"Vastarien"

 by Thomas Ligotti
originally published Crypt of Cthulhu No. 48, St. John's Eve, 1987

Victor Keirion is tormented by dreams of a strange and fabulous city.  He belongs to "that wretched sect of souls who believe that the only value of this world lies in its power -- to suggest another world."

He makes his way to a bookstore where the proprietor and customer act very strange.  They show him a very rare, ornate book, then tell him the cost is out of his range.  Then they tell him there's a mistake and quote him a price he can afford.

His dreams become more and more vivid.  He realizes that in some way, the book is not merely a book but some manifestation of the dream-city.  He returns to the bookstore to learn more about it, but gets little in the way of answers other than that the book was somehow meant for him.

He comes to believe that the other customer is somehow vampirizing his mind/soul in order to experience the dreams himself, which for some reason he is unable to do in any other way.  He tries to think of some way to stop this.

Victor is actually a resident of an insane asylum.  The book is completely blank, yet he sits studying it and becoming violent in the night.  Even though the book is taken away from him, it somehow reappears in his cell every night.

More Alfred Kubin or Kafka than Lovecraft.  As always, Ligotti is interesting and even impressive, but, as always, he leaves me a little cold.