DREAMING IN DARKNESS
“…for in that sleep of death, what dreams may come…”
Shakespeare, Hamlet
Project creator John Prescott said; “I wanted to do a novella collection for a while with some other writers. I saw a piece of art a year or so ago and just fell in love with it. I knew there was a story buried there somewhere. I forgot about the piece for a while, and when I saw the piece of artwork that graces our cover the ideas meshed and fell into place pretty quick. I have worked and shared stories in anthologies with the three other authors that are in this collection. I knew they had the same strong interest in Lovecraft as mine, so it wasn’t a hard decision to ask them if they were interested in the project. Thank goodness they were and that they all agreed to it. After reading all the novellas in our collection I feel that this book can and should sit comfortably in any horror fan’s special Lovecraft section on their bookshelf.”
Each writer – two Americans and two from the UK - brought a unique spin on the themes of cosmic horror, madness and despair, so prevalent in Lovecraft’s fiction.
THE SERPENT’S EGG
by Jonathan Green
“When oblivion comes, it is forever, as endless as the slumber of those beings that lie buried beneath the roots of the world, dreaming in darkness.”
A writer’s research into the legend of the Lambton Worm takes a horrifying twist when he uncovers the true origin of the story: a legend that stirs, knowing the time for its rebirth is near…
“The Legend of the Lambton Worm caught my imagination from the very first time I came across it in Carey Miller’s A Dictionary of Monsters and Mysterious Beasts when I was about 8 or 9 years old,” says Green. “I think this was in part because the illustrator had naively drawn the worm itself as a giant earthworm rather than in the form of a dragon, as it should have been. But that image stuck.
“I have incorporated elements of the legend in my work before – most noticeably in my very first book Spellbreaker (1993) and more comprehensively in the short story Conqueror Worm (2009). This isn’t the first time I’ve incorporated the worm into the Cthulhu Mythos either. What you have in The Serpent’s Egg is effectively a sequel to an as yet unpublished story called The Scottish Patient. Perhaps one day you will be able to read both together, but only time – and the whim of dark gods – will tell.”
Dreaming In Darkness will be released as a hardback book at the World Horror Convention with full-colour illustrations of each story from artist James Powell. It will be available from the Journal Stone vendor booth as well as online from all major outlets, and eBook versions will be available for all platforms the following week.
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