As a Stephen King fan who feels the need to read everything he’s ever written, I’m currently going through the last few minor works to which he has contributed (as either a writer of the introduction/preface, a contributor of a single story that might not appear elsewhere, liner notes for musical works, or some other collaboration that might include his words or even just his storylines). This is a book I’ve wanted to check out for years -- if not decades -- and was finally able to track down a copy in my local library system. King’s introduction spans 35 of the book’s 125 pages and reminds me of [b:On Writing|10569|On Writing A Memoir of the Craft|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1436735207s/10569.jpg|150292]. He describes the creative process of writing (since he admits that he knows very little of gargoyles or photography), connects the imaginative process to the cathartic experience of having dreams/nightmares, and nicely combines his personal and familial relationship to the topic in a way that gives the reader an access point to appreciate the topic at hand -- in this case, the grotesque “nightmares in the sky” that we overlook everyday walking down the city street, even as these monsters “overlook” us, so to speak.

His writing sparked my interest in wanting to view f-stop Fitzgerald’s photos, which provide a nice variety of American gargoyles, mostly from New York City, but many from places like Boston or Milwaukee. As someone who has lived in that latter city for eight years, I often glanced at the bas relief work on the buildings throughout town and even spent a couple days photographing old churches, but I’ve never taken a closer look at the gargoyles. Since the captions include the street corners where the photos were taken, I place to take a walk later this summer to give a closer look to these curiosities. Having tried to take photos myself of small architectural details of buildings (with my camera phone, since I am certainly no photographer), I understand how hard it is to get such clear, beautifully shadowed, well-lit shots, so I admired Fitzgerald’s work.

All-in-all, well worth tracking down if you’re a Constant Reader who loves anything King writes, and an enjoyable way to spend a morning allowing King and Fitzgerald to reveal to you the hidden little nightmares that we so often overlook.