Upon a Waking Dream is a short speculative fiction anthology set that mostly plays around with sci-fi and some bordering the realm of supernatural fiction. I think each story was the right length, which was good for holding my attention, and varied in formats, which was fun. It's a good start for sci-fi curious people that don't want to read the overly technical and detailed expositions about the fictional science so this book will be quite appealing.

Thanks to Netgalley and J.S. Bailey for providing me with the e-ARC/DRC in exchange for an hoenst review.

Upon a Waking Dream is a super fun and interesting collection of short stories by author J.S Bailey!

I loved how fun they were, how they made me think and ponder the possibilities or what I would do if I found myself apart of these stories.

I don’t remember if I had an imaginary friend, but Molly’s imaginary friend Larry would be the king of imaginary friend anyone would wish to have!

Do you ever ponder immortality and whether you would truly want it? One of these stories will have you doing just that!

Is there a celebrity crush you’ve had that you just know in your heart that if you had met you would have been the love of each others lives? I can definitely say I’ve thought about this!

All in all, if you’re looking for a way to dip your toe into Sci-Fi this might be the perfect read as it’s short and sweet and oh so interesting!

Highly recommend this quick read! I loved all the stories immensely especially the house with and inside but no outside…yes you heard that correct!

A bunch of really beautiful short stories! Most of them entertaining and some even made me cry. The last story was definitely my favourite!

J. S. Bailey's Upon a Waking Dream is a collection of short stories that dive into the science fiction/fantasy genre. I was a huge fan of this collection. It is refreshing to read something of substance that isn't a whole novel itself. The stories were entertaining, funny, unique, and just downright fun to read. I really enjoyed them all and I also loved the afterword that gives a quick glimpse into the backstory of each one. I am not always a fan of sci-fi but she does a wonderful job at grabbing your attention and making them fun to read.
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this ARC.
*All thoughts and words are my own.

i flew this book. sometimes there is nothing better than reading some short stories. i'm also doing a short story module in my uni degree so i loved to see techniques that i have been learning about in some of these short stories. i loved how unique some of these stories were - especially the one with the flat earther being taken into space! the creativity in this book is extremely prevalent. However, there were a few of the short stories that i just sadly could not get into, but not everything is for everyone. the vast majority of them, i loved, but some of them did not hit the spot.

if anyone is looking for a book that is under 200 pages, then i highly recommend this. i also recommend it if you are in a reading slump and want something to kick-start you back into reading.

thank you for letting me read this!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for my honest review. A large thanks to J.S. Bailey as well for writing and publishing this fun collection!

Upon a Waking Dream is comprised of twelve speculative fiction stories, ranging from a flat earther abducted by aliens to a traveling house without an outside. Some stories present familiar concepts with a new spin, and others appear completely out-of-the-box.

Even when discussing difficult topics, Bailey adopts a quirky, almost whimsical tone. Her stories are each short and read quickly. My favorite chapters include “The Family Name,” “The Last to Pass,” and “The House with an Inside but No Outside.” Bailey’s characterization is distinct and clear, and she skillfully builds senses of tension. She is not afraid to experiment with plots and prose, resulting in several fun tales!

Although Upon is short fiction, a few of the stories (“The Family Name,” “No Good Reason”) felt as if they ended abruptly or could use more pages to go in-depth. Additionally, some stories prompt reflection, but others lack a certain thought-provoking punch that, in my experience, holds the appeal of short fiction.

Overall, I rate Upon 3.5/5 stars. It is tight and entertaining, if a bit light. I will have to check out more of Bailey’s writing.

I dove in to this book blind and no information about the author at all. It was a surprisingly nice experience and I did not even notice I finished it in a day.

"Upon a Waking Dream contains twelve science fiction and fantasy tales from the mind of J. S. Bailey, ten of them never before published"

The short stories comprised of tales that were downright amusing, sad to batsh*t crazy. I think that was the beauty of reading different timelines and concepts on one book- you get to experience myriad of emotions in one sitting. Reading through the stories sounded like sifting through thoughts down the memory lane with the author, which is not bad considering some of those were actually thoughts that plagued us one way or the other.


Albeit, the some of the stories were really cool, I just hoped these are just some prompts for a more evolved storyline or turned into a full novel

I am not the biggest science fiction reader and I thought these selection of short stories was an excellent way to get me to read more science fiction. There wasn't a single story that I did not enjoy. They all felt very flushed out and all had interesting concepts.

My favourites would be Daily Log from Outpost #602, Inheritance, and Letter from Glomsuet.

Release date: March 7th, 2023

If you're a fan of short story collections, this is the book for you. Bailey brings freshness to each story in "Upon a Waking Dream" as well as bright and clever ideas. I think this fits the sci-fi genre beautifully and has some stories that are really bound to make you think about the way we view the world and the people that surround us! I had never read anything by this author before but upon reading this, I will absolutely be seeking out more of his work.

***4.0 Stars***

Overall,
This was a highly enjoyable collection of science fiction/fantasy short stories. It was easy to read and come back too after i had finished one story and moved on to another. I would definitely recommend this book to all science fiction/fantasy readers.

***I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my free and honest review. Thank you for the opportunity to read this book early #UponAWakingDream #NetGalley ***

I did not enjoy Upon a Waking Dream by J.S. Bailey. The premise seemed something I would really enjoy but it never clicked for me. A lot of the stories read as aggressively simplistic. Almost all the narrators are inane, irritating and kind of ridiculous characters. Extreme motivations and no common sense, which made it hard to connect with or enjoy the stories. The narrative voice sounded the same in every story so it was hard to differentiate the characters. They are so “golly gee” “aw shucks” and exuberant. They feel so false.

I only finished it because it was an arc to review. I found each story painfully dull, pointless, and nonsensical but not in a good way. I feel like it was attempting satire half the time and not succeeding.

This is how you make great plot twists and write really ridiculous sci-fi/fantasy tales without being cringy. Overall, the stories have a good level both in plot and development, all were entertaining and have a final that makes my jaw drop, like super low.
The one critique I have is a few of the stories are much longer than they should be, sometimes I was a bit bored, so I was counting the pages that were left for the next chapter. But that grand finales made it completely worth it.
My favourite one was The Men of her Dreams, I really loved the protagonist, she's so real in her own way and I can really connect with her. Also loved the transformation of Tom Cruise... I mean, Tom "Suarez".
I super recommend this book to anyone with a little bit of free time, there will always be something special in there for you.
🌙━━━━━•°•°•❈•°•°•━━━━━🌙
A comment that I don't share in my public reviews, because I want to have a spoiler free content. I Really liked the explanations in the end, I have never seen something like that in a book and gave me a little bit more of context, special the Jay one, I never make the connection Jay=Jesus but when I read it my head explodes because it has a lot of sense!
Other thing I have to clarify is that I'm a Chilean bookstagramer, so all my content on Instagram is in Spanish, but I left an English review in my Goodreads for you to check, the stories one is the same but translated to my native language so don't worry.

I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. Ranging from alien abduction to imaginary friends, the stories are refreshing, thoughtful, and often hilarious. Each story is well written, with a plot twist or ending that is unexpected. The stories range in genre from sci-fi to mystery. Easy to pick up a chapter, this has me hoping to find more short story collections.

Unfortunately I dnf'd this book. Probably it wasn't my cup of tea.

*Thank you to NetGalley and J. S. Bailey for providing me this arc for an honest review*

Upon a Waking Dream is a collection of 12 sci-fi/fantasy short stories, on one end you have a flat earther who gets abducted by aliens, and the other a traveling whimsical house that has no outside. An entertaining span of stories to be sure. My favorites were Letter from Glomsuet (Flat earther who is abducted by aliens), Jay (if Jesus was here in present day), Inheritance (a magical pen connecting generations), The Last to Pass (What if humanity solved Death?), and The House With an Inside But No Outside (girl finds magical house in the woods). This was my first time reading J.S. Bailey's work and I enjoyed a lot of the concepts that she came up with, they were all very imaginative. Most of these stories could be made into novels, or even series. That being said, I think a lot of the charm and magic of the story comes from it being so short and leaving it open to the reader to think about.

Some of the negatives now, the only story I really did not care for was The Man of Her Dreams. I thought that one was just annoying to read about, because of the 'main character' being so self centered and basically being a stalker. I could have done without that one.

Thirteen was another one I think we could have done without. Even for a short story I don't think there was much there to work with. It was just an eerie encounter I suppose.

The Family Name was just depressing to think about because it is basically what modern day could be like in the blink of an eye

But those 3 don't negate that I did enjoy the rest of the stories. I would definitely read her work again!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ecopy Arc in exchange for an honest review

I would read more from this author. I mostly enjoyed reading this. Not a perfect or memorable read but entertaining enough. Will look out for more in the future in between my must-reads. Thank you to the author and publisher and NetGalley for this opportunity.

Upon a Waking Dream is a collection of 12 science fiction short stories. As with all short story collections, I felt that some stories were stronger than others, but as a whole, I felt that they were a bit too short for me to be able to connect.

While Bailey has a clear voice and the stories were really well written, I unfortunately did not really enjoy the content of the stories.

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

These short stories were very interesting! They kept me engaged overall even though this isn't my typical type of reading. I liked the fantasy-esque feel of some of the stories since that is my favourite genre!

Upon a waking dream is a collection of twelve short stories of the sci-fi and obscure kind. From a flat earther who meets a real alien, a woman creating a new universe just to live with her celebrity crush, a college dropout with an imaginary friend and of course, unlucky thirteen - or is it?

This read like episodes in a weird and wacky TV series on all things strange. Touching on everything, including aliens and Fae, this one will have something for everyone. I found myself thinking too much on all of them after I finished, and it was a great thing. This is perfect for fans of the Twilight Zone and anyone who just loves a compilation of short stories to break up the monotony of today.

A big thank you to J.S. Bailey and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. Upon a Waking Dream comes out March 7 2023.

Upon a Waking Dream is a delightful collection of 12 fantasy and science fiction short stories. I thought each story was well written, even though I did like some more than others. I have been on a romance binge for a while now and I thought Upon a waking dream was a refreshing break from romantic comedies. I honestly thought that each story was fun and quirky. I liked that if I wanted to, I could leave the stories after finishing one and be immersed in a different story when I came back to it. If you are looking for some fun science fiction tales, then Upon a Waking Dream is what you are serching for.