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Dreams of Thanatos: Collected Macabre Tales
DREAMS OF THANATOS: Collected Macabre Tales Dreams of Thanatos is a collection of macabre short fiction from William Cook, the author of the novel Blood Related.
- GenresHorror
252 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 17, 2014
1 person is currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
William Cook
32 books92 followersWilliam Cook was born and raised in New Zealand and is the author of the popular Psychological Thriller, 'Blood Related.' He is also the author of two non-fiction books: 'Gaze Into The Abyss: The Poetry of Jim Morrison' and 'Secrets of Best-Selling Self-Published Authors.'
He has also written many short stories that have appeared in anthologies and has authored two short-story collections ('Dreams of Thanatos' & 'Death Quartet') and two collections of poetry ('Journey: the search for something' & 'Corpus Delicti'). William writes Psychological Thrillers mostly, but also dabbles in Horror Fiction and, more recently, Non-Fiction.
He is currently hard at work on a sequel to his Psychological Thriller, 'Blood Related,' a second volume of 'Secrets of Best-Selling Self-Published Authors' and an exciting new Pulp Thriller Series all due out in 2016. Stay tuned!
William loves to stay in touch with his readers and interact on social media. You can find him via the following links:
Email: williamcookauthor@gmail.com
Twitter: @williamcook666
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WilliamCookW...
Grab a free copy of William's 250 pg collection, 'Dreams of Thanatos.' Sign up now for the VIP newsletter at: http://williamcookwriter.com/p/subscr... (just copy and paste into your browser).
His work has been praised by Graham Masterton, Joe McKinney, Billie Sue Mosiman, Anna Taborska, Rocky Wood and many other notable writers and editors. William is also the editor of the anthology 'Fresh Fear: Contemporary Horror,' published by James Ward Kirk Fiction.
Member of the Australian Horror Writers Association, SpecFicNZ & the SFFANZ.
"This man is simply scary. There is both a clinical thoroughness and a heartfelt emotional thoroughness to his writing. He manages to shock as well as empathize, to scare as well as acclimatize, yet beneath it all is a well read intelligence that demands to be engaged. I loved Blood Related. Ordinarily I hate serial killer stories, but William Cook won me over. He is a unique and innovative talent."
- Joe McKinney, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Flesh Eaters and Dog Days
"William Cook tells a gruesome story with a sense of authenticity that makes you question with considerable unease if it really is fiction, after all."
- Graham Masterton, author of The Manitou and Descendant
He has also written many short stories that have appeared in anthologies and has authored two short-story collections ('Dreams of Thanatos' & 'Death Quartet') and two collections of poetry ('Journey: the search for something' & 'Corpus Delicti'). William writes Psychological Thrillers mostly, but also dabbles in Horror Fiction and, more recently, Non-Fiction.
He is currently hard at work on a sequel to his Psychological Thriller, 'Blood Related,' a second volume of 'Secrets of Best-Selling Self-Published Authors' and an exciting new Pulp Thriller Series all due out in 2016. Stay tuned!
William loves to stay in touch with his readers and interact on social media. You can find him via the following links:
Email: williamcookauthor@gmail.com
Twitter: @williamcook666
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WilliamCookW...
Grab a free copy of William's 250 pg collection, 'Dreams of Thanatos.' Sign up now for the VIP newsletter at: http://williamcookwriter.com/p/subscr... (just copy and paste into your browser).
His work has been praised by Graham Masterton, Joe McKinney, Billie Sue Mosiman, Anna Taborska, Rocky Wood and many other notable writers and editors. William is also the editor of the anthology 'Fresh Fear: Contemporary Horror,' published by James Ward Kirk Fiction.
Member of the Australian Horror Writers Association, SpecFicNZ & the SFFANZ.
"This man is simply scary. There is both a clinical thoroughness and a heartfelt emotional thoroughness to his writing. He manages to shock as well as empathize, to scare as well as acclimatize, yet beneath it all is a well read intelligence that demands to be engaged. I loved Blood Related. Ordinarily I hate serial killer stories, but William Cook won me over. He is a unique and innovative talent."
- Joe McKinney, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Flesh Eaters and Dog Days
"William Cook tells a gruesome story with a sense of authenticity that makes you question with considerable unease if it really is fiction, after all."
- Graham Masterton, author of The Manitou and Descendant
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 5, 2015
From the Description:
Dreams of Thanatos is a collection of macabre short horror fiction from William Cook, the author of the novel Blood Related. Supernatural demons, murderers and ghosts roam these pages although the most horrifying aspect Cook describes, is the dark soul of humanity. Whether writing about the psychological horrors of modern life, or things that go ‘bump in the night,’ Cook’s writing is always “intense” and often “visceral” in his portrayal of the macabre. Included in this collection of fifteen stories is a novelette (Dead and Buried) and the origin story (Legacy: The Eternal Now and Thereafter) behind the novel, Blood Related.
WARNING: STRONG SCENES OF VIOLENCE AND HORROR (Not suitable for minors). READER DISCRETION STRONGLY ADVISED.
This collection of short stories has some that are gems and others that I didn't enjoy as much. All were well written and at times very disturbing. A great collection for horror lovers! My favorites Dead & Buried, The Night Terror, and Conceived By Death were all very dark and gruesome. Not safe for younger readers or those who want sparkly monsters. A solid 3.5 stars.
Dreams of Thanatos is a collection of macabre short horror fiction from William Cook, the author of the novel Blood Related. Supernatural demons, murderers and ghosts roam these pages although the most horrifying aspect Cook describes, is the dark soul of humanity. Whether writing about the psychological horrors of modern life, or things that go ‘bump in the night,’ Cook’s writing is always “intense” and often “visceral” in his portrayal of the macabre. Included in this collection of fifteen stories is a novelette (Dead and Buried) and the origin story (Legacy: The Eternal Now and Thereafter) behind the novel, Blood Related.
WARNING: STRONG SCENES OF VIOLENCE AND HORROR (Not suitable for minors). READER DISCRETION STRONGLY ADVISED.
This collection of short stories has some that are gems and others that I didn't enjoy as much. All were well written and at times very disturbing. A great collection for horror lovers! My favorites Dead & Buried, The Night Terror, and Conceived By Death were all very dark and gruesome. Not safe for younger readers or those who want sparkly monsters. A solid 3.5 stars.
May 21, 2016
Just finished reading "Dreams of Thanatos" Collected Macabre Tales, by William Cook. This is a collection of some wonderfully dark and beautifully horrid tales, and I loved it. I must say my favorite was "Aspects of Infinity" with lines like this, "The sun is purple and fills the tangerine hued sky. It's burning eminence pockets the loose change of oxygen, its twisting smile creases, dazzling." This was one of the most beautifully written stories I've read in a very long time. And then there's "Dead and Buried", which was, just simply put brilliant. That's 3 books I've read by William Cook, and I haven't been disappointed yet. I look forward to reading much more by this talented, brilliant author.....
May 21, 2022
I’ve read a couple of Cook’s shorter collections found once as kindle freebies and they were ok, entertaining enough. So I signed up for his newsletter and received this, a larger anthology of his work, in return.
And sadly, in a larger amount, his work ended up…well, not working for me. It isn’t that he can’t write…he can. Cook’s a pretty decent writer when he puts his mind to it. But…his mind and skills tends to wander, so that the results are wildly uneven
Take stories 4,5 and 6 of this anthology. Perfect examples. Either visceral nihilistic gore and guts sort of disgusting hyper realistic things or overwritten attempts at some sort of cosmic-style dense AF imagery-laden prose poetry.
Basically, Cook does several things over and over again. Abused children (so many), abused spouses, junkie, trashy people leading their trashy lives. It’s almost like reading the same story again and again from different angles. Barely any variety.
Cook’s also prone to really dense writing with nary a dialogue, so that entire stories go by in a fog of heavy narration. All tell no show.
So, overall, it seems repetitive, overwritten, and uneven. It seems that the author confuses intensity with viscerality and overdoes the latter for good measure, unable to tell the difference between heavy-hitting/poignant and just disgusting. Not terrible and decent enough for a freebie, but left a lot to be desired.
And sadly, in a larger amount, his work ended up…well, not working for me. It isn’t that he can’t write…he can. Cook’s a pretty decent writer when he puts his mind to it. But…his mind and skills tends to wander, so that the results are wildly uneven
Take stories 4,5 and 6 of this anthology. Perfect examples. Either visceral nihilistic gore and guts sort of disgusting hyper realistic things or overwritten attempts at some sort of cosmic-style dense AF imagery-laden prose poetry.
Basically, Cook does several things over and over again. Abused children (so many), abused spouses, junkie, trashy people leading their trashy lives. It’s almost like reading the same story again and again from different angles. Barely any variety.
Cook’s also prone to really dense writing with nary a dialogue, so that entire stories go by in a fog of heavy narration. All tell no show.
So, overall, it seems repetitive, overwritten, and uneven. It seems that the author confuses intensity with viscerality and overdoes the latter for good measure, unable to tell the difference between heavy-hitting/poignant and just disgusting. Not terrible and decent enough for a freebie, but left a lot to be desired.
February 13, 2015
Dreams of Thanatos is a twisted work that will have you at one moment nauseous from disgust, followed by moments of empathy for the situations many of the protagonists find themselves in, no matter the horrific outcome of the tale. On some level, they touch something inside, or at least they did for this reader. Each story is self contained and I enjoyed the author's ability to portray different voices of varying ages and gender; each presented as a unique and fully formed character. The stories do a lot to capture the psychological horrors of modern life, or things of a more supernatural bent. The stories are often intense and visceral; the author does not shy away from showing you the end. Definitely a nice take on the macabre.
June 28, 2015
Cook has a strong storytelling ability. A poetic touch of darkness with sentences that will blow your mind. Although for me the stories and their pace are a little too slow for me. My Favorites from this collection are below.
"The Kaleidoscope Kid" a demon of psychedelic visuals. Haunts the mind of one man to a point of insanity.
"What a Man Wants" the gambler, the one-night stand and a deathly ending. Is that what a Man Wants?
"The Night Terror" A visionary scripture of what the darkness came for. Darkly and poetic.
"The Kaleidoscope Kid" a demon of psychedelic visuals. Haunts the mind of one man to a point of insanity.
"What a Man Wants" the gambler, the one-night stand and a deathly ending. Is that what a Man Wants?
"The Night Terror" A visionary scripture of what the darkness came for. Darkly and poetic.
June 29, 2016
Macabre and creepy, this absolutely fascinating book, though I wouldn't recommend reading it with the lights out.
I thought my favourite was 'til Death do us Part, a story of obsession overtaking love, but then I reached the last story and I knew that Dead and Buried was the one that would stay with me the longest.
It was heartbreaking but with an ultimately satisfying outcome that made me hopeful for all the underdogs.
If you like the creep factor you will love this book.
I thought my favourite was 'til Death do us Part, a story of obsession overtaking love, but then I reached the last story and I knew that Dead and Buried was the one that would stay with me the longest.
It was heartbreaking but with an ultimately satisfying outcome that made me hopeful for all the underdogs.
If you like the creep factor you will love this book.
July 3, 2015
Full review too come..
March 7, 2018
Cried
These stories are sad yet scary. I really enjoyed this book. I cried at some parts. The last story is my favorite.
These stories are sad yet scary. I really enjoyed this book. I cried at some parts. The last story is my favorite.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews