"Riding the Nightmare" by Lisa Tuttle is a collection of twelve unsettling tales that showcase Tuttle's prowess in crafting weird and horror fiction. Known for her ability to disturb and unnerve readers, Tuttle delves into macabre scenarios and eerie encounters that linger in the mind long after the stories end.

In "Bits and Pieces," a woman discovers her lover has left behind his foot in her bed, setting off a series of unsettling events. "The Wound" explores the transformation of a platonic friendship between coworkers into something darker when one of them begins to bleed inexplicably. Meanwhile, "The Hungry Hotel" follows the protagonist as they reconnect with an old one-night stand at a mysterious hotel, leading to unforeseen consequences.

Among these tales is the rare novella "The Dragon's Bride," which has been newly revised and expanded for this edition. With an introduction by Neil Gaiman, who praises Tuttle as "the finest practitioner of unsettling fiction writing today," "Riding the Nightmare" promises to captivate readers with its chilling narratives and atmospheric storytelling.

This collection did not work for me. Sorry, I tried to put it down and then start it again when I was in the mood for it, but I just couldn't get into the stories.

I didn't really enjoy the stories. Some of them managed to build up tension, but eventually flattened out. Other were dragging, only to hit the reader with a strong but abrupt ending. So much of the horror was based on sexual violence and misogyny, that overall I felt tired, even if other motives caught my attention.

This is an excellent collection of unsettling, weird short stories with all of them concerning sex, death or both. I enjoyed them all but my favourite was definitely the last story and the longest in the collection ‘The Dragons Bride’. Impossible to stop reading this one!

Thank you Netgalley for the advance reader copy of Riding the Nightmare by Lisa Tuttle in exchange for an honest review. With an introduction by Neil Gaiman, I was excited to read this collection of short stories. Gaiman was correct in his praise as this was a fun and horrifying collage of tales that'll keep you interested all through the night.

I’ll admit I hadn’t heard of Lisa Tuttle but I was intrigued by the title and the cover, so I didn’t know what to expect but I’m positive I would not have been able to expect this book. These stories are bizarre, sometimes horrific, and the kind of stories that worm their way into your brain and don’t leave. This wasn’t a book of short stories that I devoured in one go because I found myself stopping after one or two so I could really absorb and process. I think I really liked The Wound and it took a twist I wasn’t really expecting which is always fun, I really liked The Dragon’s Bride as well even if I saw those twists coming. A couple of the stories were ok but lacked the heavy weirdly creepy factor I really enjoy from this author. I would definitely read more from Lisa Tuttle.

Riding the Nightmare by Lisa Tuttle

I immediately was interested in this collection of short stories because any collection that warrants an introduction from Neil Gaiman himself is extremely intriguing to me!

I would recommend this collection to readers who like horror that leaves you unsettled and makes you think. I think if you enjoy watching Black Mirror, you would enjoy reading this collection. It was creative and weird and awfully disturbing.

Really great book with amazing characters and a great plot. Was easy to get into and it was very engaging. This is a book that I can see a lot of people in YA enjoy.

Lisa Tuttle really knows how to write a compelling, creepy story, as evident in this captivating book of short stories. The novella "Dragon's Bride" is particularly good. A great collection!

This was my first collection by this author. I will have to pick up more. As with any collection there are good and bad. The title story, I didn't really get along with. I really felt disconnected the whole time. Maybe it leaned a little too fantasy fory taste. I lean more horror. I will absolutely be picking up more from this author.

There were some really strange and unique stories in this collection. I love how different it was from most of the stuff you find today.

Some of these short stories had me wishing they wouldn’t have ended. I do not read too many books like this but I am glad I did.

I read other books by Lisa Tuttle but this was brilliant. The cover is the representation of what I felt
Highly recommended
Many thanks to the publisher, all opinions are mine

Special thanks to Valancourt Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Weird. But I love weird and I love short stories. I've read a lot and this is one of the better ones.

My favorite was Bits and Pieces but they were all strangely pretty decent.

This was an unexpected book that I was allowed to read. It was a collection of horror stories and several were new or twists on well known tales. I really liked all of these tales, it was weird and horrific, but very enjoyable. It was that fine line of disturbing yet your interest was fully invested in reading the next tale.

This new collection from a Lisa Tuttle collects stories previously published between 1986 and 2017 with a new expanded version of 'The Dragon's Bride'. The stories seem to fit together in that they all explore unconventional types of relationships from the female prospective. The plots themselves are varied. Some worked better for me than others. This is a great release from Valancourt Books from this great author of Nest of Nightmares and Familiar Spirit.

Ride the Nightmare: Being second to a man in an open marriage isn't easy. For Tess it brings on a prophetic nightmare.The nightmare imagery is great. 4 stars

Bits and Pieces: A woman realizes the men that leave her life leave parts of themselves behind. In the pursuit of creating a perfect man she goes to great lengths to get what she wants. 3 stars

The Mezzotint: A woman finds a picture in her partner's office that reminds her of the messotint in the M. R. James story. 3 stars

After the End: This story tells that last case of C. Auguste Dupin. A very gothic feeling story. 3 stars

The Third Person: A woman asks her best friend to use her apartment once a week to have an affair which leads to unforeseen circumstances. 3 stars

The Wound: Two male teachers become friends over a love of opera that can become more complicated that you would think. 3 stars

The Man in the Ditch: A woman sees a man in the ditch on the drive to see their new home. She keeps having visions of this same man over her time in the house. This one has a great ending. 4 stars

The Last Dare: Two friends pass on the story of their experience in The Tower House, a creepy house in the neighborhood, to their grandchildren. Those grandchildren decide to explore the house as well. 4 stars

A Home in the Sky: A woman who has dreams of owning her own house has a strange experience in a miniature version of house being built in the area. 4 stars

The Hungry Hotel: A woman has a fling with a traveling musician while her fiance is out of town. 4 stars

The Dragon's Bride: A woman has repressed her visit to her aunt's house in England. When she returns after the death of her aunt she begins to remember. 4 stars

Average Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

I don't normally read short story collections but because Lisa Tuttle wrote this I knew I had to! Some of the stories are definitely unsettling while others were just plain weird and had me scratching my head. But overall, this collection kept me interested for hours so I'd say it was really good!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a free e-arc of this book, in exchange for an honest review.

Riding the Nightmare is a short story collection, where the stories all revolve around themes of sex, love and death. I really enjoyed this book! The stories were very well written, and had such a sense of slow, creeping dread, that built
Up to truly creepy endings. I highly recommend this one, and really enjoyed it.

I could not wait to read Lisa Tuttle and Neil Gaymans Riding The Nightmare and although some of the stories were really good and all were interesting I wouldn’t put them all under horror enough so there a type of story I call hide and seek horror. Where most of the story is just general fiction and the horror is revealed in the last few sentences and while some may like that I only find it OK. That’s not to say there weren’t some stand out story such as the mezzanine which became very creepy, not to mention being in that stage of a relationship where your partner wants to cuddle and although you’re over him it would be too much trouble to deny him. And the one who’s name I cannot remember where the girl makes a lover out of parts of her axle lovers… That was weird and good and the rest were good as well they just weren’t something I would call hora altogether though I would definitely put this as a three star solid read and if you’re worried about any triggers there’s really not any except for murder the dismantling of the human and I believe that’s it. I still definitely recommend this book as I am usually a rare opinion but also because I love Neil Gaiman books and despite them not being “horror“ the stories are still very very interesting. I want to thank Net Galley AN Valancourt books for my free Ark copy please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Any collection of Lisa Tuttle's work is undoubtedly a treat: 12 short stories, one of which is a novella, showcasing Tuttle's amazing talent in short story form. Most of the stories display her exceptional skill in characterization, and her inimitable style of multi-level narration, oscillating between description and allegory. Neil Gaiman warns these tales are not your standard kind of horror, if horror at all; he's absolutely right: most of the stories are bizarre, weird, singular in payoff yet so familiar in perspective. My favorites were the opening story, "Riding the Nightmare," a story about parenthood, life choices, and personal desires, that puts into question one's priorities in life by turning dreams into nightmares; "Bits and Pieces," the story that follows immediately after, full of creepy imagery and a wonderful ending, a story about sexual desire and female independence, that can be read either literally or metaphorically; "The Man in the Ditch," an original ghost story with a very unexpected ending; and the short novella ending the book, "The Dragon's Bride," that could have been a novel in itsef, full of atmosphere and a genuinely twisty ending!

Thank you to Netgalley and Valancourt Books for the early read!