Aurealis #85, October 2015“The Dreamscribe” by Peter Hickman
“The Events at Callan Park” by Erol Engin
Reviewed by Christos Antonaros
“The Dreamscribe” by Peter Hickman is a short fantasy story introducing us to an attention-grabbing universe of dreamcraft, masters, and slaves.
The story introduces us first to the melancholic ritual of a mass funeral, where families are burning their dead by placing them atop a large bonfire. By demonstrating this tradition, the author brings us closer to the story’s culture and the emotional variances among its spectators. The protagonist, Karlya, is the daughter of a deceased dream-scriber, and she also carries her father’s talent in writing dreams for other people. Her father had been enslaved by Lord Baluth, who in exchange for the dream-scriber’s life and services gave Karlya her freedom. Despite her independence, Karlya follows a path of revenge against the devious Lord.
Peter Hickman’s individual writing style made me want to read more about Karlya and the dream-scribers. He offered all I needed to create in my mind’s eye the beautiful landscape of that world. This is a very interesting story and I would love to read more about it in a future novel where the unique abilities of his characters could be expanded upon and fleshed out.
“The Events at Callan Park” by Erol Engin is both historical fantasy and psychological thriller.
Erol Engin takes us on a journey back to 1914, to Sydney’s Callan Park Hospital for the Insane, twenty two days before the outbreak of World War One. The protagonist, Doctor Frederick De Klerk, is a renowned psychiatrist, so brilliant that he was entrusted with a case from Doctor Freud. His patient, August Crebert, paints portraits of battlefields and war casualties, which he claims are scenes of an upcoming disaster. Throughout his patient’s treatment, Dr Klerk will discover horrifying truths about his past and will face the outbreak of the “artistic pandemic.”
By avoiding the use of demanding psychiatric terms, Erol Engin makes it easier for the reader to enjoy his story. As well, the journalistic style, along with the reader’s (assumed) knowledge of events surrounding the impending World War, creates an atmosphere of heightened tension. I recommend it to any friend of the psychological or thriller genres. “The Events at Callan Park” is a brilliant example illustrating that every era of human history can provide major inspiration for great stories.
Christos Antonaros is a dark fiction author with a love for European mythology.