Do your dreams have power over you?
by Donna Galanti
Do you dream about the same thing over and over?
For years I had theme dreams. How I wish they were of nice things. Rainbows. Birthday parties. Cooing babies.
Nope. Mine were scary. A man with a machete chasing me to whack off my head. Of course I never actually died in this dream. I always woke up just before being decapitated. But the heads of my loved ones did roll.
Maybe dreaming of monsters is why my favorite show is Supernatural. Okay, it wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that Dean and Sam Winchester are HOT! I guess I’ll have to keep them forever in my dreams. Sigh…
And perhaps we’re better off not remembering our dreams – or re-living them over and over. Perhaps they need to stay as dreams to ward off the dark.
In my paranormal suspense novel, A Human Element, Laura Armstrong is also haunted by nightmares of an evil man chasing her. Only, this man is not a figment of her imagination. He is very real and very capable of killing her from afar. When her dreams become a reality and she discovers her stalker is part of her own destiny she has to decide whether to kill him or redeem him. Ben Fieldstone in A Human Element also dreams of a Laura and a meteorite coming to crush him to death, as it did his parents.
But back to machetes. I ran for miles in my dreams avoiding decapitation from that unknown machete wielding maniac. He swung blades of steel seeking my neck. He chased me. On and on.
Then one day a crowd came. They surged onto the brute and whacked him to death with garden hoses. He disappeared and never returned. For the first time someone came to help me. And they destroyed the thing that haunted me most. They gave me hope.
Maybe this is the reason I write from the darker side with a touch of hope. No matter how dark things are, there is hope for survival.
And then it hit me. The machete man was awfully familiar to the villain in my book, X-10. I think he hides inside me and comes out when I write, and that is the only place he’ll remain safe from now on. If not, I’ll send back in the angry hoard of garden-hose attackers to get him good.
The power of dreams, right? Have your dreams had power over you?
P.S. I’m also giving away a $25 Amazon gift card below!
Excerpt - Ben Fieldstone’s Dreams That Haunt Him:
That night he dreamed.
He stood at the lake on its shore. The stillness covered him in peaceful quiet. The moon shone high overhead painting the wave tops with gold that lapped at the water's edge. Something moved in the distance on the path leading around the lake. It was a girl. She walked toward him as if she knew him. Finally, she stood before him and smiled. He found himself smiling back.
She took his hand and stared at him with her large, brown eyes. She looked so lovely. Her hand was warm in his, her touch sent waves of yearning through his body. She reached up on her toes and kissed him. He squeezed her hand and found himself kissing her back. Their tongues intertwined in a soft, embracing dance. He gave himself to her mouth, falling into her sweet wetness.
She put her hand behind his neck and pulled him closer. "Ben, do you know what I am?" Her eyes held him in a trance.
"What you are? What do you mean?"
"Come with me, I'll show you."
He followed her as she led him down the path. Then he looked up. Something green shone in the sky. The meteorite. It would crush them. She was leading them toward the spot where it would crash.
"No!" He pulled her with him to go back.
"Come." Her large eyes drew him into her.
"No, follow me," Ben urged. "Can't you see, it's coming!"
"Come." She caressed his hand. "It's where I belong. We can belong together."
"No!" He dropped her hand and ran.
His legs pumped fast over the rocks and fallen logs on the path. He turned once. She still stood there under the moon. The green thing filled the sky behind her as it streaked toward them.
She was smiling.
About A Human Element:
One by one, Laura Armstrong’s friends and adoptive family members are being murdered, and despite her unique healing powers, she can do nothing to stop it. The savage killer haunts her dreams, tormenting her with the promise that she is next. Determined to find the killer, she follows her visions to the site of a crashed meteorite–her hometown. There, she meets Ben Fieldstone, who seeks answers about his parents’ death the night the meteorite struck. In a race to stop a mad man, they unravel a frightening secret that binds them together. But the killer’s desire to destroy Laura face-to-face leads to a showdown that puts Laura and Ben’s emotional relationship and Laura’s pure spirit to the test. With the killer closing in, Laura discovers her destiny is linked to his and she has two choices–redeem him or kill him.
Praise for A Human Element:
“A Human Element is an elegant and haunting first novel. Unrelenting, devious but full of heart. Highly recommended.” – Jonathan Maberry, New York Times best-selling author
Praise for A Hidden Element:
“Fascinating…a haunting story about just how far parents will go to protect, or destroy, their children in the name of love.”—Rebecca Cantrell, New York Times best-selling author
Purchase A Human Element here: On sale for just $0.99 10/27 – 11/2! http://mybook.to/AHumanElement
Purchase A Hidden Element here: On sale for FREE 10/27 – 10/31!
http://myBook.to/AHiddenElement
Donna Galanti is the author of the paranormal suspense Element Trilogy and the children’s fantasy adventure Joshua and The Lightning Road series. Donna is a contributing editor for International Thriller Writers the Big Thrill magazine and blogs with other middle grade authors at Project Middle Grade Mayhem. She’s lived from England as a child, to Hawaii as a U.S. Navy photographer. Donna enjoys teaching at conferences on the writing craft and marketing and also presenting as a guest author at elementary and middle schools. Visit her at www.elementtrilogy.com and www.donnagalanti.com. She also loves building writer community. See how at www.yourawesomeauthorlife.com
Connect with Donna:
Twitter https://twitter.com/DonnaGalanti
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DonnaGalantiAuthor/
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5767306.Donna_Galanti
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Thanks so much for having me on today Jennifer! I am fascinated about the things we dream. I never meant for this to be a trilogy - but one day I woke up with the idea for book 2, A Hidden Element, and now revising book 3. :)
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! Thank you for the great post. I've always been fascinated by dreams, too.
DeleteMy recurring nightmares have always been about alligators and tornadoes. I'm with you - why not rainbows and kittens?
ReplyDeleteWhat a scary combo - alligators and tornadoes! I also had theme nightmares about lava chasing me. I would often be running across snow to fall through to a lava river below.
DeleteA few years ago I went through a period where I would have nightmares for several months at a time. They were the kind where you would startle awake, doze back off and enter right where you left off. I got to the point I dreaded to go to bed. I never was able to pinpoint what was causing them - maybe general stress. Either way, they finally stopped and now I only have a nightmare from time to time.
DeleteMy husband will dream he is fighting monsters from time to time and when he does, he actually kicks. Glad he doesn't punch and yes, I've kicked him back to wake him up. Does that make me a horrible person?
Thanks for a great feature today and the book looks really good!
Barb, how terrible you were afraid to go to sleep! Glad that ended. :) I have definitely kicked my husband to stop snoring. Ha ha!
DeleteHa!
DeleteBarb, that's so rough. I'm glad those dreams went away for you. My pregnancies were like that. CRAZY dreams.