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Songs of a Dead Dreamer

Thomas Ligotti

First published 1986
Publisher Silver Scarab Press
Format Trade Paperback
Type Collection
Cover art Harry O. Morris
Pages 166
Price $8.50

Not to be confused with the 1989 Robinson collection of the same title, which was reprinted by Carroll & Graf in 1990 and by Subterranean Press in 2010. The two collections share 11 titles, but the 1989 collection omitted 7 vignettes from this collection and added 9 new stories. Note that the copyright page as seen on FantLab has a 1985 date, but the book wasn't published until March 1986 according to FantLab and this page: https://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?t=1271

  • Limited edition of 300 copies
  • Contents from Tartarus Press' Thomas Ligotti page within "A Guide to Supernatural Fiction"
  • Page numbers from a table of contents scan on eBay.
  • {{A|Ramsey Campbell}}'s "Introduction" is not listed in the table of contents
  • The table of contents lists the following 3 vignettes -- "One Thousand Painful Variations Performed upon Divers Creatures Undergoing the Treatment of Dr. Moreau, Humanist", "The Excruciating Final Days of Dr. Henry Jekyll, Englishman", and "The Agonizing Resurrection of Victor Frankenstein, Citizen of Geneva" -- as a single work, "Three Scientists", starting on page 124. The page numbers on which these three vignettes actually start are currently unknown.
  • The table of contents lists the following 2 vignettes -- "The Heart of Count Dracula, Descendent of Attila, Scourge of God" and "The Insufferable Salvation of Lawrence Talbot the Wolfman" -- as a single work, "Two Immortals", starting on page 130. The page numbers on which these two vignettes actually start are currently unknown.
  • The table of contents lists the following 2 vignettes -- "The Unbearable Rebirth of the Phantom of the Wax Museum" and "The Intolerable Lesson of the Phantom of the Opera" -- as a single work, "Leading Men", starting on page 135. The page numbers on which these two vignettes actually start are currently unknown.
  • Page count from FantLab
  • The copyright page as seen on FantLab has a 1985 date, but the book wasn't published until March 1986 according to FantLab and this page: https://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?t=1271
  • The back cover as seen on FantLab has the publisher and price and says the book was "Printed in Hell"

Year Reviewer Publication
1986 Michael A. Morrison Fantasy Review, June 1986
1986 Robert M. Price Crypt of Cthulhu, St. John's Eve 1986
1986 Neal Wilgus Science Fiction Review, Fall 1986
1987 Fritz Leiber Locus, #312 January 1987
1987 Mark Valentine Paperback Inferno, #66

No ISBN on record — searching by title and author.