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Obsidian Dreams by Barry J. House
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Dark speculative fiction tales ...
Some hard and smooth like jet-black pebbles
and some with edges honed to scalpel sharpness.

— Book Description
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Cover artwork (in progress) by Tim White

ISBN : 978-1-906652-03-6
Paperback : 216x138mm : ? pages

£ price to be confirmed

Due to be published 2008

From the story of a lonely man who rediscovers his favourite childhood toy, together with the baggage it carries, to the tale of an angelic choirboy who vanishes from the face of the earth, only to reappear, somewhat changed… surely, we will find a little of ourselves reflected there in the darkness — the fear, the sorrow, the yearning — as we dream our obsidian dreams.

  • The Return of the Galaxy-X Blaster
  • The Chance to Say Goodbye
  • Like Mother, Like Daughter
  • Meet Your Maker
  • To Their Former Glory
  • Encounter With the Dead
  • Shoddy Workmanship
  • The Shaft of Ultimate Truth
  • History Will Repeat Itself Tonight
  • Biology Lesson
  • Make Things Good
  • As Good as it Gets
  • Alien Abduction
  • The Doctor Chadwick Party
  • The Tree and the Switch
  • The Ghosts of my Life
  • The Strange Disappearance of Liam Nichols

Extract from the book :

One evening, as Michael was browsing through the vintage toy section on eBay, he spotted it — the thing that sparked it all off. He had thought that he was searching for the elusive Space Outlaw pistol he loved so much as a child — the toy he believed would complete his vast collection — but he was mistaken. There had always been one ray gun that outclassed the Space Outlaw — The Galaxy-X Blaster — and on that momentous day Michael rediscovered it.

Download sample story (9 pages) : ObsidianDreams.pdf : 123kb

— About The Author
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Barry J House was born and bred in Southampton and is married with two children. He has been a fan of speculative fiction from the moment he first saw the film Forbidden Planet on TV as a small child. Barry is believed to be a descendant of the Dorset poet, William Barnes, so perhaps it was somehow preordained that he would be compelled to write. Don't forget to check out his site at : www.barryjhouse.co.uk

"...there was lots to admire." — Graham Joyce on The Strange Disappearance of Liam Nichols

"His stories are filled to the brim with emotion and I have, on more than one occasion, found myself feeling sorry for the people he has moulded from nothing more than paper, ink and imagination. If Stephen King were English this is how he would write. I just hope that the world gets to see a lot more of Barry J House." — Garry Charles

"Damn, Barry! Meet Your Maker is the best story I've read in a while. Really creeped me out (and that's a good thing...) and I like the fact that it combines both Horror and SciFi genres… Thank you, Mr. House, for another good one." — Kenneth James Crist, Editor-in-Chief, Black Petals Magazine