So weird again but so intriguing and things are starting to come together...
Thanks to NetGalley, the editor and the author for the opportunity to access this advanced copy.

An interesting collection of short stories in the vien of cosmic horror, with a more modern feel (I assume theres an actual term for it). This was my first foray into The Bedlam Bible series, and I will check out the others after this. The seemingly unrelated stories all worked together and intertwined brilliantly, offering an extra element to the collection.
I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did a fantastic job.

Interesting, creepy, weird, trippy, gripping. The ending was an unexpected twist. A real page turner,
Well done.

This is my second William Pauley III book. And each time I’ve read his books all I can think is “wtf is happening “ yet everything always comes and around and connects perfectly and yet you’re still left thinking “wtf”

I love this series and since I’ve already listened to 2 of the novellas, I will surely be reading more. Each book is weird and gorey. They are fast paced and intricate.

Audiobook ARC received by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book is.... bizarre to say the least! I was intrigued by the description but I didn't know what to expect exactly. A lot of it felt like a weird, dark, at times confusing fever dream. I liked that the stories were connected and the narrator was very good. Ultimately I enjoyed the book but didn't love it, I don't know if it was for me. I would cautiously recommend it, though, and I'd give another book from the series a try (this is the only one I've read/listened to).

Thank you to Doom Fiction and NetGalley for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.


This is the 3rd audiobook from William Pauley III for me and I will admit I liked this one. #1 was my favorite, #2 was too weird but this was was just weird enough. I liked that fact that this one did not have as much sexual content as the others. I like weird, but could do without the sex. This one had a connect to the prior Tower books but not necessary to read any others to follow this one.
Not recommended if you do not like weird, bizarre and gross.

Brief, grotesque and absurd. Exactly what I've come to expect from the Bedlam Bible series. I listened to this as an audiobook while playing video games and it's good fun! I don't feel like it has any greater depth or intrigue that would make me rate it higher, but it's a fun and quick horror story.

I saw one of the other reviewers mention this could be enjoyed as a stand alone, but I wonder if maybe some background from the previous books would have made it better, or if maybe this just wasn't for me. It wasn't awful, but I really couldn't bring myself to care about it one way or the other. It was a short listen, so I was able to finish anyway, but if it were longer I would have been debating whether or not to give it up. I am unfamiliar with the series, though, so maybe I am just missing something that might have made it more enjoyable.

Wow, that was weird.

William Paley III is a new discovery of mine, writing in a genre I didn’t even know existed until recently. The New Weird genre is a reboot of the Weird Fiction genre of which HP Lovecraft is the most popular specimen. Weird Fiction was sometimes called "tentacle fiction" because of its proclivity for strange creatures other than the typical werewolves/vampires/etc. The New Weird genre is notably eclectic and known for mixing mythology and urban, mundane and exotic, and this book is no exception.

I ran across this book on NetGalley and immediately just based on the cover alone I knew I had to read more. You’ve got this pink-suited astronaut chick with some kind of multi colored orb surrounded by pink skulls and luminous creatures floating in an apparently underwater world, which is itself encapsulated in a huge pink brain. The description is six words: “A poisoned man dreams of astronauts.” Uh. Ok, that doesn’t sound like much of a “premise”…

And that alone feels bold; everything about this feels bold and intentionally weird, like the author is saying: come with me, and I will bring you on a fever dreamish descent into madness where we see just how deep the rabbit-hole goes, my friend. To top it all off, the small press publisher, Doom Fiction, says its mission statement is to destroy the world through infecting minds by using weapons constructed only of paper and carefully placed words. Ha. The author’s bio reads: “William Paley does not exist.”

I immediately had a feeling this was the kind of guy who has a weird sense of humor that I (and few others) love. I checked him out on Substack and then discovered him pulling off some awesome shenanigans…he posted about how he had this dream last night that his Christmas tree ate his dog. This garnered some responses, to which he also responded, and in the comments, more macabre details came out of his horrific dog eating tree dream. He ended with something along the lines of, “I’m thinking about cutting it up into a million pieces and burning it. The tree, that is, not the dog.”

So I had to read this book.

And in many ways it did not disappoint. He has a way of describing things that gives you that growing sense of horror as more is gradually revealed. He also writes in a surreal style that reminds me of a dream. The characters sometimes can't believe it themselves and keep trying to either wake up or stop hallucinating, but no, unfortunately, it appears that they cannot escape from their experience.

Themes: dreaming, body horror, losing sanity, lucid dreams dripping with portents, and isolation. There are also sometimes Biblical undertones. Overall there is a sense of simultaneous wonder and horror at discovering monsters and/or locations that are terrifying and overwhelming to any mortal human. That's one of the things horror can do best: confronting us with the knowledge of our own mortality.

There is one story also that has a character with a hypersexual mindset. It's less explicit and more just disturbing. Disturbing is, really, the word for most of these stories. These stories are for if you want to fall down the rabbit hole with someone losing their sanity. The story I just referred to actually has probably the most compelling character in the whole book though, even though she isn't exactly a good person; she's negligent of her child and obsessive; she's an addict, and I can relate to her mindset because I have addictions too, and I understand that addiction brings us down to terrible levels much lower than who we were created to be. She's addicted to using her phone to try to hook up with guys, essentially. You get all of the misgivings, the back-and-forth, the self doubt, the rationalizations, all of that that makes humans in distress so nuanced. She's very human, although I do wonder if she is truly representative of the female mindset, I do feel that it represents the addictive mindset very well, although I don't know that the author ever uses the word "addict."

The first and last stories are not so much astronaut stories; they are both squarely inside Tower Block 8, a location filled with terrors. Both of those stories involve mysteries being revealed surrounding the Captain and the Bedlam Bible and feel like they tie more into the whole of the overarching story of othe the Bedlam Bible series. As for the other stories in between, these were more actually about astronauts, but it's less clear how some of them connect. One of them is very apocalyptic. I will say, I don't think that by the end of the book I had learned very much definitive information about the overarching story. But I don't think that's mainly what the author was trying to do.

How do I rate this book? The story about the addict made it worth reading for me. The other stories had their moments but ultimately I wasn't sure what to make of them. There's an interesting Hell story, and an interesting Church of Death on the Moon which was interesting but random. Normally I dock points from stories that feel like they have elements that are too random, but I also feel like that's kind of the point of this genre (I'm intuiting that)...it's like a bad dream. When the next striking thing happens, it's not logical, but it may be evocative and have great symbolic meaning...ultimately it gets hard though if you're never really sure what the symbols represent. I guess I didn't have enough to work with to make these stories feel truly "Great" to me; some of them remained feeling a bit random. One of them, about "negative waves," was not horrific.

So this collection wasn't perfect. Still somehow glad I read it; there were several very memorably, visceral, striking moments. The book is what it is. Ratings are all subjective made-up constructs anyways; I should just pick a rating and move on. I think I’ll round up because of how original the stories are.

I'm curious to read more by this author.

This was a wild ride! I got this as an audio ARC from NetGalley and it was a quick read with fantastic narration. It pulled me in and did a great job with the cosmic horror/ sci-fi horror. I was hooked from the beginning and felt a range of emotions while listening to this. The only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is because there were a few details throughout that didn’t quite connect for me, but those little moments were not substantial enough to bring me out of the feeling of the story, I just had a few lingering questions. However, those may be answered if there’s more to come in this series, and if so, I will absolutely be picking them up. If you’re into this vein of horror, you will enjoy this.

I've been working my way through the audios of this series and I cannot find the words to properly express how amazingly perfect Connor Brannigan is as a narrator for this series. His narration is hypnotic and eerie it setting the perfect atmosphere to be fully immersed in Pauley's writing. I love this combination so much. (I think I've said as much in each of my previous reviews.)

This is the third book I've read (listened to) by Pauley and it was just as wildly bizarre, horrific and entertaining as the other two- I cannot wait to jump into the next!

This is going to sound weird given the type of book it is but it is kind of boring, The narration is well done but the story itself feels like its trying to hard to be weird, which its not (I hope).

Thank you Doom Fiction Audio for accepting my request to read and review The Astronaut Dream Book on NetGalley.

Author: William Pauley, III

Argh. Sadly, when I requested this book as well as Fight Tub on the same NetGalley visit, I didn't pay attention to the author. There would be no discussion. Previously The Tower caught my eye, also written by Pauley, and it was a huge disappointment.

The language is foul and trashy. The premises are intriguing; however, I'm so uncomfortable listening and physically reading I can't focus. There is no entertainment.

Three times, three strikes.

There's a lot going on here and it was a bit confusing at first but it all came together nicely. Thanks to Netgalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook

This is my first horror book and I must say that it was interesting. It's not as scary as I thought I would be rather it felt like where my mind goes when I'm daydreaming sometimes. The narrator also made the time fly and I enjoyed his narration.

Thank you Netgalley and Doom fiction for the ARC in exchange of an honest review

I have to say that I have not read or listened to the first 2 in the series, but I don't think you need to to enjoy book 3. Book 3 is weird, captivating, and horrifying. The stories are not cohesive but an intertwining story. As the title, suggests listening to this book feels like a twisted dream that you are not for sure you had. The author knows how to write an alien atmosphere that feels realistic. Though this is short, the writing is full suspense with a mix of gore and disturbing scenes. Now I have to go back and get the first two books.

The narrator Connor Brannigan is a great choice for this book. His voice is deep and smooth and easy to listen to. It has a hypnotic feel that draws you in and never lets go which is perfect for this strange book. I couldn't have chosen a better person to narrate this eerie little book.

I want to thank Netgalley for an ARC if the audiobook of The Astronaut Dream Book. If you want something creepy and strange, then this book is for you.

This whole series is very different from other horror that I've read in the past. It was kind of fun, but also intensely disturbing. It's a good series to give a chance too.

This book is so chaotic and unsettling, it reminds me of a dream that sticks with you long after you've woken up. It's perfect for the Halloween season and I will definitely be returning to it in the future.

This is just 2 hours long with few short stories. Again the narration is just amazing. I liked first story but others were just okay.

There's something strange but good about the way William Pauley III writes that it gets you hooked. Whether you like where the story goes, doesn't even matter. He just has a way to keep the reader engaged. Not my favorite among his books but definitely good.

Thank you Netgalley and Doom fiction for the ARC in exchange of an honest review.

The Astronaut Dream Book was nothing like I was expecting. It was graphic, strange and odd in the best way possible and I really liked it!

The audiobook narrator did an excellent job and I will definitely be looking for more books by not only the author but the narrator as well.