Reading with PIA LÜDDECKE

Pia Lüddecke was born many years ago in a dark corner of the Ruhr area (Recklinghausen-Süd). She has been fascinated by scary stories since childhood. As part of her literature studies, she studied Goethe’s ‘Faust’, which inspired her to write her first novel ‘Der schwarze Teufel’ (The Black Devil), which was published by Ventura Verlag in 2016. This was followed by the horror novel ‘Geister’ and the dark urban fantasy thriller ‘In Dreams’ published by Edition Outbird.

In the meantime, she has made a decent living as an editor for a serious glossy magazine. But on dark stormy nights, her true character comes to the fore: then she wraps herself in her velvety black hooded cloak and puts hair-raising stories on paper by the light of flickering wax candles.

Together with her husband, the musician Ernest, Pia lives in a haunted medieval castle. This is also the setting for the dark and rocky live radio plays that the couple stage to accompany Pia’s novels.

Follow Pia Lüddecke at

In Dreams

Mysterious things are happening around the Ruhr University: people are disappearing. Demonic animals with glowing eyes are sighted at night. A shady company advertises an ominous wellness program. And these constant power cuts…

The young literature student Indra and the neurotic psychology doctoral student Arno Löwenherz are researching lucid dreams when their tranquil life turns into a nightmare. Indra unexpectedly becomes involved in the sinister goings-on at the supposed wellness institute. But who is pulling the strings? It’s not just her friend and mentor, who suspects a conspiracy behind everything, who is tormented by this question. Will he be right this time?

In Dreams, Pia Lüddeckes makes a gripping plea for dreaming – and a warning: “The worst thing that can happen to you is to wake up too early – or not at all.”