If you’re an H. P. Lovecraft fan, you’ll find plenty to like in Sam Gafford’s collection, The Dreamer in the Fire and Other Stories (2017). The book gets its title from “The Dreamer in the Fire: Notes on Robert Winslow’s ‘Sutters Corners.'” Like some of Lovecraft stories, “The Dreamer in the Fire” begins innocently enough with a scholar trying to track down documents of another, older, scholar for a publishing enterprise. And, like all Lovecraft stories, “The Dreamer in the Fire” veers into the nightmarish secret world of the Mythos.
My favorite story is “Good Morning, Innsmouth!” where an ambitious reporter for a morning news TV show finds more than she bargained for when she visits Innsmouth to film a routine feature.
The Dreamer in the Fire and Other Stories is an uneven collection, but there’s enough Good Stuff here to engage most readers. GRADE: B
Table of Contents
“Casting Fractals,” first published in Black Wings V, edited by S. T. Joshi (PS Publishing, 2016). — 7
“Showtime,” first published in Dark Corridor No. 1 (2007). — 25
“The Adventure of the Prometheus Calculation” is previously unpublished. — 31
“Homecoming,” first published in New Tales of the Old Ones, edited by Michael C. Dick (KnightWatch Press, 2013). — 39
“The Gathering Daemonica,” first published in Dark Corridor #3 (2009). — 59
“Static,” first published in Machina Mortis: Steampunk’d Tales of Terror, Volume 1, edited by Sam Gafford (KnightWatch Press, 2013). — 75
“Sunspots” is previously unpublished. — 89
“My Brother’s Keeper,” first published in Wicked Tales: The Journal of the New England Horror Writers, Volume 3 (2015). — 95
“‘How Does That Make You Feel?’” is previously unpublished. –105
“What Was That?” is previously unpublished. — 117
“‘The Dreamer in Fire’: Notes on Robert Winslow’s ‘Sutter’s Corners,’” first published in Grimoire No. 1 (1993). — 125
“He Whose Feet Trod the Lost Aeons” is previously unpublished. — 159
“‘Good Morning, Innsmouth!’” is previously unpublished. — 165
“Weltschmerz,” first published in Black Wings III, edited by S. T. Joshi (PS Publishing, 2014). — 183
“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). — 203
“The Land of Lonesomeness,” first published in the Weird Fiction Review No. 5 (November 2014). — 217
“Passing Spirits,” first published in Black Wings, edited by S. T. Joshi (PS Publishing, 2010). — 225
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS — 241