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.

Can I just say I think the cover is cool. Connor Brannigan does another fantastic job as narrator and I'm still in awe of the talented William Pauley III.

This is really quick to listen to. It's very short. The world is still bizarre, I wouldn't expect anything less. Without giving to much away I could picture the astronaut and hornet larvae. Yuk! In the last story I kept thinking what a sad and pathetic woman. She is so desperate for connection with someone, anyone, even bug-lady. I didn't understand how that story tied in with the others until her son came barging through the door. Then oh ok now I see.... The ending upset me. I mean, who just wastes two bowls of alphabet soup?

I want to thank NetGalley and Doom Fiction audio for a copy of the audiobook in exchange for my honest and voluntary opinion/review.

Thanks to NetGalley for the Audiobook!

First, the narrator did a great job!
Second, the story is intriguing and it draws you in right from the start.
Murders and gore make this book, the scenes come to life thanks to the authors words and the narrators style.
Story seems to be all over the place, but it somehow comes together and makes perfect sense.
You can def relate to a few scenes too, weirdly.

"There were feelings attached to this vast empty landscape, the stretch of infinite blackness all around him and those feelings simply could not be imitated. Even on earth standing still in the night and staring at the stars above then feeling a floating, or more accurately the spiritual connection between a living thing and the rest of the universe could not be captured in any photograph or painting and certainly not in some NASA testing facility."

Whoa what a surprise. This was an amazing short story. Right from the beginning I was hooked and couldn't put it down the whole way. The author knew how to thrill the reader in a spellbinding way The action was so awesome and I loved the setting. The eerie, alien environment was well built and the characters realistic. There are fights, visions, letters, and unexplained mysteries and all sorts of cool stuff. The writing style was also quite spooky.

Even in the small amount of pages, the story created was unexpectedly intriguing and full of suspense. There were murders, gore and a lot of disturbing scenes and such a gripping way of storytelling! Just wonderful. A very quick flavorful read overall. Loved it.

I enjoyed this book. It’s funny how it was able to stick with me. I started reading this book Back in Oct, got away from reading for quite some time yet I still had this book with me when I picked it back up to finish it.

This is so interesting and confusing at the same time. It definitely kept my brain working and engaged in the story.

I was unaware that this was part of a series, I thought it was a stand alone novella. It has an interesting premise but maybe novellas aren't for me, or maybe im just missing something since I haven't read the first two installments. The writing was interesting, it made grotesque subjects almost sound beautiful.

If you like the weird & absurd then you’ll love this story! It had me scratching my head and feeling glad I don’t live in this tower cuz there’s strange happenings there.

This is a new genre fir me & I'm loving it.

A quick fun read! Love the cover’

I also enjoyed the narration!

4.5 stars

This was not for me. It gotten really boring once we delved into the dream and nothing was really happening after that. I don’t get the connection to how this with the other two books at all.