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City Colors by Zoran Milich
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The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates by Stephen King
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Queen for a Day by Albert E. Cowdrey
Red Orc's Rage by Philip José Farmer
Sea Glass by Laurence Yep
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Sheep on a Ship by Nancy E. Shaw
Sheep Take a Hike by Nancy E. Shaw
Sleepless Years by Steven Utley
Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman
The Visionaries by Robert Reed
Where Angels Fear to Tread by E. M. Forster
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Sleepless Years: 10/03/08

"The Sleepless Years" by Steven Utley at first glance is just another retelling of Frankenstein but from the monster's point of view. In this one, a man has been brought back to life for reasons unknown (to him) to be studied physically and psychologically. He wishes he could sleep (but he can't) and he wishes he could die again (but they won't let him).

As the story progresses, we learn more about our unnamed first person protagonist's life before death. We learn of his life in the South and his straying from his Pentecostal Baptist upbringing. We learn of the tragedies of his life and how he's now visited by the ghosts of his life when he should be sleeping but can't.

Were it not for the dedication at the closing of the story, I would have rated this story lower. As this story is obviously inspired by Utley's own life I can understand the morose tone it has.

I have also reviewed the "400-Million-Year Itch" a more lighthearted story by Steven Utley.

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