The Dreamer in Fire and Other Stories

by Sam Gafford

Overview

For a decade or more, Sam Gafford has been quietly developing a reputation as a writer willing and able to fuse supernatural horror with psychological suspense, resulting in tales of grim power and penetrating insight into aberrant states of mind.

H. P. Lovecraft is the focus of many of the stories in this book, Gafford's first collection of short stories. With rare poignancy and delicacy, Gafford puts the figure of Lovecraft himself--either real or imagined--on stage in such stories as "Passing Spirits," where the Providence writer's terminal cancer is addressed; "'The Dreamer in Fire, '" where a mysterious writer very much in the Lovecraft mold is the focus of a pseudo-scholarly analysis; "Casting Fractals," in which Lovecraft's work serves as an uncannily accurate prophecy of the cataclysmic events that followed after his death; and "Weltschermz," where a character takes Lovecraft's dark vision of the world a bit too seriously.

Other stories show the diversity of Gafford's inspirations. "The Adventure of the Prometheus Calculation" is a new Sherlock Holmes tale--one that does not end well for that famous detective. In "'How Does That Make You Feel?'" a patient undergoing psychiatric analysis imagines himself a pulp superhero from the 1940s--but is it only his imagination? And "The Land of Lonesomeness" evokes the final days of William Hope Hodgson on the bloody fields of Flanders.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781614981954
Publisher:	Hippocampus Press
Publication date:	08/01/2017
Pages:	244
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.51(d)

Table of Contents

“The Adventure of the Prometheus Calculation” is previously unpublished.

“Casting Fractals,” first published in Black Wings V, edited by S. T. Joshi (PS Publishing, 2016).

“‘The Dreamer in Fire’: Notes on Robert Winslow’s ‘Sutter’s Corners,’” first published in Grimoire No. 1 (1993).

“The Gathering Daemonica,” first published in Dark Corridor #3 (2009).

“‘Good Morning, Innsmouth!’” is previously unpublished.

“He Whose Feet Trod the Lost Aeons” is previously unpublished.

“Hellhounds on the Trail,” first published in Shadows of the Past: Arkham Horror Book Club Anthology, Volume I, edited by Frederic Norton (NEHW Press, 2014).

“Homecoming,” first published in New Tales of the Old Ones, edited by Michael C. Dick (KnightWatch Press, 2013).

“‘How Does That Make You Feel?’” is previously unpublished.

“The Land of Lonesomeness,” first published in the Weird Fiction Review No. 5 (November 2014).

“My Brother’s Keeper,” first published in Wicked Tales: The Journal of the New England Horror Writers, Volume 3 (2015).

“Passing Spirits,” first published in Black Wings, edited by S. T. Joshi (PS Publishing, 2010).

“Showtime,” first published in Dark Corridor No. 1 (2007).

“Static,” first published in Machina Mortis: Steampunk’d Tales of Terror, Volume 1, edited by Sam Gafford (KnightWatch Press, 2013).

“Sunspots” is previously unpublished.

“Weltschmerz,” first published in Black Wings III, edited by S. T. Joshi (PS Publishing, 2014).

“What Was That?” is previously unpublished.

Editorial Reviews

09/04/2017
Gafford (Carnacki: The New Adventures) demonstrates a gift for creative variations on Lovecraftian themes in this promising debut collection of 17 short stories, six of them previously unpublished. Fans of Darren McGavin’s Kolchak of 1970s TV fame will appreciate “Casting Fractals,” in which a disreputable journalist, Carl Eckhardt, attempts to persuade a colleague that an event in space in 1958 doomed humankind. “Showtime” takes a chilling look at the hidden agenda of the host of a popular children’s TV show and explores how technological improvements in communications have furthered the plans of dark forces. Gafford plays with genre readers’ expectations by offering some neat twist endings that go beyond the predictable shocking closing lines of many lackluster Lovecraft pastiches. The well-executed title story, in which a scholar travels to the creepy town of Northport, N.Y., where no one ever smiles, follows familiar pathways, but it makes effective use of incremental revelations. Readers will hope to see more of Gafford’s work. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly