Before I Wake by David Morrell – 4 Stars
Publisher: Subterranean Press
ISBN: 9781596069121
There were fourteen short stories
in this collection; all good with about eight a 4 Stars +. I particularly
enjoyed the way the stories were introduced by the author. Each was prefaced
with why it was written, the style, the authors that influenced him to write
the story, and what you should probably take out of it. Also his use of real
people as characters not only was interesting, but also provided somewhat of a
biography of each. I received a good overview of authors and previous
characters I never knew. I particularly liked “The Granite Kitchen” which is
one of the shortest and was funny in its presentation, despite the sadness of
events. Also “The Spiritualist” stood out, pitting Sherlock Holmes against his
spiritualist author Conan Doyle in a basement encounter discussing why he now
had to wear the deer skin hat, smoked a large, curved calabash pipe and was
killed off by Doyle only to be “reused” in later books which he noted was
really an imposter. Through the prefaces you also learned about the other books
written by the author that were written similarly to the short story allowing
you to explore your desire to read one of his novels.
Well written and worth the read.
Reviewer: Rich
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