A lot of the short stories in Stephen King's The Bazaar of Bad Dreams are not
full-on horror yarns, some are mean tales (Premium Harmony), though less harsh
than in his 2010 Full Dark, No Stars. There are a few parables; also some the resemble
Twilight Zone tales (Mile 81 and UR) where you wait for the surprise ending,
but all are fairly interesting and, I guess, King-ish in nature -in other
words, a bunch of themes that are not especially new, but since it is King,
this Constant Reader will give it a pass. I know that UR, which was a tale he
wrote for Amazon’s Kindle back in 2009, was heavily re-written here for this
2015 collection, but it was one of my favorites. Perhaps it was (mostly?)
because he returned the time when generally a lot of his output was connected
to the Dark Tower series, as the Tower itself, the Low Men in Yellow Coats, and
the notions of a multiverse make cameo appearances here. I also enjoyed the novella Blockade Billy as
well, something he wrote and published in limited (and expensive) editions back
in 2010. There was Bad Little Kid, which was published in 2014 as an e-book in
French and German languages only as a gift to King's European fans. This was
the first time presented in English. There were also three previously unavailable
stories, Mister Mummy, Obits, and Cookie Jar, which was added for the paperback
edition.
There is something for everyone here, and as noted, these tales are more thriller than chiller. But that's okay. King's prolific work in a particular genre does not need to be seen every day.
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