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Sleepwalking: Crime Stories
A high school dropout working at an arcade faces death with a samurai's calm. A kidnapper takes her tiny victim to the mall. A boy with a lisp transforms himself into a hero - by endangering himself and everyone around him. An old woman commits a dreadful crime to protect the simple, ordered world she loves. A successful young woman's life is forever changed by a brush with death in human form. A stranded highway patrolman finds himself defending a woman against a killer, with only his own hatred and ghosts to help him . . .
Sometimes a subtle re-take on genre classics, sometimes uncanny and surreal, the stories in this collection are connected to one another by the dread and darkness in every line. Set in motels, parking lots, video game arcades, malls, roller-rinks and trailer parks, along lonely wooded highways and in lonelier subdivisions, these tales catalogue the lives of the discarded. In the best noir tradition, the heroes and anti-heroes here are trapped by circumstance, willing to commit desperate acts to get the things they want.
Sometimes a subtle re-take on genre classics, sometimes uncanny and surreal, the stories in this collection are connected to one another by the dread and darkness in every line. Set in motels, parking lots, video game arcades, malls, roller-rinks and trailer parks, along lonely wooded highways and in lonelier subdivisions, these tales catalogue the lives of the discarded. In the best noir tradition, the heroes and anti-heroes here are trapped by circumstance, willing to commit desperate acts to get the things they want.
- GenresShort Stories
149 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 15, 2012
About the author
Ray Nayler
94 books1,315 followersHugo and Locus Award winning author Ray Nayler was born in Quebec and raised in California. He lived and worked abroad for two decades in Russia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, the Balkans, and in Vietnam.
Ray's Locus Award winning first novel was The Mountain in the Sea, which was also a finalist for the Nebula, the Arthur C. Clarke, and the Los Angeles Times' Ray Bradbury Awards.
Ray's novella The Tusks of Extinction won the 2025 Hugo Award, and was also a Nebula and Locus Award finalist.
His third book, the cybernetic political thriller Where the Axe is Buried, was published in April of 2025.
Ray most recently served as international advisor to the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and as visiting scholar at the George Washington University's Institute for International Science and Technology Policy.
Ray lives in Washington, DC with his wife Anna, their daughter Lydia, and two rescued cats.
Ray's Locus Award winning first novel was The Mountain in the Sea, which was also a finalist for the Nebula, the Arthur C. Clarke, and the Los Angeles Times' Ray Bradbury Awards.
Ray's novella The Tusks of Extinction won the 2025 Hugo Award, and was also a Nebula and Locus Award finalist.
His third book, the cybernetic political thriller Where the Axe is Buried, was published in April of 2025.
Ray most recently served as international advisor to the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and as visiting scholar at the George Washington University's Institute for International Science and Technology Policy.
Ray lives in Washington, DC with his wife Anna, their daughter Lydia, and two rescued cats.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 22, 2012
This collection of dark, violent stories is sharply written and compelling. I read a fair amount of crime fiction, and much of it is entirely plot-driven, with language designed purely to convey information. "Sleepwalking" is not that kind of book. Its stories have both fast-moving plots, and carefully-crafted writing.
Though they are separate pieces, they worked well as a collection. The tension built, story by story, sinking me into a world of of deceit and desire, greed and rage. Soon I was on edge, bracing myself for the gunshot, the twist, the double-cross.
I have two complaints. First, I don't like reading books on computers, so I wish there were a print edition available. Second, I'd like to see Nayler turn at least one of these stories into a full-length book. They ended too quickly.
Though they are separate pieces, they worked well as a collection. The tension built, story by story, sinking me into a world of of deceit and desire, greed and rage. Soon I was on edge, bracing myself for the gunshot, the twist, the double-cross.
I have two complaints. First, I don't like reading books on computers, so I wish there were a print edition available. Second, I'd like to see Nayler turn at least one of these stories into a full-length book. They ended too quickly.
May 26, 2015
Enjoyed it a lot, even though short story is not my favorite format. The range of characters and perspectives and voices that Nayler is able to write is astonishing. My favorite stories were those in which the form allowed a little more conclusion. Great language, and storytelling.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews