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The Land of Bad Dreams has been reviewed in Publishers Weekly, Star*Line, Dead Reckonings, Hellnotes and by the Esoteric Order of Dagon (scroll down to the base of the page to read the full text).
View more videos of the performances.
Kyla's new poem "Lucubration" in Avatars of Wizardry has also been nominated for the Rhysling.
"The Kite" and "The Soldier's Return", from The Land of Bad Dreams have been nominated for the Rhysling Awards.
The Land of Bad Dreams has made the preliminary ballot for the Poetry section of the 2011 Stoker Awards.
"The Kite" has been selected for The Year's Best Australian Fantasy & Horror 2011, ed. Liz Gryb and Talie Helene, Ticonderoga Press.
"Traditional poetic meter and verse forms serve as vehicles for macabre themes that challenge their restraint in Ward's captivating collection of weird poetry… Ward (Prismatic) has a talent for using alliteration and the rhythm of her lines to conjure images perfectly suited to the eerie subjects of her constructions… Fans of the supernatural who like poetry in the classic Romantic tradition will enjoy this collection." – Publishers Weekly, 14 May 2012.
"Ward lulls us with humour, with gentle rhythms and verses which are exquisitely crafted like fine lace. Lace worn over the features of both prose and poetry entraps us like a web and we find ourselves deeply engaged, spellbound within her seductive landscape… With gothic intensity and wit Ward conjures up themes and characters that cast intriguing shadows across our contemporary lives. The price she asks of us is to embrace the contradictions of life, either the veiled unending dream or the harsh reality of waking up to a brutal world." – Margi Curtis, Dead Reckonings #11, June 2012
"I don't know poetry, rhymes and scansion and that sort of are thing outside my experience. But a turn of phrase you could flense with, a delicious image, a sense of humour that wears a black hood, those are things I understand." – Christian Read, author The Eldritch Kid: Whisky and Hate
"In The Land of Bad Dreams, Kyla Ward offers up a rich, eccentric miscellany of dark music, skilfully crafted and strangely wrought. Dream-image or historical horror, vignette or ballad, there is something here to intrigue almost any seeker after the weird." – Ann K. Schwader, Rhysling award-winner and author of Twisted in Dream.
"Nocturnal, toothy, grisly and witty--a carnival of life's cruel and grotesque side, with much pageant and dark laughter." – K. J. Bishop, author of The Etched City.
"The poetry of Kyla Ward is, much like its author, dark, intricate, and intelligent. A whisper of decadence, a hint of decay, and men and women wrapped in the linen of both." – Ben Peek, author of Twenty-Six Lies/One Truth, Above/Below, and Dead Americans.
"Kyla has real presence "live" as she has too in these poems. She knows the value of the pause, the tease, the ache, the lure of a dream in daylight. There is a transfixing quality and a warning: "mind how you approach." – Danny Gardner, Live Poets Society of North Sydney
"Ward is a born poet, and knows what she is about in her work, which does, indeed, weave its own potent and subtle magics." – Michael Fantina, author of Flowers of Nithon, Sirens and Silver and This Haunted Sea.
"In The Land of Bad Dreams, one navigates by the lantern light of a goblin moon. It is a strange, dark region of the psyche where demons dwell; where the shadows of myths and ghosts of memories whisper weird charms, hexes and exorcisms." – Wade German, poet and journalist.
"The Land of Bad Dreams is a haunting collection. It deserves a place alongside the works of Angela Carter, Joyce Carol Oates, Tanith Lee, Mirra Lokhvitskaya, and Leonora Carrington, but Ward's voice is all her own." – Leigh Blackmore, President, Australian Horror Writers Association
"Terror and the beauty it can evoke: that's what I expect from poetry like this – and that is what The Land of Bad Dreams gave me. This is a collection that should be welcomed by those who love poetry of whatever ilk and may even be embraced by those who don't." – Robert Hood, author Immaterial and Creeping in Reptile Flesh.
"Her dark visions have a striking note of whimsical levity: The overall tone is cloaked in Goth black leather, yet there is a gossamer element about it; an Edward Gorey sensibility, but with an edgy vibe. The multiple contents contained in this P'rea Press compilation display the talents of a writer spreading her creative wings – and soaring." – Sheila M. Merritt, Hellnotes, 4 November 2011.
"The Land of Bad Dreams is as interesting as it is entertaining, as melancholic as it is witty. Maybe Ward wants to give us nightmares; maybe she just wants to share the things she sees in her own dreams. Either way, the works of this celebrated Australian poet deserve to travel the dark currents to far and distant lands, where they will undoubtedly haunt the nights of unwary sleepers." – Edward Cox, in Star*Line 35.1, January-March 2012.