RIDING THE NIGHTMARE exceeded my expectations while at the same time being slightly unsatisfying. What do I mean by that? Let me elaborate.

All of these tales kept my interest and never once did I consider putting this book down. Why am I saying that I'm not satisfied? Mostly because of the "unsettling factor." What do I mean by that? With some authors, especially authors of what I'm going to call "weird fiction," their point is to leave you disturbed. Not to scare you, (though some of these tales do do that), but to mess with your mind. I put Roger Aikman firmly in that category and after reading this, I put Lisa Tuttle in that category as well.

Some of the stories here are more horrific than others, but all of them have an element of weirdness to them that I really liked. I feel that the stories progressed from the weird to the horror as the book went on. My favorite was THE MAN IN THE DITCH which contained the weird and the horrific all wound up into one kickass tale.

I really liked all of these tales, but as I said some of them left me feeling disturbed, mulling over this or that aspect of each. I've also found that when you think you're done with this, stories will keep popping into your head long after you finish. For me that is the hallmark of a good book.

Lisa Tuttle can write, that's all there is to it. She's created tales here that are going to haunt my mind for weeks as I turn them over and inspect them from different angles. I absolutely love when stories make me think like that, and for this reason I rated RIDING THE NIGHTMARE 4 stars. Though I freely admit that rating my go up as I continue to mull.

*Thank you to Valancourt Books via NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for my honest feedback. This is it!*

I've read Familiar Spirt by Lisa Tuttle so I knew I was in for something weird with this one. And weird is what I got. None of the stories were bad but I wasn't really wowed either. I still had a fun time nonetheless and recommend this collection for anyone looking for something with 80's horror vibes.

A great collection from Lisa Tuttle. All these stories were great, with great characters and plot/pacing. My two favorites were After the End and The Dragon's Bride. Will need to read more from Lisa Tuttle. #RidingtheNightmare #NetGalley

Riding the Nightmare is such a fun and weird horror collection. I loved the stories and experience of each of them. I definitely won't forget any of these, they are so fun. I struggle with collections sometimes but didn't find any of these to be lacking and they really gave me my horror fix.

I loved this collection of stories! I enjoyed them all so much its too hard to pick a favorite! 10/10 highly recommend! Special Thank you to the author(s), publisher, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a copy of the book prior to publication.

12 short stories that were cool, creepy and surprising. I really enjoyed the authors writing style and how her stories don't rely on big scares and shock factor, but instead have this uneasiness about them before evolving to full horror by the end.

Riding the Nightmare is a collection of twelve unusual tales which prompt the reader to examine the human condition in ways that one might not have imagined. Although the novel is classified as horror, most of the stories border more on disturbing or unsettling vs scary. The novel includes a foreword by Neil Gaiman which provides a quick overview of his relationship with the author and her work. As with most anthologies I read, I found myself liking several of the stories but not all of them. Several of them felt a bit unfinished and left me with more questions than answers about what I had just read. Overall this was a nice collection of stories offering something for most everyone’s tastes. This was a new to me author whom I would be interested in reading more of their work.

Neil Gaiman starts his introduction for this book of short stories with the sentence… “Here are the twelve words that conclude the twelve stories in this volume: pitiless, choice, alive, ending, successful, lies, ditch, it, absolute, darkness, end and father”.

These twelve stories are strange. Horror-ish in some ways, fantastically odd in all ways. They leave you feeling a bit off when you finish them. While they were all unique in their own they mostly seemed to spin around relationships - with self, family, and partner(s). Once again, no one is telling the other exactly what they are feeling or seeing which always leads to an issue.

The writing was good and the stories were bizarre, but as much as they left me feeling off-kilter when I finished each one (good) I did not feel satisfied with what I read and I now struggle to remember them (bad). However I think this will hit different for others that like those disturbing stories that don’t always knit up the way you expect in the end - it might just not have been the right stories for my current mood.

The ones that seemed to stick in my memory (although I know they were not my favorites at the moment) were Riding the Nightmare, Home in the Sky, and The Dragon’s Bride.

I believe this collection might be of stories that were previously published individually in other sources. Recommend for those that like bizarre, weird, and strange short stories.

Read as a NetGalley Arc. Publication set for Aug 22, 2023.

It is a collection of short stories that are weird with horror. The stories are written smoothly and takes you into the experiences of the characters in the story. It is a collection of stories that I won’t forget. These stories are all the more terrifying for the horrors that grow out of the characters vulnerable moments of shared intimacy. I find it rare to read and find each story good. Often I have read collections where the stories always have at least one story I wondered why it was included but not this book. I will be reading more of the author’s works.

I really enjoyed this story collection. I hadn't heard of Lisa Tuttle but saw it was introduced by Neil Gaiman, which piqued my interest. In his introduction, he writes that these "are stories about sex and the dead" which is pretty on point. Lots of them felt very dreamlike and surreal, most following women in some kind of terrible situation. Quite a few were classic kinds of scary stories with solid twist endings, which is always fun to read. My favorites were Bits and Pieces, The Third Person, Home in the Sky, and The Man in the Ditch. A super solid story collection which has left me a new fan of Lisa Tuttle, I'll definitely pick up any other collections I see from her!
Thank you to Valancourt Books and NetGalley for the ARC!

You have to be a special kind of storyteller to solicit an introduction by Neil Gaiman, and Lisa Tuttle wastes no time erasing any niggling doubt the reader might have harbored. Perhaps the best word to describe the collection of stories in Riding the Nightmare would be fearless. Tuttle attacks concepts like sex and death, ideas that are hardly strangers to the horror genre, and makes them feel fresh and exciting. She also manages to include these themes in manners that are somehow simultaneously thoughtful, but bold and brash. Not for the faint of heart.
Of the twelve stories contained within, there is no filler. Every one has a unique voice and something to say with it. There were, however, a few that followed me around like a ghost even days after reading them. Some of my favorites included "Riding the Nightmare", "Bits and Pieces", "The Man in the Ditch", and "A Home in the Sky". Each entry subtly tiptoes between subgenre, but they are all firmly rooted in horror and entirely Lisa Tuttle.

Oh my! What a good read! This is a book full of short stories that leave you feeling a little eerie and disturbed. A couple of the stories had me saying "What?!?" with my jaw on the floor! iThis is the first book by Lisa Tuttle that I have read and I thoroughly enjoyed every story. My favorite story in this collection is Bits and Pieces. Even though it doesn't exactly happen that way in real life, the feelings behind it are so real. This has opened my eyes to disturbing horror books and I can't wait to read mor of her books!!
Thank you so much NetGalley, Valencourt Books and Lisa Tuttle for a copy of this book in exchange for a review!!

Thank you so much to RDS Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC; it is greatly appreciated.

This cover is perfectly suited to the first story in this collection, which also shares the book's name: Riding the Nightmare. The creativity that is shown throughout these stories is superb. There are subtleties, and things left unsaid that weave these stories into darker tales than you might think at first glance.

Horror might not seem like the correct genre at first, but these stories are meant to sit with you a bit and let the true horror sink in. I found myself reading the last paragraph or two of some stories over again to make sure that I really understood what was going on. It may be a quick read, but there are stories in here that will really grab your attention and make you shiver.

Thank you NetGalley, Lisa Tuttle, and Neil Gaiman for giving me the opportunity to receive the ARC to read for an honest review.

First off, the cover of the book is incredible. The writing style was also divine. The stories were excellent and creepy. Hats off to the authors for this incredible horror genre book.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone who loves to read weird and creepy types of books.

“One who won and got away, one who lost and had to stay.”

Lisa Tuttle in this deeply weird collection has written twelve creepy stories that will leave a lasting impression. This contains several stories that haven’t been previously collected including a long out of print tale. With an introduction by Neil Gaiman, he gives an insight into what inspired the author to write such stories. His explanation gives the reader better understanding on just how unique these stories are.

The stories included are Riding the Nightmare, Bits and Pieces, ‘The Mezzotint’, After the End, The Third Person, The Wound, The Man in the Ditch, The Last Dare, A Home in the Sky, Voices in the Night, The Hungry Hotel, The Dragon’s Bride.

Although there is a similar thread of horror running through these tales, theres also other themes touched upon such as sex and death. Why they are written this way is explored a little further in the introduction.

As you read on there is always something that surprises you. There are a few I won’t be forgetting for how unsettling and dark they were. I enjoyed each story no matter how bizarre it was and it’s weirdness made them all the more spookier.

This is a great collection to dip in and out of or even devour in one go.

An amazing collection of sinister short stories. I enjoyed these a lot more than I was expecting to honestly, they gripped me a lot more than short stories normally do! I really enjoyed the writing style and will be keeping an eye out for a physical copy after it's published just so that I can have the absolutely stunning cover on my shelves!

Not going to lie the AMAZING cover pulled me into this book. This novel got to me and can see becoming a sleeper hit because of the sheer momentum and fear build up throughout these pages. Really glad I got to read it my hats off to the author

Quando, anni fa, ho letto The Pillow Friend di Lisa Tuttle, ha vinto a mani basse la coppa di romanzo più disturbante fino ad allora.
Mi fa piacere (?) vedere che la nota inquietante, disturbante, sottilmente fuori controllo è stata presente in tutta la sua carriera, con effetti più o meno agghiaccianti.
E' comunque notevole la varietà di spunti, classici e non, che l'autrice riesce a rielaborare, e la facilità con cui personaggi e situazioni prendono corpo in poche righe.
Chapeau.

Thank you netgalley and publishers for providing this eARC for me to review :)
Riding the Nightmare lives up to it's name. 12 short horror stories that will each take you for a ride. She does a great job of setting up a story, getting you hooked, and turning it around to a dark ending in a short span of time. I've read collections of short horror stories before and this was one of the better ones, with only one below four stars. I definitely recommend this for some quicker reads.
Riding the Nightmare: 5⭐
Bits and Pieces: 5⭐
The Mezzotint: 4.5 ⭐
After the End: 3⭐
The Third Person: 4.5⭐
The Wound: 5⭐
The Man in the Ditch: 5⭐
The Last Dare: 4⭐
Home in the Sky: 4⭐ (cute, but not scary)
Voices in the Night: 4⭐
The Hungry Hotel: 4⭐
The Dragon's Bride: 5⭐

Omg!!! Let me start by saying the cover fits the book perfectly. It’s weird and ominous which are words I would use to describe this collection. The collection is comprised of short stories previously published by the author. There is good variety in the stories so there is something that most horror readers would like. It was the perfect weird ambiguous horror I love

My favorite stories were Bits and Pieces and Voices In The Night

Thanks NetGalley and Valencourt Books for a copy of this book in exchange for review