Sunday, October 16, 2016

Wet Dreams - John B. Rosenman's horror novella

Commies, in a mood for a quick, engrossing, satisfying read, check out John B. Rosenman's novella Wet Dreams.

Synopsis:
A summer-long vacation and a lavish mansion in the country to enjoy it in. What could possibly go wrong? For John and Karen Santos, it provides a wonderful opportunity to heal their marriage, which has been damaged by John’s infidelity.

While there, they sleep in a waterbed surrounded by ghostly, watchful mirrors. In a dream, John is visited by Laura Martin, the wife of Rex Martin, the mansion’s previous owner. Soon sex and murder embrace in a dark, twisted psychodrama, and John confronts an age-old question: Does anyone ever really know another person, even if you’re married to her?


My thoughts:
Rosenman is a wonderfully prolific and multifaceted author. I have read his sci-fi fiction, which ranges from fantasy to hardcore space opera, and I've also read his hauntingly nostalgic novel "The Merry-Go-Round Man" exploring the dark dynamics of a small town at the dawn of the civil rights movement. Rosenman is not a hostage to any particular genre or ideology. When I picked up "Wet Dreams", I was curious to see how he would handle the issue of marital problems with an element of supernatural horror. The scenario of a middle-aged couple struggling to rekindle their relationship is a common theme in fiction and film, but Rosenman spices up the scenario with a touch of horrific revenge, proving that revenge fantasies are not only for young adults. He also reminds us that inside every jaded middle-aged suburbanite lives a hormonal, volatile teenager. 

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