Category Archives: Nightmarish scenarios

Books about Genocide: “Genocidal” – An Anthology, by Culture Cult Press

For my next speculative piece it’s another new one, and we’re going into an anthology themed around a very controversial subject. And that’s genocide and The Holocaust. I was inspired to write this story after reading Elie Wiesel’s epic biography, Night. My story is dark science fiction meets horror meets alternate history. It features Adolf Hitler. And robots. These robots are known as The War Machines. Hitler and the robots are main characters in this dramatic tale. Because of the subject matter, a lot of editors didn’t want to read or take a chance on this piece (probably one of my most powerful in a long time; I have another powerful story written in the second person slated for later this year). The name of my story is: “Christmas along the Danube.” It is indeed a holiday story, it is a trigger warning story, there is death, and you can find it right now in the Culture Cult Press anthology, Genocidal. Every piece in Genocidal features some form of subject matter on genocide or the Holocaust. It might be poems, it might be essays or non-fiction, firsthand accounts, or in my case, dark science fiction. Though I suspect any firsthand stuff would have been passed down through the ages. Still, go check out my story, along with the other authors’ contributions. Ordering links will be further down below.

#GENOCIDAL – Published by Culture Cult Press

Featuring Dagstine story: “Christmas along the Danube”

Where to order your copy (click links, be redirected):

Paperback: https://www.lulu.com/shop/j-chakravarti/genocidal/paperback/product-7k6dy4j.html

ePub: https://www.lulu.com/shop/j-chakravarti/genocidal/ebook/product-jewmeq7.html

According to publisher info received, the April 2025 discount code BCORPBOOKS15 may be used for a 15% discount on Lulu on all purchases. 

Culture Cult Press Socials:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/CultureCultPress

Instagram: https://instagram.com/culturecultpress

Visit at: https://CultureCult.co.in

Also check out my latest chapbook from Farthest Star Publishing,

SMALL FAVORS by Lawrence Dagstine

I would say if you want to get introduced to my more extreme forms of horror writing in 2025, and you’ve never read a Lawrence Dagstine piece before, then you want to start here: Small Favors, then follow up with Christmas along the Danube in Genocidal, and later this year (say, October) Inherited in the book, No Exit. Those three pieces. Trigger warning for each one.

Other New Entries: “Books & Anthos”

The Nightmare Cycle by Lawrence Dagstine – Now Available in Waterstones UK

I was supposed to put this book post up a few weeks ago, but I have been busy with diet, fitness, and some much-unneeded (for lack of a better term) surgeries. But The Nightmare Cycle has been out for three-plus months, and it’s doing pretty well on the convention circuit and in digital format (Kindle Unlimited subscribers get to read the collection absolutely free). My editor Andrea is doing a fantastic job at Dark Owl with the public event marketing on her side, and I couldn’t be happier.

But now The Nightmare Cycle is available for purchase either online OR in store at places other than Amazon and Barnes & Nobles. Other large literary retailers. I’m pleased to announce if you live in the UK, you can now get The Nightmare Cycle at Waterstones bookstores. Waterstones is basically England and Scotland’s equivalent to B&N. Here in America, we have Barnes&Nobles super stores. In the United Kingdom, however, they have Waterstones super stores. So if you live in the UK, and you prefer print over digital, why not hop over to the horror section and pick up a copy. Link below the picture.

WATERSTONES LINK (or just walk into their horror section, or one of their branches, and go up to the sales person and order): https://www.waterstones.com/author/lawrence-dagstine/1833466

Waterstones again: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-nightmare-cycle/lawrence-dagstine/9781951716349

Do be aware it’s 2023, the Age of Online Shopping and Kickstarter and Reading Apps, the age of online pretty much everything in some shape or form. Not every bookstore these days has a horror section let alone a genre section. Unless you’re signed with William Morrow or St. Martin’s Press or TOR. At the end of the day, it’s about the vendor tables; I learned that the hard way hustling in the trenches. So if your Waterstones branch does not have a copy on hand. You should be able to order a physical print edition within 72 hours from them. You can pick it up at the store or, if you are a resident of the United Kingdom, have it delivered via post.

Wicked Shadow Press: “Flashes of Nightmare” – Flash Fiction Anthology

It’s the year of the nightmare. First, my story collection from Dark Owl, The Nightmare Cycle. Now, from Wicked Shadow Press, Flashes of Nightmare. And boy do I love the wraparound cover art for this one. Kind of has a Fatal Frame aesthetic to it (if you are familiar with that horror game franchise). I will put ordering links for print and digital versions at the very bottom of this blog post. This isn’t the first time I’ve appeared in Wicked Shadow Press anthologies. They really go all out on their interior layout. I was in their zombie flash anthology, Flash of the Dead and the bestselling crime ebook earlier this year, Murder on her Mind.

I have a brand new micro tale this time around. Micro fiction is what flash fiction is. Stories that are 1,000 to 1,500 words in length. They are compact, quick to read, easy to mentally digest when you are outdoors or chilling in the park or in bed, say on public transportation commuting back and forth. And my story is just that: a tale which falls around 1500 words in length, is politically incorrect in some respects, but is an absolute nightmare that just happens to take place on public transportation. Read my latest offering, “The Bus Ride” in Flashes of Nightmare. A horror book involving bad dreams and circumstances.

WICKED SHADOW PRESS presents…

“FLASHES OF NIGHTMARE”

An Anthology of Stories regarding Bad Dreams/Nightmarish Circumstances

Kindle edition purchase link (Amazon Ebook, worldwide): https://www.amazonPaperback 0CC9XL1J4


Standard edition Paperback purchase link (LULU, available worldwide): https://www.lulu.com/shop/parth-sarathi-chakraborty/flashes-of-nightmare/paperback/product-gr5nwk.html

Special edition – FULL COLOR Paperback purchase link (LULU, available worldwide): https://www.lulu.com/shop/parth-sarathi-chakraborty/flashes-of-nightmare/paperback/product-rn2mew.html

Ebook purchase link (LULU, available worldwide): https://www.lulu.com/shop/parth-sarathi-chakraborty/flashes-of-nightmare/ebook/product-5rn4r8.html

Kindle edition purchase link (Amazon Ebook, worldwide): https://www.amazonPaperback 0CC9XL1J4

Wicked Shadow Press on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wickedshadowpress
Wicked Shadow Press on Instagram: https://instagram.com/wickedshadowpress
Wicked Shadow Press on Twitter: https://twitter.com/wickedshadowpub

Edited to Add: The full-color edition is like a graphic novel with surreal art. A sight for sore eyes!

Other New Entries: “Books & Anthos”

The Nightmare Cycle by Lawrence Dagstine – Now available in Barnes & Nobles

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.

THE NIGHTMARE CYCLE by Lawrence Dagstine

NOW AVAILABLE THROUGH/IN BARNES & NOBLES

LINK: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-nightmare-cycle-lawrence-dagstine/1143495335

PRODUCT DETAILS – ISBN:

ISBN-13:9781951716349
Publisher:Dark Owl Publishing
Publication date:04/17/2023
Pages:202
Product dimensions:5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.46(d)

Or, if you prefer Amazon and Kindle (best of both worlds):

“The Nightmare Cycle” by Lawrence Dagstine – Dark Owl Publishing

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)

AMAZON LINK: https://www.amazon.com/Nightmare-Cycle-Lawrence-Dagstine-ebook/dp/B0C27TTD24

DARK OWL LINK: https://www.darkowlpublishing.com/the-nightmare-cycle

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:

https://www.darkowlpublishing.com/our-schedule

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.

http://www.terrortrader.com

And finally, here is some early praise for the collection from horror-themed review sites such as The Sinister Scoop:

https://www.thesinisterscoop.com/post/the-nightmare-cycle-lawrence-dagstine

Other New Entries: “Books & Anthos, Digital Credits”

UPCOMING BOOKS: “The Nightmare Cycle” by Lawrence Dagstine… (Dark Owl Publishing)

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.

THE NIGHTMARE CYCLE

Book Publisher: http://www.darkowlpublishing.com

Cover Artist: Fernando JFL – giotefeli.tumblr.com

Coming in Print, Digital, to Amazon, B&N, conventions, indie shops, vendor events, or wherever fine horror goods are sold.

Other New Entries: “Books & Anthos”