Dreamlike

I write weird fiction. I do mean as the subgenre of speculative fiction, supernatural horror specifically. Even the action-adventure stories are such, though as survival horror.

My latest work in this category is the novel The Wayward School for Girls. The premise is “Dorothy” of The Wizard of Oz and “Alice” of Alice in Wonderland as girls in the modern day. They are in the gifted program of the same school. Unbeknownst to the public, the principal is a warlock and the teachers his coven of witches. They indoctrinate their students to become selfless, loyal and obedient thralls. The gifted girls are groomed to become teachers. The “special needs” students are buried alive and used as batteries to power magical devices. The average girls are trained for use as labor or soldiers.

The school is an institution of those in power. Telling anyone its secret is pointless.

Alice and Dorothy escape the school. They are “gifted” and have special powers they were trained to use. They slaughter the brainwashed ordinary girls sent after them.

The setting is Weird World, a dreamlike version of our world. Most adults are invisible, though children can see and hear them like they do imaginary friends. What grownups are clearly visible are either elderly (“second childhood”) or agents of the secret rulers of the world.

The next book is Tales of a Weird World. It is not about Alice and Dorothy. It is a collection of short stories about other people who live in the same universe. The Wayward School for Girls is one of several antagonist factions.

I created a dreamlike universe before. It was the setting of my novel The Goddess of Self. It was very similar to Weird World… but with a stark distinction. The Goddess of Self was about a girl from the real world finding herself in a surreal world. The surreal is the reality of Weird World. Everyone in it is from it.

The weirdness of a weird setting is normalized as it becomes familiar. To offset this in The Goddess of Self I often had the protagonist return to our reality. I did no such thing with Weird World. The point is for the weirdness to be normalized.

A dream makes sense while dreamt. The weirdness is normal. I did not want to “awaken” the reader of Weird World. The point is complete immersion. I wanted the stories to be “dreams” as literally as I could make them.