Songs of a Dead Dreamer is a 1986 short story collection by horror fiction writer Thomas Ligotti. It has been acknowledged as one of the seminal collections of modern weird horror fiction by peers such as Ramsey Campbell. Many of its stories show the influence of Ligotti's literary idols of horror such as H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe.
The first edition of Ligotti's book was produced in paperback by Silver Scarab Press, limited to 300 copies. It was re-released in an expanded and revised edition in 1989 by Carroll and Graf. Both editions of the book contain an introduction by Ramsey Campbell. In 2010, Subterranean Press republished the book, with author revisions, making it the definitive edition.
The serial killer story "The Frolic" was filmed in 2007 directed by Jacob Cooney, based on a screenplay co-authored by Brandon Trenz and Ligotti. Wonder Entertainment has released The Frolic Collector's Edition DVD and Book set, which contains the short film adaptation of the story, and also commentary tracks and behind-the-scenes by director Jacob Cooney, producer Jane Kelly Kosek, and actor Maury Sterling; a new interview with screenwriters Thomas Ligotti and Brandon Trenz; a newly revised version of the short story, with a new introduction by Thomas Ligotti; and the screenplay, with a new introduction by Brandon Trenz. Only 1,000 copies of the collector's edition were released. The book containing the revised text of "The Frolic," was exclusive to this set.
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Famous quotes containing the words songs of, songs, dead and/or dreamer:
“In her days every man shall eat in safety
Under his own vine what he plants, and sing
The merry songs of peace to all his neighbors.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree:
Be the green grass above me With showers and dewdrops wet;
And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget.”
—Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830–1894)
“The bone-frame was made for
no such shock knit within terror,
yet the skeleton stood up to it:
the flesh? it was melted away,
the heart burnt out, dead ember,
tendons, muscles shattered, outer husk dismembered....”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)
“I am a dreamer of words, of written words. I think I am reading; a word stops me. I leave the page. The syllables of the word begin to move around. Stressed accents begin to invert. The word abandons its meaning like an overload which is too heavy and prevents dreaming. Then words take on other meanings as if they had the right to be young. And the words wander away, looking in the nooks and crannies of vocabulary for new company, bad company.”
—Gaston Bachelard (1884–1962)