The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

Stories

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Stephen King, Dylan Baker, Brooke Bloom, Hope Davis, Kathleen Chalfant, Santino Fontana, Peter Friedman

Length: 20 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

Named to the American Library Association’s Reference & User Services (RUSA) Listen List!

Other narrators include: Cotter Smith, Will Patton, Edward Herrmann, Holter Graham, Frederick Weller, Mare Winningham, Craig Wasson, Thomas Sadoski, and Tim Sample.

A master storyteller at his best - the O. Henry Prize winner Stephen King delivers a generous collection of stories, several of them brand new, featuring revelatory autobiographical comments on when, why, and how he came to write (or rewrite) each story.

Since his first collection, Nightshift, published 35 years ago, Stephen King has dazzled listeners with his genius as a writer of short fiction. In this new collection he assembles, for the first time, recent stories that have never been published in a book. He introduces each with a passage about its origins or his motivations for writing it.

There are thrilling connections between stories, including themes of morality, the afterlife, guilt, and what we would do differently if we could see into the future or correct the mistakes of the past. "Afterlife" is about a man who died of colon cancer and keeps reliving the same life, repeating his mistakes over and over again. Several stories feature characters at the end of life, revisiting their crimes and misdemeanors. Other stories address what happens when someone discovers he has supernatural powers: the columnist who kills people by writing their obituaries in "Obits"; the old judge in "The Dune", who, as a boy, canoed to a deserted island and saw written in the sand the names of people who then died in freak accidents. In "Morality", King looks at how a marriage and two lives fall apart after the wife and husband enter into what seems, at first, a devil's pact they can win.

Magnificent, eerie, utterly compelling, these stories comprise one of King's finest gifts to his constant fan. "I made them especially for you," says King. "Feel free to examine them, but please be careful. The best of them have teeth."

Please note: The audio edition of The Bazaar of Bad Dreams now includes an additional story: "Cookie Jar", narrated by Santino Fontana. Listeners who purchased this title prior to October 2016 can re-download the audio to get the new story.

©2015 Stephen King. All rights reserved. (P)2015 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Each narrator is a perfect fit for the stories he or she reads - it's rare to find such a collection with no misses, but it's not unusual for King. Narrating the stories' introductions himself, King makes the listener feel like his confidant every time. Cotter Smith steals the show, masterfully performing several pieces, including the poem 'The Bone Church,' the best performance of the collection." ( AudioFile)

Doesn't Belong in the Horror Genre

This is a really nice collection, but it doesn't belong in the Horror Genre. I realize that it is almost automatic to assume that "because it was written by THE ONE AND ONLY Stephen King", that it must be horror. Well I disagree. I've read quite a bit of King's work over the last 30 years, and what I've noticed is that the older he gets, the more his stories revolve around the issue of mortality. These stories range from "it was okay" to "wow, that was amazing". but the one thing that I believe holds true, is that these are not the type of stories the man used to write. While listening to this book, I found myself hoping that the next one would send chills down my spine. Well I'm almost through the book and "no such luck". I don't want to take anything away from this collection, as the stories are truly heart-warming. I also know that horror is somewhat relative to the perceptions of the reader. So I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions. But to me, this is not Horror. Thanks for reading my review.

whispering is so irritating!

it's a great book, and I loved listening to it. but I really need to point out to you that if the narrator whispers, I have to turn my volume way up to hear it. then the next line is normal voice, or even yelling, and my ears ring!!! volume balancing is a thing, ppl.

Amazing

The voice work is so good, so much talent, bringing the stories to life. Stephen King is a master and I love hearing him describe how and why he wrote these. Wonderful little literary gems of fantasy and horror.

horrible

some of the stories were disturbing and depressing without the fun of other Stephen King books

King keeps getting better!

What made the experience of listening to The Bazaar of Bad Dreams the most enjoyable?

The narration was perfect and as an added bonus, Stephen king speaks before each story telling a little about how it came to be. This is one of his better collections of short stories and all with a similar theme.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Dune was my favorite story. I think of it as the perfect story. It ends with a subtle bang and leaves you wanting just a little more even though you got everything you needed. Voila! Perfect story you won't forget

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I had planned to only read a couple stories a day, but once I started I couldn't stop. It's that good.

Great King stories without worrying about genre

Excellent cast of narrators and quality production all around. King's commentary on story background was a real treat. Most of these tales are depressing and pondering death, but there is one that focuses on humor and another just on baseball (which was still interesting for a non-baseball-fan). This anthology really displays a nice range of King's writing.

Really Good -- Mostly --

Where does The Bazaar of Bad Dreams rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This book ranks about 5 out of 10 based on the other audiobooks I've listened to.

What other book might you compare The Bazaar of Bad Dreams to and why?

I compare this book to other short story collections by Stephen King.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

This book has various narrators, they were good except for the story about the fireworks. The narrator sounded like a cross between Hoggle and Hagrid, The voice used for an American Indian was one degree above offensive.

Any additional comments?

I was also disappointed in Stephen King's work on the story about the fireworks. It seemed he was trying to channel Mark Twain but failed. The tone of the story did not match the vocabulary he used. The characters were using words that definitely would not be used in real life, and it made the story feel really contrived. Some of that feeling might be from the Hoggle/Hagrid narrator.

Awesome!

What did you like best about this story?

I loved that each story was introduced by Stephen King (in his voice) and that he talked about his inspiration behind them.

Which scene was your favorite?

"Afterlife" was a fun look at, you guest it, the afterlife. Slightly depressing, but totally entertaining. Also, the one named "Batman and Robin" (at least I think that was the name) left me with a great sens of satisfaction as I felt I lived out my road rage fantasies through the story.

If you could take any character from The Bazaar of Bad Dreams out to dinner, who would it be and why?

The man behind the desk in "Afterlife". I bet he has stories to tell!

Any additional comments?

This was a very entertaining and very interesting book. I gives a glimpse behind the scene of how most of the stories in the book came to be, then grips you with each tale.

King is still the king.

Haven't been able to read his stories for some years. now. Nice to know he hasn't lost a thing. I still have to pause after each story and really take in what I've just read.

King can do no wrong.

I really enjoyed the Bazaar of Bad Dreams. Although some of the stories in this collection are more frightening than others, they are all eerie in their own right. I also loved Mr. King's introduction to each story. It's a great title to have in your collection.