The Afterlife Hit Parade and Much More Is Addressed in Stephen King's "The Bazaar of Bad Dreams."

King reveals some very personal facts about himself in the November release of "The Bazaar of Bad Dreams."

During his college years King said he lost many things including his mind for short periods of time because of his LSD use. With his senses amplified, he just may have crossed back and fourth into the 5th dimension, the intangible dimension which sheds true light on everything good and evil. Sheer nonsense weaved into reality which harbors in Kings unique imagination, then pouncing his readers minds with terror and laughter.

This book is 20 short stories, some resurfaced, many brand new. As an omnivorous King fan, I honestly feel his best novels are behind him, but even his mediocre novels are gripping. Only one of the stories in this book had a real good ending. It seemed King was just living off his name in this book. As expected, the character development for every tale was there, but none of the stories had a knock-out punch which disappointed me.

Average at best, this book still displayed Kings penchant for the absurd. In "Mile 81," a monstrous car eats people, and when a 6-year-old girl and her 4-year-old brother witness their parents getting eaten alive, I was really hoping the car would not devour the children. With King, no character is safe and sometimes evil swallows all that is heart full and pure. If you want to know if the children live or die, read the book.

As a young man in the 60s, King said the mindset of many young adults in that era had the feeling of invincibility, and that they would change the world. King is a realist, whether we want to or not, we all die no matter what our beliefs are.

In "Afterlife," King touches base with the four most popular afterlife beliefs; heaven, hell, purgatory or reincarnation. The bottom line, when we do die, there is absolutely nothing or there is something more, but what?

King like everyone else on this planet cannot give a definitive answer to what happens after death, but in "Afterlife," he created a story that should be made into a Twilight Zone episode. Doomed to a monotonous and hellish reality in death, or is there an oasis of complete happiness in eternity?

The final story, "Summer Thunder" is about the end of human existence, it will happen. The end of times might be tomorrow or 20 million years from now, but it will happen, just give it time!
Watch out for the button hook or hairpin turn on the way to Lake Pocomtuck, but if you want to die in an automobile, attempt the vicious turn in fifth gear, and yes, I cried for the dog Gandalf in "Summer Thunder."

Overall I was disappointed in this book, yet it was still written by King. Only through fiction can we think about the unthinkable and perhaps obtain some sort of closure King said. These words vastly aided my three star rating.

Quot libros quam breve tempus, Latin words that will be on one of my future T-shirts. So many books, so little time.