The Secretary of Dreams
Stephen King; illustrated by Glenn Chadbourne
Cemetery Dance, Jan 2007, $75.00
ISBN: 1587671409

"Home Delivery". Maddie knows the world may be ending with the dead returning to life, but she is handling her pregnancy, five months old, quite well on Little Tall Island.

"The Road Virus Heads North". Novelist Richard stopped at a yard sale where he had to buy an odd looking watercolor by an artist named Hastings, who committed suicide. Richard soon finds he has a companion, the kid in the picture.

"Jerusalem's Lot". In 1850, Charles writes letters to his friends Bones and Richard telling them about a deserted village, Jerusalem's Lot, that the Lord apparently abandoned as he describes pictures he found there that is closer to home.

"Rainy Season". John and Elise arrive in Willow, Maine, where they meet Laura and Henry who warn them that it is seven years to the day it last rained toads in town and they must leave before the torrent begins.

"The Reach". Gram explains to her great-grandchildren that the Reach between Goat Island and the mainland was much wider when she was younger, but as people leave they die, shrinking the distance and this is why she never stepped on the mainland.

"Uncle Otto's Truck". He writes down what he knows about his Uncle Otto who he found grotesquely dead in an oily haunting way when he delivered food as is his weekly assignment since his own father died two years ago.

These six tales are reprints of Stephen King short stories with one from 1978, two from 1985, two from 1993; and one from 2002. Thus the audience has an opportunity to see how much Mr. King has changed, at least with his shorts, over the two-plus decades. The tales are refreshed by Glenn Chadbourne illustrations with three including pictures to enhance the vivid tales while the remainder are in graphic comic format. This is a terrific and unique anthology that fans of the grandmaster of horror will enjoy.

Harriet Klausner