Dreams of the Docent

"Dreams of the Docent" is a short Cthulhu Mythos story by American author Lee Clark Zumpe. It was first published in the July 2015 edition of Tales of the Talisman (Hadrosaur Productions) Title: "Dreams of the Docent" at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database, and was later voted by the fanbase to be included in the anthology The Best of Lovecraftiana (2023, Rogue Planet Press) The Best of Lovecraftiana, Gavin Chappell (2023, Rogue Planet Press).
==Synopsis==
When car trouble finds the unnamed narrator stranded in the small Floridian town of Shady Haven, he is forced to spend the weekend at the only hotel, where he makes the acquaintance of owner Mose Lipscomb. Lipscomb tells the man of how, many years ago, famed horror writer H. P. Lovecraft spent an evening at the hotel, and his vile dreams are now blamed by the remaining townsfolk for the town's decline, believing Lovecraft to have "fiddled with the dial on the cosmic radio … opened the channel and initiated the transmission."
During his stay, the narrator experiences nightmares of the "blind and mindless Daemon Sultan at the very heart of Ultimate Chaos", as well as visions every bit as horrendous as those experienced by Lovecraft, and takes his leave as soon as possible. However, despite his most fervent wishes, it appears that the dreams will not diminish with distance, and that the illusion of realities merging may be with him for the rest of his life.
==Trivia==
*Amongst the bedside reading material to be found at Lipscomb's hotel are old copies of pulp magazines Weird Tales and Thrilling Wonder Stories, containing fiction by Robert Bloch, August Derleth, and Henry Kuttner.
==Publication History==
(Note: history partially taken from the Internet Speculative Fiction Database )
*Tales of the Talisman (2015, Hadrosaur Productions)
*All Worlds Wayfarer (2019, All Worlds Wayfarer)
*The Best of Lovecraftiana (2023, Rogue Planet Press)
*Lovecraftiana (unknown year, Rogue Planet Press)
==References==
Category:Lee Clark Zumpe works
Category:Expanded Mythos Works