1866-1934
If you have never heard of Edward Lucas White (as I had not until recently), do yourself a favor and look up his short story “Lukundoo” (1925). This is probably one of the best and most terrifying horror stories I have ever read and it is the story for which White is best known. Probably his next best known story is “The House of Nightmare” (1906), though it is not nearly as good as ‘Luknudoo” and by today’s standards of horror would be considered more of a quaint tale told by children around a campfire than true horror. Nonetheless, Lovecraft considered White to be one of the masters of “weird fiction” and mentions him in his treatise “Supernatural Horror in Literature.”
One interesting aspect of White is that he based at least some of his stories on his nightmares, which is not uncommon among horror authors, but after reading “Lukundoo” I had to ask myself, “what was going on in this guy’s psyche?”
Do you base any of your works on dreams or nightmares? Write in and let us know.
Phil Slattery, Writer, Publisher 
Hi Phil, massive Lovecraft fan. My Dad used to work as a sculptor at Gamesworkshop in the UK and would often play a Cthulu style D&D game with his friends. I loved the word as a child and the desire to know what it was made me admittedly a very odd child. I don’t think I’ve slept properly in the last few couple of decades as a result but the resulting childhood nightmares certainly were a great resource to draw from made me start putting my short stories out there. Let me know what you think.
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I think you have a pretty interesting life actually. I am sorry to hear about the nightmares, but at least you have made good use of them. Was the posting about White of benefit to you? Have you looked into how many other horror authors use their nightmares as the foundations of stories? I would be interested in knowing.
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No I really haven’t and probably should. It was certainly a strong motivator for me. I find the personal experience helps me flesh out the horror my characters endure. They say write about what you know after all. I’m technically a little rough round the edges but I’d certainly appreciate your view on my work. Best wishes – J
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