I’m pleased to announce that my latest chapbook Small Favors (a horror story of revenge set in the 1980s) has been released by Farthest Star Publishing. Farthest Star is also the publisher of my vampire tale about a paralyzed man, The Paraplegic. The Paraplegic was released in 2024 to some pretty good sales numbers in its debut weeks. I’m hoping Small Favors does just as well. Farthest Star puts out a lot of these digest-sized chapbooks which are primarily novelettes and novellas, or what is considered quick reads. Meaning, you can finish them in one day. Not only that, they are available in a cool, collectible looking print format reminiscent of the kind of fare you’d find in 1990’s Forbidden Planet, or maybe at a small comic con vendor table. Or get them on your mobile phone or Kindle. So you’re in luck if you prefer digital, because you can read them on your daily commute. Anyway, without further ado, my latest title, Small Favors. All pics and ordering info will be below. Cheers.
Small Favors by Lawrence Dagstine
The latest chapbook release from Farthest Star Publishing
READ SAMPLE OR BUY NOW ON AMAZON (Kindle or print chapbook format):
Just here today real quick to announce that my latest horror collection, The Nightmare Cycle, from Dark Owl Publishing, is available in Barnes & Nobles. Not just Amazon or horror specialty stores and conventions. You can obtain it online or through “select physical stores.” Probably the ones that have a horror section. If they don’t have it in stock, it can usually be obtained within two business hours (this can also mean one day). I’ll leave ISBN info down below, in case you want your local B&N brick and mortar to get it in for you. While I love the ease of Amazon and ereaders, personally, I prefer going and sitting with a cup of coffee or tea in a physical bookstore. Call me old-fashioned, but I will never tire of it. I’ll throw up the Amazon link as well. Cheers.
So today is here. Today is the day of my third official story collection: THE NIGHTMARE CYCLE, from Dark Owl Publishing. It is available in print and digital formats (Paperback and on Amazon Kindle). And as the year goes on, straight thru 2024, will be available at book fairs, from various literary vendors, horror and comic-themed conventions, the odd novelty or specialty store, or wherever other fine horror books or goods are sold. I will keep you updated on this website. The spooky fun starts in Arizona first and New York second.
A short story collection is a book of tales by one single author, where an anthology is a book of stories usually centered around a theme from not one but many authors, from many different states or countries or diverse backgrounds. The Nightmare Cycle was an idea for a book that came to me one day in a dream (go figure), but is not about being in a dream. It gets its title from every single story being “A Nightmarish Scenario,” one warped tale leading into the next (the theme of cycling and unending), and then the one thereafter. There is no finality. Just horrific circumstance after circumstance. Undulated terror. Beginning, middle, end. Think Rod Serling’s The Night Gallery, but modern day, my take.
THE NIGHTMARE CYCLE by Lawrence Dagstine
From Dark Owl Publishing – NOW AVAILABLE worldwide
You have mostly new stories between the pages, but you have some obscure offerings as well. Tales from my humble beginnings as a horror author. The 2000s era. There are stories like Thursday’s Children. Imagine pitting zombie youth against each other the same way people hold backroom cockfights for money. The Adopted, where werewolf adoption in Southeast Asia is more complex than you think. Human Transfer, a very dark and dystopic tale of population control, and betrayal by the people you thought you knew and trusted most.
There are Dark Owl exclusives, tales which are theirs and theirs only, such as The Thing about Eden. Imagine Mars in the future where life under one dark leadership only becomes concerning, overbearing, and darker with the next. The Acrylic Man, about a painter of spectral portraits who captures his love interests with not just grace but permanence. The Show Must Go On, a story about a sharpshooting djinn and her western travels, but also her wretched past.
You have new offerings such as Princely Homecoming, a unique take on Snow White, who longs for her long dead prince. There is Pet, a tale set during the backdrop of the Nixon era, which puts a twist on just “who” or “what” constitutes man’s best friend. Genetically speaking, of course. There is Our Family Awaits, a witch’s tale unlike any other, about foster care and deep dark secrets. This is one which will have you clutching the blankets. And there is so much more; there’s even a novelette within The Nightmare Cycle’s pages.
AMAZON KINDLE “EBOOK” VERSION:
(Sample a few pages below, or shoot for the paperback version)
Here’s the horror convention calendar for Dark Owl Publishing and The Nightmare Cycle. This calendar will obviously grow. I will be away in July (after the 4th), but I will have my netbook with me, keep in touch via social media. Dark Owl will also have some of their horror wares and anthologies available from a talented stable of other authors as well, so be sure to keep tuning in to this link below:
Oh, by the way, the fabulous cover art was done by Fernando JFL (Giotefeli), who is a professional horror illustrator and death metal artist from South America. He takes a rather retro, vintage approach to his work. If you are looking for an artist, might I recommend him: https://www.instagram.com/giotefeli, and https://giotefeli.tumblr.com/
The book is available first on Amazon, then Terror Trader second (Arizona’s Number One Horror Marketplace). Then it will go to the usual vendors and themed cons, and through the usual distribution channels/networks.
Coming Spring 2023. A new collection, with mostly new stories. Along with some of the best and most obscure tales from the author’s earliest years as a horror writer. Thirteen stories that transcend the meaning of sleeplessness. Each story a nightmarish scenario or circumstance, one after the other, from beginning to end. From Dark Owl Publishing. THE NIGHTMARE CYCLE.
Prepare yourself for a LOT of bad dreams and restlessness.
I am part of an amazing new charity anthology put out (March 3rd 2020 in digital, and March 10th 2020 in paperback) by science fiction writer/editor Stephen Landry. With artwork by Amelia Parris. The name of the charity anthology is RISE AND RESCUE: Vol. 1. It is a book of RPG and gaming-related tales for a very worthy cause. And you should pick up a copy right now! It is at a great price, I have a brand new RPG tale within its pages, along with 22 other talented authors, and ALL proceeds earned go to WIRES. Wires is a special wildlife group who are trying to save the baby koalas and baby kangaroos who have lost their homes or become sick due to the bushfires that have DEVASTATED Australia. Are you a fan of LitRPG or gaming-related fiction? Let’s help the animals of Australia. As an animal lover myself, this is doing a charitable thing. Check out the book covers and other banners below. And don’t forget to read my short story: “The War Module.” FIRST TIME in print! Links also below!
RISE AND RESCUE:
A Charity Anthology
For WIRES Wildlife – Volume 1 – 22 Authors!
RISE AND RESCUE: Volume 1
Save the koalas, save the kangaroos, help animals devastated by Australian bushfires.
Almost 450 pages of fiction by genre writers who are gamers/compassionate people.
You can get the book off Amazon, and very soon from Barnes & Nobles, Kobo, and through Apple Books, in print, in digital (if tablet or eReader is your thing), or even mobile (if reading on a phone is your thing). ALL formats.
Read: “The War Module” – a LitRPG story by Lawrence Dagstine.
AUTHOR LINEUP for RISE AND RESCUE Volume One
If you’re a fan of genre fiction. If you love to read. Let’s do this for the animals. Let’s do it because it’s right. Rise and Rescue…Now available.
I will appear with a werewolf story in the late May digital anthology, CREATURES, by Tell-Tale Press. Edited by Andrea Dawn. There will be two versions to this anthology. A short story edition and a novelette edition. I’m in the short story edition. It will be free to read on the Tell-Tale Press website, then available in ebook format from Amazon in the event you own a Kindle. The book, along with various other titles from Tell-Tale Press, will also be available on May 23-26th at Phoenix Fan Fusion Comic Book Convention. They will have a table there. So if you live in the Arizona area, be on the lookout for CREATURES ANTHO with my story in it, and many other talented authors. I will leave pictures, links, author lineup below. Just click on them (be redirected).
With Horror Stories By: Oreoluwa Arowobusoye, Kenneth Bykerk, Lawrence Dagstine, Danielle Davis, Dan Fields, Eric J. Guignard, A.M. Harte, Isabella Hunter, Jennifer Loring, Nicola Lombardi, Matthew Lyons, Jamie Mason, Jason McCuiston, Gregory L. Norris, P. R. O’Leary, D.C. Phillips, Mark Silcox, Melissa Watkins Starr, T.J. Tranchell, Joseph Walker.
Or… The BEST WEEKEND EVAH! Thank you sooo much to everyone who stopped by my booth and picked up copies of my books, pulp magazines, and other wares. Many of you told me you’ve never read genre before, many of you took my card, and a couple of you even stood in line and actually waited. You don’t know how good that made me feel. Thank you again. Here I thought folks don’t read anymore (well, that was before this weekend, assuming I now have new readers – I really hope you enjoy the tales and stay tuned to this spot).
ISBN: 978-0-9819696-2-6
Good news: I’ll be back next weekend. Some marketing, diversifying, and injecting the right pitches clearly doesn’t hurt, I see.
Bad news: If you’re new here, I’m temporarily sold out of Fresh Blood. I only have five copies left, and at the moment I need to mail out to review venues. I will, however, still have a few copies of other books and pulps on hand. But these will be sparse.
Technically this should be part 2, but since it laps into the following week, I’ll leave it as is, because it will be 3. I’m coming back! I’ll be signing copies of FRESH BLOOD at Flea by the Sea on the weekends in Coney Island, New York. I’ll have copies of obscure pulp mags on hand (with stories of mine in it), hardcovers, other books, and you have Famous Nathan’s Hot Dogs just up the street. So come say hi, pick up a book or two by yours truly, go to the beach or amusement park, and on the following dates below.
With that said, August 2009 will be a pretty low-key month. That and my laptop screen is falling apart at the edges. However, be here in September and October. Autumn time, as usual. Because I’ll have a plethora — and I do mean a handful — of new publications and new stories you’ll want to check out. Own a Kindle? An iTouch? Or Sony eReader? Well, my first e-title debuts in September from DAMNATION BOOKS, and at Killercon 2009.
VISITATION RIGHTS – A different kind of ghost story
Come join prolific short story writer, Lawrence R. Dagstine – scifi, fantasy, horror and more! — at Coney Island’s Festival by the Sea. Books, books, and more books.
Brooklyn Author, Lawrence R. Dagstine will be signing copies of his new short story collection FRESH BLOOD, rare hardcovers, anthologies, and obscure pulp magazines and more at FLEA BY THE SEA!
For details on transportation by subway, bus, or car, see website above. There will be amusement park rides, entertainment, food, and thousands of people are expected to attend. There will also be arts & crafts, photography vendors, jewelry and clothing merchants, and tons of other stuff!
Come join prolific short story writer, Lawrence R. Dagstine — scifi, fantasy, horror and more! — at Coney Island’s “Summer of Signings”. Twice a week, every other week this summer at Thor Equities’ new DREAMLAND! — Festival by theSea…
Brooklyn Author, Lawrence R. Dagstine will be signing copies of his new short story collection FRESH BLOOD, rare hardcovers, anthologies, and obscure pulp magazines and more at FLEA BY THE SEA! Stay tuned for booth locations and exact dates.
Stay tuned for times and dates. Transportation by subway and other details can be found on the site. Times are usually weekends, 12pm to sundown (or 9pm)! Off-peak dates will be updated here depending on booth availability.
Lawrence Dagstine: Author 
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