Burrows of Blood and Shadow
By Rebekah L. Webb
246 Pages
“The Dream Surfer has no past or memory and can only experience life through the dreams and memories of others. He is stuck in a world of doors and windows leading to quiet lives, where pain and tragedy flow like the inevitable path of gentle streams.” *
Burrows of Blood and Shadow is a collection of thirty-seven short stories with an interwoven theme as an elusive, central character of The Dream Surfer. While each of the tales are stand alone odysseys, they all revolve around the iconic figure of The Dream Surfer. Perpetually drifting among the shadows and lurking within the collective subconscious, the lead anti-hero comes lock, stock, and barrel with many a metaphor.
Dreams remain some of our most unexplained and mysterious elements of lucid life. Psychiatrists have studied and attempted to interpret, explain, or even remotely make sense of our dreams. One thing that remains undeniable is the fact our dreams come to us as a subconscious outlet. The signs are all there, it is up to the super-ego just what to do with all the carnage.
The common thread of the Dream Surfer type figure may very well be as potentially iconic within future horror fiction. Whether the written scribe, streaming or on film. The antagonists or villains we’ve all come to love to hate such as Freddy Kruger, Pinhead or Michael Myers all resonate deep within the subconscious. Author Rebekah L. Webb has conceived a most noteworthy adversary to REM and literature in The Dream Surfer. Look for additional tales involving this central character. This avid reader, for one will be marking down the days in his dream journal.
This collection of tales is a most welcome, vicarious escape from the sometimes less than tolerable society. We all search for outlets to maintain our sanity, coping mechanisms if you will, in order to function successfully among the living. It is only fitting this novel coincidentally, tales of vicarious escape throughout the sanctuary of slumber. Numerous metaphors with companions of melancholy, rejection, , and broken hearts surface within the parameters of surrealism. This is one of countless reasons why this collection is so profound and can be read over and over again.
It is difficult to pin-point a favourite or high lighted story. Void of cliché or predictable prose, what is equally remarkable about this author’s style is the fact these stories deviate from any conventional phobias like so many other dream-like sequences tend to. Burrows of Blood and Shadow in fact concentrates more on multi-layered characters and the plight that exists within. If a reader cannot naturally relate to the protagonists within the pages, is it utterly worth an odyssey to take with one another?
One could devour this anthology within one or two sittings. While other readers may choose to savour the savagery page by page. Regardless of the pace, a little something different can be taken away and resonates for eons long after conclusion.
Rebekah L. Webb has cemented her future within the annals of future horror fiction. Keep your Rapid Eye Movement peeled for future endeavors and sleep easy knowing this author is here to stay.
(*Book Synopsis-Burrows of Blood and Shadow.com)
Available in print format or eBook