Dreams of the Damned, Vol. 1

By Edward Fortman

Listen, as the night is quiet and the shadows creep close, to forgotten tales, once untold. See, as a shade sits and speaks of dark realms unseen by most. And, give peace to those lost souls who long for Life to bear witness to their deeds.

Herein awaits a tale of those who awaken in the darkest of nights; the incident of a friendly creature's unnatural laughter and the omen it portends; and a parable of a Lady whose sword now rings discordantly. More visions lie within this tome, painted by the whispering voice of a wretched soul.

And, once the tales are done, in verse and in prose, a dark road lies ahead: A journey, the end of which is unforeseen. So, come, travel the dark roads, to feel the camaraderie of lost souls, and to dream the dreams of the damned ...

This series of short books will be published every few months. Each issue will contain stories and poetry in the vein of Weird Fiction and Dark Fantasy. Also, artwork from from the days of yore in the printing industry will grace its pages, and other miscellaneous goodies await the intrepid reader.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Edward Fortman
• Release date: Jul 24, 2014
• ISBN: 9780991399512

Edward Fortman

Edward Fortman lives in Canton, Ohio, with his gal and their two crazy boys. Aside from working on his own writing, he and his gal own and operate a small business, meaning that he spends much of his day cussing about how there's always too much work to do.

Book preview

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2014 EtherWind Communication Services, Inc.

Dedication

(A Giving of Thanks)

As all the words that dribble from my pen are, at once, complex and simple-minded, I give thanks and dedicate this work to those who believe in and fight for freedom of expression. Some fight with words in courtrooms, some fight with blood on the streets paved with tyranny, and some simply believe and spread their words about like a sprinkling of gold for us all to share and enjoy. I tip my hat to all those folks who believe that the freedom of expression: speech, a painting, a photo, a song, a way of being or an exquisitely curious personality, is paramount.

Table of Contents

• Frontispiece

• Dedication

• By Way of an Introduction

• The Dreams of the Damned

• Ad Interim • I

• Here I am!

• Ad Interim • II

• The Mournful God

• Ad Interim • III

• One Will Laugh at the End

• Ad Interim • IV

• The Birth of Midnight

• Ad Interim • V

• The Chronicle of a Lady

• Ad Interim • VI

• Some would say that this is the luckiest man on Earth

• By Way of a Parting

• Contact, Legalese, Acknowledgements &c.

• Author Biography & A Note on the Artwork

By Way of an Introduction

( … with which I may increase the length of this little booklet, thereby justifying the outrageous price of 99 cents per copy … )

( … though, I would have charged a full dollar, but then would have missed the marketer’s opportunity to fool people into believing that there’s a significant difference betwixt the two prices … )

( … which is also the reason behind all the subtitles and the ellipses and parentheses before and after each one … )

( … for those who may be confused, the previous subtitle refers to the length of the booklet, rather than my reasoning for pricing it … )

( … though, really, both ideas are intertwined by strings woven from the greed of a poor soul, feeling his last penny slipping through his fingers … )

( … sniffle … snuffle … oh, there’s a tissue … spth-pth-pth-pth! … )

Have a seat, if you please. The chill of the air and the loneliness of the dark night seems to seep through the ol’ flesh, dampening spirits once young, but the blaze in the pit is bright, the embers crawling with glowing fire worms to feed the dancing flames on the wood atop the coals. Warmth, a mellow warmth, reaches out, a balm for the chill.

Relax, now, my gentle reader. The cold darkness surrounding this circle of warmth cast by the pit is peaceful, in repose, resting as the sickle of the moon journeys across the sky. Such darkness may listen, but on this night it will listen in peace.

A simple conversation I seek. Words spat to and fro in syllables that waft in the air for the ears to catch and the mind to bear. A conversation! What an incredible, chaotic smattering of thoughts and ideas brought together to clash and yield in a meandering fashion that, in whole, create love, hatred, new ideas, new ideals, peace, war … life and death. A conversation! What a simple, fleeting conglomeration of ideas that may begin with a simple thought …

Dreams …

Fleeting images that we all see by our minds’ eyes as we lay in restful repose. The dreams for which this tome was titled are not those. I hesitate to pigeonhole these dreams into any allocated slot. Are they dreams of lust? I cannot say. Dreams of love, of romance? I think not but again cannot say. Nightmares? Affirmations