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There\u2019s something for everyone in Stephen King\u2019s latest collection. Even the most avid fans who try to track down each short story as it is released will find several new tales in The Bazaar of Bad Dreams<\/em>.<\/p>\n The stories date back to 2009, the year after King\u2019s previous collection, Just After Sunset<\/em>. However, a couple of the entries are actually far older. In the introduction to \u201cMile 81,\u201d King says that he originally wrote the story while he was in college but lost the manuscript. Similarly, the poem \u201cTommy\u201d was recreated from his memory of a college-era piece. The only short fiction King has published since 2009 not included in this collection are his collaborations with Joe Hill and Stewart O\u2019Nan, and the contest story from Hard Listening<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n In addition to a three-page general introduction to the collection, each story and poem has its own introduction that discusses its origins. These range from a brief five-line intro to \u201cTommy\u201d to nearly two pages for some of the other stories. They provide an interesting look behind the curtain at that nebulous concept: inspiration. Five of the stories are novellas, ranging between 40 and 60 pages, with \u201cUr\u201d the longest in the collection. The briefest is \u201cThat Bus is Another World,\u201d save for the two poems. \u201cUr\u201d has been extensively revised – I looked at the changes between the two versions in some detail in a recent essay<\/a>.<\/p>\n One of the nice things about a collection of short stories is that it lets people discover all the different kinds of things King writes in a single volume. Over half of the stories in Bazaar<\/em> are non-supernatural, and in some of them he is deliberately experimenting with different styles and literary influences. Some of the supernatural tales\u2014\u201cAfterlife,\u201d for example\u2014aren\u2019t really horror stories, while non-supernatural stories contain horrific events. What could be more terrible than the decision made by two of the characters in \u201cHerman Wouk is Still Alive\u201d?<\/p>\n King has always been considered a Maine writer, but he has never let his roots show as clearly as he does in \u201cDrunken Fireworks,\u201d which is the funniest thing he has written since \u201cThe Revenge of Lard Ass Hogan.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s a laugh-out-loud story about two families, on opposite sides of a lake and from opposite ends of the social spectrum, who engage in a years-long arms race to outdo each other on the Fourth of July. The confessional nature of the story is reminiscent of Dolores Claiborne<\/em>, though it\u2019s far lighter in tone and subject matter. Several other stories in the collection use the same structure, that of a person recounting past events to another character. In \u201cBlockade Billy,\u201d the \u201clistener\u201d to the story is none other than Stephen King himself (and bonus points to the first person who identifies my stand-in in the story!). \u201cBad Little Kid\u201d is a death row confessional, and \u201cThe Dune\u201d might be thought of as death-bed confessional, of sorts. But not quite.<\/p>\n One of the stories that intrigued me when I first read it, and again on this re-read, was \u201cA Death,\u201d which is about a man accused of the murder of a young girl. His guilt or innocence isn\u2019t the main focus of the story. It\u2019s more about another man\u2019s belief in the suspect\u2019s guilt or innocence, and also in the way that King can sway readers to believe one way and then another, too. \u201cMorality\u201d made me think of that Woody Harrelson\/Demi Moore movie Indecent Proposal<\/em>. You just know that if they accept the bargain\u2014with a minister, no less, not the devil\u2014that nothing can ever be the same again.<\/p>\n \u201cObits\u201d reminded me of \u201cEverything\u2019s Eventual,\u201d and the minister who appears in \u201cThe Little Green God of Agony\u201d made me think of Reverand Jacobs from Revival<\/em>. \u201cAfterlife\u201d is a significantly different take on a recurring theme in King\u2019s work: the chance to do it all over, as seen in the \u201cButterfingers\u201d episode of Kingdom Hospital<\/em>, Ghost Brothers of Darkland County <\/em>and, of course, the Dark Tower series. One reviewer this week pointed out that all the dogs in this collection fare poorly, and I noticed that two people commit suicide in different stories using the same, highly unusual method.<\/p>\n Several of the stories deal with aging and dying. \u201cMister Yummy\u201d takes place in an upscale senior citizen\u2019s complex, where the grim reaper comes in many disguises. \u201cBatman and Robin Have an Altercation\u201d is about a son and his senile father. \u201cThe Dune\u201d features a man who has had an inside connection to death all his life, while \u201cObits\u201d is about a guy who discovers he can send people to the great beyond by writing their obituaries; however, it\u2019s never quite that simple, is it? The main character in \u201cUnder the Weather\u201d goes to great extremes to deny the inevitable, and the one in \u201cAfterlife\u201d finds out he\u2019s done it all before\u2014and might again. And it all comes down to this: the apocalypse and what happens thereafter, as seen in the poignant story that closes the collection, \u201cSummer Thunder.\u201d<\/p>\n When it comes to the supernatural, you get a Kindle that is a doorway to alternate realities, and the men who come to retrieve it may have abandoned their car at the rest stop at Mile 81. Did the man who is on death row for killing an unidentified child have a series of encounters with a demon during his lifetime? And does chronic, idiopathic pain, the kind that some healthcare providers deny, have sinister origins?<\/p>\n Not every story will be for every reader. People who don\u2019t understand baseball will probably skim \u201cBlockade Billy,\u201d which would be a shame because though the sport is the vector, the story is about something far different. \u00a0King admits that poetry isn\u2019t his strong suit, and I\u2019d have to agree with that assessment. Bill Thompson talked King out of including poetry in Night Shift<\/em>, and I didn\u2019t think \u201cBone Church\u201d and \u201cTommy\u201d contributed much to this collection. Readers looking for \u201ctypical\u201d King will possibly shake their heads at the philosophical ruminations of \u201cThat Bus is Another World.\u201d<\/p>\n At nearly 500 pages, this collection will keep readers entertained, amused and disturbed for many hours. I look forward to the audio version with its diverse cast of readers. You can listen to King reading his introduction to the collection<\/a> here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"bobd-cover-reveal-5\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/bobd-cover-reveal-5.jpg\")
<\/a>Some of the stories were published in the customary places: magazines like The New Yorker<\/em>, Playboy<\/em>, Esquire<\/em>, Tin House<\/em>, The Atlantic<\/em>, and Cemetery Dance <\/em>or in anthologies like Turn Down the Lights<\/em> and A Book of Horrors<\/em>, but others were released in less usual places. \u201cUr\u201d and \u201cMile 81,\u201d for example, were only released as eBooks<\/a>. \u201cBlockade Billy\u201d was originally a limited edition novella. \u201cDrunken Fireworks<\/a>\u201d was previously available only in audio. You\u2019ve only read \u201cUnder the Weather\u201d if you bought the paperback version of Full Dark, No Stars<\/em>. And \u201cBad Little Kid<\/a>\u201d is the strangest case of all, previously available only as an eBook in French or German. Two of the stories, \u201cMister Yummy\u201d and \u201cObits,\u201d have never been published anywhere before, in any language or using any technology.<\/p>\n<\/a>Many of the tales are set in familiar King territory: New England (Maine and Vermont) or Florida, with a couple of New York City stories. You\u2019ll find familiar names like Andy Clutterbuck, McCausland, Toomey, and places like Harlow, Castle Rock, TR-90 and Chester\u2019s Mill. Hemingford Home, Nebraska pops up a couple of times. There are direct Dark Tower references (\u201cUr\u201d) and indirect ones (\u201cMile 81\u201d). I found one overt 19, but there are doubtless\u00a0others. There is a cameo appearance by a library policeman, and the main character\u2019s concerns about government interest in his ability is reminiscent of Firestarter<\/em>.<\/p>\n