Ligare and the Muse

Dreams from Tomorrow, Book 1

By: Candido Diaz

Narrated by: Candido Diaz

This novel is a collections of short stories, each with a different main character, tied together by the spirits that haunt them and a drug that keeps them young. Ligare, the demon that causes sleep paralysis, is a soul lacking in personality and hungering for creativity. His presence is a burden upon the world, draining passion from his victims. Autumn, the Muse, has been a homebody, taking care of her father for the last 100 years, made possible by the drug Rejuverron. As she steps back into the world she accidentally changes the lives of those she meets. This collection shows the effects these two have on the world around them and how their paths serendipitously cross.

©2023 Candido Diaz (P)2024 Candido Diaz

A great accomplishment

I would me amiss if I didn’t begin this review by acknowledging that I know Candido, though I haven’t seen him in many years. We went to high school together. He was two grades above me and, of course, impossibly cool and aloof—as every senior is to a sophomore. He later went on to a career of arachnology (the study of spiders), specifically the glue that some spiders use to trap moths. A Renaissance man, Candido also paints and writes fiction.

When I first began this book, I was baffled as to what genre it belonged to. The only thing I had to compare it to was Neil Gaiman’s book about Norse Mythology—and evidently that is not a coincidence, as Gaiman is one of Candido’s favorite writers. An internet search had provided me with the term “Mythic Fiction,” and it fits Candido’s work: stories that illustrate an imagined universe, in the same way that myths may have illuminated the world for ancient Norsemen or Greeks.

The central character of these stories is Ligare, a kind of primordial being who feeds on energy. This being, born at the beginning of time, undergoes several transformations as the stories progress, eventually becoming a kind of anthropomorphic monster who lives off human emotions. Admittedly, this premise may seem a bit silly, though Candido’s use of it is flexible and entertaining—the stories ranging in tone and style enough to keep the book dynamic, while maintaining a kind of unity to the whole.

I have to admit that I was rather relieved that the book was readable. When someone you went to high school with self-publishes a book, the chances are high that it will be a painful ordeal. But Candido was cool back then, and now he’s even cooler by leaning into his nerdiness—an arachnologist who writes mythic fiction! An added pleasure was experiencing this as an audiobook, read by the man himself. There may or may not be no place like home, but there is certainly nothing like being read to by a voice out of your past. Even now, he is still cooler than me.

Want to enhance your imagination

The author really brings the characters to life. A very enjoyable assortment of short stories.
I look forward to reading the next installment.