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37th out of 61 books
—
38 voters
Don't Read This Book
by
Chuck Wendig (Goodreads Author) ,
Stephen Blackmoore (Goodreads Author), Harry Connolly (Goodreads Author), Matt Forbeck (Goodreads Author), Laura Anne Gilman (Goodreads Author), Will Hindmarch (Goodreads Author), Mur Lafferty (Goodreads Author), Robin D. Laws (Goodreads Author)
,
more…
Down a lonely alleyway, under a starless sky, lies a city that never was, yet is: the Mad City, where nightmares walk the streets, and a good night's sleep can get you killed. Here, then, is a book from that place.Within these recovered pages are the tales of the Awake, insomniacs who've walked those perilous streets, bringing a bit of the power of dream with them to fight...more
Paperback, 200 pages
Published
June 2012
by Evil Hat Productions, LLC
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Ƭσ∂αʏ'ƨ ƨρɛcιαℓ? ƜЄƖЯƉ ƬЄχƬ ƜЄƉИЄƧƉΔƳ!
Ƴσʋ cαи яɛα∂ мσяɛ яɛʌιɛωƨ αт мʏ вℓσɢ, Ƭнɛ Δямcнαιя ˩ιвяαяιαи!
Ƨσмɛтιмɛƨ ωɛ cαи'т ƨℓɛɛρ. Ƨσмɛтιмɛƨ ωɛ ғɛɛℓ α ℓιттℓɛ нαʋитɛ∂. Ƨσмɛтιмɛƨ ωɛ'яɛ тɛяяιғιɛ∂. Δи∂ ƨσмɛтιмɛƨ, тнαт мακɛƨ ʋƨ α ℓιттℓɛ... ωɛℓℓ. Ѧα∂. Ƭнαт'ƨ ωнʏ тнɛяɛ'ƨ тнιƨ ρℓαcɛ cαℓℓɛ∂ "Ѧα∂ Ɔιтʏ." Ɩт'ƨ ωнɛяɛ αℓℓ ʏσʋя нσяяσяƨ αи∂ ғɛαяƨ яɛƨι∂ɛ--
Δи∂ тнɛʏ ωαит тσ мακɛ ʏσʋ σиɛ σғ тнɛм.
Δяɛ ʏσʋ ƨcαяɛ∂ ʏɛт?
Ǥσσ∂.
Яɛα∂ιиɢ Ɖσи'т Яɛα∂ Ƭнιƨ βσσκ ιƨ ℓικɛ ғαℓℓιиɢ ιитσ α ƨʋяяɛαℓιƨт ραιитιиɢ ωнɛяɛ тнιиɢƨ σиℓʏ ƨℓιɢнтℓʏ мακɛ...more
Ƴσʋ cαи яɛα∂ мσяɛ яɛʌιɛωƨ αт мʏ вℓσɢ, Ƭнɛ Δямcнαιя ˩ιвяαяιαи!
Ƨσмɛтιмɛƨ ωɛ cαи'т ƨℓɛɛρ. Ƨσмɛтιмɛƨ ωɛ ғɛɛℓ α ℓιттℓɛ нαʋитɛ∂. Ƨσмɛтιмɛƨ ωɛ'яɛ тɛяяιғιɛ∂. Δи∂ ƨσмɛтιмɛƨ, тнαт мακɛƨ ʋƨ α ℓιттℓɛ... ωɛℓℓ. Ѧα∂. Ƭнαт'ƨ ωнʏ тнɛяɛ'ƨ тнιƨ ρℓαcɛ cαℓℓɛ∂ "Ѧα∂ Ɔιтʏ." Ɩт'ƨ ωнɛяɛ αℓℓ ʏσʋя нσяяσяƨ αи∂ ғɛαяƨ яɛƨι∂ɛ--
Δи∂ тнɛʏ ωαит тσ мακɛ ʏσʋ σиɛ σғ тнɛм.
Δяɛ ʏσʋ ƨcαяɛ∂ ʏɛт?
Ǥσσ∂.
Яɛα∂ιиɢ Ɖσи'т Яɛα∂ Ƭнιƨ βσσκ ιƨ ℓικɛ ғαℓℓιиɢ ιитσ α ƨʋяяɛαℓιƨт ραιитιиɢ ωнɛяɛ тнιиɢƨ σиℓʏ ƨℓιɢнтℓʏ мακɛ...more
Mar 14, 2013
Vince Darcangelo
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
anthology,
fiction,
horror,
psychological,
short-stories,
transgressive,
steampunk,
reviews
http://ensuingchapters.com/2013/03/12...
A Playground for Insomniacs
Posted on March 12, 2013
For some, sleep is a peaceful proposition. For others, like me, lights out has always been more of a punishment. The latter is the intended audience of Evil Hat Productions’ Don’t Read This Book, a collection of 13 waking nightmares for the hard of sleeping.
These stories are set in the world of the Don’t Rest Your Head RPG, which I haven’t played, but seems perfectly designed for someone like me. My loose...more
A Playground for Insomniacs
Posted on March 12, 2013
For some, sleep is a peaceful proposition. For others, like me, lights out has always been more of a punishment. The latter is the intended audience of Evil Hat Productions’ Don’t Read This Book, a collection of 13 waking nightmares for the hard of sleeping.
These stories are set in the world of the Don’t Rest Your Head RPG, which I haven’t played, but seems perfectly designed for someone like me. My loose...more
Mad City is a deeply disturbing place that can only be found by the deeply disturbed. Those who can't (or won't) sleep eventually become Awake enough to see the city and possibly stumble into it. Whether it's adjacent to our reality or simply seeps into the cracks of it, you don't want to be stranded there. Nightmares roam the streets, hoping to find people foolish enough to wander out and be consumed - or worse, converted. Everyone is a nightmare waiting to happen.
This is a themed anthology of...more
This is a themed anthology of...more
A NetGalley First Reads
The author of this review received an advance copy for an honest review
Don't Read This Book: 13 Tales from the Mad City is a great collection. I'd never heard of the RPG before I picked up this book, and the forward (by Fred Hicks) is a short story that explains the universe with a lot of showing and just enough telling to enthrall. Sleep is the enemy, and not hard to stay awake reading this tome.
Most of the stories I thoroughly enjoyed, "Forward," "Don't Lose Your Patien...more
The author of this review received an advance copy for an honest review
Don't Read This Book: 13 Tales from the Mad City is a great collection. I'd never heard of the RPG before I picked up this book, and the forward (by Fred Hicks) is a short story that explains the universe with a lot of showing and just enough telling to enthrall. Sleep is the enemy, and not hard to stay awake reading this tome.
Most of the stories I thoroughly enjoyed, "Forward," "Don't Lose Your Patien...more
Based on the RPG Don't Rest Your Head -
Having never heard of this RPG, I went into this with complete newbie eyes. The world has already been built by the game...more
Don’t Rest Your Head is a sleek, dangerous little game, where your players are all insomniac protagonists with superpowers, fighting — and using — exhaustion and madness to stay alive, and awake for just one more night, in a reality gone way wrong called the Mad City. It features its own system, and is contained entirely within one book.
Having never heard of this RPG, I went into this with complete newbie eyes. The world has already been built by the game...more
Don't Read This Book is a compendium of short stories based on the tabletop roleplaying game Don't Rest Your Head, a brilliant little number based on the idea that when you stay awake for a sufficiently prolonged period of time, you begin to operate on the wavelength of the Mad City, where the nightmares live. And then you're never safe again.
The collection is a bit uneven. There are some very good lesser-known authors involved, folks like Greg Stolze, Chuck Wendig, and Harry Connolly. And gener...more
The collection is a bit uneven. There are some very good lesser-known authors involved, folks like Greg Stolze, Chuck Wendig, and Harry Connolly. And gener...more
This book exceeded my expectations (which were high). I love themed anthologies like this and I thoroughly enjoy the setting of the Mad City. What I didn't expect is that several of the stories would do such a good job capturing that twisting, creepy feeling of insomnia and nightmares.
I read the game Don't Rest Your Head when it first came out and loved it (though I've never had a chance to play it). One of the things about the game, though, is that many of the elements bordered on the comical....more
I read the game Don't Rest Your Head when it first came out and loved it (though I've never had a chance to play it). One of the things about the game, though, is that many of the elements bordered on the comical....more
Reading
Don’t Read this Book
is like reading a twisted version of Alice in Wonderland (or a darker, nefarious and twisted version of Neverwhere), except that everyone is invited, plus you get to have power, at least for as long as you can keep Awake.
Every story is a trip into a dark and mad place that could only exist between realities, the place where nightmares come and where dead dreams are sold. Some of the protagonist just fell into the hole and are either trying to retain their [normal] l...more
Every story is a trip into a dark and mad place that could only exist between realities, the place where nightmares come and where dead dreams are sold. Some of the protagonist just fell into the hole and are either trying to retain their [normal] l...more
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3.5*
This was a decent collection of short stories with an interweaving plot / idea.
It's quite evident how hard everyone worked on this collaborative effort and each story, although written by a different author, gave the reader a different nightmare scenario of Mad City.
As with most collections, not every story was fantastic or even that memorable. However, saying that, there were no bad stories in this collection per se - all were very well written but some were, for me at least, better than ot...more
This was a decent collection of short stories with an interweaving plot / idea.
It's quite evident how hard everyone worked on this collaborative effort and each story, although written by a different author, gave the reader a different nightmare scenario of Mad City.
As with most collections, not every story was fantastic or even that memorable. However, saying that, there were no bad stories in this collection per se - all were very well written but some were, for me at least, better than ot...more
Interesting compilation of short horror stories, following a common thread. The authors have drastically different writing styles, but each is able to bring the reader into the dark real of Mad City. The book's concept reminds me of a Christmas present my niece created several years ago, in which she wrote several paragraphs and asked each member of the family to complete the story, compiling the results and distributing them to all of us. Creative, dark, and interesting.
What, you think you're the first to Wake Up? The first to stumble into the dimly lit streets of the Mad City? Kid, you aren't even the first *tonight*.
Here are just a few titillating and terrifying tales of those who have come before. If you read between the lines, you might even find some clues on how to survive one more night. If you look real close, you might even learn how to escape.
But then again...
Here are just a few titillating and terrifying tales of those who have come before. If you read between the lines, you might even find some clues on how to survive one more night. If you look real close, you might even learn how to escape.
But then again...
Consisting mostly of good stories, with a couple that were lacklustre and a few that were really good. My favourite two stories were Don't Spill Your TEA and Don't Harsh Your Buzz. Where most of the others seemed desperate to show off the *elements* which define them as necessarily existing within the Mad City, my aforementioned favourites stand more wholly as stories in their own right which naturally exhibit the *themes* which fit them snugly into the Mad City.
An intriguing collection of short stories that manage to largely transcend their RPG origin. (I mean, I like RPGs plenty, but RPG fiction is rarely all that amazing.)
The downside, though, is that too many of the same stories have the same dynamic and feel to them, focusing as they all do on insomnia, insanity, the Mad City and the other tropes of Don't Rest Your Head. That makes the collection feel a bit samey by the end, and I would have liked to see some writers take those tropes and do someth...more
The downside, though, is that too many of the same stories have the same dynamic and feel to them, focusing as they all do on insomnia, insanity, the Mad City and the other tropes of Don't Rest Your Head. That makes the collection feel a bit samey by the end, and I would have liked to see some writers take those tropes and do someth...more
Some very good short stories. Some not so good. But in the end a nice collection that helps to immerse into the world of the RPG.
This anthology was AWESOME. Each author's voyage into the nightmarish derangement of the Mad City was extraordinarily imaginative. I had high hopes for this anthology, because I hold so many of the contributors in high regard, and it wildly exceeded my expectations!
My favorite stories, in order of appearance:
"Don't Lose Your Patients," Stephen Blackmoore
"Don't Toot Your Horn," Laura Anne Gilman
"Don't Bleach Your Memories," Mur Lafferty (ooh, isn't she nominated for the Campbell this year? I thi...more
My favorite stories, in order of appearance:
"Don't Lose Your Patients," Stephen Blackmoore
"Don't Toot Your Horn," Laura Anne Gilman
"Don't Bleach Your Memories," Mur Lafferty (ooh, isn't she nominated for the Campbell this year? I thi...more
Review to come when finished. Disclaimer: won my copy in a contest.
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Chuck Wendig is a novelist, a screenwriter, and a freelance penmonkey.
He has contributed over two million words to the roleplaying game industry, and was the developer of the popular Hunter: The Vigil game line (White Wolf Game Studios / CCP).
He, along with writing partner Lance Weiler, is a fellow of the Sundance Film Festival Screenwriter's Lab (2010). Their short film, Pandemic, will show at th...more
More about Chuck Wendig...
He has contributed over two million words to the roleplaying game industry, and was the developer of the popular Hunter: The Vigil game line (White Wolf Game Studios / CCP).
He, along with writing partner Lance Weiler, is a fellow of the Sundance Film Festival Screenwriter's Lab (2010). Their short film, Pandemic, will show at th...more
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