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A Look At Our Newest Horror Anthology

Dark Little Dreams cover

 

Introducing the Stories of Dark Little Dreams: An Anthology of Dark Fiction

 

Our newest anthology of horror and dark fantasy fiction, Dark Little Dreams, is out today and we’d like to introduce everyone to the fifteen stories collected within it along with the talented authors behind them.

The book can be found through AmazonBarnes & NobleKobo/Chapters, or most importantly at your local bookseller.

 

Intellectual Property

Any true writer can find inspiration in the everyday stories of those he or she encounters, taking and molding them for their own devices. But is the story the only thing that can be taken from someone? One writer takes much more for his material and his grandest work is yet to be published.

Santiago Eximeno is a Spanish genre writer that has published several novellas and short stories books, mainly horror literature and flash fiction. His work has been translated to English, Japanese, French and Bulgarian. You can find him at www.eximeno.com or @SantiagoEximeno on Twitter.

 

The Love of a Good Entity

A woman’s grief and guilt manifests itself in the form of a supernatural creature that takes on the likeness of her brother, who lies deep in a coma. Wrestling with her inner turmoil, she must reconcile her conjuration and the fate of her beloved brother even if it means losing one, the other, or both.

Christopher Nadeau is the author of ‘Dreamers at Infinity’s Core’ through COM Publishing as well as over two dozen published short stories in such august publications as The Horror Zine, Sci-Fi Short Story Magazine, Ghostlight Magazine and several anthologies. Chris has also served as special editor for Voluted Magazine’s ‘The Darkness Internal’ which he created. His novel ‘Kaiju’ was recently released through Source Point Press and “Echoes of Infinity’s Core” is slated for release soon.

 

Buried In Work

Work can be a drag. Sometimes it feels like you’re digging and slogging through a tunnel of dirt and mud with no end in sight without even knowing which way is up. And sometimes that’s all too literal. If there has ever been an ode to the working man in bizarro fiction, this would certainly be it.

Since 1998, MP Johnson has published Freak Tension zine. It’s focused on punk, and features music reviews and band interviews. It also contains nonfiction, as well as a small amount of horror or bizarro fiction in each issue. He is also a regular contributor to the long-running DIY zine Razorcake.

His short stories have disgraced the pages of more than 45 underground publications. His debut book, “The After-Life Story of Pork Knuckles Malone“, was released in 2013 by Bizarro Pulp Press. His second book, “Dungeons and Drag Queens“, was released in 2014 by Eraserhead Press.

 

BuzzWord

Sometimes it seems the western world has gone completely mad in its overzealous obsession with meaningless career rat races, aimless tech innovation, misguided social priorities, and perhaps most of all, its never-ending crusade against the ‘status quo’. Whatever that means. Unfortunately, the few people without their heads in the sand are the ones that get dragged into the insanity in the roughest of ways. Such is the case of a single father just trying to make it in a professional world that has long since abandoned common sense.

Brian Culp has sold more than million words of non-fiction, and is a 2014 alum of the Iowa Writers Workshop. He lives in Kansas City, and is the Managing Editor for the Blue Monday Review.
You can find him on Twitter: @hmsbrian

 

Dr. Aljimati: Professor of the Forlorn Sky

A woman waits at a train station, but she is not waiting for a train or for a friend. She is waiting for someone with answers, someone with purpose, someone with a sense of what is going on. Her motives for being there may be different than those around her, but everyone would want answers too if they hadn’t stopped looking up towards a sky that has gone so very wrong.

Mark Patrick Lynch lives and writes in the UK. His short fiction, mainstream and genre, has appeared in print anthologies and journals ranging from Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine to Zahir. His book, HOUR OF THE BLACK WOLF, is published by Robert Hale Ltd. An e-book original novella, What I Wouldn’t Give, is available for e-readers. You can find him online at markpatricklynch.blogspot.com and @markplynch on Twitter.

 

The Fox God and the Fox

There have been many gods in the savanna, and the deity of the Valley of Long Grass is one of vengeance and bloodshed, dark thoughts and bitter survival. When a fox, mad with the grief of loss, forsakes his godess’ ways and seeks retribution by defying the rules of the Valley he risks his own life and those he manipulates with false faith. In the savanna, blood is the price to be paid for blood.

Louis Rakovich writes fiction that  has appeared in Goldfish Grimm, Phobos Magazine, Firewords Quarterly, Unsung Stories and The Molotov Cocktail, among others, and is forthcoming in a number of publications. He grew up in Jerusalem, Israel, and currently lives in New York City, where he is working on his first novel – a literary psychological thriller that explores faith, identity, and religion at its most private and most public forms. You can find more writing by him at louisrakovich.com.

 

Midnight And Jefe Bowman

There are tall tales and then there are stories like little Jefe Bowman and his hellhound Midnight. After the devil himself takes a liking to the mischief and antics of one sour young Civil War-era boy, he gifts to him a dog just as demonically minded as the lad. If his own family wasn’t prepared for the legendary chaos that would ensue, the very South itself simply never had a chance in… well, hell.

Eric J. Guignard writes dark and speculative fiction from the outskirts of Los Angeles. His stories and articles may be found in the disreputable publications reserved for back alley bazaars. As an editor, Eric’s produced the anthologies ‘Dark Tales of Lost Civilizations‘ and ‘After Death…‘, the latter of which won the 2013 Bram Stoker Award. Read his novella, ‘Baggage of Eternal Night‘ (a finalist for the 2014 International Thriller Writers Award), and watch for many more forthcoming books, including ‘Chestnut ’Bo’ (TBP 2016). Visit Eric at: www.ericjguignard.com, his blog: ericjguignard.blogspot.com, or on Twitter: @ericjguignard.

 

The Bone Washer

A young Bone Washer apprentice in the Guild of roayal corpse preparation is forced to take over for his deceased mentor and falls under the dangerous scrutiny of the hierarchy above his station. There soon follows more trouble in the way of palace intrigue, possible treason, and ultimately murder. Can he avoid being dragged into matters he wants no part in, or will personal ties make the decision for him?

Travis Burnham is passionate about teaching science and blowing things up. A Maine transplant he lives in the upstate of South Carolina with his wondrous wife, Chika. His Olympic level lack of social skills when young led him to writing. He earned his MFA from Converse College. Loving travel, he has lived in Japan, Colombia and the CNMI, and traveled to many other countries. Online you can find him at travisburnhambooks.com and travisburnham.blogspot.com.

 

The Wilds

Children are taught not to enter the region of forest called Sutter’s Wilds. Adults take their own advice. So when a family learns their grown son has gone missing within its borders they must do everything they can to find him. But for the younger brother it soon becomes a matter of revealing dark secrets and navigating family politics in order to discover the key to saving his sibling.

Tim Jeffreys is the author of five collections of short stories, the most recent being ‘From Elsewhere’, and a novella, ‘The Haunted Grove’. His short fiction has been published in various international anthologies and magazines. Tim is also a talented artist and gained a university honours degree in Graphic Arts and Design in 2000.

Originally from Oldham, UK, Tim now lives in Bristol with his partner and two young daughters. He remains a northerner at heart, misses the rain, and retains a stubborn refusal to suffer fools gladly.

Visit him online at www.timjeffreyswriter.webs.com.

 

Mousetrap

We often let our technology get the better of us, especially in this day and age of constant innovation and second-screen obsession. One young genius is hard at work on an immersive VR system in his spare time but runs into trouble he can’t explain that comes close to threatening his very life. He can’t quite pin down the responsible source of his compromised invention, but he also can’t help but think the methods seems awfully familiar. Are there secrets in the wires, or just ghosts in the machine?

Robert G. Ferrell  has been published in three humor anthologies: ‘My Funny Valentine’, ‘My Funny Major Medical’, and ‘Open Doors: Fractured Fairy Tales’. He has been a popular columnist for :login: magazine since 2006. He is the author of three books: Tangent (2004), Ex Mentis Saxonicum (2012), and Goblinopolis (2013).

Robert lives with his wife Adrienne and roughly three cats in rural Wilson County, Texas, outside of San Antonio. When not writing, Robert can be found engaged in Ham radio, playing/recording music, reproducing medieval calligraphy and illumination, or floundering around in his pool.

Find Robert online at http://www.robertgferrell.com and Twitter: @RobertGFerrell.

 

Witchy Man, Woman Skin

The bayou holds many dark secrets, and one young abused girl is about to discover one that sheds light on her own life and that of the tyrant who rules it, the Witchy Man. The Woman Skin whispers its story and shares its power if you can find it. Weird fiction at its best.

Anna Yeatts is a horror and slipstream writer hiding out in Pinehurst, NC. Her short fiction has appeared in Penumbra, Suddenly Lost in Words, and Spark: A Creative Anthology among others. When not writing dark and twisty stories, Anna wrangles a wild-man son, a dancer daughter, two cats, and two dogs. Her sanity is only maintained with the help of the world’s most patient husband. Anna publishes Flash Fiction Online (www.flashfictiononline.com) and the FlashBlog. Follow her at annayeatts.com or on Twitter @AnnaYeatts.

 

Where the Sheep Have Fangs If You Count Them

A sickly and delirious man wanders the streets of Baltimore, searching for something he himself may not know. Following him are his supernatural muses, trapped by his insanity and compelled to see his fate to its end. How has this frail man entwined them so closely to himself, and can they help his tortured mind find peace before the world around him suffers their wrath?

Gerri Leen lives in Northern Virginia and originally hails from Seattle. She has stories and poems published in: Daily Science Fiction, Escape Pod, Grimdark, Sword and Sorceress XXIII, She Nailed a Stake Through His Head: Tales of Biblical Terror and others. She is editing an anthology, A Quiet Shelter There, which will benefit homeless animals and is due out in 2015 from Hadley Rille Books.

Find her at http://www.gerrileen.com.

 

Nevermore

A recent widow has a chance encounter show up on his doorstep one dark and stormy night in the form of a beautiful young woman in need of help, and it awakens parts of his life he thought had died alongside his late wife. But when mysteries surrounding this new-found flame confront him head-on, he must begin to question his view of life, what may come after it, and where the two intersect.

Jay Seate is the winner of Horror Novel Review’s 2013 Best Short Fiction Award, and writes everything from humor to the erotic to the macabre, and is especially keen on transcending genre pigeonholing. Over two hundred of his stories have appeared in magazines, anthologies and webzines.

Website: www.troyseateauthor.webs.com.

 

Love The One You’re With

Murders of a truly chilling fashion are beginning to stack up in a small rural Ohio county and the local sheriff, along with the medical examiner are at a loss to explain any of them. Coincidentally, there seems to be a lot going on in the mansion of a well-to-do and reclusive married couple….

While living in Columbus, Ohio Birney Reed was a proud member of the Columbus Creative Cooperative (columbuscoop.org), where his gritty, character-driven short fiction was featured in anthology releases such as Overgrown, While You Were Out, and Columbus, Past, Present, Future. His first single-author collection of short fiction, The Tales of Victor Coachman was published by Bad Dream Entertainment in 2014. Sadly, Birney passed away shortly after the release in early 2015. He is sorely missed by all.

 

My Little Babies

A single woman’s rose garden is the envy of any gardener that sees it, along with being the wonderment of her neighborhood. What are the secrets to her uncanny green thumb? And just where does she go every winter when she can’t grow her little darlings?

Brett Reistroffer is a Pacific Northwest writer, editor, and podcast host. He founded Bad Dream Entertainment in 2013 as a home for dark and imaginative fiction from the best underground talent he could find.

 

Dark Little Dreams: An Anthology of Dark Fiction is out now! Make sure to pick up the newest collection of horror, dark fantasy, and weird fiction from Bad Dream Entertainment.

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