The Dream Master
September 25, 2025 by admin_name
The Dream Master
Written by Roger Zelazny
www.ink2quill.com
“The Dream Master” is a scifi novella originally named ‘The Ides of Octember‘ by the scifi great Roger Zelazny, himself. Let me start by saying that Roger Zelazny has to be one of the most underrated Scifi writers around. He is a true master of the Scifi genre. It was based on the novel “He Who Shapes”. This story has won many awards and has provided elements and ideas to many stories and films.
The Dream Master Goodreads webpage
“The Dream Master” is the story of Charles Render who practices ‘neuroparticipant therapy’ in an overpopulated future world where people live well but are incredibly neurotic and mentally ill. Charles Render is the best at what he does and he knows it. Neuroparticipant therapy is a form of therapy where the patient enters a virtual, digital world Charles creates that is based on their fantasies and fears. The patients navigating such artificial environments have their deepest wishes and fears revealed to Charles whereupon he makes a diagnoses on their condition. What’s interesting about this form of therapy is that the patient doesn’t always agree with Charles but we the reader see things as clearly as Charles. The story opens with Charles in a therapy session with a man who is bothered by the fact that he has no enemies or friends. He feels irrelevant. What a strange and burdensome problem to have. Think about it. He navigated his career and life so well that he has nobody who hates him and calls him an enemy. As a result he does not feel to be a member of society, in some ways. What a strange problem to have. And Charles is brilliant for understanding this.
The story takes a turn when a woman by the name of Eileen Shallot come into his life. She introduces herself to him while he is eating by himself at a restaurant one night. She wears a green dress with a gold pin with a ruby in its center. Charles notices everything about her and is drawn to her beauty and intellect. Eileen tells Charles that she wants to enter his profession but there is one thing stopping her. She is blind. Being blind would be a great impediment to her using the technology. After some convincing Charles agrees and the story goes on a tangent.
Keep in mind that this story was published in the 1960s before the internet, AI and any technology remotely like what is in the story being available to the markets. This story is a great imaginative leap on the part of Roger Zelazny. I’m sure people of the day had a hard time conceiving that such technology would ever remotely be possible. However, I see this kind of technology and the field of neuroparticipant therapy coming our way in the not-too-distant future, even if it carries another name.
The world of Charles is one that seems to lack a motivation to achieve greater heights. The society of Charles has a healthy demographic situation and the people are comfortable but it lacks a kind of passion. I would call this a dystopian world. However, it is not a place that is irretrievably lost like the world of George Orwell’s “1984“, where the party member interrogating Winston admits that their society is in collapse. The world of Charles is in need of change, an uncomfortable change. I could even use the word ‘revolution’. Maybe a social revolution or intellectual revolution or even an artistic revolution. You know, one that would offend and shake things up, like some of the movements we’ve had in the US.
I really liked this story because it still reads as new today in 2025 even though it was written in 1966. We really need to give Roger Zelazny his due as a master storyteller in the Scifi genre. So, read this and enjoy it and if your a big streaming service like Netflix, HBO or any of the others then turn this novella into a miniseries, and please do it justice.
Just call me to do any of the writing or for ideas, even if you’re on a budget. It would be a labor of love. Ciao!
John Ink2Quill
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