A world of dreams? Eyes in the sky? Celestial beings? Insane murderers and mental asylums? Guys, I think I found Bloodborne’s grandpa!
Country bumpkin Joe Slater is confined for criminal insanity and murder. Each night, he is haunted by strange, fantastic visions. Using a telepathic device (yeah, sure, why not?), our narrator dives into the madman’s dreams in search of answers. But when death comes to claim the maniac, the knowledge he finds may shake his understanding of reality.
This one is weird. Even by Lovecraft standards. Fitting, I suppose, for a story about dreams, visions, and nightmares.
In terms of horror, this one is pretty underwhelming. It starts out spooky enough, but by the end, that sense of discomfort all but evaporates. You don’t even get any weird monsters or mind-shattering civilizations. The narrator has a friendly chat with some thing on the other side of space, then the story comes to an uneventful conclusion.
What it lacks in fright it more than makes up for in mystery. Just what was that space thing? Why was it connected to Slater? Just what is beyond the wall of sleep? These questions are never answered, and I love that! It makes them so much more tantalizing and intriguing than if we got a definitive explanation!
It being a short definitely helps. If a full-length novel tried to do this, it would get really boring and be super disappointing. But you can finish this one in less than half an hour. It gets right in and right out. No time wasted.
My feelings on this one are mixed. It was decently intriguing, but I doubt I’ll ever want to go back to it. Still, I’ve spent thirty minutes on dumber things than this. Give it a read and see what you think.
Jonah's Books & Rants 
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