The Pegster - reads

Title	Nightmares and Dreamscapes
Author	Stephen King
Publisher	BCA
Publication Date	1993
Pages	836
Genre	Horror, short stories, paranormal

The Stephen King Amusement Park – an unnerving experience, with rides every which way to hell…and a few to glory.

A solitary finger pokes out of a drain. Novelty teeth turn predatory. The Nevada desert swallows a Cadillac. Meanwhile, the legend of Castle Rock returns… and grows on you. What does it all mean? What else could it mean? Stephen King is here with a powerful collection of stories – a vast, many-chambered cave of a volume.

The long reach of Stephen King’s imagination will take you on a rollercoaster to places you’ve never been before. You will lose sleep. But Stephen King, writing to beat the devil, will do your dreaming for you.

Title	Fallen on Good Times
Author	Rewan Tremethick
Publisher	Paddy's Daddy Publishing LTD
Publication Date	May 2014
Pages	188
Genre	Paranormal, Detective

Blurb:

My review:  

I enjoyed this quick and quirky read. And with only 188 pages, it's quick and ideal for a commuter read.

Laslo Kane is your arch-typical private detective and I could picture him perfectly from old detective movies. Broke, girlfriend left him and he is still longing for her. He is not a very successful detective and has to take on almost any job. And there is a special twist with Laslo, as he finds he is more successful when investigating crimes with a supernatural twist in his home town. Werewolves, vampires and other strange creates are at work. 

But Laslo's luck is about to change. He seemingly rich client Darius asks him to investigate a bank robbery. But the bank robbers don't steal money - they put money into his account. Who are they, and, of course, why would they do this? The fee Darius offers him is a lot of money which would sort out most of Laslo's problems.  Laslo get's to work with the help of his journalist friend. He quickly finds out that the local crime lord and mob is involved. And than the mob makes him the proverbial 'offer he can't refuse". Can Laslo take on the mob or does he even want to? And than his ex girlfriend Kitty get's involved. 

The story certainly moves quickly, and as it is not a very long book, it certainly has to. There is no time for boring passages, and I like that in a book. I like both the characters of Laslo and Kitty. Laslo has a very dry sense of humour and as the narrator of the story, this is very nicely executed. Even more interesting where some of Laslo's contacts in the spirit world which were like good friends to him and I had the feeling that I would like to have friends like these! But with Darius I kept thinking there must be more to him than just Laslo's client, and was waiting for a follow up story on him. I understand that there may be more books based in the town of Pilgrim's Wane, so there may be more to come. The story certainly leaves room for more. 

For a quick read, you can't go wrong with this quirky story. I had to look up a few of the old 1920's gangster slang words but as someone with an interest in language I found this particularly entertaining and interesting and with a Kindle, researching words is quite easy. As most of the paranormal stories on the market now are pure romance, I thought a detective story with a  paranormal angle adds a nice new twist to both genres. 

About the author:  

Title	Cats, Scarves and Liars
Author	Kathryn White
Publisher	CreateSpace
Publication Date	April 2014
Pages	188
Genre	Novella, Paranormal

Blurb:

Meet Peppa Grove. Peppa is just your average Australian young woman, really. 23 years old, widowed and owner of a cat who can speak perfect English. (But no one will believe her about the cat.) Why is she being stalked by one of the customers from her job at the City South Post Office? What secrets does the mysterious Ivory Black know about Peppa and her past? What does he know about the strange murders that are happening all over Adelaide? And was it really necessary of him to steal her boyfriend's scarf? 

Cats, Scarves and Liars is a quirky, unlikely tale from a unique Australian writer. You'll laugh, you'll cry you'll discover the meaning of life. (Actually, we lied about that last part.)

My review:  

After the first paragraph, I knew I would love Peppa Grove, and had to read on. A bargain kettle from a market stall. Yep, that would be me, and who doesn't love a bargain. Peppa felt like a friend to me straight away. She chats to us in the first chapters, telling us about her young husband who died in a car accident, her job at the local post office (I loved that section and anyone who ever worked in customer service will have a good giggle), her best friend Julian. And she chats to her cat.

But do not let the cat in the title fool you - this is no cosy cat and her owner story, this has a lot more bite to it. Her cat is clearly talking to her. And, of course, whenever others are around he doesn't say a word. And things go missing. And she also finds other things in her house which she definitely didn't purchase. Good that she has her best friend Julian who helps her after the sudden death of her young husband. Than there is the mysterious Ivory Black who somehow always seems to happen to turn up wherever Peppa is and treats her rather strangely and is quite mean to her without any reason.

There is a paranormal element to this story which for me came quite unexpectedly here. But it's not one of those completely unbelievable plots and I think it fitted the story rather nicely. 

I do have a bit of problems with the character of Ivory Black. Without giving too much away... as often with characters who are not very pleasant, he is presented in way he sees himself. This did made a me a bit uncomfortable at times. 

This book is not very long, only 188 pages,  a quick read which will keep you interested.

Title	This changes my family and my life forever (The Spanners Vol II)
Author	Sally Ember
Publisher	Bantam Press
Publication Date	01 April 2014
Pages	524
Genre	Sci-Fi

Title	Wherewolves
Author	John Vamvas and Olga Montes
Publisher	John Vamvas and Olga Montes
Publication Date	26 April 2013
Pages	304
Genre	paranormal, YA, werewolves

Blurb:  

From the outside, Paul Bennett appears to be an ordinary high school senior from small-town Kentucky. But Paul has a secret. He possesses an extraordinary gift which allows him to leave his body during the night and go anywhere, see anything—unseen, undetected. 

Unbeknownst to Paul, he is not alone in his ability--there are others who can do what he can, and they belong to Astralis, a government agency funded by the United Nations who train people like Paul to become spies. When one of their scouts recognizes Paul for what he is, he is offered a place in the agency. Paul makes a new life at Astralis, forging new friendships and inadvertently creating new enemies. Through the mentoring of the agency's director, Dr. Abrams, Paul finds a place where he finally feels he belongs. 

Unfortunately, Astralis is an organization under siege from within. Not everyone feels Dr. Abrams is a fit director, and some are willing to do anything to make a change of leadership--even murder.

My review:

Paul is late at school - again. Doesn't go down well of course with the teachers. But he can't help it. He has a sleep disorder making him falling to sleep when the sun goes down and only waking up when the sun comes up again. No specialist and no method tried by his parents  can keep him awake or wake him up earlier. But what neither his parents nor his two best friends, Steven and Stephanie, know is that not only does he fall asleep like that, but also seems to walk in his sleep whilst his physical body stays in bed - so no-one can see nor hear him when he walks around town in night-time. First he thinks it must be a dream, but it is too real.

A meeting with his school counsellor leads him to Astralis, a Sleep Disorder Clinic. Only, it isn't a clinic. At Astralis, Paul will find out that there are others like him, called Walkers. And at Astralis, they work for the U.N. under peace missions. The walkers are obviously a valuable commodity, being able to walk around in nightime where no-one sees them and but they can hear and see everything. Paul makes good friends at Astralis, but there are also those who disagree with what Astralis does, and would like to use their special 'power' for other purposes and would rather like to get paid for it. Paul's two friends from his home town, Steven and Stephanie, will be by his side when he has to make important decisions and book 1 ends on a big cliffhanger. 

I absolutely loved this book, in fact it reminds me of my favourite writer Stephen King's style. This story could have come straight from SK's pen. Having the idea for the story is one thing, but as a writer, you also have to be able to put it into a 'readable and enjoyable' format - and that's exactly what Keith did here. Even though, due to the age of the main character, a YA book, it clearly also very much appeals to the slightly older adult (I'm in my 40's :). The story never stalls, and the 'walking ability' is easy to understand and not made too complicated by some weird science or other factors. For example, Paul will learn at Astralis how the Walkers complete their missions - they can't be seen, but they also can't move anything, so doors need to be open for them. They can't get hurt, even if, for example, jumping out of a helicopter. But their physical body is vulnerable whilst sleeping, so they all have a Sentinel who guards them. 

What I like about Paul is that he is not some kind of Super-Kid but himself almost feels awkward with his special ability and for a long time, sees it as a disablement rather than a gift. The story is plot driven though in my opinion, and this makes it a real page turner. This is another book which I can see working beautifully as a movie. 

The only thing which did not work for me so well was the cover. The tag line is 'spot on': The end of the day…is just the beginning', but I felt this good story needed a bit of more exciting cover. I just simply know that a lot of readers chose the book by the cover. But this is just a personal preference I guess. 

All in all, one of the best YA Paranormal I have read in a long time, and I can't wait to read book 2. 

I have received this book from the author in return for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own. 

When I typed 'Insomnia in books' into Amazon, a whole hosts of book came up on Sleeping disorders (and the Stephen King novel was about 10 books down the search). I can only image what debilitating condition insomnia is, and I have to say that I am very lucky that, as soon as my head hits the pillow and the light/Kindle is out, I'm asleep. On the few occasions that I did suffer from insomnia - mainly because something important was going to happen the next day and I just couldn't get to sleep - well, it was just awful. So I can't possibly imagine how people deal with it who have to cope with it almost every day. 

But coming back to the Stephen King book with the same name, King himself has admitted that he suffers from insomnia. 

I have purchased and read this book quite a few years back and would like to review / list it here today as part of my ongoing Stephen King feature / collection. 

Another of King's book which is set in the (fictional) town of Derry, Maine. The main protagonist in the book is Ralph Roberts, a man in his 70's who has recently lost his wife. He starts to suffer from severe insomnia which seems to be getting worse and worse, and he wakes earlier and earlier. Than he starts to see hallucinations, auras around people, and he thinks he is losing his mind due to lack of sleep. But is good old friend is also not quite right, being strange and downright violent when he used to be a very mild-mannered man. Than Ralph starts seeing little man in black coats who seem to want to help him, but there is also a bad one. It's almost like his lack of sleep awakes other senses in him which make him see things which others can't see. And it is not pleasant what he starts to sees in his home town and it looks it is up to him to rescue the town.

I didn't enjoy this book as much as some of King's books. And I can't even put my finger on it exactly. The book is quite long, almost 800 pages. The loved the beginning and Ralph's descent into the severe insomnia was credible and I was keen to see what's going on. But, in my opinion, it does seem to get a bit difficult to understand what exactly is going on and I couldn't quite entangle and make sense of the story in the middle I suppose. Maybe I would need to re-read it. What I did like though is that the main 'hero' of the story is a senior citizen of over 70 years. Hurray for that - you don't see that very often! 

This Stephen King book is a collection of 4 novellas. Each of them can stand on their own as a book (so not short stories!) Each of the stories look at the concept of time - in the unique King way of course!

1. The Langoliers

I don't think this story is recognised enough - it is in fact one of my favourite Stephen King stories. 

Now I'm not a very nervous flyer, but lets just say I always breathe I sigh of relief when we touch down. Now imagine this:

Brian, an ex-pilot, is on a plane travelling from Los Angeles to Boston overnight. He falls asleep.When he awakes, he finds that, apart from 9 other fellow passengers, all the other passengers have simply vanished, and that includes the crew. The plane continues to fly on autopilot. They all quickly figure out that they all have been asleep when 'something' must have happened to the plane which they think is a 'time rip'. In usual King fashion, we have a range of different characters who have to pull together. Lovely memorable types who will stay in your memory including the blind girl Dinah and Craig Toomey, the investment banker who will go bad (long before investment bankers went bad in movies / news) 

My absolute favourite read of this collection of stories. Brilliant idea beautifully executed.

2. Secret Window, Secret Garden

Every writer's nightmare?

Mort is a successful writer. One day a man knocks on Mort's door who calls himself John Shooter and claims that Mort has stolen his story and leaves him a manuscript. Mort is horrified at the accusation of plagiarism and dismisses it, but eventually looks at the manuscript and finds it almost identical to one of the stories he has written. But it looks like his story was published 2 years before Shooters story. now he just needs to prove it. But sinister things start to happen. 

Johnny Depp plays Mort in the movie-version :) 

I loved this story as well, especially when 'it' dawned on me what's happening here. 

3. The Library Policeman

Ever forget to return a book to the library in good time… 

Sam, a middle-aged man,  has to make a speech and goes to the public library to check out a few books on the topic. He starts chatting to the librarian - they are usually friendly folks, aren't they? He gets reminded not to forget to return the books in time, or else? What follows is a ghost-kind of story involving unpleasant things happening at this library. And I mean truly unpleasant.

This was my least favourite story of this collection. Despite the horror/ghost content, there is also has a serious topic (sexual abuse)

4. The Sun Dog

Kevin gets a Polaroid Camera (remember them?) for his 15th birthday . But whatever he aims the camera at, the only pictures it produces is that of a large and menacing dog. And even more uncomfortable is that the dog is getting closer and closer with every picture Kevin takes, as if to break out of the camera. Kevin manages to give the camera to a local second-hand shop owner who promised to get rid of it, but of course doesn't as he smells a business opportunity.

A few 'old' favourites in this story - the story is set in the fictional town Castle Rock, Maine as so many of King's story and the second hand shop owner is Pop Merrill.

This collection is a must for any King Fan. You won't be disappointed.