Saturday, April 18, 2009

April 18 - "Dreams"

“Dreams”
by F. Paul Wilson
Aftershock and Others (2009)

* * * * * (Excellent) Horror

The recurring nightmare of being trapped in the monstrous body of a manly beast leads Eva discover a startling truth.

Knowing the truth that the narrator searches for regarding her life gives us, the reader, an understanding that only further adds to the ironic twist of this tale. The idea of living your dreams as if they were the “real” world has always fascinated me. This story does a great job of exploring that very idea while also mixing in the Frankenstein mythos. Everything about this short tale succeeds. The horror here is the possibility that that great lumbering monster could have evolved out of the dream-fulfillment fantasies of an unsuspecting, murdered farm girl.

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