy healed? i don't think so, and holding an exorcism something like that was definitely a capital crime (the dead man was died by Mao's CR for sure)
~~
a friend of mine told me, a dawdling man fed his family and his pregnant wife with the meat that brought back home by the stray hogs of their household, they really enjoyed the meat, but then he turned out to find that the meat was all of human flesh which was dug out by those swines in a mass grave (tens of millions of victims of CR, at that time it was "normal" that a whole village got massacred by Red Guards and People's Army, the killing was just like one snow flake on a winter mountain ). you may ask why not they just ate the pigs? cuz villagers butchered livestocks under the permission of village authority, otherwise they'd’ve been executed...
~~
i mailed the collection to a taiwanese publishing company(you know why) and got a lousy pay, they issued my stories on a mag and wanted me to write more
but i had shortage of afflatus, mainly because that i didn't wanna risk my life by interviewing the people who went thru that disaster and gathering info from them, you know what i meant. and i was a full-time bartender, still i am
if you gotta ask me that if i will translate the three stories into english or not, or whether i will write more, i'm saying "not yet"
November 30, 2021
A blood filled collection of short stories guaranteed to keep you up at night. Some stories are meh, but majority will give you goosebumps. Grab your favorite snacks and turn on all the lights to snuggle up to this horrifying read.
🐱🐱🐱
🐱🐱🐱
June 3, 2015
Rounded up to 3*** because although I didn’t like the endings in The Reploids and Sneakers I still enjoyed the stories.
Dark Visions is a 1989 horror fiction compilation, with three short stories by Stephen King, three by Dan Simmons, and one by George R. R. Martin. I’m only reading Stephen King.
***
The Reploids – 2**
The ending left me a little up in the air. At first I thought my copy was missing some pages, but apparently not!
***
Sneakers - 2**
(Also collected in Nightmares and Dreamscapes)
Another ending that left me feeling flat.
***
Dedication - 3***
(Also collected in Nightmares and Dreamscapes)
Now this one I did enjoy!
July 30, 2016
A friend recommended this book to me and the cover looked very familiar. It should have, because I own it! I read it a while ago and marked the book up with post its. Obviously I loved it. I guess I should reread so I can write a proper review.
June 6, 2021
The Skin Trade was the fifth volume in the Night Visions series of original horror story anthologies, and a very strong entry. It has three stories each from Stephen King and Dan Simmons, and a terrific werewolf novella by George R.R. Martin, the title of which was used for the mass market edition. It's really quite impressive how he became such a star in all three genres: science fiction, horror, and fantasy. Simmons did as well, of course, with science fiction and horror, and King is a genre all to himself. My favorite of the Simmons was Metastasis, and I enjoyed Iverson's Pits for its gritty depiction of the Civil War. Both Sneakers and Dedication by King were good. (He once again demonstrated that he must have a thing for bathroom horror.) The Reploids seems like it needs a more satisfying conclusion; it the least characteristic of his work of the three. Altogether it's a very good anthology of literary horror.
November 12, 2007
This gets five stars just for George R.R. Martin's werewolf novella. Everything else is just tasty frosting.
February 24, 2009
This is a collection of short stories, and the one that really stands out for me is The Skin Trade by George R.R. Martin. Imagine a light hearted private detective story with elements of werewolf (although they're not all wolves)mythology thrown in, and you've got the general idea. I really think this was the inspiration for Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series, although she took a darker, more police procedural approach, and worked in necromancy and vampirism as well.
The other shorts in this book are ok. Stephen King's contributed (Sneakers and Dedication, but the Dan Simmons stories didn't seem that memorable.
Still, I like collections of horror stories, and I think this one is worth reading.
The other shorts in this book are ok. Stephen King's contributed (Sneakers and Dedication, but the Dan Simmons stories didn't seem that memorable.
Still, I like collections of horror stories, and I think this one is worth reading.
January 5, 2016
Creo que en esta pequeña compilación de cuentos, King se quedó corto :( muy buenos relatos de Dan Simmons y George R. R. Martin
January 1, 2011
This is a collection of horror shorts and longs by Stephen King, Dan Simmons, and George R.R. Martin. Most of it was quite good, but one long story by Dan Simmons, "Iverson's Pits," nearly sunk it for me. Very, very long and boring. Of King's offerings, "Sneakers" was really good, and Simmons had a good one with "Metastasis." Martin's lone offering was "The Skin Trade," which was really good and tied off the collection nicely.
March 23, 2018
¡Mucha tela chico! Juntar relatos de estos 3 inmensos autores… No puedo decir nada más.
August 31, 2024
Antología de tres autores consagrados, donde lo mejor esta al final con la novela corta "Cambiando la piel", excelsa incursión en el mundo de los hombres-lobo de George R.R. Martin, con la clásica lucha de poderes, cliffhangers al cierre de cada capítulo, y un final que deja pidiendo a gritos una segunda parte que nunca llegó.
La otra joya del volumen es "Metástasis" de Dan Simmons, cuento soberbio, que paraliza, da asco, e impotencia con un miedo que se siente a diario en los tiempos que corren.
De los otros cuentos de Simmons destaco "Vanni Fucci está vivo, sano y en el infierno", lo más distendido del libro, con un invitado muy especial a un programa de predicadores corruptos. Me reí mucho con las descripciones del final, y aquella semejanza con el pasaje de las víboras de Dante. Incluso releí algunos pasajes del Infierno de la Divina, lo que siempre viene bien.
De King poco y nada, solo "Dedicatoria" se deja leer e inquieta algo.
La otra joya del volumen es "Metástasis" de Dan Simmons, cuento soberbio, que paraliza, da asco, e impotencia con un miedo que se siente a diario en los tiempos que corren.
De los otros cuentos de Simmons destaco "Vanni Fucci está vivo, sano y en el infierno", lo más distendido del libro, con un invitado muy especial a un programa de predicadores corruptos. Me reí mucho con las descripciones del final, y aquella semejanza con el pasaje de las víboras de Dante. Incluso releí algunos pasajes del Infierno de la Divina, lo que siempre viene bien.
De King poco y nada, solo "Dedicatoria" se deja leer e inquieta algo.
November 6, 2015
I read this book when I was in school over 20 years ago and I STILL remember it. The Skin Trade really is one of the best werewolf stories out there. I wwish the author had done a series based on that concept. The other stories in the collection are just as fantastically written. Incredible anthology and worth the read if you can track down a good copy.
August 1, 2008
4 Stars for the collection. Breaking that down by author, I'd rate them this way: Dan Simmons - 4 1/2, Stephen King 3 1/2, George R. R. Martin - 5
June 18, 2016
Brilliant stories by brilliant authors. I only just discovered the awesomeness of Dan Simmons with Summer of Night, but I've been a fan of Stephen King since I was 10.
I'd never read George R R Martin before even though I'm a huge GoT fan. I'd heard that although the story is great (of course) his writing wasn't, so I hadn't bothered with any of his books. Big mistake! His novella, The Skin Trade, is one of the best short stories (supernatural horror, or otherwise) that I have ever read! I can't remember who told me that his writing wasn't skilled but I can say they were wrong. He is not just a great story teller, the writing is fluid & easy to get sucked into.
My other favourites in this collection are Simmons' Iverson's Pits and King's Sneakers.
Having said that, they are all entertaining reads. I'm really glad I read this. I already have a pile of newly acquired Dan Simmons books to read, & now I'm going to go out & get some George R R Martin.
I'd never read George R R Martin before even though I'm a huge GoT fan. I'd heard that although the story is great (of course) his writing wasn't, so I hadn't bothered with any of his books. Big mistake! His novella, The Skin Trade, is one of the best short stories (supernatural horror, or otherwise) that I have ever read! I can't remember who told me that his writing wasn't skilled but I can say they were wrong. He is not just a great story teller, the writing is fluid & easy to get sucked into.
My other favourites in this collection are Simmons' Iverson's Pits and King's Sneakers.
Having said that, they are all entertaining reads. I'm really glad I read this. I already have a pile of newly acquired Dan Simmons books to read, & now I'm going to go out & get some George R R Martin.
January 24, 2020
I read this book primarily for George R.R. Martin’s contribution, but was happy to reread some of the Steven King shorts I had enjoyed in my youth and to take in some Dan Simmons, who was new to me. I particularly enjoyed “Iverson’s Pits” because it even though it headed toward a confrontation that I had predicted, what happened during the confrontation quickly veered down an unexpected path.
The Skin Trade was of particular interest to me because I love searching for the seeds of ideas Martin has decided to let bloom in his masterwork, ASOIAF, and I found some in The Skin Trade. Most notably, I believe the conflict between Willie and Roy is the inspiration for the conflict between the Boltons and the Starks. As usual, Martin’s words transported me into the gritty, rundown world he was writing of, in the second half especially.
Overall, a fun read!
The Skin Trade was of particular interest to me because I love searching for the seeds of ideas Martin has decided to let bloom in his masterwork, ASOIAF, and I found some in The Skin Trade. Most notably, I believe the conflict between Willie and Roy is the inspiration for the conflict between the Boltons and the Starks. As usual, Martin’s words transported me into the gritty, rundown world he was writing of, in the second half especially.
Overall, a fun read!
July 9, 2022
What a bunch of weird stories. They're mostly pretty good. Several of them suffer from a typical 1980s dudes writing women problem, but I'm willing to overlook it since they were written by dudes in the 1980s and the problem isn't pervasive. Creepy stories, bitchin' cover, no strong complaints.
January 17, 2017
Una antología de King-Simmons-Martin nunca puede ser mala; más si son relatos tan rara avis como estos. La novela corta de Stephen es DEMENCIAL.
July 13, 2022
VISIONES NOCTURNAS, VV.AA.
Aviso de que esta reseña tiene muy poco de reseña y más de historia. La elegí hace varios meses ya para ser nuestra #lcamamos de junio ya que contenía relatos de tres de mis grandes autores fetiche: King (3 relatos), Simmons (otros 3), y Martin (solo uno, pero muy largo, tanto que se podría considerar como una micronovela).
Cuando había leído los tres primeros, un poco decepcionada por la poca chicha, la verdad, falleció Leíto y abandoné el libro. Lo abandoné todo, qué narices. Pero hay dos cosas que me han hecho volver a él: una, tratar de superar el reto aunque estuviese fuera de plazo, y dos, porque me di cuenta de que en la foto estaba en él. Sin yo saberlo, Leo estaba saliendo por última vez en una fotografía de mis lecturas. Saberlo me revolvió y me obligó a terminarlo.
Solo me ha fascinado la última historia, la de Martin, pero ha estado bien.
Aviso de que esta reseña tiene muy poco de reseña y más de historia. La elegí hace varios meses ya para ser nuestra #lcamamos de junio ya que contenía relatos de tres de mis grandes autores fetiche: King (3 relatos), Simmons (otros 3), y Martin (solo uno, pero muy largo, tanto que se podría considerar como una micronovela).
Cuando había leído los tres primeros, un poco decepcionada por la poca chicha, la verdad, falleció Leíto y abandoné el libro. Lo abandoné todo, qué narices. Pero hay dos cosas que me han hecho volver a él: una, tratar de superar el reto aunque estuviese fuera de plazo, y dos, porque me di cuenta de que en la foto estaba en él. Sin yo saberlo, Leo estaba saliendo por última vez en una fotografía de mis lecturas. Saberlo me revolvió y me obligó a terminarlo.
Solo me ha fascinado la última historia, la de Martin, pero ha estado bien.
August 20, 2023
Erstaunlicherweise fand ich die letzte Geschichte tatsächlich die beste, die von George R.R. Martin. Und das obwohl ich bisher "Die Herren von Winterfell" von ihm mehrmals abgebrochen habe.
Dass mir die Geschichten von Dan Simmons weniger gut gefallen würden, war hingegen erwartungsgemäß.
Dass mir die Geschichten von Dan Simmons weniger gut gefallen würden, war hingegen erwartungsgemäß.
August 31, 2017
Die Stories von King und Simmons nur ok, die Novelle von Martin aber der HAMMER!
June 26, 2024
Las historias están muy padres. Empecé a leer por las de Stephen king y me quede por las de Simmons y George RR Martin. Nunca los había leído antes. La que más me gustó fue la de cambiando de piel de George RR Martin y la de reploides de Stephen king. Aunque siento que las de Stephen king fueron las que menos resaltaron.
January 6, 2020
I've had this book sitting on my shelf for some time and decided it was time to read it as I am trying to get through my TBR pile.
I am one of Stephen King's Constant Readers, so I will always buy up and read any book that has a story from him in it. And this one was no exception with two stories, Sneakers and Dedication, both of them offering something a little supernatural and very engrossing.
I had not heard of Dan Simmons before and did not know his writing, and personally his style did not work for me. I didn't feel his writing flowed well, it seems a bit jerky in its sentence layout and the way he described things, they jarred with me and I felt better words could have been picked. Out of the three writers in this book, I felt Simmons was the mediocre one, who knocked that star off making it a 4 star read and not a 5 star. Others might like his style, but it felt amateur to me. I did read all of Metastasis and it was an okay story, no odder than some of the stories King writes, but it fell down with the delivery for me, so I went straight to GRR Martin's story, Skin Trade.
I have only read The Hedge Knight of GGR Martin's, and thoroughly enjoyed it. (It is in Legends, by Robert Silverberg, collection of short stories) And I was also an avid watcher of Game of Thrones (I have yet to embark on the novels - they are sitting in my TBR pile), so I was surprised to find a story from him that was not set in the world of Kingdoms and ruling families, but something more modern, although supernatural with its Werewolf twist. It was brilliant, and dark, and captivating, and I enjoyed every second of reading it.
For King and Martin lovers, this book is a must have.
I am one of Stephen King's Constant Readers, so I will always buy up and read any book that has a story from him in it. And this one was no exception with two stories, Sneakers and Dedication, both of them offering something a little supernatural and very engrossing.
I had not heard of Dan Simmons before and did not know his writing, and personally his style did not work for me. I didn't feel his writing flowed well, it seems a bit jerky in its sentence layout and the way he described things, they jarred with me and I felt better words could have been picked. Out of the three writers in this book, I felt Simmons was the mediocre one, who knocked that star off making it a 4 star read and not a 5 star. Others might like his style, but it felt amateur to me. I did read all of Metastasis and it was an okay story, no odder than some of the stories King writes, but it fell down with the delivery for me, so I went straight to GRR Martin's story, Skin Trade.
I have only read The Hedge Knight of GGR Martin's, and thoroughly enjoyed it. (It is in Legends, by Robert Silverberg, collection of short stories) And I was also an avid watcher of Game of Thrones (I have yet to embark on the novels - they are sitting in my TBR pile), so I was surprised to find a story from him that was not set in the world of Kingdoms and ruling families, but something more modern, although supernatural with its Werewolf twist. It was brilliant, and dark, and captivating, and I enjoyed every second of reading it.
For King and Martin lovers, this book is a must have.
October 21, 2018
Well if it hadn't have been for GRRM this would've been a 2. A very strange set of stories that mainly seemed half finished.
1. Reploids by Stephen king 1/5
Made no sense whatsoever and seemed to finish in the end of a story! I even checked whether my book was missing pages. I googled what reploid was, that made slightly more sense, but still not good.
2. Sneakers by Stephen king 2/5
This was a better story, but again the ending made no sense. Maybe there is two versions of this as when I've googled it, there appears to be a slightly different ending that makes more sense.
3. Dedication by Stephen king 3/5
I read this thinking "what the hell am I reading?!?!" But I did enjoy it more than the other 2, it did at least have an ending and one I certainly won't forget in a hurry. This is the sort of story that makes me wonder what would become of SK if he didn't have his writing 😂
4. Metastasis by dan Simmons 2/5
Didn't like this
5. Iversons pits by dan Simmons 3/5
I did like the story but didn't understand the ending. Was captain Montgomery really dead? Was iverson and nephew really dead?
6. Skin trade by George r r Martin 4/5
Hurray! Not my usual type of book, I don't really like werewolves, but very good, excellent characters. The ending was a bit ambiguous and I would love to hear others takes on this.
1. Reploids by Stephen king 1/5
Made no sense whatsoever and seemed to finish in the end of a story! I even checked whether my book was missing pages. I googled what reploid was, that made slightly more sense, but still not good.
2. Sneakers by Stephen king 2/5
This was a better story, but again the ending made no sense. Maybe there is two versions of this as when I've googled it, there appears to be a slightly different ending that makes more sense.
3. Dedication by Stephen king 3/5
I read this thinking "what the hell am I reading?!?!" But I did enjoy it more than the other 2, it did at least have an ending and one I certainly won't forget in a hurry. This is the sort of story that makes me wonder what would become of SK if he didn't have his writing 😂
4. Metastasis by dan Simmons 2/5
Didn't like this
5. Iversons pits by dan Simmons 3/5
I did like the story but didn't understand the ending. Was captain Montgomery really dead? Was iverson and nephew really dead?
6. Skin trade by George r r Martin 4/5
Hurray! Not my usual type of book, I don't really like werewolves, but very good, excellent characters. The ending was a bit ambiguous and I would love to hear others takes on this.
February 7, 2017
This book was quite the find – I picked it up for 50p in the Ten Bob Barn at Astley Book Farm. The cover jumped out at me to begin with because of its psychedelic design and awesome colours. It’s also a hardback, which helps – I don’t go out of my way to get them, but I do enjoy them when I find them. Mostly, though, this book caught my eye because it’s got Stephen King and George R. R. Martin in it.
What we have here, then, is a cracking collection of shorts that are grouped by author, for your convenience. We start out with Stephen King, who contributes three short pieces that range from a short about a haunted shithouse in a recording studio (my favourite) to a longer piece about a black woman that took a while to build up steam. Dan Simmons’ effort was okay, but possibly not the best introduction to his work – I’m not sure, I’ve never read anything else that he’s written. And then there’s George R. R. Martin, who was the only author to opt for a single story, a piece about werewolves called The Skin Trade. It was good, but his longer form work is better.
Overall then, it’s a quirky little read and one you should get if you’re a fan of any of these authors. But individually, they all have better stuff. King’s first two stories were absolute crackers, though!
What we have here, then, is a cracking collection of shorts that are grouped by author, for your convenience. We start out with Stephen King, who contributes three short pieces that range from a short about a haunted shithouse in a recording studio (my favourite) to a longer piece about a black woman that took a while to build up steam. Dan Simmons’ effort was okay, but possibly not the best introduction to his work – I’m not sure, I’ve never read anything else that he’s written. And then there’s George R. R. Martin, who was the only author to opt for a single story, a piece about werewolves called The Skin Trade. It was good, but his longer form work is better.
Overall then, it’s a quirky little read and one you should get if you’re a fan of any of these authors. But individually, they all have better stuff. King’s first two stories were absolute crackers, though!
October 26, 2019
Let's do this one author after the other.
King :
Out of the three short stories, I already knew 2 from Nightmares and Dreamscapes. So nothing new, but nothing bad.
As for The Reploids, it was not deep enough for me; I think I can safely say I didn't feel anything reading this story.
Simmons :
Metastasis was incredible; it was creepy and I got the chills all the while reading it.
Ivan Fucci was a bit meh, okayish.
And Iverson's pits was downright boring; apart from the ending, which was quite creepy. But I feel like it was just too long.
Martin :
Just one novella, The Skin Trade, and this was my favourite story of the book ! I got right into it, and loved every bit of it. Amazing.
All in all, out of 7 stories, 2 were incredible, 3 were meh, and the other 2 I already knew so no surprises there.
King :
Out of the three short stories, I already knew 2 from Nightmares and Dreamscapes. So nothing new, but nothing bad.
As for The Reploids, it was not deep enough for me; I think I can safely say I didn't feel anything reading this story.
Simmons :
Metastasis was incredible; it was creepy and I got the chills all the while reading it.
Ivan Fucci was a bit meh, okayish.
And Iverson's pits was downright boring; apart from the ending, which was quite creepy. But I feel like it was just too long.
Martin :
Just one novella, The Skin Trade, and this was my favourite story of the book ! I got right into it, and loved every bit of it. Amazing.
All in all, out of 7 stories, 2 were incredible, 3 were meh, and the other 2 I already knew so no surprises there.
June 2, 2018
Wonderful collection of stories. I've long been a fan of King, but had never read short fiction by Simmons. And Martin is one of the kings of short horror/dark fantasy, which it took me far too long to discover. Metastasis was the most powerful story in the collection, and my favorite. Skin Trade was a close second, though for entertainment value, not as an impactful story. Sneakers was probably my favorite of King's, more of a classic ghost story. Well curated, though the editing missed a lot of errors/typos.
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September 19, 2019
A random anthology I picked up at the library a while ago. Unfortunately, most of the stories aren't very good. The Reploids is of interest mostly because it is an uncollected King story, and The Skin Trade, which mixes the mystery genre with werewolves, is entertaining enough, but I don't remember any of the Simmons stories, and I read the other two King stories elsewhere (neither of them ranking among my favourites of his work). Given that The Reploids isn't an especially good story, this leaves one noteworthy story, which isn't enough to save the anthology.
May 10, 2020
Of the authors who contributed to this book, I think I enjoyed Stephen King’s the most. What can I say, the man can write. I liked Reploids best, I think because it’s so bizarre and surreal.
I think there were themes across the authors stories:
• a man walks into the stage of a live TV show who shouldn’t be there
• someone is seeing things that no one else can see
• someone is telling a story from their past which they are sure no one will believe
Not sure what George RR Martin’s prompt was, but I guess he does his own thing.
I think there were themes across the authors stories:
• a man walks into the stage of a live TV show who shouldn’t be there
• someone is seeing things that no one else can see
• someone is telling a story from their past which they are sure no one will believe
Not sure what George RR Martin’s prompt was, but I guess he does his own thing.
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