A Beard Tangled in Dreams: The True Story of Rip Van Winkle

by Steve Wiley

"Inventive revisioning of Washington Irving's 1819 classic Rip Van Winkle that explores the landscape of dreams" ~ Publishers Weekly Booklife Prize

Neil Gaiman meets Sigmund Freud in this imaginative retelling of the first American fairytale, Rip Van Winkle.

The original Rip Van Winkle was a modest sixty-four pages. Quite short for a tale spanning twenty years. Why so short? None of those pages accounted for all the years that languorous legend spent asleep. There has never been a single published word of what Rip dreamt all those years, until now. Those wildest of dreams follow Rip from the furthest reaches of his mysterious past, through every enchanted forest of folklore, to a wedding without end in the future. This remarkable sailing over the Sea of Dreams reveals not only the truth behind Rip Van Winkle and his notorious slumber, but the real meaning in dreams for us all.

From Fairytale Chicago author Steve Wiley comes another thought-provoking and unconventional fantasy, sure to help readers of all ages rediscover their own inner dreamer.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction

250 pages, Hardcover

Published August 1, 2022

About the author

Steve is a purveyor of the finest in speculative literature from Chicago. He has authored five novels and his short fiction has been published everywhere from Crannóg magazine in Galway, Ireland, to Papercuts Magazine in Pakistan. His most recent novel, The Curious Case of the Village in the Moonlight, an unconventional fantasy set within Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night, was released in September 2023.

For new title release and other information, visit Steve’s author website at https://www.absurdistfiction.com/.

Reviews

[Jeff B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a wonderful retelling of Rip Van Winkle originally by Washington Irving with a few twists and turns. While the original short story only focused on the day he went to sleep and the day he woke up, this book is mostly about those 20 years in between while he was in deep sleep and dreaming. In the world of dreams, there's a light house keeper named Deacon who is trying to investigate an errant dreamer (Rip Van Winkle) whose protracted dreams are wreaking havoc in this world. It's mostly a fantasy adventure with psychological elements.

I read the original story in preparation of reading this book, but there is no need to do so. The author made some changes to the original story such as having him childless and his dog having a normal life span and it pays off in the story the author tells. One of my problems with the original story is how badly Dame Van Winkle is portrayed. Like they own a farm and farms require work - is she that bad for expecting him to do a little work sometimes. Well, the author of this book doubles down and really drags Dame through the mud. Again, it works for the story he is telling, but I was sad she was portrayed as so heartless.

I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy or Rip Van Winkle or dreams in general. Don't sleep on this one (pun intended).

[Paula Ackley · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is something magical about A Beard Tangled in Dreams: The True Story of Rip Van Winkle. We all know the story by Washington Irving about the man who slept for 20 years. This book is the story behind the story. Why did Rip sleep that long and what was he dreaming? Full of the imaginings found in dreams Mr.Wiley's creative look into what occurs in dreams and why they happen will delight you and bring out the child that is still inside you that can still marvel, wonder and be fascinated by possibilities. There are also castles, knights, fauns, mermaids, fairies, wizards, flowers falling like rain and dreams of the past, present and future just to name a few of the curiosities in this entertaining book. It was a fun book to read.

[Belgis M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can’t believe I did not know about this book before!

I can’t believe I did not know about this book before! If I were to summarize it, it is about how all changes occur in the collective consciousness, in the dream real. So beautifully written,though!

[MBenzz · Rating 3 out of 5]

For some reason, I really struggled with this book. I should have loved it! A land of dreams, lighthouses, castles, and knights?! Hell, yeah! Unfortunately, this was a slog to get through.

Many people know the story of Rip Van Winkle, but what they don't know is what he was dreaming about for the 20 years he was asleep. This story (kind of?) gives us insight into what Rip was up to, I say 'kind of' because the bulk of this story is about a faun lighthouse keeper searching for Rip, and not so much about Rip himself.

Each chapter ends with a description of a real-life person's dream; Mary Shelley, John Adams, and others I can't remember because I didn't care. I thought those little snippets at the end of every chapter were unnecessary and boring. I get why the author included them in a book about dreams, but it takes you out of the story and seems like filler to make the book a little longer. I ended up skipping them about halfway through.

Overall, while I thought the story was a cool idea, something about the execution fell flat for me. There were parts I loved and parts I had to keep re-reading because I was dosing off. While I don't discourage anyone from reading this, this will definitely be a forgettable book for me for 2023.