Celephais in Bloomington, MN

Celephaïs
is a collection of fantastic short stories authored by
Howard Lovecraft
,
Lord Dunsany
Ambrose Bierce
and
Edgar Allan Poe
with an introduction by
Sigmund Freud
. The main theme of the stories is the dream world, whether dreams inspired during sleep or with the help of exotic drugs.
"
", a fantasy story inspired by a dream recorded in
commonplace book as "
Dream of flying over city
", is a fictional city created in a dream by
Kuranes
, the anti-hero of the story.
is described as being situated in the valley of Ooth-Nargai beside the Cerenerian Sea and its most remarkable feature is that it is unaffected by the passage of time, and takes no decay or wear, so that a person may leave it and return many years later to find that nothing has changed.
" was inspired by a tale by
, "
The Coronation of Mr. Thomas Shap
", included in this collection, where the main character becomes more and more engrossed in the imaginary kingdom of Larkar, that he created, until he begins to neglect business and routine tasks of daily living.
's "
A Horseman in the Sky
", also included in this collection, inspired the imagery of the horses drifting off the cliff where the horizon of
meets the sky.
Other fantastic stories in this anthology include:
's
Beyond the Wall
SIOPE
Manuscript in a Bottle
The Oval Portrait
as well as
Azathoth
Beyond the Wall of Sleep
Dagon
Hypnos
.
The collection offers an excellent introduction to
's dream world complete with the inspirational stories that shaped its development.
If you have enjoyed reading
Necronomicon
The Call of Cthulhu
Robert Bloch
Psycho
Neil Gaiman
'
American Gods
or
Frederik Pohl
Virtual Nightmare
you will definitely enjoy reading
was the forefather of modern horror fiction having inspired such writers as
Stephen King
. The influence of his Cthulhu mythos can be seen in film (Re-Animator, Hellboy, and Alien), games (The Call of Cthulhu role playing enterprise), music (Metallica, Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath) and pop culture in general.