The book is short, so I'll keep my review short. This is a collection of photographs with a short accompanying essay by King. King relates several small episodes that lead to his writing about gargoyles, about how unqualified he is to talk about them and the art/architect world, and so on and so forth. Like all of King's essays where he writes in his voice, it is amusing and endearing, but the darkness doesn't truly keep its nose in line. The crux of it is that King agreed to write this because gargoyles are very spooky. Since King is having such fun spinning this tail, you smile to yourself. Surely gargoyles are just stone. It is only as you move past the essay portion, where the text overrode the scant imagery, that, oh my, these are rather terrifying creatures. Why do they keep staring at me? Why must they make these faces? Is that where they are hiding?

All this being said, this is a terrible coffee table book in that it does not put the reader at ease while they lounge about on your couch while you get drinks. But if you're having people over you don't like, this is the most unsettling literary object you can place in front of them for sure.

Stephen King’s intro made my eyes glaze over. As someone who has interest in architectural detail sculpture the volume seems poorly put together. Buildings and location information are absent and figures from the same building are often pages apart. There’s also a lack of context. A close up of a ghoul or religious figure is nice but identification as where it is in relation to design and purpose is left up to the imagination. Honestly that’s not very helpful.

The essay really makes this one. Without it, those are just pictures of stone faces. Writing down the personal response and relating it to an everyday existence makes those stone faces come alive just a wee bit.

Lovely, creepy, and just a bit macabre - my kind of coffee table book. Now I look forward to a trip to New York to scout out some of these gargoyles.

https://theyearoftheking.tumblr.com/post/617382773405188096/book-twenty-eight-nightmares-in-the-sky

A grotesque (in a good way) piece of art!

8.5 sore necks from gargoyle gazing out of 10.

It's about gargoyles. Just Steve's observations of them in the form of a great coffee-table book. The photography is just great!

This is a somewhat dated, but nonetheless creepy, and haunting photography book about gargoyles in America. Stephen King wrote a nice essay to accompany the pictures detailing his experiences with gargoyles on film and his discovery of their hiding places within the canyons of New York City.