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Until She Sleeps
If you purchase this eBook version of Tim Lebbonâ s Until She Sleeps, you are eligible to win a limited-edition, autographed hardcover copy of Until She Sleeps and an autographed paperback copy of Echo City and 30 Days of Fear of the Dark along with a personal note from Tim Lebbon.
This eBook has a code in it that can be used to enter this contest.
Contest ends on March 31, 2011. The winner will be randomly drawn from all entries on April 4, 2011.
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300 years ago, a white witchwho absorbed the nightmares of others, was buried alive in the basement of a church. When she is accidentally unearthed, the nightmares become reality and death follows.
It's up to thirteen-year-old Andy to stop her before she destroys the town.
This eBook has a code in it that can be used to enter this contest.
Contest ends on March 31, 2011. The winner will be randomly drawn from all entries on April 4, 2011.
---
300 years ago, a white witchwho absorbed the nightmares of others, was buried alive in the basement of a church. When she is accidentally unearthed, the nightmares become reality and death follows.
It's up to thirteen-year-old Andy to stop her before she destroys the town.
- GenresHorror
185 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
94 people want to read
About the author
Tim Lebbon
295 books1,539 followersI love writing, reading, triathlon, real ale, chocolate, good movies, occasional bad movies, and cake.
I was born in London in 1969, lived in Devon until I was eight, and the next twenty years were spent in Newport. My wife Tracey and I then did a Good Thing and moved back to the country, and we now live in the little village of Goytre in Monmouthshire with our kids Ellie and Daniel. And our dog, Blu, who is the size of a donkey.
I love the countryside ... I do a lot of running and cycling, and live in the best part of the world for that.
I've had loads of books published in the UK, USA, and around the world, including novels, novellas, and collections. I write horror, fantasy, and now thrillers, and I've been writing as a living for over 8 years. I've won quite a few awards for my original fiction, and I've also written tie-in projects for Star Wars, Alien, Hellboy, The Cabin in the Woods, and 30 Days of Night.
A movie's just been made of my short story Pay the Ghost, starring Nicolas Cage and Sarah Wayne Callies. There are other projects in development, too.
I'd love to hear from you!
I was born in London in 1969, lived in Devon until I was eight, and the next twenty years were spent in Newport. My wife Tracey and I then did a Good Thing and moved back to the country, and we now live in the little village of Goytre in Monmouthshire with our kids Ellie and Daniel. And our dog, Blu, who is the size of a donkey.
I love the countryside ... I do a lot of running and cycling, and live in the best part of the world for that.
I've had loads of books published in the UK, USA, and around the world, including novels, novellas, and collections. I write horror, fantasy, and now thrillers, and I've been writing as a living for over 8 years. I've won quite a few awards for my original fiction, and I've also written tie-in projects for Star Wars, Alien, Hellboy, The Cabin in the Woods, and 30 Days of Night.
A movie's just been made of my short story Pay the Ghost, starring Nicolas Cage and Sarah Wayne Callies. There are other projects in development, too.
I'd love to hear from you!
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 11, 2013
4.5 Stars
Until She Sleeps is a fantastic short horror novel by my favorite author today, Tim Lebbon. This book is a story about a 300 year old witch, a coming of age story for her distant grandson, and a nightmare of nightmares. The setting, the story, and the plot are all straight lined with few turns or surprises. Lebbon’s imagery and gift of writing out suspense is what makes this book work as well as all of his materials special.
“He tumbled headlong into the ditch.
It was only three feet deep but he seemed to fall forever, spinning in the air, rolling over and over, but whichever way he turned his eyes were locked with those of the baby. Its black eyes.
Kurt tried to cry out but he was still yawning. And falling. The baby looked at him and as he neared it – his short fall impossibly endless – he nudged aside bushes and fronds and gained a clearer view. The child’s skin was split around the joints: knees; elbows; shoulders; neck. It looked as if a larger person had been shoved and forced into this infant’s body.
And its eyes … black as sleep, dark as a the starless night at the end of time.”
I love the way that Tim Lebbon writes, his imagery, and his imagination, they all come to life on the page:
“Andy had never felt so alone, so exposed and ironically so claustrophobic as at that moment. The initial impression that hit him was one of space: the horizon was as distant as he’d ever seen it, and it ran straight; the sky was wide, dark, endless; even the gentle hills to his left and right seemed ten miles high and a hundred wide. He was tiny, unknown and unknowing, and in that place where size was everything he was totally imprisoned by scale.”
This is a fast read with a few tense moments and an ending that pulls it all together. I love Tim Lebbon and cannot recommend him with enough praise. Highly Recommended!!!
Until She Sleeps is a fantastic short horror novel by my favorite author today, Tim Lebbon. This book is a story about a 300 year old witch, a coming of age story for her distant grandson, and a nightmare of nightmares. The setting, the story, and the plot are all straight lined with few turns or surprises. Lebbon’s imagery and gift of writing out suspense is what makes this book work as well as all of his materials special.
“He tumbled headlong into the ditch.
It was only three feet deep but he seemed to fall forever, spinning in the air, rolling over and over, but whichever way he turned his eyes were locked with those of the baby. Its black eyes.
Kurt tried to cry out but he was still yawning. And falling. The baby looked at him and as he neared it – his short fall impossibly endless – he nudged aside bushes and fronds and gained a clearer view. The child’s skin was split around the joints: knees; elbows; shoulders; neck. It looked as if a larger person had been shoved and forced into this infant’s body.
And its eyes … black as sleep, dark as a the starless night at the end of time.”
I love the way that Tim Lebbon writes, his imagery, and his imagination, they all come to life on the page:
“Andy had never felt so alone, so exposed and ironically so claustrophobic as at that moment. The initial impression that hit him was one of space: the horizon was as distant as he’d ever seen it, and it ran straight; the sky was wide, dark, endless; even the gentle hills to his left and right seemed ten miles high and a hundred wide. He was tiny, unknown and unknowing, and in that place where size was everything he was totally imprisoned by scale.”
This is a fast read with a few tense moments and an ending that pulls it all together. I love Tim Lebbon and cannot recommend him with enough praise. Highly Recommended!!!
October 30, 2021
You should never piss off a witch.
August 4, 2016
At under 200 pages, this would be classified as a horror novella, and I should have been able to read it quickly, but, and this could be a reflection either of me or the book, I struggled to make my way through it.
It’s about a young teenage lad in a rural British village who discovers that he’s related to a white witch who, hundreds of years earlier, ‘ate’ the nightmares of the villagers. Those nightmares have now been released, affecting the modern-day villagers.
I’ve not read anything by Lebbon before. He’s British and I really wanted to like this, but there was so very little to like.
It wasn’t clear what was happening until the last few pages – which is sometimes the case with horror novels – but, in this case, it just meant I spent the first 90% of the book feeling confused.
The first section – mainly about the main character – contained much of the usual coming-of-age stuff which Stephen King (for example) does so much better. And then the second section was, basically, one long dream sequence. Sadly this was about as boring as it is when someone starts telling you about their own dreams.
I was walking through a jungle and then I closed my eyes and when I opened them again I was standing alone in a desert and the sky was blue then it was black then I was in a dark damp house and something was moving in the corner and then I felt elated and then I felt sick and then the sky turned green and then there was a really loud noise etc etc etc
Very disappointing. Sorry, Tim.
1/10
It’s about a young teenage lad in a rural British village who discovers that he’s related to a white witch who, hundreds of years earlier, ‘ate’ the nightmares of the villagers. Those nightmares have now been released, affecting the modern-day villagers.
I’ve not read anything by Lebbon before. He’s British and I really wanted to like this, but there was so very little to like.
It wasn’t clear what was happening until the last few pages – which is sometimes the case with horror novels – but, in this case, it just meant I spent the first 90% of the book feeling confused.
The first section – mainly about the main character – contained much of the usual coming-of-age stuff which Stephen King (for example) does so much better. And then the second section was, basically, one long dream sequence. Sadly this was about as boring as it is when someone starts telling you about their own dreams.
I was walking through a jungle and then I closed my eyes and when I opened them again I was standing alone in a desert and the sky was blue then it was black then I was in a dark damp house and something was moving in the corner and then I felt elated and then I felt sick and then the sky turned green and then there was a really loud noise etc etc etc
Very disappointing. Sorry, Tim.
1/10
April 10, 2017
A decent enough story, but one that never burrows into your mind or crawls under your skin. UNTIL SHE SLEEPS feels like Tim Lebbon scooped up some Stephen King leftovers and accidentally gave them freezer burn before re-heating them too long in the microwave. Still an enjoyable meal, but lacking that original juicy flavor.
Although short enough to be considered a novella, UNTIL SHE SLEEPS seems a lot longer than its true page count. For one thing, it spends too much time developing one-scene characters whose only purpose in the story is to die. Lebbon's prose feels wordy, and he works overtime trying to inspire within his readers a vague feeling of childhood nostalgia--a feeling that was completely lost on me, since I was never the sort of thirteen-year-old who relished in smoking cigarettes, dropping the c-word, or pushing my friends off their bikes the way these protagonists do.
UNTIL SHE SLEEPS is imaginative and well-written, but ultimately it didn't connect with me. I appreciated what Lebbon was trying to do here, but was rather bored by what he actually did.
Although short enough to be considered a novella, UNTIL SHE SLEEPS seems a lot longer than its true page count. For one thing, it spends too much time developing one-scene characters whose only purpose in the story is to die. Lebbon's prose feels wordy, and he works overtime trying to inspire within his readers a vague feeling of childhood nostalgia--a feeling that was completely lost on me, since I was never the sort of thirteen-year-old who relished in smoking cigarettes, dropping the c-word, or pushing my friends off their bikes the way these protagonists do.
UNTIL SHE SLEEPS is imaginative and well-written, but ultimately it didn't connect with me. I appreciated what Lebbon was trying to do here, but was rather bored by what he actually did.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews