Three Dreams and a Nightmare: And Other Tales of the Dark

by Judith Gorog

Fourteen tales of the fantastic and supernatural reveal a world in which reality and fantasy collide, in places ranging from deserted shopping malls to bustling Japanese cities where spirits dwell

Paperback

First published September 1, 1988

About the author

Born in 1938 in Madison, Wisconsin, Judith Gorog grew up in Pennsylvania, Texas, and California before moving with her mother and stepfather to Wiesbaden, Germany, where she attended an American Air Force high school. After the suburbs, Gorog loved living in a European city, and spent her time exploring the beautiful streets, visiting coffeehouses, and taking horseback-riding lessons. In addition to the local culture, there was an American library with thousands of books in English for her to read. Gorog returned to the United States for college, attending San Jose State College and graduating from the University of California at Berkeley in 1961. She received her master's degree from Mills College in 1963.

After working for many years as an editor and technical writer, Gorog published her first children's book, A Taste for Quiet and Other Disquieting Tales, in 1982. Since then she has made a name for herself with her “spooky” stories and has published novels and picture books in addition to collections. Gorog and her Hungarian-born husband lived in Italy for a year, and have traveled to Peru, Japan, and Hungary. They have three children and a number of pets. Gorog speaks German, French, Italian, and Hungarian as well as English. When she is not writing, she counts among her many interests cooking, skiing, hiking, swimming, people-watching, and visiting hardware stores.

Reviews

[Jinnifer]

One of my absolute favorite books in the whole world, full of creepy and short, modern horror stories and re-imagined, ambiguously exotic folk tales. I was given this when I was about 12 and destroyed my original copy from reading it so much, I had to hunt down another copy. I have loved it and revisited it many times ever since. To be honest, it felt a bit 'much' for a broader audience of children this age, but the goth kids will LOVE it. An absolutely underrated gem that deserves more attention.

[Raven]

Ehhh.

[Erin O'Riordan]

Childhood favorite.