Nightmareland is the third anthology in the Box Under the Box triology edited by USA Today bestselling author Dan Alatorre.
Nightmare land is available as a soft copy book, an ebook and an audio book from Amazon:
Blurb
From the creators of the #1 bestseller The Box Under The Bed horror anthology and its #1 bestseller sequel Dark Visions, comes Nightmareland
A horror anthology with 23 stories from 14 authors.
In a rundown shack deep in the woods, a high school girl dares herself to try the strange new drug all the kids are talking about. One injection of “Nightmareland” is all it takes to unleash a person’s biggest fears to them – and then they are on their own! But rebellious Jessica thinks she will prove herself to her peers and parents.
Tremble along as she is strapped into the chair and becomes a lost child on a Florida party island, an investigator looking into a circus’ bizarre side shows, an abused prisoner locked away in a desolate concrete cell, and much more as Jessica faces the most terrifying ride of her young life.
Compiled by USA Today bestselling author Dan Alatorre, this anthology of horror once again unites the minds and pens of more than a dozen amazing authors.
Nightmareland will send you into the foggy twilight of the eerie and macabre, with heart stopping stories from:
USA Today bestselling author Dan Alatorre (The Navigators),
award-winning bestselling author Robbie Cheadle
award-winning bestselling author Ellen Best
award-winning author Kaye Booth
award-winning bestselling author Betty Valentine
award-winning bestselling author Alana Turner
award-winning bestselling author Christine Valentor
award-winning bestselling author Nick Vossen
award-winning bestselling author Alana Turner
award-winning bestselling author Victoria Clapton
award-winning bestselling author AM Andrus
award-winning bestselling author Adele Marie Park
award-winning bestselling author Barbara Anne Helberg
award-winning bestselling author MD Walker
award-winning bestselling author Dabney Farmer
award-winning bestselling author M J Mallon
Perfect for Halloween or any time, these stories will make you think twice before spending the night alone, watching TV with family, or even going on a casual boat ride.
CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED.
Reviews
4 Star Amazon review
Nightmareland is the latest anthology edited by Dan Alatorre. I’ve previously read one of the others, and I wanted to check out this latest one too. I know a few of the authors from the blogging world, and several were new to me. What I like about this anthology is the ability to read ~20 short stories and learn about different authors and their writing styles. All fall within the horror, mystery, suspense, and thriller genres… but each one runs the range from gentle scariness to hallucinogenic nightmares.
Alatorre kicks off the scene with a story about teenagers thirsting for the latest drug craze — something that awakens your deepest nightmares and lets you live through them like a murderous roller coaster. He has two other stories, which connect to the first in various ways… one even closes out the book bringing things full circle. I like his writing style and will consider reading more of his other work.
Among the others were some amazing 5-star stories and a bunch of fantastic 4-star stories that captured my attention. One or two were good but not necessarily my style… yet that’s the best part of an anthology. You have a wide variety of well-written stories, and sometimes the content or subject isn’t of interest to you but you still recognize the quality or strength of the writer. Overall, this is a highly well-integrated and navigable collection. From themes crossing into one another, like the sirens of a beautiful but nasty creature, to the insanity of what lurks in some people’s minds, there is a bit of everything to appeal to a great span and breadth of readers.
If you enjoy being frightened, and not just as in there’s a ghost after you… I’m talking about jaw-dropping craziness that plays on your deepest nightmares… you’ll have a few moments of ‘I need to turn on the lights and not be in the dark right now.’ Robbie Cheadle was one my favorites, but she always is. The author has such range, it’s hard not recognize the different degree of talent in her words and imagery. Rather than call out others, as there were a number I really enjoyed, I recommend the entire collection. As I mentioned earlier, they all had strong aspects, and if you sample two or three each night, you’ll get through it in a week’s time.
The order in which they were delivered was ideal. A few connected back and forth to earlier works, and in each case, I remembered the connections, which speaks volumes for how well-written something must be if readers can link things easily despite there being ~20 different stories and ~10 different authors all essentially writing in their own styles and voices. Thanks for a great few days of reads!
4 star Amazon review
I received this ARC back in October, and it’s taken me this long to get to it. It would have been perfect for Halloween, but I’ll read tales of horror any time of the year.
Finishing the first story by Dan Alatorre, I was left hanging. After all the buildup, I needed to know what happened next! And he answered my questions with the last story in the book. Very clever. And what an ending it was.
Robbie Cheadle, another author I’m familiar with, contributed three stories to the book. While I enjoyed all of them, I think The Siren Witch was my favorite. Boyscouts camping in a secluded location along the river – what could go wrong? Lots of things. Like opening a Pandora’s Box.
As with any anthology, some tales are more polished than others, and a couple left me scratching my head, but that’s to be expected with a group of authors possessing varying writing styles. Anthologies are perfect for giving readers an opportunity to discover new authors. Kudos to the cover designer – it’s creepy, eerie, and brilliant.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from one of the authors. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Extracts
roberta-writes.com 