All of Your Dreams Will Come True When You're Dead

by John Wayne Comunale

The culling took most of the men from Cochran Texas away to a dusty old town that exists between this plane and the next called Cocytus. Run by a maniacal power-hungry man named Lycus and his adopted protégé daughter Alastor, he conducts chaos with the help of a group of bandits called Calamity Three. His tip the cosmic scales to bring the Void crashing into the world and claim the place of power to which he believes he is owed. Loyalty is a flimsy commodity in Cocytus, and with Behemoth rushing from the celestial abyss to heed a distant call this small Texas town nestled somewhere between here and hell has no idea what’s in store.

Genres: Horror, Audiobook, Westerns

186 pages, Paperback

Published October 31, 2023

Reviews

[myreadingescapism · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure what I was expecting but that was not it. 🥱

[Paulo "paper books only" · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another quick read. I received this and read in two days. It has around 180 pages and with 3/4 pages chapter. They are fast paced and you read it in a couple of hours.

So, was this good or bad? Well it's hard to classify this book. It wasn't good. I expected much more from the synopsis and cover and got basically the life of a not-so-good guy passing some adversities and challenges. at the same time we get to see the development of a young kid to adulthood (which I thought it was another timeline for the character but I was surprised). There were also the calamity trio, plus a young girl and one guy trying to bring doom to earth. Unfortunately they all fell a bit flat and the ending was the weakest part. To be honest it was a bit anti-climatic. I read it as too easy...

Not the best on the splatter western series(the fourth after their soft restart, this and the recently release don't have numbers) but not the weakest. I would rate 6.5. I think the author would have gain a bit more with more 50 pages or so. That's my impression. You may feel it different reading it.

[Stephen Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

A trippy Splatter Western that comes together nicely in the second half. Cool characters, and an interesting setting, just lacked a little something for me, but still enjoyed.

[Ferry Visser · Rating 5 out of 5]

'All of your dreams will come true when your dead' is an authentic book that is first and foremost an exciting and compelling story with intriguing characters. In addition, in my experience, the book is about will, loneliness and development.
A parade of amazing characters passes before the reader's eye in this mustread! And that increases the pleasure of reading. The antagonists are dark, grim and each lurid in their own way. A special place in this group is occupied by Lycus because of his dominance, which I associated with Schopenhauer's will to power. His intentions are as low, blind and unrestrained as the will according to this German philosopher.
In contrast, the protagonists have something tragic about them. That makes them sympathetic. Cherub is a perfect example of this. This hero has and interesting counterpart in the story, namely Alastor. In the growth of both, loneliness and talent development are important themes and yet their development is very different.
Pistols are an important symbol in this pageturner. They represent protection, power, independence, death and destruction. The author makes this ambiguous meaning recur throughout in the right way. The nihilistic cynicism with which this symbol is given an important role in this pageturner is great.
It is also possible to see the story as Lovecraftian through the following themes: non-human influence on humanity, forbidden and dangerous knowledge, fate and inevitability. John Wayne Comunale creatively gives this a macabre and terrifying interpretation that has convinced me as a reader to read more from this author.
And so "All of your dreams come true when you are dead" becomes a story that is about not only an exciting and compelling splatter western, but also has a layering that can be interpreted from Schopenhauer's philosophy and/or seen as Lovecraftian.

[Josh Hitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always enjoy Comunale's work but he outdid himself on this one, the best of his I've read. It's a cosmic horror/western, where an evil entity from another plane wants to bring his former plane back to him using the powers of the Behemoth. He is collecting the souls of bad men, gunfighters, and the greedy in a town he made between the planes to facilitate his plan. However there are a lot of other things going on with witches, gifted gunfighters, and a trio of evil bandits.

Highly recommended, just a really fun read. Would love a sequel or just more stories in this world.

[Gyalten Lekden · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the story itself, I thought it was a creative cosmic horror that fit really well into the western niche. And conceptually I liked how it jumped across different characters that were all involved in what was going on. But the actual writing and plotting seemed a little thin. None of the stories mattered save for the main antagonist and his protégé, everything else could have been cut out and the story wouldn’t have changed in terms of plot outcome. This was especially true in terms of our gunslinger Lloyd and his son Cherub. I really would have liked to see all the secondary stories not only connect to one another more strongly but to have a clear impact on the overall plot, instead of just be peripheral to it. Similarly, keeping them outside of the main plot, they were more window dressing than fully developed characters, and I would have enjoyed some more complexity or depth to their identities.

That said, I still had fun with this novella. I thought the worldbuilding was great and the overall ideas that fueled the plot were fun and not something I had seen before.

[Jeff Folschinsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this sweet thing at the Houston Horror Film Festival. Yes, signed copy, thank you Mr. John Wayne, and I have to say in generally liked this book. This was my first foray into splatter westerns, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it would be more splattery and gore-filled, which it was not. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing in my mind. It allowed me to absorb the mix of Lovecraftian and Western gunfighter lore. It was a fun read. I did think the ending was rather rushed and some of the storylines didn't have a strong enough conclusion. I haven't checked but one gets the sense this is the first in a series. Regardless I had a good time reading it. And in the end isn't that what it's all about? ;-)

[Christina Pfeiffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

ALL YOUR DREAMS WILL COME TRUE WHEN YOU’RE DEAD
By John Wayne Comunale

I make zero apologies for my love of JWC’s books or his narrations. But when you put them together… MAGIC! Let’s mosey on to Cocytus (Co-sigh-tus).

Lloyd got caught up in a weird culling of the town. He’s on the hunt for his Lemar gun and won’t be leaving until he finds the scoundrel that took it. At the same time, his son, Charlie or Cherub, has been abandoned by his mother and Lloyd is playing parlor gun games with a dwarf in god only knows where. THEN you have a bunch of rapscallions trying to feed bodies to bring forth Behemoth but they don’t like their boss, Lycus, none. Lycus has secrets from his sidekick, Alabastor but she has some secrets of her own.

Let me take a breath. That’s a lot happening in 177 pages. But true to JWC’s stories, they work like a charm. I was cackling through much of the story especially with the dwarf. This novel is hilarious, bloody, sad, unnerving, cosmic, and so much more. Without a doubt, Comunale’s best to date. Stellar from page one to the end. (Make sure to read the acknowledgement. Absolute perfection.)

A HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMEND 5/5.

[Kasper Kade · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is part of the splatter western series from Death's Head Press. I listened to the audiobook version, which is narrated by the author, and he did an excellent job. To sum up: think dark western plus cosmic horror, and then take gunslingers, outlaws, witches, demons, and pissed-off entities from the void, and you've got this novel. It was a fast, fun read, and packed in many themes: doom, revenge, perseverence, and the consequences of pursuing dangerous obsessions.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A raw, gritty, and fast paced collision course of lives/fates, beings, and worlds/dimensions/planes.

A colorful cast of characters who's lives have become entangled in a demon's scheme to rerun home to Oblivion. And when demons are involved in things it's only a matter of time before things go sideways. Resulting in an exciting ride into utter destruction.

[J R · Rating 3 out of 5]

fairly okay but i expected a lot more, i loved the other splatter western i've read as an ARC but this one was kinda disappointing, more of a slice of life which eas okay but not my expecting. some chars were weak and it didn't connect well at times. thanks for the arc.

[Thomas Hobbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first read by this author a splatter western. Pretty good western a young boy raised by a witch to fight a demon.

[Nick Watts · Rating 4 out of 5]

This cosmic twilight zone of a book is another edition to the popular splatter westerns that are taking up my book shelf.

[Todd Guerra · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. Just couldn’t get into this one at all. Might revisit it later.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very entertaining, loved the Calamity Three and hope there's more to come!

[Joel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.3/5

This was an interesting story. I can't say I knew where this story was going at all. The audiobook was read by the author and they did a very good job.

[Joshua Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

few too many storylines for such a short book