Discussion of a Decent Dream by E. Curtis

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Welcome to It's Raining Books. What would we find under your bed?

Shoes and a fair bit of dust because the shoes block my floor bot from getting under the bed. I need to fix that, as the dust makes me sneeze something terrible, and who knows what else lurks there. I steer clear for the dust underneath. What a world it would be without dust.

What was the scariest moment of your life?

With a group of my co-workers, I was held at gunpoint while four armed men robbed our place of business. I wasn’t expecting to be so affected by the incident, but it did haunt me for some time after.

Do you listen to music while writing? If so what?

I do, as music is like a drug that send my consciousness into the ether. I listen to dark-wave, gothic, ambient, 80s style new-wave, and general alternative music.

What is something you'd like to accomplish in your writing career next year?

I plan to have the first draft of my next novel, Olshan and the Journeyman: A Tale of Friendship, Betrayal, and Black Magic, finished by year’s end.

How long did it take you to write this book?

The first draft took two years to write. But since I didn’t really know how to write, and that version was horrible, I set it aside for many years, working on shorts stories and a second novel, to develop some writing style, and when I did, I spent four years re-writing Discussion. I then tinkered with editing for a while before working with a story editor and a line editor to bring the story to a professional level. The year before publication, I also worked with a final sanity check editor, a copywriter, and a proofreader to help me bring the novel to a polished finish.

I only attended one year of college and never took any creative writing courses, so a lot of what I may have learned I had to figure out on my own with the help of some month-long writing courses online. Discussion was in the works for a long time. Though, having gone through all of that, and learning what works and what doesn’t work, I am hoping that the next books will come to print more quickly. The unique nature of my work doesn’t allow for a new novel every few months. I draw upon and delve into the stories quite deeply, and this requires time. So a release every two to three years is the plan going forward.

In the fall of 1789, on the western edge of the Yorkshire Dales, a dense, persistent fog enshrouds the village of Ingleton. Shadowed spirits hide in the mist and bedevil the townsfolk, heralding a tragedy that has befallen one of their own.

Edmond continues to search for Alexandra, his fiancée, who disappeared the same night that the mist set upon their town. Presumed dead by all others, he visits Alexandra's empty grave, desperate for any hint of what has become of her. Weary from the sleepless nights on his quest, no longer able to stay awake, Edmond falls into a dream before her headstone and there obtains clues from Alexandra as to her whereabouts.

Haunted all the while by a malevolent spirit, Edmond follows the trail that Alexandra left for him and enters the underworld, only to learn that he has been there before, and in fact, quite often. But more, he discovers how he is to blame for Alexandra's disappearance.

A dark literary novel rich in imagery, Discussion of a Decent Dream unearths the consequences of a child's decision to surrender his heart in exchange for unholy power and transcendent knowledge.

Discussion of a Decent Dream is a Finalist in Britain's Wishing Self Book Awards in the Adult category.

Read an Excerpt:

As I backed away from the well, I tried not to notice the boy there yet again, with his hand extended, this time dropping a flawless pearl, tried not to see the boy turning away from the well with eyes tearful and fearful of what had happened, of what he had just done.

Rather, I raced through the woods in odd fashions of knowing, posed in scratched and discolored celluloid frames, formed in fixed positions, and I remembered.

About the Author:

E. Curtis draws on personal experiences of the otherworldly for his writing. Through dreams, visions, and waking encounters, his exposure to darkness has motivated him to detail what he has come to know of the preternatural. While a few short pieces have been published on an online literary magazine, Discussion of a Decent Dream is his first novel.

Website: http://discussthedream.com/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/ECurtisBooks/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/discussthedream
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/discussthedream/

The book is on sale for $0.99 during the tour.
Buy link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07BTHW1SY

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