Published: June 22, 2011
Words: 21523 (approximate)
Language: English

Short description

One day Spike is shocked to find her cell door open and so she ventures out, only to find the walls smeared with blood and the staff missing or dead. She escapes and ventures into a world that’s been driven mad by waking nightmares, where she’s now the sanest person alive. Searching for answers, Spike embarks on a road trip that will lead her from Beverly Hills to a nightmarish Texas compound.

Extended description

Ashley, a twentysomething California girl, is a postpunk who would rather be called Spike and who worries about money, her family, and freeway traffic. She’s also a violent paranoid schizophrenic living in a state facility west of Los Angeles, her disorder kept under control by confinement and the drug Prolixin.

One day Spike is shocked to find her cell door open and so she ventures out, only to find the walls smeared with blood and the staff missing or dead. She escapes and ventures into a world that’s been driven mad by waking nightmares, where she’s now the sanest person alive. Searching for answers, Spike embarks on a road trip that will lead her from Beverly Hills to a nightmarish Texas compound to the highest office in the land...

“A cold, calculating nightmare. Sharp as a finely honed blade. ‘The Lucid Dreaming’ cuts, separating the flesh before you even know you’ve been injured. It makes you bleed as a reader.” —Del Howison, Bram Stoker Award-winning edito... (Read more) Ashley, a twentysomething California girl, is a postpunk who would rather be called Spike and who worries about money, her family, and freeway traffic. She’s also a violent paranoid schizophrenic living in a state facility west of Los Angeles, her disorder kept under control by confinement and the drug Prolixin.

One day Spike is shocked to find her cell door open and so she ventures out, only to find the walls smeared with blood and the staff missing or dead. She escapes and ventures into a world that’s been driven mad by waking nightmares, where she’s now the sanest person alive. Searching for answers, Spike embarks on a road trip that will lead her from Beverly Hills to a nightmarish Texas compound to the highest office in the land...

“A cold, calculating nightmare. Sharp as a finely honed blade. ‘The Lucid Dreaming’ cuts, separating the flesh before you even know you’ve been injured. It makes you bleed as a reader.” —Del Howison, Bram Stoker Award-winning editor for Dark Delicacies
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Tags

hollywood, blood, murder, texas, insanity, madness, paranoid, paranoid schizophrenic

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Reviews

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Review by: Tee Light on June 25, 2011 :
Lisa Morton's novella "Lucid Dreaming" is a fun distopia story. With the zombie movie overtones and bleak look at the world post dreaming sickness the novella is perfect for people looking to read something fun and post apocolyptic.

The plot of "Lucid Dreaming" is pretty standard fare. A disease has taken over the world leaving a choice few to wander the wastes and try to put together something resembling normalcy. What is interesting in the plot is that the most dangerous person in the book is actually the protagonist, not the dreamers. It leads to some interesting dilemmas and interactions in the book. But it also leads to a plot that lacks any tension. Knowing that the main character is the actual character to fear, it makes the other threats kind of pale in comparison.

Spike, the main character of this novella, really carries the narration well. She is a fun character, and she is very believable. It would have been nice to actually hear more from the character. She has an interesting dichotomy about her that I feel could have held the narration in a longer work. In comparison to Spike, many of the other characters end up feeling a little bit flat.

The themes in this novella are interesting. There is a lovely push and pull between whether it is better to be a dreamer or a realist flowing through the work. There is also a question that begs to be asked. Where do we draw the line of sanity?

For anyone that likes to read a good distopian book, or anyone that wants to read a different kind of zombie story, this is just what you are looking for.
(reviewed within a week of purchase)

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