William Ashbless was a fictional poet. It was believed his poetry was really written by Samuel Coleridge
Bulbir Singh Mann used a book of Ashbless' poetry as a hiding place to smuggle Dream B. He brought it to Academician Brown and they shared some of it. After the effects of the drug wore off, he and Mann were killed by General Kopyion. (PROSE: The Pit)
Behind the scenes
William Ashbless is actually a fictional creation of authors James Blaylock and Tim Powers. Andy Lane credited Powers' novels The Stress of Her Regard and The Anubis Gates as the inspiration for his novels The Empire of Glass and All-Consuming Fire, respectively.