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The Untold Tales of Ozman Droom
“Spriggs evokes terror and awe . . . in this dazzling anti-story, a love letter to the weird.” --
Publishers Weekly
A hallucinatory exploration of the strange work and even stranger life of Ozman F. Droom, by Bram Stoker Award-nominated author Robin Spriggs.
Metafiction or monograph, biography or balderdash, demonic revelation or divine obfuscation, The Untold Tales of Ozman Droom is at times deeply disturbing, at others weirdly sublime, yet ever enigmatic and profoundly haunting throughout--an ouroboric shadow play of strange wonder, mad prophecy, and inescapable dread.
A hallucinatory exploration of the strange work and even stranger life of Ozman F. Droom, by Bram Stoker Award-nominated author Robin Spriggs.
Metafiction or monograph, biography or balderdash, demonic revelation or divine obfuscation, The Untold Tales of Ozman Droom is at times deeply disturbing, at others weirdly sublime, yet ever enigmatic and profoundly haunting throughout--an ouroboric shadow play of strange wonder, mad prophecy, and inescapable dread.
208 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2014
764 people want to read
About the author
Robin Spriggs
13 books24 followersRobin Spriggs is the author of Diary of a Gentleman Diabolist, Wondrous Strange: Tales of the Uncanny, The Dracula Poems, Capes & Cowls: Adventures in Wyrd City, and over 200 short stories and poems that have appeared in a wide variety of publications. His work has been nominated for a Bram Stoker Award, Pushcart Prize, and multiple Rhysling Awards.
As an actor, Spriggs has appeared as Captain Franco in NBC's Revolution, Chris Amante in USA Network’s Necessary Roughness, and as affable sociopath Alfonse Duncan in the rural noir Sinkhole. He is currently attached to the romantic comedy The Genesis of Lincoln and the horror film The Ballad of Jimmy Hallows.
As an actor, Spriggs has appeared as Captain Franco in NBC's Revolution, Chris Amante in USA Network’s Necessary Roughness, and as affable sociopath Alfonse Duncan in the rural noir Sinkhole. He is currently attached to the romantic comedy The Genesis of Lincoln and the horror film The Ballad of Jimmy Hallows.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 11, 2014
Like some rare grimoire lying on a dusty shelf in a Montmartre backstreet, books by Robin Spriggs have proven hard to locate, yet richly rewarding to those that have sought them out. In this collection (thankfully available to enlightened members of the reading public as well as tenacious occult scholars), Spriggs collates an eerie concoction of work old and new, all bound together by a mischievous mythos - that of Ozman Droom, an enigmatic personage who may be part alter-ego, part-avatar, both, or none of the above.
As with Spriggs' other protean works, one finds oneself drawn into an otherworldly realm of mists and shadows, wherein lurks an intoxicating mix of short stories, prose poems, unsettling incantations, delightful observations and other pieces that defy definition. Each segment is accompanied by a playful footnote that links the piece to the eponymous Droom. (Footnotes are often a rather laborious encumbrance. These always raise a smile, albeit sometimes a nervous one.)
As with all Spriggs' work, the language is rich and expansive. It's possible to linger on a sentence, enjoying its skilful construction and vivid imagery, whilst simultaneously enjoying the wider narrative of which it's a part. These are words of power, rhythmic and beguiling, so much so that you often find yourself cut adrift from your surroundings and wandering the curious and compelling highways and byways contained within.
As a Spriggs acolyte, I wasn't disappointed. If you're already familiar with his Stoker nominated works, you’ll enjoy this, too. If you've yet to encounter him, this is as good a place as any to start. Enter without preconceptions. Abandon all hope of familiar structures or clichéd narratives. This is another worthy addition to the Spriggs canon. Hopefully he's conjuring up another one as we speak.
As with Spriggs' other protean works, one finds oneself drawn into an otherworldly realm of mists and shadows, wherein lurks an intoxicating mix of short stories, prose poems, unsettling incantations, delightful observations and other pieces that defy definition. Each segment is accompanied by a playful footnote that links the piece to the eponymous Droom. (Footnotes are often a rather laborious encumbrance. These always raise a smile, albeit sometimes a nervous one.)
As with all Spriggs' work, the language is rich and expansive. It's possible to linger on a sentence, enjoying its skilful construction and vivid imagery, whilst simultaneously enjoying the wider narrative of which it's a part. These are words of power, rhythmic and beguiling, so much so that you often find yourself cut adrift from your surroundings and wandering the curious and compelling highways and byways contained within.
As a Spriggs acolyte, I wasn't disappointed. If you're already familiar with his Stoker nominated works, you’ll enjoy this, too. If you've yet to encounter him, this is as good a place as any to start. Enter without preconceptions. Abandon all hope of familiar structures or clichéd narratives. This is another worthy addition to the Spriggs canon. Hopefully he's conjuring up another one as we speak.
May 27, 2014
This is the third book by Spriggs that I’ve read. Wondrous Strange is excellent, and Diary of a Gentleman Diabolist is even better, but The Untold Tales of Ozman Droom is far and away the best of the three.
It’s a hard-to-classify book—a slipstreamish composite novel disguised as a collection of weird tales, dreamlike prose poems, and cryptic footnotes. Stylistically, it’s even harder to pin down. To go the lazy-comparison route, I’d call it a heady and unpredicatable blend of Borges, Robert Walser, and Flannery O’Connor, with dashes of Lovecraft, De Quincey, and Alejandro Jodorowsky thrown in for good measure. I’m not sure if that’s much help, but it’s the best I can do on the fly.
Suffice it to say, The Untold Tales of Ozman Droom is an exceptionally fine offering—foreboding, lyrical, lapidary, and unlike anything else I’ve ever come across.
It’s a hard-to-classify book—a slipstreamish composite novel disguised as a collection of weird tales, dreamlike prose poems, and cryptic footnotes. Stylistically, it’s even harder to pin down. To go the lazy-comparison route, I’d call it a heady and unpredicatable blend of Borges, Robert Walser, and Flannery O’Connor, with dashes of Lovecraft, De Quincey, and Alejandro Jodorowsky thrown in for good measure. I’m not sure if that’s much help, but it’s the best I can do on the fly.
Suffice it to say, The Untold Tales of Ozman Droom is an exceptionally fine offering—foreboding, lyrical, lapidary, and unlike anything else I’ve ever come across.
November 2, 2014
I’ve been following Robin Spriggs’s work for quite a while now, and at some point along the way I began to suspect there was an underlying connectivity to it, a deep but only faintly hinted-at mythology awaiting further mining. The Untold Tales of Ozman Droom, a hybrid novel/short story collection, confirms that suspicion. There’s a definite mythos here, but one that remains both subtle and elusive, inviting (if not daring) the reader to put the pieces together for herself.
Spriggs has a way of sneaking up on a story, beginning in the mode of an essayist or casual observer but then reaching some alchemical moment along the way when what seems like a simple anecdote or offhand observation transforms into pure story, bearing the reader away into a dreamy irreality where light and darkness mingle in surprising and unsettling ways.
It’s a safe bet that this book won’t appeal to mainstream readers looking for an easy-breezy beach read, or to run-of-the-mill horror buffs on the prowl for blood and guts or Romeroesque zombies. But for readers in the market for moody, multilayered strangeness of a high literary caliber, here it is, in spades.
Of the thirty-three novelettes, stories, etc., in this book, I’m hard-pressed to pick a favorite. The titular novelette and the longish short story “If Thine Eye Be Single” are minor masterpieces of melancholy weirdness, as is the shorter but even stranger “The Writing on the Wall.” And the arch little prose poem “Eldritch Writes” is a gem of satirical hilarity. Other standouts are “The Sigil,” “Trivial Pursuits,” and “Something to Remember You By.” I’m probably forgetting two or three other favorites, but you get the picture: I’m a fan.
In short, to read The Untold Tales of Ozman Droom is to go down a rabbit hole of supernatural psychodrama and deliciously unreliable narration. The book might be a tad experimental for some readers’ tastes, but it offers some of the most vibrant prose I’ve come across from a contemporary writer in any genre in a very long time, and I found it absolutely spellbinding.
Spriggs has a way of sneaking up on a story, beginning in the mode of an essayist or casual observer but then reaching some alchemical moment along the way when what seems like a simple anecdote or offhand observation transforms into pure story, bearing the reader away into a dreamy irreality where light and darkness mingle in surprising and unsettling ways.
It’s a safe bet that this book won’t appeal to mainstream readers looking for an easy-breezy beach read, or to run-of-the-mill horror buffs on the prowl for blood and guts or Romeroesque zombies. But for readers in the market for moody, multilayered strangeness of a high literary caliber, here it is, in spades.
Of the thirty-three novelettes, stories, etc., in this book, I’m hard-pressed to pick a favorite. The titular novelette and the longish short story “If Thine Eye Be Single” are minor masterpieces of melancholy weirdness, as is the shorter but even stranger “The Writing on the Wall.” And the arch little prose poem “Eldritch Writes” is a gem of satirical hilarity. Other standouts are “The Sigil,” “Trivial Pursuits,” and “Something to Remember You By.” I’m probably forgetting two or three other favorites, but you get the picture: I’m a fan.
In short, to read The Untold Tales of Ozman Droom is to go down a rabbit hole of supernatural psychodrama and deliciously unreliable narration. The book might be a tad experimental for some readers’ tastes, but it offers some of the most vibrant prose I’ve come across from a contemporary writer in any genre in a very long time, and I found it absolutely spellbinding.
July 5, 2014
An eerie and elegiac tour de force, scarier for what it implies than for what it says outright.
March 29, 2023
More people should be talking about this! Twisted, fun, and fresh. I especially liked the section Revelation.
August 17, 2014
An eclectic collection of tales new and old that never cease to make the reader raise a questioning brow and curl an edge of a mouth with enjoyment and curiosity. This is a fun read that I will forever find myself pulling from the shelf to enjoy or gather inspiration.
July 5, 2014
Review on the way!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews