Mickey Thorn has horribly frightening and realistic dreams, almost nightly. When he awakes, the nightmare's grip still affects him to such a point, he can't tell the difference between the dream he was just having, and reality.

Mickey knows every detail of his nightmare when he first awakes, but as time passes, and his heart and breathing slow, he has already forgotten most of the details. The overwhelming emotions he goes through from first awakening until he is fully awake are: terror, fear, confusion, then helplessness. What Mickey has just gone through is very rare, and still largely misunderstood.

Mickey is suffering from "Night Terrors". A symptom of the "Terrors" is a continued, long-term memory of impossible danger, terrifying monsters, and strange situations, that seem so real, Mickey can swear that they aren't dreams.

Mickey has been through three sleep studies to see if anything can be done to eliminate the terrors, or at least slow them down. What his body goes through—both physically and emotionally—is taking a toll. The doctors have a real fear that Mickey will suffer a heart attack, or stroke, or embolism during one of the more intense episodes. None of the suggestions the doctors have previously given him have worked; exercise, eliminating caffeine, taking medication, and even yoga haven't helped.

Lately, Mickey has begun to think of his dreams in an entirely new way. What if, instead of bad dreams, this is real? In his frazzled mind, this bizarre notion actually makes sense to him. What if he really is being attacked by monsters from other worlds and dimensions? Oddly, compared to what he is already going through, this new idea doesn't scare him. In fact, a part of his mind welcomes this possibility, and now he realizes that maybe he isn't the same person he once was... at all.

One of the major figures of modern theater, Luigi Pirandello (1867–1936) wrote dramas and satires that sparked controversy with their radical departures from conventional theatrical techniques. His most celebrated work, Six Characters in Search of an Author, embodies the Nobel Prize-winning playwright's innovations by presenting an open-ended drama on a stage without sets.

First performed in 1923, this intellectual comedy introduces six individuals to a stage where a company of actors has assembled for a rehearsal. Claiming to be the incomplete, unused creations of an author's imagination, they demand lines for a story that will explain the details of their lives. In ensuing scenes, these "real-life characters," all professing to be part of an extended family, produce a drama of sorts—punctuated by disagreements, interruptions, and arguments.

In the end, they are dismissed by the irate manager, their dilemma unsolved, and the "truth" a matter of individual viewpoints. A tour de force exploring the many faces of reality, this classic is now available in an inexpensive edition that will be welcomed by amateur theatrical groups as well as students of drama.

The Recognitions is a masterwork about art and forgery, exploring the increasingly thin line between the counterfeit and the fake. Gaddis anticipates by almost half a century the crisis of reality that we currently face, where the real and the virtual are combining in alarming ways, and the sources of legitimacy and power are often obscure to us.

The book delves into the obsession with seventeenth-century Flemish masterpieces, through the character Wyatt Gwyon, who forges original artwork that is amazingly faithful to the spirit and techniques of the time. This profound narrative is a bold critique of cultural and artistic authenticity.