cover image The Dreamer in Fire and Other Stories

The Dreamer in Fire and Other Stories

Sam Gafford. Hippocampus, $20 trade paper (244p) ISBN 978-1-61498-195-4

Gafford (Carnacki: The New Adventures) demonstrates a gift for creative variations on Lovecraftian themes in this promising debut collection of 17 short stories, six of them previously unpublished. Fans of Darren McGavin’s Kolchak of 1970s TV fame will appreciate “Casting Fractals,” in which a disreputable journalist, Carl Eckhardt, attempts to persuade a colleague that an event in space in 1958 doomed humankind. “Showtime” takes a chilling look at the hidden agenda of the host of a popular children’s TV show and explores how technological improvements in communications have furthered the plans of dark forces. Gafford plays with genre readers’ expectations by offering some neat twist endings that go beyond the predictable shocking closing lines of many lackluster Lovecraft pastiches. The well-executed title story, in which a scholar travels to the creepy town of Northport, N.Y., where no one ever smiles, follows familiar pathways, but it makes effective use of incremental revelations. Readers will hope to see more of Gafford’s work. (Aug.)