by Monnie

Created on: September 10, 2010

Nightmares & Dreamscapes is a compilation of short stories from Stephen King. His third gathering of his briefer works of fiction is consistent with his previous collections. Like predecessors Night Shift and Skeleton Crew, Nightmare & Dreamscapes once again finds King turning his imaginative eye to the world and redefining the everyday and successfully carving a little slice of terror. One of the stories contained in this set of scary tales is the creepy and creative “You Know They Got A Hell of a Band”. He takes the typical road trip and has it turn down a familiar road by having them turn down an unfamiliar road. Yet, even though the premise sounds recognizable King gives it his unique twist.

Clark and Mary are road-tripping through Oregon. The couple, after having a quick lunch in a small town, hit some heavy traffic on the interstate. Frustrated by his lack of progress, Clark decides to take some back roads. Many road trips in life (and books and movies) have gone south in similar fashion. Soon he finds the road is getting more narrow and isolated. He can’t back up because he risks going off the path and getting stuck in the mud. So he keeps on going forward. He can only hope he finds civilization again before Mary wakes up. Mary wakes up and they continue to go forward until all of a sudden the road becomes paved again. This road leads into a picturesque little town called Rock-N-Roll Heaven. Yet, it doesn’t take long to realize something is wrong with this quaint town. Something is very wrong.

King delivers a nice change-up on a familiar theme with this story. The reader doesn’t really know what to expect and even if they happen to have expectations, King defies them. King crafts characters which are easy to relate to. The man who likes to take roads off the beaten path and the frustrated woman that loves him can represent pretty much every couple in America. Probably other countries as well. When the reader starts to figure out what is actually going on its humorous and horrifying.

“You Know They Got A Hell of a Band” is a suspenseful, satisfying story. It’s scary, relatable and interesting. So far, this one is probably one of the best tales contained in the pages of Nightmares & Dreamscapes. Therefore, if one is trying to read the best of this collection of short stories this tale would be a good place to start.

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