Amazon.com
Martin Dressler is a turn-of-the-century New York City entrepreneur who begins in his father's cigar store but dreams of a bigger empire. That dream shapes into a series of large hotels. At first, Dressler's seems the archetypal American success story, but he does not quite grasp the future. The Manhattan of fabled skyline is about to take shape just over the horizon, but Dressler cannot see it. So the story becomes another kind of fable, as Dressler contemplates having "dreamed the wrong dream."
Book Description
Young Martin Dressler begins his career as an industrious helper in his father's cigar store. In the course of his restless young manhood, he makes a swift and eventful rise to the top, accompanied by two sisters--one a dreamlike shadow, the other a worldly business partner. As the eponymous Martin's vision becomes bolder and bolder he walks a haunted line between fantasy and reality, madness and ambition, art and industry, a sense of doom builds piece-by-hypnotic piece until this mesmerizing journey into the heart of an American dreamer reaches its bitter-sweet conclusion.
Customer Reviews:
It's a great novel after all!.......2006-10-15
I have just finished reading "Martin Dressler" and I have to share with other readers that my feelings about the book were changing as I was progressing in my reading. I have to agree with Bruce Kendall's review that some of the reviews that have appeared have probably missed Millhauser's point. At the beginning of the book, I felt that I was enjoying what I was reading but I also felt, like many other readers, that this was a somehow superficial novel with flat if not naive characters. And, yes, character building is rather feeble but still, the novel's worth lies in its allegoric perception of a man's journey towards self knowledge. I marvelled at Millhauser's power in unfolding magic details when he describes the universe of the Grand Cosmo. It is a stunning insight into imagination and its layers that are made of a multutude of cultural influences. If that is not grand literature, then I wonder what else could be? Still, I would not mind at all if Millhauser could build his characters more. Caroline, the wife, appears to be a recluse and there seems to be no love relationship between her and Martin. But when I read Bruce Kendall's remark about Paris' s judgement between Hera, Athena and Aphrodite (a point that I had missed) I said, yes, here there is a symbolism that works. I believe that Millhauser has achieved to write a poignant tale and certainly he gets credit for the power of his imagination and the evocation of New York around 1900. I would recommend this novel as an enjoyable read that offers some great descriptions of great imaginative power.
Hard to believe it won a Pulitzer........2006-09-07
This one didn't do anything for me. It may be allegory, fable, myth, whatever (and yes, readers may recognize these elements and still think the book is a big snooze), but good allegories, fables, and myths also have conflict and drama. This doesn't.
The story marches from the hero's childhood, through his early career years and successes as a young entrepreneur, to his "final downfall" as it says on the dust jacket. But this march follows a perfectly straight path. Martin is restless at his job; he moves to a better job. Martin is bored with his new job; he opens his new business. Martin is unsatisfied with his business, he expands it. He moves on to bigger and bigger enterprises until he moves on to one that is too big. Yes, hubris is his eventual downfall, but nothing trips him up on the way. He never faces any substantive opposition and never has a set back, until the very end.
What's missing is conflict (a key element of any drama) and character development. The characters, pretty flat to begin with, are all the same at the end of the book as they are at the beginning. Other reviewers compare the novel favorably to Greek tragedies, but the characters in those classic tales had complex relationships, nothing but conflict, and learned lessons along the way. Here, many characters drift in and then fade away without any further mention of them. Martin's parents, for example, never make an appearance in his adult life. His mother-in-law, who is a major character through the middle part of the book, disappears after he marries her daughter, who literally sleeps through their marriage. Not only do the characters not grow as individuals, every relationship Martin has with another character is static.
"Magic realism" aside, there is nothing to this other than some marginally interesting descriptions of New York City at the turn of the Twentieth Century, and the detailed descriptions of the ever more elaborate attractions of Martin's hotels.
If it's myth and fable you're after, re-read Antigone.
Pulitzer Embarrasses Itself.......2006-07-25
By awarding this sorry excuse of a novel the Pulitzer Prize, the Pulitzer committee has committed a terribly shameful act. Perhaps as a nonfiction architectural review, Martin Dressler would be worthy of distinction. As an alleged novel, it is not, for it lacks almost everything that makes a novel a novel: interesting characters, conflict, plot, motivations, etc. Some of Millhauser's descriptive language is quite nice, but, then again, exactly how many times does he need to refer to Caroline's hair pulled back tight against her head? A colossal waste of time, paper, and energy--skip this sham.
Millhauser must know people who know people..........2006-01-11
This novel fails.
Though Millhauser's details, details, details often succeed in drawing readers into his unusual, albeit believable, fictional worlds, this go-round however is a near-complete D-U-D. What a disappointment! It's a classic show-don't-tell disaster. He tells and tells and tells--and ultimately drives the reader away.
I started reading this book with enthusiasm... I very much enjoyed Millhauser's stories in "Little Kingdoms". And "Martin Dressler" started well, and it won the Pulitzer (so it has to be good right?), and there was tons of build-up (no pun on the story-line)... and build-up... and build-up... and fizzle. By the end of the novel, you feel somewhat violated by superfluous adjectives and the list-quality of his paragraphs. The relationships are similarly flat. The whole novel is like a frustrating case of impotence. I am grateful to Millhauser for helping me to imagine an industrial-era New York City, but otherwise, the plot is lame and the "climax" lamer still. The Grand Cosmo which Dressler finally builds turns out to be so fantastical and utterly unbelievable--not in a good way--that it reminded me of the worst film of all time: "National Treasure" with Nicholas Cage.
Oh well.
Donald Trump of the Turn of the Century.......2005-11-18
As a young man, Dressler is understandably naive. But, through hard work and some dumb luck, his empire of a cigar store blossoms to being a hotel owner, to a frachiser of restaurants and ultimately a skyscraper developer.
The character of Dressler could be the lead of an Ayn Rand novel -- rags to riches based upon peronal perseverance. However, he is not as controversial as a Rand icon.
The leap from poverty to great wealth could be analogized to Gatsby. And, like Gatsby, his love life falters and fails. Unlike Gatsby, he does not die because of his lover or lover's mate. But, do not confuse this novel with the Great Gatsby which novel has few peers in the English language, and Hemingway probably appropriately proclaimed the greatest novel written in the English language.
The details of the times compare to other turn of the century Pulitzer winners -- e.g.The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.
But, I just don't seem to understand something. Being a rich developer in New York, if not the richest developer of real estate skyscrapers in New York, Dressler's ability to court a good woman is about as futile as when he was a hustler at the cigar booth in the hotel. His wealth grows. His personality grows. His wisdom grows. But, his love life stagnates.
Donald Trump is something of a modern day Dressler. And, I am sure that the ego-inflated Trump would never assert or admit that his love life has stagnated. Pleassssse.
But, the romance of the turn of the century emanates well throughout this book. The New York he describes is without a completed subway, built on dirt roads, adorned withh small buildings, and has other trite commonalities which this generation could not fathom. Hard to beieve New York was like Des Moines.
This is a book that moves well. The writing is top shelf. Relax on a rainy day and let his pictoral descriptions take you back a century.
Average customer rating:
|
The Dreamer Awakes
Alice Kane , and
Sean Kane
Manufacturer: Broadview Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Literary Theory | History & Criticism | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Folklore | Mythology | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Mythology | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | Classics | Comic | Contemporary | Literary
Anthologies | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Folklore & Mythology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1551110458 |
Customer Reviews:
Remarkable.......2000-12-27
This great Canadian classic is filled with astonishing, gorgeous storytelling -- alive with the cadences of oral tradition. Don't miss it. Alice Kane is a master teller of tales!
Book Description
Here are more tales of the exotic and the wonderful, by the greatest fantasist of the Twentieth Century. Lord Dunsany (rhymes with "rainy") ranged long distances beyond the fields we know, into the lands of Dream, returning with reports that are fantastic, sparkling, and very enjoyable. Here are jeweled cities and ruined ones, sailors and kings of Thebes, quiet rivers and the cold surface of the Moon. Herein are the stories of the tribe that invented first a weapon and then a god; of the city that, stone by stone, went mad; of the man who disovered the secret of the universe and remembered some of it...
Download Description
Here are more tales of the exotic and the wonderful, by the greatest fantasist of the Twentieth Century. Lord Dunsany (rhymes with ?
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful and thoughtful.......2007-08-18
Lord Dunsany has a rare imagination and unqiue gift for writing. If you enjoy imaginative and visionary tales or if you are a fan of fictional mythologies, you will like Dunsany. While the stories are often compact, the vision is almost always expansive. He adopts language and prose approrpriate to his subject matter; often dreamy and languid it is a step away from the norm. Dunsany's tales dwell in places seldom visited by modern authors. Highly recommended.
Dreamers.......2007-01-12
How neat to be able to easily purchase this great book. Dunsany skillfully weaves his tales so the reader is brought into his world of imagination. His was a unique vision. Each tale still speaks to our world today a message of morality. His worlds are very real.
The dreamer's words.......2004-08-27
"These are the Inner Lands..." Technically that describes the fictional cities in the first story of "A Dreamer's Tales," but it could easily have described Lord Dunsany's fantastical mind. Full of invented legends and exotic characters, Dunsany's short stories are a wonderful early fantasy read.
He writes about desert cities, where the sea is only a legend; of a rocking horse that revels in a little boy's fantasies; of cities that are "quite dead; of dreams and redemption, long-dead cities that were supposedly going to last forever, prophets and swords, desert curses and terrible, beautiful gods.
There are boats on the banks of the Yann river, the "everlasting" city of Zaccarath, a stone age tale of religion and sacrifice, and the hashish man. Most striking is "The Field," in which Dunsany experiences strange feelings while sitting in a field of flowers -- a field with a terrible secret.
Dunsany had a masterful flair for exotic-edged fantasy. Before anyone had ever heard of J.R.R. Tolkien or "The Hobbit," Dunsany was spinning his stories. And while Tolkien has been the most powerful influence on modern fantasy, Dunsany did his share too -- he can be seen in descriptions of beautiful temples and desert cities.
His writing style is typical of the late 19th/early 20th century, rather formal and ornate. But the imagination of the stories frees them up. "I dreamt that I had done a horrible thing, so that burial was to be denied me either in soil or sea, neither could there be any hell for me," Dunsany says ominously at the start of one story. And half the horror of that is wondering what the horrible thing is.
Dunsany is shown in his glory in "The Dreamer's Tales," a rich collection of beautiful fantasy stories. Funny, poignant, majestic, this is a keeper.
A gift for seeing mundane things in a new light........2000-12-03
_A Dreamer's Tales_ consists of 16 short stories (I've sorted them by title rather than order of appearance); it's in print as I write this, as part of the Fantasy Masterworks edition of _Time and the Gods_.
"The Beggars" - The cloaked strangers, begging gracefully, as gods beg for souls, had a gift for seeing past the dreary surface of life in the city.
"Bethmoora" - a story of the desolation of Bethmoora, a city at the desert's edge.
"Blagdaross" - As twilight falls upon a rubbish heap, all the castoff things therein find voices to remember where they have been. Among them is the rocking-horse Blagdaross.
"Carcassonne" - It was prophesied to Camorak at Arn that he should never come to Carcassonne, but he decided to defy Fate.
"The Day of the Poll" - Since everyone in the town had gone raving mad on election day, the lonely poet set out to trap and save an intelligence for company.
"The Field" - Why is it the field of king-cups, and not the hideous ugliness of the town, that is covered with an ominous feeling of foreboding?
"The Hashish Man" - Another visitor to Bethmoora picks up the tale.
"The Idle City" - The city's custom was that anyone who wished to enter must pay a toll of one story at the gate.
"Idle Days on the Yann" - the story of a journey on the ship _Bird of the River_ down the Yann, and of the cities along the Yann.
"The Madness of Andelsprutz" - The city of Andelsprutz had been conquered, and stolen from the land of Akla. What happens to the souls of conquered cities?
"Poltarnees, Beholder of Ocean" - The Inner Lands are those three kingdoms which have no view of the sea, being bounded on the west by the mountain Poltarnees. But none who had ever climbed Poltarnees from the very earliest times had ever come back again...
"Poor Old Bill" - the Captain never talked to the ship's crew, except sometimes in the evening he would talk a bit to the me!n he had hanged at the yard-arm. But just when the crew thought life couldn't get any worse, the Captain learned how to use curses.
"The Sword and the Idol" - Which would have more weight - the family of the man who made the first iron sword, or of he who made the first idol?
"The Unhappy Body" - The body, afflicted with a poet's soul that would not let it rest, was advised to drink and smoke more, so that the soul would cease to trouble it.
"Where the Tides Ebb and Flow" - What happens to the souls of those who are cursed so that they cannot rest on either the earth or the ocean?
"In Zaccarath" - The prophets and singers have spoken of the iniquity of the King, and the onrush of the Zeedians, but the King and his queens and warriors are paying heed only to their feasting and celebration, or so it would seem...
Absolutely wonderfull.......1997-09-29
This book, which contains 16 magical tales, is just great. I read it twice from cover to cover and loved every sentence in it. Dunsany has a very particular style, making it easy to envision the story and experiencing it as if it were really happening.
Book Description
DARK DREAM
Christine Feehan
She's known him since she was fifteen. Every night, he is with her: his face, his voice. Tonight, Sara Marten will meet the man who is both angel and demon, salvation and temptation: Falcon—the Carpathian, the banished hero. Tonight, Sara will meet the dark-eyed destroyer destined to be her mate.
A DREAM OF STONE & SHADOW
Marjorie M. Liu
There are those who do terrible things in this world, and those who simply watch. Charlie would do neither. Imprisoned, his only release is through his own destruction—or through Aggie Durand. Sweet as a kiss or a rescued child, she is the one dream he does not dare desire. As an agent of Dirk & Steele, she could be his salvation. Today, Charlie's dream is waking.
Customer Reviews:
Always great.......2007-09-27
Feehan is great, as always.
The Liu piece is also great and you should know that it is actually the #4 story in the Dirk and Steele series.
Enjoyed reading this book.......2007-03-20
I am a fan of Christine Feehan but had not read anything by Liu. This was a good read to get me excited about reading her work. I am now on my third book by her.
The Best Sci-Fi ever.......2007-01-18
Well in a nutshell, if you want sci-fi and ur into vampires, romance and adventure , Christina Feehan is the one to go to .. i picked up one of her books randomely and read it and since then ive been hooked up and made it my aim to get all of her novels and read them..
Good, but not Great.......2007-01-18
First off, a lot of reviews start right off negatively because it was not said that this was a re-issue on Feehan's part of her novella After Twlight, so this is more for those of us who hadn't read After Twlight yet and didn't realize it was a reprint till we came and read the reviews.
I had not read After Twlight as novellas never held much interest for me, I feel alot of them are two short and an unfilling read. I had gone to Feehan's website, really needing a new read from a dependable author and saw Dark Dreamers and hadn't heard of it. I read the introduction/first chapter on her website and I would have to say is some of Feehan's best work. It kept me on the end of the computer seat, glued to the computer screen and then left me hanging so that I was instantly out the door to the bookstore (in a blizzard).
After getting the book and sitting back down to read Falcon and Sara's story, I was kind of let down by the second chapter mellowing out in when the first was full of highstrung excitement, but the book did pick back up. I really enjoyed this story for it being a novella and shorter. Sara at times got on my nerves because she was just so ready to do anything Falcon says while trying to do the "I want an equal partnership" al-mata. Falcon on the other hand was somewhat of a nice change from the usual acts of the other Carpathian men in the series with a different attitude about him.
Falcon finds Sara on his journey home to which he percieves his last journey before he meets the sun to keep from turning vampire, but he is given new hope in finding his lifemate Sara, but learns she has been hunted since 15 by a vampire as old as he is. He sends her to the Carpathian mountains to find Mikhail and the others to help protect her. Orphans that Sara has been trying to adopt are taken and she is in a head-long flight to try and save them and still escape the vampire. The story was well done and was ended nicely, not overly rushed at all.
My one real quip though is not really with the story, but with the headline on Feehan's website, it starts off, "She's known him since she was fifteen. Every night, he is with her: his face, his voice. Tonight, Sara Marten will meet the man who is both angel and demon, salvation and temptation: Falcon--the Carpathian, the banished hero. Tonight, Sara will meet the dark-eyed destroyer destined to be her mate.. " which makes me think that the story line is something along the lines of he found her when she was 15 and had to wait to claim her till she was an adult and has taken care of her till then, something along that line. Well, its not till you get into the 2nd and 3rd chapter that you find thats not the case at all. And how this book started off, it would have made a good story line, but Feehan took it a different direction that still works quite well.
Marjorie M. Lu's story was apparently a continuing in her series of "Dirk & Steele," agents. I haven't read any of the others. This story includes Charlie and Aggie. It had plenty of excitement, but too many spots and comments left me stopping to think, "What? What did she mean by that comment?" So I just skimmed through most of it thinking it was just okay. I think the review before this one is pretty accurate concerning Liu's story."
Perhaps I'm being harsh but..........2007-01-12
This book is split evenly between two stories. The first is a typical Christine Feehan vampire story -- very old, depressed vampire meets the love of his life, a young lady psychic who was traumatized by a vampire murdering her family long ago. Their happiness is threatened by a homicidal maniac vampire. The writing was uninspired and passionless -- formulae, as if Feehan just couldn't work up interest or excitement. Ho, hum.
Liu's tale has more life and excitement to it, but problems of its own. The lady, A, can fortell the future, and uses her skills to find & help arrest villains who kidnap and rape children. The man, C, is imprisoned by an evil witch but able to astral travel. C finds A through astral travel and gets her help to rescue a young girl. As you can tell, this is an icky and depressing topic that is entirely non-condusive toward romance.
A accuses everyone of being racist and occasionally makes racist comments. I always find this offensive, but some people who have struggled with discrimination might sympathise. A is also a whiner who blames all of her problems on other people, and refuses to take any responsibility. Grr! I prefer leading ladies with an optimistic outlook on life.
Other than this, Liu's writing is exciting and the setting interesting -- a noticable improvement over her first novel -- but the plot is a downer and not condusive toward romance. Still, you might really enjoy this story.
Customer Reviews:
What a fatal fault has man?.......2007-07-03
People will give money to live in a fantasy world.
Los Vegas has has recently turned to this for trade.
Martin Dressler would seem more at home in the 1930's than the early 1900's.
A cross between Conrad Hilton and Walter Disney we have
a very Nemo like man out of a Jules Verne Sci Fi Novel
who ends in his own world.Psychologically he is not in real contact with himself.
The result is a biography in a surreal novel that for once seems worthy of a Pulitzer Prize.
Book Description
H. P. Lovecraft has come to be recognized as the leading author of supernatural fiction in the twentieth century. But how did a man who died in poverty, with no book of his stories published in his lifetime, become such an icon in horror literature? S. T. Joshi, the leading authority on Lovecraft, traces in detail the course of Lovecraft’s life and shows how Lovecraft was engaged in the political, economic, social and intellectual currents of his time.
Customer Reviews:
Lovecraft -- A Recluse, yet a Literary Savior!.......2004-09-03
S.T. Joshi reigns as the No. 1 Lovecraft biographer! He details Lovecraft's life: from birth to death, every family member, every friend, proteges, what came of them, every story and poem (well almost every) he wrote, his first kiss, his marriage, the downsides and tremendous upsides to Howard, etc. Everyone has a flaw, and that Joshi details, but he fairly notes at least one honorable aspect of the worst people in Lovecraft's life. The epilogue made me weep invisible tears for him! I couldn't stand reading the last two chapters because I knew Lovecraft was inevitably bound to die! I couldn't bear it! For any, and EVERY, Lovecraft fanatic out there who wants to learn so much more about Lovecraft, this is a book to find! I feel zero regrets. I feel, though, that the editor should have caught the rather few conventional errors here and there, but completely aside from that--this is a biography totally worth reading. How many fans out there know the groundwork to Lovecraft's secret racism? The vast numbers of writers he alone inspired to become kings of the science fiction genre? His leagues of controversy that spanned across his life--from criticism, to astrology, to poetry, to literature, and to politics? Where did the Night-Gaunts ACTUALLY come from (oh yeah it's in there!)? You can feel Lovecraft's emotions through his letters in these sharp moments: when he's returning to his hometown after 2 full years away, screaming in English on his letter: "PROVIDENCE!!!!"
Howard Phillips Lovecraft was this soul that we all, in some shape or form buried in our collective unconscious, are so wonderfully obliged to feel this affinity for, whether logically racist or not. His imagination reverberates across our hearts from the feeling and tone in his letters, through Joshi's intense yet oh so subtle descriptions of what Lovecraft was trying to say and thinking throughout those moments. What it's like to lose your home at such a young and impressionable age, losing your marriage, wishing for that book to read your name on it to finally hit the book store shelves (but happens only once...), finding your favorite cat dead and writing an elegy about it, and how he must have felt when he transcended from this five-year-long hermit to become the most famous amateur journalist in America! Him and "the boys," his elite crew of writers, touring the streets of New York City all night long!
A masterpiece in its design! Joshi must have spent years researching Lovecraft's entire life! ONCE...you hit the end of that book......you are wondering where all the rest of the information is? YOU KNOW that there is some extra details out there--and you YEARN for it!--but where is it? It's THE END, and there's no other turn or corner. It's just one of those books that leaves you begging for more!!! I admit fairly, sometimes it gets a tad boring throughout the chapters, but those extreme moments in Lovecraft's life will keep you hooked. In the seas of dreams, Lovecraft sails ahead of us all...
Stunning.......2004-05-05
This is the best biography of Lovecraft available, not counting the full-sized first edition which, I believe, has more material. Unless you are a true completist, you won't need the pricier first edition to appreciate HPL because this book has much of the same material. Joshi clearly has great interest in his subject (always a bonus), and he's not afraid to write about HPL's greater faults, such as his life-long, unchangeable racist opinions and his apparent indifference and immaturity in his short married life. With the greatest care, Mr. Joshi provides an in-depth look into the mind and life of H.P.Lovecraft, the dreamer and genius whose works got little recognition in his time, save for the small circle of friends and admirers who were lucky enough to be his correspondents and early readers. Those who knew Lovecraft personally knew that he was someone special; those who only know him through his works but WISH they could have know him (myself included) rely on such excellent works as this for illumination and inspiration. In all, this is a stunning work about a fascinating, under-appreciated thinker whose works--both fiction and non--should be widely studied. Highly recommended.
An outstanding biography of an important horror writer........2003-02-25
I highly recommend this book. Not only did I feel I was being personally introduced to Howard P. Lovecraft while reading it, I felt Joshi personally knew him. Of course he didn't, but after reading virtually everything in print (including manuscript archives by and about him), Joshi knew more about Lovecraft than most people know about their closest friends. I have never seen letters so well deployed to assemble the day to day, month to month activities and intellectual concerns of a historical figure. (Lovecraft wrote letters by the tons, and many were saved.) There is some discussion of the "weird fiction" Lovecraft wrote, with sometimes negative evaluations of its quality, but the key work gets enthusiastic and insightful brief evaluation, with further context based on the articles in the specialized journals that keep Lovecraft's critical reputation alive. Lovecraft is an acquired taste, but those of us who have acquired it owe Joshi a debt of gratitude. I never knew of Lovecraft's involvement with the amateur press organizations, or of his peripatetic travels across the east coast and parts of Canada he could easily get to. I think Joshi quite rightly attributes Lovecraft's premature death (at age 37) to a lifetime of poor nutrition, much of which was caused by near-poverty -- he never had a professional position, and lived hand to mouth on editing and rewriting of others' work, as well as meager pay for some publications (many of which weren't issued till after his death). His racism is discussed as a personal failing that doesn't undercut the author's other achievements. If that doesn't wash with you, I don't recommend the book. Otherwise, this is the go-to biography of one of the most unusual authors America has ever produced. My one quibble is that no pictures are provided, but they are available elsewhere.
A Providence Gentleman..........2001-10-15
"A Dreamer and A Visionary: H.P. Lovecraft in His Time" is one of the latest offerings from top Lovecraft scholar, S.T. Joshi. This is not an entirely new book, but a heavily edited and condensed version of his monumental 1996 biography "H.P. Lovecraft: A Life" published by Necronomicon Press.
For those persons who a) are new to Lovecraft and want to know more or b) are unable to obtain a copy of the sadly out of print
"H.P. Lovecraft: A Life", "A Dreamer and A Visionary" is well worth the price. Even those who own "H.P. Lovecraft: A Life" will
find this to be a nice companion volume.
Unlike many previous Lovecraft biographies, Joshi's works present a fair look at Lovecraft, warts and all, neither judging or lionizing him. "A Dreamer and A Visionary", like "Lord of A Visible World" and the annotated editions, is a most welcome addition to any Lovecraft library.
Average customer rating:
- Avid reader of sci-fi/ horror and the unexplained.
- Strange And Powerful Account
- This book is the Bomb
- I read it all in one sitting!
|
Tales of a Lucid Dreamer: The Strange and Bizarre Stories of Another Kind.
Dave Gamboa
Manufacturer: iUniverse, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Ghosts | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Occult | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | Classics | Comic | Contemporary | Literary
Anthologies | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
Short Stories | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0595334393 |
Book Description
In the world of dreams, some would say that it's nothing more than a collection of images or memories from their waking life. But what if they weren't and somehow, you entered another time or dimension in a parallel world? What would you do? Enter a world where the un-real is possible, as you follow a dreamer through the various paths of fantasy, or terror. You will find yourself facing the strangest of encounters and challenging obstacles. You will be confronted by unruly and bizarre people, horrid creatures, aliens, or maybe even, a sexy seductress. These mind-blowing, fast paced stories, will have you cringing for more, then end it with something to think about. Perhaps, they're not just dreams. One reader said it best when she said, “It's creepy… I had to put it down three times.” So turn the pages and enjoy the ride, I'll see you on the other side…
Customer Reviews:
Avid reader of sci-fi/ horror and the unexplained........2006-02-23
David does a great job in writing stories that keep you on edge, then surprises you with a twist at the end. My two favorites stories are "Wicked Mountain" and "Secret of Abandoned House." He gets you into the stories by the time you read the first paragraph. Definately good reading.
Strange And Powerful Account .......2005-03-30
Dave concretely displays the unique ability to "Get In Your Head" by purposely throwing the reader off the path with off beat rhythms. He has mastered the rare "Socratic" technique typically used in philosophic works. This style is strangely effective when his realistic stories are put into the context of the reader's perspective. Before Dave's strange but vivid account of lucid dreams, I carelessly took this phenomenon for granted.
This book is the Bomb.......2005-02-26
The book is non-stop thrills that keep the imagination spinning!
Really makes you think about the old belief in "are we alone on planet Earth".
Readers of Dave Gamboa will cheer when they finish the story of "The Tunnel People".
You will not be able to put it down long enough to get your next "cold one" out of the fridge.
Very gripping yet very controversial.
These are not your "mommies" bedtime stories anymore!!
I read it all in one sitting!.......2005-01-31
Your book took me on a journey.
I couldn't put it down.
Its so neat how I could see your dreams coming to life before my eyes.
Average customer rating:
- A truly wonderful read!
- Washaka - the Bear Dreamer
- Wonderful Story - vividly detailed - intriguing to the end
- An engrossing new Lakota story based on a recurring series of dreams experienced by Leon Hale
- Enjoyable look at another culture
|
Washaka the Bear Dreamer: A Lakota Story Based On Leon Hale's Dream
Jamie Lee
Manufacturer: Many Kites Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Mythology | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Fairy Tales | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Cultural | Anthropology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Historical | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0972900241 |
Product Description
Tunkasilahear my plea. In Lakota country, Tunkasila is the creator, the mysterious one who brings all things into being. When Little Chief dreams of a white bear who has been tied to a tree and is bleeding at the neck, his grandfather says he must pray about this, that some day he will meet the animal of his dreamor something like itand he will be asked to free the bear. Little Chief prays about this, sending his plea out to Tunkasila, and, when he later finds a white boy tied to a tree, his neck scabbed and bleeding, he knows this is Mato Ska, the white bear of his dream. Washaka is the story of two boys, one Lakota and one white, as they find brotherhood across a great cultural divide. The original story is based on Leon Hales dream. A Lakota man from the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, Hale has had a reoccurring dream his whole life. Sick with diabetes and cancer, he prays with his grandson to meet a writer who will put his dream into print. Such is the genesis of Jamie Lees new novel, WashakaThe Bear Dreamer.
Customer Reviews:
A truly wonderful read!.......2007-10-07
I've just finished reading "Washaka - the bear dreamer" and I simply loved it! Congratulations to the author on this wonderful book! ... it gripped me from the first to the last page. The ending made me cry, though ... as it probably does most readers. But Jamie Lee has done the ending in such a comforting way, not dark and sinister, but full of hope and perspective. Many thanks to her for such an enjoyable read! This story will stay with me for a long while :)
Washaka - the Bear Dreamer.......2007-06-02
I loved reading Washaka - it was mesmerizing. Probably the only book that ever made me feel as if I were meditating while I read it.
Wonderful Story - vividly detailed - intriguing to the end.......2006-11-19
This book really drew me in, reading while the kids got ready for school, while supper was cooking, before bed, anytime there was more then a few minutes free. Finally, I threw myself on the couch and let the world spin around me while I read the last 60 pages. I couldn't put it down. It was one story that I truly didn't know the end 10 pages prior to it happening. I cried, it was sad. It wasn't supposed to happen that way. But yet it was such a beautiful spiritual 'scene'. (that is not the word I want but it wasn't an ending either). To be so connected with both worlds and not at the same time - is something I always believed death would be (& hoped) but never read it with such clarity.
Thanks for the wonderful story! It is one of those books that once finished you sit back to take it all in again, while the characters slowly fade. The story and characters were all so vivid, it was like I was there, sitting on the big boulder looking down on the village myself. I want to keep sitting there, but like all good things, reality jumps in and we all know how it ended. We are coming around to that 7th generation, but not yet.
An engrossing new Lakota story based on a recurring series of dreams experienced by Leon Hale.......2006-08-12
"Washaka the Bear Dreamer: A Lakota Story Based On Leon Hale's Dreamr" is an engrossing new Lakota story based on a recurring series of dreams experienced by Leon Hale. He enlisted the help of Oglala Lakota College teacher Jamie Lee to commit the story of his dreams to novel form. The effort is so successful the reader cannot put the book down. The effort of communicating and sharing the story also helped Leon Hale to recover from life-threatening health crises. This is a beautiful story of of cross cultural friendship and the necessity of the races learning to get along. It contains a heartfelt record of a collision of cultural values and the failure engendered even between dominant culture members by a loss of respect and esteem for one another. In the book, Little Chief rescues a white boy from torture and beating by his father because of a dream he had of finding a wounded white bear. Little Chief is surrounded by Lakota family who carefully teach him the sacred way to honor his dream with his life. He follows his dream even though it finally costs him his life at the hands of the Others, leaving behind his new wife and little daughter. "Washaka the Bear Dreamer" is a visionary work whose heart is the lesson of compassion. There is not a single flaw or false start in this book. It makes me very proud to be a part of the audience who will appreciate "Washaka the Bear Dreamer" by Jamie Lee.
Enjoyable look at another culture.......2006-07-17
I was charmed by this book. It is a very engaging and pleasurable read that provides much insight into the ways of Lakota Indian culture and values. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I know for sure that others will too.
Average customer rating:
- Lurid songs, lost cinema, überdense poetry, a panorama of nightmares, uncomfortable masks and highly stylized perversities.
- A Classic Work Of Horror Literature
- Voice of Madness
- Dreams of a Mad Mutant Borges of the Midwest
- A masterpiece of cryptic dread and dementia.
|
Songs of a Dead Dreamer
Thomas Ligotti
Manufacturer: Carroll & Graf Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
United States | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Ligotti, Thomas | ( L ) | Authors, A-Z | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
United States | Short Stories | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:
-
Noctuary
-
The Shadow at The Bottom of The World
-
The Thomas Ligotti Reader
-
The Nightmare Factory
ASIN: 0881845809 |
Customer Reviews:
Lurid songs, lost cinema, überdense poetry, a panorama of nightmares, uncomfortable masks and highly stylized perversities........2006-06-23
Urban solitude, houses that are suggested to appear and disappear, empty voids laying hidden behind dark crumbled brick facades, streets with a mysterious accumulation of names seemingly coming from nowhere, doors hanging in their hinges but do not open that easily, pieces of clothing laying abandoned in the street, shadows rise and fall, voices in the distance calling your name, or do they?
These are the settings for the superb short story "The greater festival of masks" and believe me, this is just the beginning. From here on, from the moment lead character Noss walks in a shop that solely sells costumes and masks and falls asleep, it only gets worse, and more eerie, and untouchable. And at the end, you're not realy sure what you've just witnessed.
What happens exactly behind the deceitfull brick walls of the old houses and behind the wooden fence at the back of the shop? Why de some masks perfectly fit the customer's face while other hurt and slide of with every step you take. What cries out underneath the blank faces of the inhabitant who have no facial features or expressions what so ever?
Like the best poetry there is so much more than meets the eye. It's between the lines that the real things happen, but what is reallity and when do dreams and nightmares take over?
A lot has been said about "Songs of a dead dreamer", Thomas Ligotti's debut collection of short stories. The comparisons with Poe and Lovecraft seems endless, Kafka and Bruno Schulz are mentioned as well because of their nightmarishness and plotless compositions.
You could add the cinema of David Lynch and Roman Polanski if you like, even throw in the animated shorts of the twin brothers Timothy and Stephen Quay, especially their master creation "Streets of crocodiles" (and, why not, their solo feature film "Institute Benjamenta" as well.) And how about some hints at Jan Svankmajer's surreal work like "Faust", "Alice", and surely the suggested perversities of the absurd "Conspirators of pleasure".
And yet, with all these big names in a long line, if one author can be called original and being capable of standing completely on his own, it is Mr. Ligotti. One of the reasons why this is a justified statement is because Ligotti has a gift not many writers of the horror genre have: style. Ligotti's prose sings, cries, wanders, but never realy lingers off. Sentences can be long at time, but never tedious, their is a meaning in every word and an underlying motivation for each syllable. It's the horrifying stuff of heavey metal perfectly blend with the otherworldlyness of a choir chant and the bravoura of an opera.
You could call Ligotti's prose even autistic because it describes a world of its own in a language that stands on its own and seems to be introverted, no matter how many word-explosions and super nova's of illuminations and imagery it may contain. Its locked in itself, it is both lock and key, and the reader has but one choise, go along with the lyrical flow and enter the forbidden zone of Ligotti's unique language or stay out and leave.
Having said this, I would like to mention one more film to illustrate these last statements about this unique kind of literary autism, namely Andrei Tarkovski's "Stalker": a highly unique and eerie film, created by one of the worlds best cinematic stylists, and standing completely on his own, no other movie can be compared with it, and to make things even more interesting: "Stalker" is about a guide who takes two men, a writer and a scientist, into a mysterious "forbidden zone"; a dark, desolate place which dangers and clues consist mostly in the minds of the audience.
To me, it could have been made from the perfect Ligotti script.
In a way, this book could easily have been called "Movies of a dead dreamer" or "Dreams of a dead poet" or "In the twilight of dead films" or "A panorama of dead songs" and that just shows in how many ways you can look at Ligotti's craft. And that should tell you enough.
I could go on for much longer, there is so much to discover in this one volume. "Dr. Locrian's asylum" for instance, about the creepy, unimaginable history of an insane asylum where patients were kept for something other than a straight forward cure... Repelled citizens who have no other choise than to create a revolution against the building and the restless ghosts it keeps behind its windows. And the eventual downfall of the entire town as result.
I will say no more. You stop listening. Turn the pages before they crumble between your fingers. Be a blessed audience to these rare little songs. They will haunt you long after nightfall.... and thank all the Gods in the netherworlds for that.
A Classic Work Of Horror Literature.......2005-03-20
There is something strangely comforting about reading the bad review posted above, from Publisher's Weekly, and knowing that it refers to one of the greatest anthologies of horror literature published in the last fifty years. Just goes to show you that even the best writers in this genre are inevitably misunderstood: Here we have a man in the same league as Blackwood, M. R. James, Lovecraft or Poe--and he's still being dismissed in his own lifetime by TOTAL DUMMIES.
But Ligotti is certainly appreciated, at least by some. There is a published THOMAS LIGOTTI READER...despite the fact that almost all his books are out of print. His signed first editions are already priced like horror artifacts, and increasingly hard to come by.
Personally, if I had any signed first edition of Ligotti's, it would be SONGS. There is a tangible loneliness to the horror, an emotional dimension. The ending of ALICE'S LAST ADVENTURE, for instance, is simultaneously terrifying AND enormously sad. And a wry sense of humor is also present in this particular collection, though it's not remotely comforting--quite the opposite in fact. Something about the world of Ligotti's stories being so unforgivingly funny just makes it MORE threatening. Like his characters are caught up in a particularly cruel 'cosmic joke'.
Now it's also true that something about this first collection is more traditional than Ligotti's later work, and that turns off some of the die-hard Ligottians (who understandably prefer the lyric otherworldiness of his recent collections). But that also means SONGS is the best place to get introduced to this remarkable author.
Linguistically complex, structurally virtuosic and just plain brilliant. If you're thinking of reading SONGS, do it right now. You'll become a fan overnight, I promise.
Voice of Madness.......2004-10-07
I have to state right off the bat that most of the reason for giving this book 4 stars instead of 5 is that it suffers in comparison to some of Ligotti's other work, such as "Noctuary." "Songs of a Dead Dreamer" drags and wanders a little more. However, that should in no way discourage you from reading this book!
Ligotti writes horror. Not horror with lots of blood and gore; not the stereotypical fare of serial killers, vampires, werewolves, and witches. Even when he does touch on "standard" topics, they come to life in unusual and fundamentally odd ways. Ligotti writes a sort of text-poetry, a magic of words and images, shadows and light, madness and clarity, puppets and people. Ligotti's work mystifies and terrifies. He doesn't spell everything out. He leaves questions unanswered and oddities unexplained. But he does it well--I never feel as though I've been left missing anything.
Some of the pieces in this book are not entirely fiction. You'll find essays on the art of writing horror, but they'll send no less of a shiver down your spine than the stories themselves. There's even one piece that's an essay on writing horror and a story, both in one ("Notes on the Writing of Horror: A Story"). In this piece we follow the character of Nathan and the various versions of his life as might befit a horror story.
"By means of supernatural horror we may evade, momentarily, the horrific reprisals of affirmation."
Sometimes it can be difficult to tell what is essay and what is story, as Ligotti blurs the line beyond recognition. Ligotti speaks in analogy and metaphor, image and verse. Some may find this book slow, or too wordy. Ligotti is certainly not for everyone. But if you enjoy unusual, thrilling, subtle, lyrical, dark stories, then please give him a try. His is a voice worth hearing.
"And in darkness we open our eyes, briefly, and in darkness we close them."
Dreams of a Mad Mutant Borges of the Midwest.......2001-04-20
This unarguable classic collection of stories appeared at the end of the 1980s. Horror fiction, or what publishers chose to market as horror fiction, was big business. However, there is a large variety of styles under this arbitrary umbrella ("Horror isn't a genre, it's an emotion", editor/author David Hartwell). Authors such as Stephen King and Dean Koontz had become best sellers with novels often using pulp-orientated elements (vampires, ghouls, werewolves, or assorted permutations) that invade our modern society. Others wrote popular horror novels with the villain(s) being psychotic or sociopathic, but an explainable (and real) element in our society. One of my favorite styles of horror, however, could best be described as "hallucinatory nightmare", which is rarer and probably more difficult to pull off. Ligotti succeeds time and time again with a rich lyrical style that is varied, multi-leveled, and often witty as well. There are the former mentioned types of tales here. There's a great vampire story, and you'll meet a few psychos, one for instance who loves flowers, but it's the stories of reality rotting away or perhaps take place entirely in an askew dream fantasy where Ligotti makes his mark. Stories like "Dr. Voke and Mr. Veech", or "the Greater Festival of Masks" take place in the landscape of a surreal nightmare. In one of his best stories, "Alice's Last Adventure", a twisted ode to Lewis Carroll, the narrator's reality may have literally turned inside out. Amongst all the vacuous abstract blather about literature and art, good fiction's ultimate goal, along with telling a good story, is to create the mental state in the reader of a "waking dream", as the late John Gardner accurately described it. A world is created in the reader's imagination and he or she, while reading, forgets it's merely words on paper. For myself, good horror fiction, for perhaps a number of reasons, has always produced the most vivid "waking dream" state, and the hallucinatory nightmare style best of all. Probably since the logic is often skewed or hidden as in actual dreams. "Notes On Horror: A Story", which unfortunately does not appear in his later comprehensive collection, "The Nightmare Factory" makes a great litmus test for whether you're a lover of "weird fiction". If you finish it and question what is this Ligotti guy's problem, this type of horror probably isn't for you. On the other hand, it may thrill, delight, and amuse you and you may after all, as Ligotti says, "find it all so easy".
A masterpiece of cryptic dread and dementia........1998-10-06
Here's the biggest compliment I can pay Thomas Ligotti: he writes as though he were completely unaware of any other horror fiction written in his lifetime. There is not a major horror writer today whose work even vaguely resembles Ligotti's. I've heard him compared to Poe and Lovecraft but even these comparisons are misleading. His prose and imagery are far more akin to those of Bruno Schulz, the great Polish fantasist who wrote "Street of Crocodiles." These stories spill over with chilling images, irrational "plots," and a sense of dread that feels less like fiction than it does the kinds of horrible dreams we have while suffering a high fever. If you don't recognize that as high praise, you probably shouldn't read this book. But I love it.
"Songs of a Dead Dreamer" is his earliest collection, and perhaps because of this, I feel it still packs the biggest wallop. But if you like these stories, I recommend "Grimscribe" and "Noctuary."
A personal note: Years ago I had the chance to illustrate Ligotti's story "The Night School" for a small press publication. The editor sent me a copy of the manuscript, full of Ligotti's own notes and corrections. Reading the story in that form, feeling that much closer to the original process that brought the story into being, was an awesome experience. I felt compelled to examine the manuscript, as though somewhere amid its wandering margins and sloppy typing I might detect a sign, however cryptic, a clue as to how to tap into the same chilling dreamworld that Ligotti described so beautifully. It didn't work, of course. But "Night School" did inspire a pretty good illustration and reading Ligotti did provide one of the high points during my own dubious ventures into the realm of horror fiction.
Books:
- Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, 20th Anniversary Edition
- Prize Pokemon (Pokémon Chapter Book)
- Queen of Ice, Queen of Shadows: The Unsuspected Life of Sonja Henie
- Saltwater Fishing. Tackle, Rigging, How & When to Fish
- Savage Dreams: A Journey into the Landscape Wars of the American West
- Shadowplay (Shadowmarch, Vol. 2)
- Sharon and My Mother-in-Law: Ramallah Diaries
- Spellbound
- Tarot Cafe, The Volume 5 (Tarot Cafe)
- Teller of Tales: The Life of Arthur Conan Doyle
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Kindred Souls: The Friendship Of Eleanor Roosevelt And David Gurewitsch
- Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture
- The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing
- Variational and Potential Methods in the Theory of Bending of Plates with Transverse Shear Deformati
- 5 Essentials for a Winning Life: The Nutrition, Fitness, and Life Plan for Discovering the Champion
- Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs
- Black Dog of Fate: An American Son Uncovers His Armenian Past
- Vision and Difference: Femininity, Feminism and the Histories of Art
- Tornado! 84 Minutes, 94 Lives
- War & Love Letters: A Marine Reservist Recalls Living, Learning, Loving & Letters in World W
Stone Diaries, The (Essential Edition): (Penguin Essential Edition)
A Summons to Memphis
The Knife Thrower: and Other Stories
The Barnum Museum (American Literature Series)
A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain: Stories
