The Land of Bad Dreams

By Kyla Lee Ward

A dark poetry collection by an award-winning horror writer.

 

A guidebook to old and new vistas of pandemonium, sumptuous gothic landscapes and the shadows of Faerie, by a darkly-shining poetic talent. But be warned - those who venture into the Land of Bad Dreams will always bring something back home.

 

A bride, a bite, or a taste for herbal tea...

 

Beautifully illustrated, this volume includes an introduction by Charles Lovecraft and an interview with the author.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kyla Lee Ward
• Release date: Jun 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9780645507904

Kyla Lee Ward

Kyla Lee Ward is a Sydney-based creative whose writings have garnered her Australian Shadows and Aurealis awards. She has placed in the Rhyslings and received Stoker and Ditmar nominations. Reviewers have accused her of being “gothic and esoteric”, “weird and exhilarating” and of “giving me a nightmare.” A long-time roleplayer, she freelanced for White Wolf and Eden Games, and programmed the horror stream for the 2010 Worldcon. As an actor, she is your Guide to Deadhouse: Tales of Sydney Morgue and a host with the world famous Rocks Ghost Tours. As an artist, she appears on occasional book covers as well as illustrating her own work. A practicing occultist, she is a member of the House of Shadows and likes raptors, swordplay and the Hellfire Club. To see some strange things, visit Kyla's website at http://www.kylaward.com

Book preview

The Land of Bad Dreams

Kyla Lee Ward

A guidebook to old and new vistas of pandemonium, sumptuous gothic landscapes and the shadows of Faerie, by a darkly-shining poetic talent. But be warned - those who venture into the Land of Bad Dreams will always bring something back home.

A bride, a bite, or a taste for herbal tea...

Beautifully illustrated, this volume includes an introduction by Charles Lovecraft and an interview with the author.

Kyla Lee Ward sits at her desk with glasses in hand, gazing ominously at the reader by the light of a single lamp.

Kyla Lee Ward

"In The Land of Bad Dreams, Kyla Ward offers up a rich, eccentric miscellany of dark music, skilfully crafted and strangely wrought."

—Ann Schwader, 2011

"Terror and the beauty it can evoke: that's what I expect from poetry like this—and that is what The Land of Bad Dreams gave me. This is a collection that should be welcomed."

—Robert Hood, 2011

Her dark visions have a striking note of whimsical levity... an Edward Gorey sensibility but with an edgy vibe.

—Sheila M. Merritt, Hellnotes, 4 November 2011

"The Land of Bad Dreams is as interesting as it is entertaining, as melancholic as it is witty."

—Edward Cox, Star*Line, Jan-March 2012

Traditional poetic meter and verse forms serve as vehicles for macabre themes that challenge their restraint in Ward's captivating collection of weird poetry... Fans of the supernatural who like poetry in the classic Romantic tradition will enjoy this book.

—Publisher's Weekly, May 2012

With Gothic intensity and wit, Ward conjures up themes and characters that cast intriguing shadows across contemporary lives."

—Margi Curtis, Dead Reckonings #11, Spring 2012

"The Land of Bad Dreams by Kyla Lee Ward shines with this Australian writer's strong story-telling skill. Fairy tales retold with a dose of realism, factual titles unfold with nightmarish imagery... Run to pick up this engaging book."

—Linda Addison, Amazon.com, August 2013

The Land of Bad Dreams

Kyla Lee Ward

Edited by Charles Lovecraft

A grotesque figure with the head and claws of a skeletal raven and an Elizabethan gown with ruff and panniers.

Published by Kyla Lee Ward

First published by P’rea Press, Sydney Australia. Paperback published September 2011; reprint February 2016. First edition ebook published December 2021.

Second edition ebook (this edition) published by Kyla Lee Ward 2022.

Poetry and Interview © by Kyla Lee Ward 2011, 2016, 2021, 2022.

Introduction © by P’rea Press 2011, 2016, 2021,2022. Used with permission.

Cover and internal illustrations © by Kyla Lee Ward 2011, 2016, 2021, 2022.

All rights reserved. Reviewers may quote short passages.

Book originally designed by David E. Schultz; for ebook by David Schembri.

Second edition ebook (this edition) prepared by Kell Shaw https://kellshaw.com

Cover designed by David Schembri Studios from author illustration.

Email:[e-mail]

Frontispiece photo taken by Zak Campbell.

Set in Goudy Old Style 11 point.

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:

Author: Ward, Kyla.

Title: The land of bad dreams / Kyla Lee Ward; Charles Alveric Lovecraft, editor.

ISBN: 978-0-6455079-0-4 (Second edition ebook)

Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.

Subjects: Gothic poetry (Literary genre).

Australian poetry—21st century.

Other Authors/Contributors:

Lovecraft, Charles.

Dewey Number: 821.008015

To my family

The DEAD leave no token

But DECAY and fade:

Shall our bond be broken

By this new DECAYed?

O lest our lives resume

DeluDEAD and faDEAD,

I declare this volume

To be DEAD DECAY DEAD.

Introduction

Dreams and poetry share an innate freedom. Both well from deep within the mind of the poet-dreamer, defying the ordered processes of consciousness. Symbols both universal and personal are allowed free play, producing new possibilities and insights. Travel is possible, and the compression and expansion of time. And, free of barriers as of censors, both may take those privy to the experience into places they might not normally approach. Yet bad dreams can contain valuable truths and dark poetry reveal a beauty inaccessible both to reason and to daylight.

—Kyla Lee Ward

The Land of Bad Dreams offers the reader a many faceted view of an extraordinary Australian poet, writer, artist and dramatic performer. In this first collection of Kyla Lee Ward’s poetry and prose vignettes we see distilled her uniquely imaginative inner world, her inventiveness with language and poetic forms, and her command of imagery that draws upon past eras and long lost cultures.

The works herein have been selected for their themes of dark fantasy and myth. The volume is arranged in four sections titled Dreams, Fables, Biohazard, and a long poem, The Feast of Mistrust. The selection covers all periods of Ward’s life including the early pieces, Herbal Tea and Night Cars, and works begun in her youth and completed in maturity such as The Feast of Mistrust. Her own illustrations throughout, a bibliography of her work and an interview with her are revealing of her diverse creative abilities.

On meeting Ward in person, her presence, bearing and the drama of her personality immediately impress and fascinate. She is a consummate performance poet and this tells strongly in her written poetic style. Her poetry is, above all, made for speaking or reading aloud in her own cultured Australian cadence. This characteristic explains much about the idiosyncrasies and strengths of her poetry.

Her poetic works usually tell a story or deliver a message as do most works within an oral tradition whether song, poetry or drama. For example, The Soldier’s Return tells the tale of a soldier’s expectations and revelations on his return home after the wars; Deshayes Cradle Song conveys that fate is inexorable, while Exorcism posits a rationalist view of the universe. Works such as The Kite and Hymn take the reader to distant epochs, while in The Feast of Mistrust she invokes the entire secret history of a city, building it, as it were, from the ground up.

Ward’s vivid imagination has been cultivated through many years of interest in Classical, Egyptian, medieval and gothic aesthetics and culture. Her writing is imbued with atmosphere based on a lifetime of immersion in these other worlds. Even the contemporary setting of The Sculptor is nuanced by references to classical Greece and Rome, and by Egyptian images.

Pace and rhythm are central elements in the recitation of Ward’s poetry: I recognize pattern and rhythm, visually, aurally and conceptually. She creates and enhances dramatic effects by shifts between formal and free verse. Formal rhythms, natural language rhythms and the rhythms of free verse are interposed to create pace and add dramatic effect to her performance. For instance, in