Title Sleep Walking Now and Then Series --- Author Richard Bowes Cover Art Richie Pope Publisher Tor.com - 2014 First Printing Tor.com - 2014 Category Science Fiction Warnings None Main Characters Jacoby Cass, Rosalin, Sonya, Jeremy Knight Main Elements SCience Fiction Website Tor.com Originals

“Sleep Walking Now and Then,” by Richard Bowes, is a weird, futuristic novelette about an interactive theater production in The Big Arena (aka New York City) and the mystery surrounding its inspiration.

This story is free to read Tor.com Originals.

Ok, I called this science fiction because it takes place in 2060 New York, but other than the fact that people have the equivalent of a cellphone built into the palms of their hands, it could have taken place in present day New York.

That said, I actually really enjoyed it. I like the way it was written, though you do have to work a little at it as the characters (who are actors) slip between actually acting and being in character, and being themselves. The actors are putting on a play inside the old Angouleme hotel, where a couple of unsolved murders adds to the mystique of the run down building. The play is about those exact events, and the unusual presentation, spread out across multiple locations in the hotel, with the audience moving about freely and mixing with the actors.

I found myself wanting to be part of the audience witnessing this play. The immersivness of it, the location, the spookiness (there's a sleepwalking child involved), it sounded like it would be something very fun to experience. It was kind of perfect for the first day of October, a month where I pull out all my spooky books.

The ending wasn't at all surprising, one could see it coming a mile away, it was just the figuring out who was going to end up where and when, but otherwise was unoriginal.

But I enjoyed it. The thoughts of the actors as they played their parts, the atmospheric location, and the writing style were what made it pleasurable for me. No great deep complex themes were studied here, it was just a fun read.