David Hero is an Edinburgh artist who has odd snatches of memory that seem to come from another world--- the world of dreams. But DREAMLAND is real, located in a parallel dimension of the multiverse, created by the dreams of mankind... and by the dreams of others, including Cthulhu. When he met his friend Eldin the Wanderer in Dreamland, and then encountered him again in Edinburgh, there was a crisis... and both ended up in Dreamland together as adventurers, with only vague memories of the waking world.

Dreamland was invented by H P Lovecraft, and most extensively utilized in his short novel, "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath," which is as close as HPL could get to a sword-and-sorcery story (his hero, Randolph Carter, did carry a sword at one point but it didn't do him much good). When I looked back at HPL's story after reading Lumley's, I was vastly impressed by Lumley's detailed knowledge of the "Dream-Quest!" Lumley's "dreams" novels are swords-and-sorcery stories too, with some nasty horrors encountered on the way. But whereas HPL wrote in the style of the 19th century (which he naturally inbibed as a child from reading the old books in his grandfather's library), Lumley is a modern storyteller.

Let me repeat my comment on these Dreams novels... These novels are not intended to be taken too seriously (which does NOT mean that there are no moments of sheer horror through these novels). Elsewhere, Brian Lumley tells us that what he had in mind while writing them was Bing Crosby and Bob Hope in their old "Road" movies. So just enjoy them as they are! (And anyway, how serious was H P Lovecraft when he took Randolph Carter back from Dreamland's moon in a "great leap of cats.")  In any case, I enjoyed them so much that I decided to publish them.

In HERO OF DREAMS we met night-gaunts, Thinistor Udd and Yibb-Tstll, the Great Tree, the Eidolon Lathi and her noxious hive, Thalarion, the First Ones who settled in Theem'hdra, and the Mad First One who worshipped Cthulhu and sought to release him from his age-old imprisonment in R'lyeh.

NOW, in SHIP OF DREAMS, we meet night-gaunts again (including a human gaunt-master), King Kuranes, Zura the zombie queen, and have lots of fun with flying armadas from the sky-city of Serannian.  But... among other items there is the mystery of the Museum and the mysterious Curator...

Warning from me: If you hate S&S, fantasy adventure, and you want horror stories like CALL OF CTHULHU and the other noir tales of H P L and his followers... you may not like this.  If you like Leiber's Grey Mouser tales (as an example) then you are very likely to enjoy these stories.  (Of course Lumley wrote darker horror tales as well!)  Thus on Goodreads, this book averaged nearly 4 (out of 5) asterisks even though some folks hated it.  And yet horror abounds, too, even in these books!

First edition (first printing) hardcover book published at $21.00 by W. Paul Ganley: Publisher in 1986.  It features excellent artwork including the dust jacket and lots of interior art.  (I show examples in the photographs... )

Even if you have read one or more of these in the Tor mass market paperback editions, or others, you might well want my first editions also — if only for the artwork!  They are "as new" — right out of the original box sent from the printer — and would certainly be suitable as gifts, too.  Check my store for the other titles in this group (HERO OF DREAMS, SHIP OF DREAMS, MAD MOON OF DREAMS, ICED ON ARAN)... the first three are available in both hardback and paperback; ICED is only available in hardback. Also available as a set.