Review: Angry Dreams by Robert Luxford

Angry Dreams is a self-published collection of SF and horror plays, scripts, short stories, and poetry. Tacked onto the end, like an afterthought, is a handful of bizarre ‘Top 10s’: from ten things to remember when having sex with an alien, to ten things you can do with a dead Ewok. Sounds funny. Isn’t.

The scripts and stories cover everything from angels, to abortion, to cancer, to werewolves, to an old man fading into nothingness. Many have seedy, voyeuristic undertones. Most left me feeling confused or cheated, or both. The finished product reads like a writer’s notebook: a collection of concepts and undeveloped ideas.

There’s no possible way to review this book without mentioning its biggest and most obvious failing ... the spelling, grammar, and punctuation. It’s more than the occasional typo: POV changes from paragraph to paragraph; the spelling of characters’ names change midway through stories; unfamiliar words are simply guessed (my personal favourite was “cooberatiting evidence”); and rogue capitals are littered throughout. It’s glaringly obvious that nobody gave this book so much as a quick once-over before publishing, not even the author.

I’m going to give Angry Dreams one star out of five—half a star for the beautiful picture on the cover and half a star for having the testicular fortitude to self-publish.


Review by Vivienne Read.