Lori Parker !!!!
I'll be contacting you within 24 hours to get you your prize. Congrats!
Now, back to our scheduled post. Today I'm also being hosted on M.C.V. Egan's A Day in the Spotlight where an excerpt from PERPETUAL NIGHT will be highlighted; so go ahead, check it out. I'll wait for you here.
Ready and spooked? Great!
In the spirit of that excerpt, I've decided to delve into the world of dreams. What do dreams mean? It is a question that has stump humanity for centuries. As far back as 7000 years ago, the Mesopotamians wrote the first compilation of dream symbols and their meanings. They viewed dreams as signs from their Gods and would go to "Dream Priests" to foretell the dreamer's future.
Later on Egyptians wrote their own Dream Book. This ancient culture celebrated rituals, gave sacrifices, and recited prayers in hopes that their dreams would reveal what was to come.
Dreams had a big influence directing the most important decisions of public Greek life, through the Oracle of Delphi, and sometimes even in the military. And even more influential, Hippocrates was the first man of science to associate dreams to physical and mental health.
In Rome, Julius Cesar promulgated an edict that required every citizen who had a dream about the empire to talk about it in the market of their town.
Freud, Jung, Faraday, they all defined in one way or another our present understanding of nighttime visitations. And yet, the definitive answer remains elusive. When you dream of a serial killer that's stalking you, is it caused by watching Halloween one too many times? Or perhaps it is your more deathly side, fighting to be acknowledged?
For a chance to win a signed paperback copy of PERPETUAL NIGHT's first edition, tell me about your most scary dream. If you have ever experienced a prophetic kind of vision, do share! As usual, the winner will be selected randomly and announced in my next post.
Don't forget to visit the rest of the participating Coffin Hop bloggers for more chances to win. Enjoy!
9 comments:
I can't think of a specific dream that really scares me but I have had various dreams that turn scary when spiders show up. The sensation of spiders on my back has awakened me numerous times.
OK, this is going to sound ridiculous, but the scariest dream I ever had occurred when I was very young. I was probably 4 or so, since I wasn't in school yet, and still slept with a bunch of stuffed animals. I can still remember snippets of the dream today, almost 50 years later, although now it seems much more silly than scary. It involved my stuffed animals coming to life and trying to get me. They moved slowly, but always closer and closer, relentlessly pursuing me, even down the stairs to the basement, where I would run to try and hide. I always woke up before they got to me, but I can recall that terror of "they're coming!"
Not sure why cute little fluffy stuffed bunnies, puppies, and teddy bears seemed terrifying to me at the time, but I do recall that I stopped sleeping with them at about that time. ;)
I actually had a supers scary dream last night and I cringe to re-live it. But I saw a creepy demon and his serpent like tongue came out of his nostril.... then I saw a bunch of flying, falling chickens... no I did not drink or use any other stimuli....
I had a recurring dream as a kid where I kept falling into darkness, just falling and falling.
Yeah, me, for winning a book! My scariest dream... I burn alive in an elevator car. I have gotten that pleasure every two years or so... since I was eight-years-old.
Thanks for all your comments!
@Jeanette: Spiders are ALWAYS scary. I've never dreamt about them, but it wouldn't be pretty. I'm arachnophobic, you see...
@Chris: Isn't it amazing how the most innocent things can turn up scary at the drop of a hat? I recently read a book called DANNY AND THE APPLICATION FOR NON-SCARY THINGS. You should read it. Your dreams sounds frighteningly similar.
@MCV Egan: Are you kidding me? Chickens? I'd be a vegetarian now. *shivers*
@AF Stewart: Falling in dreams is always terrifying. I used to have that dream very often.
@Lori: Yay you! Congrats! Please send me your eMail so I can gift you the copy through amazon. When I was about 13, I became consumed by the certainty that my building would burn while I was asleep. I stop sleeping for about a year! That is a scary-ass dream!!
I'll always remember this dream I had as a kid, because I had it multiple times and it was so strange. In the dream, I was at an indoor public pool, but I was the only one there. Except for a fly that kept buzzing around my head. I swatted at it again and again, and finally hit the fly. One of its little yellow eyes flew out of its head as it fell. I got out of the pool and made my way through the labyrinthine shower area, only to run into a creepy looking girl with long, scraggly hair, dripping wet, with one yellow eye and one empty socket. Somehow, she was the fly...
Yay for Egyptians and their Dream Book. Very cool! You're right about most dreams - they're either something we saw or heard that's stuck with us, or symbolize psychological issues we have. But I think it's fun to use dreams to reveal backstory or presentiments in the books we write! :-)
Just thought I'd pass along a tip on how to recall dreams better. Keep a pen and paper by your bed, and after you wake up, keep your eyes closed, and write down whatever you remember. For a while I did this regularly, and I noticed a significant increase in dream recall. For some reason opening your eyes seems to cause dream memories to disappear. Hope this helps.
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