Author’s new book paints a nightmare dreamscape

We’ve all had some pretty intense nightmares, but hey, they’re all dreams, right…..right? Our next guest shares a world where dreams can indeed kill you.

Author Deirdre Swinden joins us to talk about, “Somnium” to through Crystal Lake Entertainment. Here’s a look at what’s in store:

Immerse yourself in a terrifying blend of psychological horror and high-tech science fiction in this riveting novel where dreams can kill. Gillian Hardie experiences nightmares so intense they threaten her very existence, thanks to a glitch in Somnium Corporation’s groundbreaking dream advertising technology. Every night, her sleep unleashes monsters that her body reacts to as if they were real, pushing her to the edge of despair.

Armed with her lucid dreaming skills, Gillian battles these horrors, but when an accident traps her in a perpetual dream state, she must rely on Nathan Keller, a nightmare warrior, and Dex Cooper, an Operator, to navigate this nightmarish reality. With her darkest fears manifesting like never before, Gillian faces a race against time to survive a threat that could unleash unimaginable horrors from the depths of her mind.

Deirdre goes into the creation of her nightmare world, and the terrors that stalk Gillian. We learn about how she blended sci-fi and horror, and how she researched the dream technology that’s used. She talks about the writing process for her debut book and how she came to be working with Crystal Lake Entertainment.

Zombies and dream horror in Crystal Lake double-header

In this episode, we’re talking to four of the horrific minds behind two recent releases by Crystal Lake Publishing: “Never Wake: An Anthology of Dream Horror” and “Dark Tide 10: The Dead Shall Rise.”

In the first interview, Max talks with Kenneth Cain and Tim Meyer, the editors of this collection of short stories with a dream horror theme. We talk about what dream horror is and how the different authors express it in their stories.

Kenneth and Tim go into the editing process and how they worked with the different authors to improve their work while at the same time preserving their original voice. We talk about the book’s cover art, which has a wonderfully trippy cover.

Following this, Max and Curtis are chatting with Armand Rosamilia and Erin Louis, two of the three writers who contributed to ‘The Dead Shall Rise,” a collection of zombie stories. Jay Wilburn, who wrote “Prepare Because Death is Coming” passed away in 2022. Armand and Erin talk about Jay’s story and their experience with him as a writer and friend.

We also go into their stories—Armand’s has a family on vacation when the zombie apocalypse breaks out and Erin’s main character Tiffney leading a group of survivors at a strip club assaulted by the living dead. Both talk about their interest in zombies and the new directions that this book took them in.