Nightmareland (The Box Under The Bed Book 3)

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!

Dan Alatore did a fantastic job of putting this anthology together. I loved all three of his spine tingly tales. I really appreciate the way he began and ended the anthology with related shorts.
As with any anthology, there are some stories that are truly superior to others and this anthology is no different. I really enjoyed most of the stories, but there were a few that I found quite confusing. I definitely found a few new authors to follow including but not limited to Kaye Lynn Booth, Betty Valentine, Christine Valentor, Barbara Anne Heberg, and Victoria Clapton.
I am glad that I read this during daylight hours as some of these stories are quite scary and/or disturbing.