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The Bazaar of Bad Dreams cover art

The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

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

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

What the critics say

"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)

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What listeners say about The Bazaar of Bad Dreams

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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  • Jim
  • 2017-10-12

A Fantastic Compilation

Many of the stories were great, and most of the performances were fantastic. It was interesting to hear all the different styles, all matched well with the story.

My favourite was Er/Ur I believe it was called about the Kindle, very engaging and I can always listen to anything that ties to the Tower. Very happy I gave this one a shot

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Will Patton ALWAYS my favorite ❤

Enjoyed the poems, baseball, and especially the fireworks 🎆. Thanks for the wonderful ride!
Now on to Later.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Draws you right in.

There’s more than one here that really get you down deep. Very well written and some very disturbing. Caught myself getting drug down into disbelief more than once during this listen.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Who doesn’t love a book of King short stories?!

I don’t know how this book sat in my library without me realizing it’s short stories, I love King’s short stories and novelettes. Edward Hermann, Mare Winningham and Will Patton are my favourite readers. Great stories.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

some great short stories

I would love to see Cookie Jar made into a novel!! I know Mr King would knock it out of this world!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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  • A
  • 2017-10-20

Diverse collection of King stories

this is a very diverse collection of King's shorts stories, as such there is a few that I did not I think were as great. All the narrators are fairly good with some, like Patton, standing out. the intros by King are great for getting some backstory. overall as with any selection by King you won't be disappointed buying this.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Classics!

Loved listening to all the different readers. Love short stories from Mr King! All as great as his loooong stories. Worth a listen.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Not Thrilled

really enjoyed the numerous narrators throughout this audiobook. the stories however really left me cold for the most part. I don't like stories that end leaving you asking, WTF?
and many of the stories in this group definitely left me scratching my head. I believe I will stick with his full-length novels.

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3 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Awful!

This is the worst Stephen King collection I’ve ever read! Only one story stood out, the rest were boring and non conclusive!

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

not bad, but not his best work

Maybe I expected something different. But I found most of the stories to be rather boring.
#Audible1

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5 people found this helpful