The Dangerous Ghosts of Laini Taylor's 'Muse of Nightmares'

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A muse is defined as a source of inspiration, especially a guiding genius. In the acclaimed New York Times bestselling young-adult book Strange the Dreamer, readers were introduced to the enchanting city of Weep and a tempestuous and fantastical world of science-fiction, magic and supernatural forces.

In the highly anticipated follow-up novel, Muse of Nightmares, Oregon fantasy writer Laini Taylor continues the complex, imaginative story of Lazlo, a shy librarian whose benign interest in otherworldly phenomena led him to an ancient lost city embroiled in a centuries-old war between gods, alchemy and nightmares. There he met Sarai, a half-human muse who continues to be haunted by the horrors of other people’s realities in her nightly dreams. In the wake of tragedy and despite her own death, Sarai, the muse of nightmares, battles threats of blue-skinned gods, alien invaders and phenomenal monsters in a daunting, heroic attempt to bring peace to the broken land of Weep. In the Muse of Nightmares, everyone is haunted by something, and these ghosts—both real and imagined—will alter the entirety of civilization.

Taylor is the author of the National Book Award Finalist Lips Touch: Three Times, as well as the novels Blackbringer and Silksinger. She has also written short stories and a graphic novel. Taylor will speak at the West Allis Public Library, 6:30 p.m. Oct. 9 at 6:30pm. This free event is co-sponsored by Boswell Book Company.

Book Happening:

Egon H.E. Lass

9 p.m., Oct. 8

Linneman’s Riverwest Inn

1001 E. Locust St.

As an archeologist interested in ancient Palestine, and as a poet, it’s unsurprising that Milwaukee’s Egon H.E. Lass would be drawn to Gnostic manuscripts for inspiration. His latest collection of poems, Burlesques on the Secret Book of John, uses one such codice for structure and material. The First-century manuscript describes the creation of Adam, not simply molded from clay by God as in Genesis but as a step by step—head to toe—process that was outsourced to various angels. Lass follows that process poem by poem in the voices of each angel, some of whom have an ironically high estimation of their own abilities and status. The tone is humorous yet reflective on the foibles and possibilities of humankind. (David Luhrssen)