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Sleep Disorder

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For a very long time, Jack Ketchum and Edward Lee have followed their separate paths of line-crossing, gut-wrenching, no holds-barred storytelling. Now, those roads have drawn close and merged for a collection of five collaborative stories guaranteed to shock, amuse, disgust, and bring lovers of extreme fiction back for more. Along with the five stories, the authors have each included the first draft of one of their stories, showing the rough-base that becomes the foundation for their fiction, and giving readers a good chance at separating their voices in the collaborations.

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First published December 1, 2003

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About the author

Jack Ketchum

198 books2,956 followers
Dallas William Mayr, better known by his pen name Jack Ketchum, was an American horror fiction author. He was the recipient of four Bram Stoker Awards and three further nominations. His novels included Off Season, Offspring, and Red, which were adapted to film. In 2011, Ketchum received the World Horror Convention Grand Master Award for outstanding contribution to the horror genre.

A onetime actor, teacher, literary agent, lumber salesman, and soda jerk, Ketchum credited his childhood love of Elvis Presley, dinosaurs, and horror for getting him through his formative years. He began making up stories at a young age and explained that he spent much time in his room, or in the woods near his house, down by the brook: "[m]y interests [were] books, comics, movies, rock 'n roll, show tunes, TV, dinosaurs [...] pretty much any activity that didn't demand too much socializing, or where I could easily walk away from socializing." He would make up stories using his plastic soldiers, knights, and dinosaurs as the characters.

Later, in his teen years, Ketchum was befriended by Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, who became his mentor.

Ketchum worked many different jobs before completing his first novel (1980's controversial Off Season), including acting as agent for novelist Henry Miller at Scott Meredith Literary Agency.

His decision to eventually concentrate on novel writing was partly fueled by a preference for work that offered stability and longevity.

Ketchum died of cancer on January 24, 2018, in New York City at the age of 71.

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5 stars
69 (16%)
4 stars
151 (35%)
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129 (30%)
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56 (13%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
Profile Image for Karl.
3,258 reviews372 followers
February 11, 2018
This hardcover is numbered 183 of 750 copies produced and is signed by Jack Ketchum and Edward Lee.

Contents:

"I'd Give Anything For You"
"Love Letters From the Rain Forest"
"Masks"
"Eyes Left"
"Sleep Disorder"
"Good Seeing You" -by Jack Ketchum
"I Would Do Anything For You" by Edward Lee
Afterword - by Jack Ketchum
Profile Image for Kate.
517 reviews17 followers
March 5, 2017
I'd Give Anything For You - Roderic is desperate to show Clare how much he wants her back, so desperate he would give her anything to prove his love. Gory start to collection with a heavy dose of sex thrown in.

Love Letters From the Rain Forest - Great revenge story, a bit slow to get started but nice twist at the end.

Masks - Uninteresting story about a couple that likes to wear masks whilst having sex. Pretty pointless and doesn't go anywhere.

Eyes Left - Three friends spend happy hour checking out woman, identifying the living from the dead in the new world order. Enjoyable story that incorporates different stories around zombies being part of society and has a particularly nasty ending.

Sleep Disorder - A slimy stock broker starts to have problems with his sleep, he's mortified to find out he talks in his sleep. Since he has spent his life screwing people over he is worried about saying anything incriminating. He records himself and plays it back with interesting results.

Good seeing you - a rought draft of Sleep disorder with a different ending.
I would do anything for you - a rought draft of I'd give anything for you which includes more sex if that can be believed.

Enjoyable short story collection that features some very strong woman and some very nasty people get their come uppance in grand style.
Profile Image for Sea Caummisar.
Author 82 books1,356 followers
December 3, 2024
Jack Ketchum and Edward Lee.
What's not to love?
I especially loved near the end of the book how the collab was explained and how first drafts of certain stories were included. It was really neat seeing how the change of a few words, or a single idea, can really improve a story
Profile Image for Anne (w/ an E).
514 reviews
January 8, 2017
I did like all the stories in this anthology, some more than others. Ketchum and Lee seem to work very well together. I am looking forward to reading more of their work, either together or separately.
Profile Image for Bill.
1,882 reviews132 followers
February 19, 2020
According to the afterword Ketchum and Lee has a ton of fun writing these stories together. I bet they did although fun isn’t the exact way I would describe it. Sticky maybe, but not fun.

Profile Image for Warren Fournier.
842 reviews152 followers
September 3, 2017
This was the second Ed Lee book I've read and the first Jack Ketchum, so though I don't have a lot of experience with both author styles, I will say that the collaboration had some wincing moments but overall was very enjoyable.

I listened to part of it on Audible while on a road trip with the family. That should tell you Ketchum and Lee fans how naive I am to their writing. My wife turned to me from the passenger seat and angrily asked me what the hell was I listening to when the sex scene I thought would be brief turned into an entire story (Story #3). I turned Audible off and read the rest when we got to the hotel. That night, after everyone else was asleep and my wife and I were alone smoking cigarettes on the hotel balcony overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, she secretly admitted that the story I was playing on Audible contained some of the best prose ever, despite the "Sleeping Beauty" and "Shades of Grey" buggery.

And she's right. All the stories in this collection are about love affairs gone wrong, with emphasis on the love and the wrong, which both get equally graffic. But the overall product is quite a fun ride, well-written in a multitude of styles, and genuinely hilarious and horrible.

Considering this is a compilation of each author's unpublished earlier works revisited and consulted upon by each other, I think the book is surprising in the fact that it is overall very tight and satisfying. So probably my favorite part of the book is Ketchum's description of how the collaboration was done in the first place. The final sentence refers to the authors as "just us having fun." And fun it was.

I could not have imagined how anyone could turn such diametrically opposed literary features as pulp, smut, porn, gore, mystery, horror, Victorian gothic, and humor into a cohesive whole. But somehow, these two authors pull it off in this collection. You will at one moment cringe and say, "I shouldn't be reading this--this is retarded," and then say after reading the next line, "but wow, these guys are good!"
Profile Image for Matias Cerizola.
570 reviews33 followers
June 8, 2023
Sleep Disorder.- Jack Ketchum & Edward Lee

"The masks separate the chaff from the real seeds of the soul. But what they forget, and what we know, is that all they're doing is tapping into a kind of vestigial power based on a much, much earlier magic. When the powers that the masks invoke weren't just psychological. They were far-reaching. Cosmic, limitless, without parameter."

Dos especialistas del lado oscuro humano. Dos autores sumergidos en el terror más visceral. Dos mentes del horror trabajando en conjunto para shockearnos con sus creaciones. Cinco cuentos escritos a cuatro garras.

Sleep Disorder es una antología que consta de cinco relatos escritos en conjunto entre Jack Ketchum y Edward Lee y en la edición digital aquí comentada incluye también los borradores de dos de las historias incluidas. Los cuentos incluidos son:

*I'd Give Anything To You:
¿A qué extremos puede llegar alguien para ser amado?
*Love Letters From The Rain Forest: amor, hongos, muerte y venganza.
*Masks: una pareja tiene revelaciones ancestrales al colocarse cada uno una máscara en la intimidad de su habitación.
*Eyes Left: los zombis conviven en la sociedad. Dos amigos son seducidos por una No Muerta en un bar ¿ que puede salir mal?
*Sleep Disorder: un hombre mientras duerme realiza actos que no recuerda al despertar.

Quién haya leído alguna vez a los autores de la antología pueden tener una idea bastante aproximada de lo que pueden encontrar acá. En estos relatos (algunos mejores otros peores, pero disfrutables todos) no hay economía de descripciones sangrientas y violentas, aunque tampoco exageran en poblar la totalidad de los relatos con ellas. De todas formas siempre vale la pena aclarar: gente impresionable y peques, abstenerse…

🤘🤘🤘
Profile Image for Alenna Burleson.
214 reviews22 followers
September 16, 2025
This is a short story collection I really enjoyed both stories very much but the one that stood out to me was . Love letter from the rain forest - a rich man loves a girl who doesn’t love him back. When he is in the rainforest looking for new plants and such he comes across a new mushroom breed, when he touches it it infects him. Claira, the love of his life isn’t interested anymore and is excited to hear of his death in the rainforest, until she receives his last letter.

All and all this collection was phenomenal I really enjoyed Jack Ketchums writing this is the first that I have read from him so far and I am excited to check out more from him! Edward lee absolutely crushed it as usual and I really enjoyed reading something these two made together!
Profile Image for Michael.
408 reviews29 followers
July 5, 2011
The title story was pretty solid, everything else was fair to bad. I've got a lot more experience with Ketchum (primarily positive) than with Lee, so I don't know if it was a problem with the collaboration in general, or these stories in particular, but it wasn't a strong collection.

And maybe it's just because I'm coming directly from reading a Christopher Bram novel, who is one of the best writers of sex (and an all-around amazing writer in general), but the sexuality in these stories felt like it was written by a 12-year-old. I don't remember that from Ketchum's other work, and from looking at the drafts (and the afterword) at the back of this collection, it looks like Lee is the culprit.

I don't know where to point you for great Lee work, but if you're looking for some of Ketchum's best stories, check out "Peaceable Kingdom".
Profile Image for Tessa.
199 reviews9 followers
November 1, 2018
Nice collection of short stories. I could tell just by the writing style and type of gore content that “I would give anything for you” was written by Edward Lee. I preferred his style compared to Jack Ketchum’s.

So this was the 2nd best story in that book. I think the best goes to the story where the dead are living. Honestly this was a good idea and could have been explored further and more in depth as a stand-alone novel.

I really do not understand the story with the masks. What on earth is that ending about?
The climax and ending was blended so homogeneously and to not fail that you have to write legibly. Just my 2 cents worth. I finished that story feeling frustrated.
Profile Image for Ophilia Adler.
907 reviews53 followers
November 19, 2021
Cant say i really liked the stories. I like one of them i think but the rest was eaither not to my taste or just full speed ahead. I would have liked some up and downs to create more tension and build ups. I get its hard with shorter stories but they just didnt work for me.
Profile Image for Phil Zimmerman.
470 reviews8 followers
September 13, 2012
I'd Give Anything for You - This first short story in the collection is a great start. Loser guy, sexually insatiable girl. Grisly finale. Classic Ketchum.

Love Letters from the Rain Forest - Very similar to the first. Some might say too similar. Nerdy guy, sexually insatiable girl. Great ending. I love Ketchum's stories where every character is morally absent!

Masks - After two good stories this one was a real dud. Just about two people having sex with masks on. Yawn.

Eyes Left - An excellent take on the zombie apocalypse. Definitely unique, disgusting, depraved, and awesome!

Sleep Disorder - I just realized that all of these stories contain very strong female leads. This story is another great one. A man talks is in sleep and is also a scumbag. Both end of working to his discredit. Not as gross or as sexual as a typical Ketchum/Lee tale but very good.

Good Seeing You - This is the first draft of "Sleep Disorder" written by Ketchum alone. Ketchum builds the premise just as it appears in the real story but the climax is completely different. I would say this version is not nearly as good. Interesting to see the progression though.

I Would Do Anything For You - This is Lee's first draft of the story "I'd Give Anything for You". As expected this contains a lot more completely unbelievable sex than the final story. Other than that it sticks pretty closely to the final draft. Bonus points for using the word "peckersnot".
Profile Image for Amanda.
225 reviews5 followers
February 21, 2017
Story #1 - This story highlights the extreme consequences of dumping a momma's boy. The explicit sex does not come without humor. I had to chuckle when the main character said she was wearing her fling's balls like sunglasses...

Story #2 - Another breakup with a man with money who can't take a hint, an overly romantic sad-sap. Amused to see a Clockwork Orange slang word is used in this one. Terrifying biological conclusion.

Story #3 - Not too sure what's going on here. Animalistic sex in masks.

Story #4 - Mammiferous (I've learned a new word today). The dead are among the living in this one, and I guess dead lives matter. I'll refrain from using the Z-word. The lesson? If you're willing to bang the dead, you cannot discriminate.

Story #5 - "I hear the secrets that you keep when you're talking in your sleep"

There are a few quips that are used across all stories. Big dick and explicit sex are also a recurring theme.
Profile Image for John.
1,458 reviews36 followers
August 24, 2013
A mediocre selection of stories redeemed by some really great prose. None of the five tales in this collection is particularly memorable or ambitious, but they are all fun, which, according to Ketchum's Afterword, was all the authors were really shooting for. (The Afterword, by the way, is one of the highlights of this book, revealing who contributed what to each story.) I'd probably have awarded this collection an extra star had the authors dialed down the sex a bit. I know this is "extreme fiction," but jeez. There's stuff in the first couple stories that would make the editors of PENTHOUSE blush.
Profile Image for Billy Wells.
Author 169 books37 followers
September 25, 2013
I enjoyed it but I barely remember the horror since it was secondary to the graphic sex which is the main theme of the stories. This was my first read of Edward Lee. I apparently have led a sheltered life and don't travel in Edward's circles, but it was enlightening.
Profile Image for chris.
901 reviews16 followers
August 26, 2025
I'm not really a fan of Edward Lee's writing style, but I enjoyed Jack Ketchum's contributions, as always.
Profile Image for Brandon S.
43 reviews4 followers
July 22, 2022
I'd Give Anything for You
Love Letters from the Rain Forest
and Sleep Disorder were all really good shorts. I enjoyed them in their complete form, and you can feel how the collaboration makes sense.

Eyes Left was easily my favorite story in this book. Apparently it was originally going to be for Skipp and Spector's Zombie anthologies (which makes complete sense) and I kinda wish it was in there, but I'm just glad the story got collected. It's really fun and an interesting concept. This story by itself is a five star for me.

The Mask...I might have to read again. It just wasn't doing anything for me. I realize it was trying to point to a lot of symbols to pick up on more information, but I may not have been in the right headspace, so it just felt like a throwaway.

The Last two stories are just the original concepts for I'd Give Anything for You and Sleep Disorder. It's interesting to see how they changed with the collaboration, but I mostly skimmed through them because they weren't that different. Sleep Disorder had a bit of a different ending though.

Solid overall collaboration from two guys I've come to respect.
Profile Image for Rhiannon Boyle.
255 reviews14 followers
February 20, 2025
2.5/5

This short collaborative collection between Ketchum and Lee was a long time coming when it arrived more than 20 years ago. And I’m kinda disappointed in the results.

Each author writes very differently, and I felt those differences were quite obvious, sometimes jarringly so, when reading individual stories. It was generally very clear which author was responsible for specific sentences/paragraphs. There wasn’t a real melding of the styles, which I found rather grating.

And although I’m a huge fan of Lee, and to a slightly lesser extent, Ketchum, I vastly preferred the obviously written Ketchum pieces/portions. The title story was the standout and the rest just fairly common splatter.
56 reviews1 follower
July 29, 2022
A very enjoyable collection of short stories that were, for me, very reminiscent of Tales from the Crypt which was a staple in my childhood. They all had a little twist in their conclusions.

Jack and Ed work well together as can be seen in the story Sleep Disorder. The ending is much better after they collaborated. I like the fact that they include drafts to really illustrate that these stories were better with both working on them.

This is my first read by either Jack Ketchum or Ed Lee and I'm very excited to read more by both of them.
Profile Image for Chuck Knight.
168 reviews10 followers
February 15, 2022
While I’m a fan of both authors, and also a fan of extreme horror, this collection somewhat underwhelmed me. The farther I got into the stories, the more repetitive and…gasp…boring they became. That is not to say they aren’t good stories, or poorly written, but perhaps this might be better ingested by putting a few days between reading each story.
Fans of Lee, Ketchum and extreme horror will absolutely enjoy this one.
Profile Image for Branden Tussing.
48 reviews1 follower
March 21, 2017
This was interesting in the aspect that it was, admittedly, written just for fun. Lee is mostly great in his own writing, so is Jack. I think they ended up taking away the most interesting parts of each other's writing when collaborating. Jack captures emotion and Edward makes you squirm. Together it turned the extreme emotion and extreme violence into something kind of bland. This is good for hardcore horror writers to read though. It had the originals of each story and the finished product after the collaboration. You get to see where each author made changes. Interesting but not their best work.
Profile Image for Michelle.
14 reviews3 followers
January 1, 2022
I was expecting horror, but this delivered only badly written and tedious sex stories. (I can't even call it erotica.) I couldn't finish it, but what I read did not leave me scared OR horny--only bored.
Profile Image for Francisco Becerra.
867 reviews11 followers
October 23, 2024
Being an anthology from these two masters of extreme horror, may bar was too high. Ketchum streamlines some of the most off-puting content by Lee, and the latter freshens out new perspectives for the former. The collabs are a good mix of them, very testosteronic and hypersexually charged.
508 reviews13 followers
February 5, 2020
Collaboration of short stories from two of the best
I enjoyed this but was expecting more gore
Well narrated and worth checking out
I received a free review audiobook and voluntarily left this review
Profile Image for Morgan.
105 reviews2 followers
May 22, 2021
A rather pedestrian and predictable set of short horror stories.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews

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