Cliff Jones Jr.

Somniscope: A Dreampunk Convergence #

Another lonely night, another borrowed dream. You know you’ll never get to sleep on your own, so why bother trying? It’ll only waste time, and you’ve got to be up in six hours. Five and a half now.

What is it about other people’s lives that satisfies that gnawing hunger in your chest, if only for a moment? Living in someone else’s skin scratches an itch that can’t be reached any other way. All the little parts of yourself that aggravate like a pebble in your shoe… they’re just gone. Sure, everybody’s got problems, but they don’t have your problems, not exactly. It’s this momentary relief that keeps you coming back night after night.

So you pull out the device, plug it into the wall beside your bed, slip on the headset, and lie back onto your pillow. You close your eyes and listen to those ten hypnotic clicks, your countdown to dreamland. Precisely one second after the tenth click, you lose consciousness. There in front of your eyes is the loading screen…

Somniscope is available from Amazon, Bookshop.org, and others.

Contents #

A Poem #

Sleep is just another mode of living,
Often overlooked but no less real.
Much of life is harsh and unforgiving,
Numbing us to pain and hope and zeal.
In dreams, we find a place to truly feel.
Step into a world beneath the waves.
Chase the rabbit; walk the balance beam.
Own the night; explore the deepest caves.
Pretend that things are solid as they seem.
Everything is always just a dream.

Buy the Book! #

• Fractured Mirror Publishing
• Amazon / Kindle
• Bookshop.org
• AbeBooks
• Alibris
• Barnes & Noble
• Better World Books
• Books-A-Million
• Indigo
• ThriftBooks
• Walmart
• Waterstones

And don’t forget to rate and review it on Goodreads! Ebook versions coming soon.