Fiction: The Somniac
THE SOMNIAC
Novel in querying
Genres: Contemporary Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Fantasy, Fantasy Action/Adventure, YA
THE SOMNIAC details the story of Lucy, a dream control enthusiast who must save her sister from the world Lucy abandoned her for.
New York, modern day. 17-year-old Lucy doesn’t care that her waking life is falling apart. All that matters is dreaming. With her preternatural talent for dream control, Lucy can wash away her mother’s death, her splintering family, her dwindling cash. Who cares if the dreamworld is imaginary–it’s magical. It’s safe. It’s so good that Lucy sleeps as much as possible, abandoning everything else…Until a dream monster climbs through her mirror to kidnap her sister Dahra, the one person Lucy has left.
Too late, Lucy discovers that the dreamworld is a real place. And it has teeth. To rescue Dahra, she’ll need the help of Caden, an intimidatingly powerful fellow dream controller. Caden loves dreaming as much as Lucy. Sole survivor of the monster that stole her sister, he’s been physically trapped in the dreamworld and living the life Lucy’s longed for. The crush is inevitable. Unfortunately, Lucy isn’t sure she can trust him: in order to save Dahra, Caden would have to go home.
Whatever Lucy does, she’d better figure it out fast. They have less than 3 days to get to Dahra before she dies.
About the book
THE SOMNIAC is a dark fantasy/fantasy adventure book that may appeal to fans of Melissa Albert, Stephanie Garber, V.E. Schwab, and (or so beta readers have said) Miyazaki movies. Influences include Labyrinth and the Neil Gaiman Sandman series. While the novel stands on its own, it will hopefully be the first in a series of books and stories set in the universe of Somn, the dreamworld that we humans astral project to every night we sleep. Expect lots of monsters, strangeness, humor, and magic, tied together by a protagonist who is not entirely reliable but is doing the best she can.
Birthed originally from a dream (!) Plumbley had way back when she was 16, this is a project that has seen multiple iterations over the years, but is at last nearing completion. It is currently seeking agent representation.
Looking for more fiction by J.M. Plumbley?
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