Χρυσόστομος Τσαπραΐλης’s Reviews > Prisms of the Oneiroi > Status Update

The Parish Coda, the closing story, is not a proper story per se but rather a compendium describing folklore of the Vagabond Society (the society of wanderers which is the main focus of the Boughs and Byways novel). It includes a rather mediocre introduction concerning the youth of the one who discovered the coda. The compendium itself is excellent.

A Dialogue of Innocence with the Hidden Parish is of a different tone to the previous stories, bringing to mind the Boughs and Byways... and also middle period Machen. A boy is lost in the woods surrounding his house and meets some interesting entities.

"In search of the wild staircase" was a great occult story in epistolary form, dealing with the remnants of a folk cult in Lichtenstein.

"Sea salt and asphodel" was a simple yet effective take on Gizburg's Night Battles legend, even though the story's 2 themes (the perfume and the Mazerru) weren't seamlessly intertwined.

The third story, The Temple consumes the Rose, was a bit too decadent and symbolic for my tastes, although less hazy than most of its ilk (which I fervently dislike).

The second story, Corfrdager, was also a first person narrative. This had a really strong rural atmosphere and the sense of numinous permeating it, really good.

Great Lovecraftian start with the Dreaming Plateau and a good example of how to craft a story out of an existing myth.