NNtG: Deadtime Stories #01: Terror in Tiny Town

 It's time to finally cover the first edition of Deadtime Stories, the book series created by Anna and Gina Cascone. A first book in a series is no small feat. While it doesn't have to be the best book ever, you still have to sell the audience on wanting to stick around. So I guess it's fitting that our first book is a massive story on a miniature scale. Let's take a small trip to visit the Terror in Tiny Town.

Oh Tim. Oh Timothy. Oh Tim Timbo Timmy Timber. Yes, this is a cover work by our old pal Tim Jacobus. I mean, the color scheme and the airbrushing is a dead giveaway. What is also a dead giveaway is what the inspiration for Hurley the Hobo's design is. You couldn't be more Chucky if you tried. I mean if you're going to knock off any evil doll design, go with the most famous. And it still works in making Hurley feel unsettling and creepy, so points there as well. Lack of much to make this feel like a book about a model town given no background, but what we get still does the trick. 

Willy Tyler and his best friend Zack Miller, not Lester, are playing with Willy's Tiny Town set, a miniature town set with a train in it. It's got a whole bunch of miniature buildings from different eras, and a whole bunch of miniature figures, including Willy's personal favorite, Hurley the Hobo. What Willy doesn't love is his annoying seven year old sister Margaret, who he jokes about wishing he could put her on the train tracks of Tiny Town and not her Suzie Sparkle doll. Oh, good. Psychopath protagonist. We learn a bit more about Hurley. That he's not just a hobo, but he's a wanted man, who brings bad news wherever he goes. So, you know, perfect evil toy setup. Zack got it for Willy before he moved out of state, but he still visits during the summer. Though this is still like pre-social media and early email days, so keeping up out of state must be a bitch.

Margaret heads down to the basement just as Zack points at her, claiming to have zapped her. The train then runs over Suzie Sparkle's head, caving it in. The kids are sent to bed, where Willy and Zack watch a horror movie. Oh, and wouldn't you know it? A convenient storm is barreling down on the house which causes the power to go out. However, the boys hear the train set still going in the basement, which is weird given, you know, them being electricity-impaired. They check the situation, then notice that Hurley the Hobo is nowhere to be seen. They blame Margaret for taking Hurley as revenge just as the power comes back on. So creepy crisis must be averted, right? I mean there wouldn't be a book if it was. 

The next day, the boys get in trouble due to the kitchen being a mess with food all over the place, but, just as strangely, the Tiny Town miniatures. As if they were after a microscopic midnight snack. No sign of Hurley however. They still, of course, blame Margaret, though Willy is starting to suspect something strange is going on. But, for now, they plan to take all of Margaret's toys and stash them in a secret area in the basement ceiling. This includes the Weevils, which are another miniature toy set. Willy thinks to put them in Tiny Town and make them pay for Margaret's crimes. Oh, like maybe just mess with them or something really Tame, right? Uh, how about taking some of the Weevil dolls and hanging them in the gallows of Tiny Town. Oh good. SUPER Psychopath protagonist. But after Willy and Zack talk with Willy's mother, they come back to find the Weevils gone and the nooses cut. Oh, so the miniatures have microscopic knives. That's concerning.

They again blame Margaret, but like, unless this kid is a ninja, I don't know how she elaborately did all of this so quickly. As they look at the Tiny Town set, they notice a tiny piece of paper stuck to the door of the town hall saying that there's a town meeting tonight headed by Hurley. Willy thinks Zack did it but, like, how in god's name could he write that small? That night, they indeed see the Tiny Town people, the Weevils and Suzie Sparkle all conversing with Hurley. And now they aren't blaming Margaret. They try to tell Willy's mom, but she doesn't believe them because- I mean, we started this book with the boys disfiguring Margaret's doll, so any other thing that's happened could also easily be blamed on them. It's a Because Goosebumps Parents, but a Because Goosebumps Parents with logical reasoning, which is all I ever ask for.

Willy and Zack are forced to go outside, away from the Tiny Town nonsense. But, of course, that's not going to help as they find cabins and Tiny Town pioneers in the garden. But when the kids touch the dolls, they're just normal. In fact, they haven't moved at all every time they've encountered them. They take the dolls back to the Tiny Town set, but now see a giant castle, and the knights in the town have taken over. Which means the pioneer figures were kicked out of the town by the knights. So we have class warfare going on. Great. The boys are tired of this and start to put the town back the way it was. But when Willy grabs one of the toy dragons, it ends up biting his finger. So much for them staying static. They then notice the Weevil dolls are living in the Tiny Town mansion. And they have art. Specifically an autographed Babe Ruth card that belongs to Willy's dad. So now Willy's got to worry about either the living toy dolls killing him first or his dad. 

The boys manage to get the card, but it does have a very tiny bit of damage via a nail. But when they take the card to Willy's room, they find another note from Hurley telling them to leave the town alone or there will be a war on their hands. So, instead of doing that, the boys think that since the toys never move when they're around, if they use a camcorder to film the Tiny Town set, they'll get their proof. And sure enough, it actually works. They see Hurley once again addressing the Tiny Town residents. That they need to band together to overthrow the giant humans. The Weevils and Suzie Sparkle are also on board, though there are a bunch of Tiny Town residents who aren't fond of working with these outsiders. Because of course they're racist. But Hurley says that they'll have to put aside their differences lest they want to constantly be literally under the thumb of the giants. And they have an ace in the hole in the form of a Mookie Monster, a stuffed doll belonging to Margaret that they bring to life by putting it on the train tracks.

The kids go to show Willy's parents, but decided to just leave the tape unattended because they're morons, so of course the tape is destroyed when they get back. Maybe Hurley's got a point getting rid of these morons. The toys are clearly smarter. Willy and Zack get in trouble for it, because of course they do. But they begin to realize what's going on here. The Mookie Monster came to life by being put on the train tracks. It's as if it's a gateway of some sort that brings anything that touches the tracks to life. So they decide to touch the tracks, only for Willy to get a massive shock. No-no seriously maybe Hurley has a point. They then get rubber gloves and start to disassemble Tiny Town. They notice that the dolls have been stockpiling weapons made from stuff around the house. And there's even a tiny map of the whole house. They were planning a full scale invasion. But surely by putting everything away in storage, this whole nightmare will finally be put behind-Oh crap, where's Hurley?

After everything is put away, the boys go to sleep. However Willy wakes up completely tied up Gulliver style. Hurley and the other toys are mad for, you know, wrecking their Tiny Town, and promise to make them pay for their crimes. They throw Willy into a prison, which is the hall closet, where Zack is there also tied up, and with a ball gag in his mouth WHAT THE FUCK!? They manage to escape, but get attacked by the Mookie Monster. They get it into the closet, but as Willy goes to get a chair from the kitchen, he's tripped by a trip wire set up by the Tiny Town people. Hurley laughs from above Willy and has all of the Tiny Town people open fire, firing toothpicks, peppercorns and hard gum balls to the point that it's actually super painful. The boys try to run but miniature helicopters fire machine guns of beads. Hot damn this might be the coolest climax we've ever covered.

They run to Willy's room, but get attacked by fire breathing dragons shooting actual fire. The knights attack them next, but an arrant shock from Zack kills one of the knights. They then realize that this is their only ace in the hole. Use the carpeting from the bedroom to give them enough static to shut down the dolls. Of course, they can't just zap hundreds of figures, so thankfully they see Suzie Sparkle and other toys in the bathtub having a pool party which also electrocutes them and turns them back to normal. So instead they need Super Soakers from the garage to finish the job. They get attacked by alien toys, but defeat them with spit before finally getting the guns and shooting the rest of the toys. All but Hurley. They find a note where Hurley usually would be spotted on the Tiny Town set and it says to not bother looking for him, he's already gone. 

Despite the big mess, Willy's parents allow him to visit Zack's place for two weeks. The boys get on the train, only to hear Hurley's voice telling them they're headed for Tiny Town. Oh, and there is a sequel story that directly links to this one so yeah, to be continued I guess. 

The first book in any series is, like I've said countless times, the most important book because it has to entice a lot of people early on into wanting to stick around. And Deadtime Stories starts super strong with what is easily one of my favorite books I've covered for the blog in quite some time. Although I will say for as much as I loved that climax, it did start to run way too long by the end where it just feels like plowing through whatever set piece we could. Which, again, would be a worse thing if this book wasn't so good in terms of its action. I love the concept of Tiny Town being this living breathing town of miniature figures that seemed to be as peaceful as they could be before being tired of the antics of Willy and Zack. You could argue they were also corrupted by Hurley, though Hurley, for as evil as he was, at least seemed to be someone who wanted to benefit all of the toys in getting rid of the humans. Though given that the town seemed awful racist towards other toys and even other Tiny Town residents (I'm glad we didn't even mention the fate of the Native American toys), maybe this was always going to blow up in one form or another. 

There are definitely some inspirations to the idea of the story. Toy Story, Indian in the Cupboard, even a little Puppet Master. All condensed into a kids horror story that always keeps moving and always builds to a wild finale. Although, like, they're still just toys. In one scene, Willy even knocks a toy helicopter out of the sky. The boys are literally Olympian Giants by comparison to these tiny figurines. Even with the convenience of water and electricity being able to defeat the toys, they are still pieces of plastic that could easily be broken, stepped on, thrown in a garbage disposal. Yeah, they have weapons in gumballs and toothpicks, and the Mookie Monster is at least a viable threat, the boys should still be able to have an advantage over them. But, then again we wouldn't have much of a book if they knew about that advantage, so I get it. 

Willy and Zack are okay protagonists, albeit a bit bland. They definitely have a bit of a psychotic streak to them, but thankfully it just applies to messing with the toys. Though Willy did mention wanting to essentially kill his sister by running over her with a train, so I'm not exactly giving him points here. Hurley is an interesting villain. Clearly this evil entity who has caused mayhem everywhere he's gone. Managing to be able to come to life and coerce the local toys to band together and rebel before going to his next house and finding his next victim. And him not being defeated is a smart idea. Not just for sequel baiting, but because it sticks to what makes him intriguing as a villain. 

So yeah, another Deadtime Stories book that really played to my sensibilities. Not entirely a horror story as much as an action story, and the climax does last a bit too long for my tastes, but what works here really works here and it gets this series on track. Or in this case on strange cursed tracks that can bring toys to life. Solid recommend. We'll have to check out the sequel at some point. Not sure when but hopefully sooner than possible. Terror in Tiny Town gets an A.