  The Sinister Horror Company are proud to reveal the cover of our forthcoming title Death Dreams In The Dark by J. R. Park which will be released on the 22nd November 2019. J. R. Park began his short story collections, the Death Dream series, with Death Dreams In A Whorehouse and followed up by Death Dreams At Christmas. Death Dreams In The Dark is his third collection, bringing together nine stories all themed around the dark. The collection is a mixture of original stories and reprints, with each story revised and reworked. Death Dreams In The Dark is a collection that shows a subtle shift in Park’s writing. If the four books Terror Byte, Punch, Upon Waking and The Exchange was his first phase, then this collection showcases his further development in a second phase as his influences have widened, incorporating a host of modern-day horror writers. The cover artwork was created by Jorge Wiles. Jorge has created the art for the previous instalments of the Death Dreams series as well as the art for Kit Power’s Breaking Point, Stuart Park’s Marked and the Sinister Horror Cards.  J. R. Park has this to say about the new release: “Death Dreams In The Dark is my third short story collection. The Death Dream series started when I wanted to collect together some of my short stories. At the time I was unsure what to call the book, then one idle day driving to the shops I played a game of trying to think about the most reprehensible title. The title Death Dreams In A Whorehouse sprang to mind. As I thought about the number of stories in the first collection that featured the world’s oldest trade I thought it was a good fit. When I began collecting together and writing Christmas themed stories, the title Death Dreams At Christmas seemed a natural progression, and from there the Death Dreams series was born. Jorge Wiles is my cousin; a fantastic guitarist, we used to chat a lot about music, which is both a shared passion. Early on he was an advocate of my books, and we grew even closer as we used to talk about horror. A few years ago Jorge decided to draw some pictures for his daughters, and realised that he wasn’t too bad at art. That’s an understatement, and it’s unbelievable that he’s only been doing it for such a relatively short timeframe, but his results are down to his hard work and determination. Since his original epiphany he has learnt from friends and YouTube videos, improving as he goes. Seeing his work, I asked him to draw the art for Death Dreams In A Whorehouse, and since then he’s been the artist for the whole series. With the artwork, I come up with the basic concept, but I always let Jorge indulge himself with the creature design. It’s something I think he enjoys, as he gets to fire up his imagination and let it flow onto the page. The stories in Death Dreams In The Dark are a mix of originals and reprints from anthologies that have been good enough to feature my tales, although every story has been looked over and revised. Some have had a minor alteration of the language in order to improve the flow, whilst others have had some bigger changes. The Darkling is a good example of this; a story that when I re-read I came up with a new ending. This then required some re-work of the main story for all the elements and themes to fit. The whole collection is themed around the dark and each story, one way or another, has a stygian mood shrouded over its words. Mood and atmosphere are something very much front and centre in all these stories, incorporating the uncanny and an attempt to hold that lingering feeling of dread in the reader after the story has finished. You’ll still find me experimenting with story structure and form, as I find the short story such a natural environment to play with these things. It wouldn’t be a Death Dreams book if I didn’t.”  Death Dreams In The Dark blurb: “There’s a whole underground ‘Candyman’ (1992) style vibe whispered throughout the story. Something that taunts you. Plays with your senses and sets your imagination loose to explore darkened passages you may not wish to travel down,” writes DLS Reviews on the short story The Ugly, just one of nine tales from Death Dreams In The Dark: a collection of haunting stories that seep from the darkness of J. R. Park’s imagination. The third in the Death Dream series, this volume explores the horrors that lurk after hours; the nightmares made real; the awful truth of the things that go bump (and hack, slash, cackle and sigh) in the night. This collection includes the stories Nunight, Halloween Night, The Darkling, Late Night Caller, Mary, Do What Thou Wilt, The Ugly, Diamond In The Rough and The Last Horror Story. Death Dreams In The Dark will be available on Kindle and Paperback from Amazon and the Sinister Horror Company website from the 22nd November 2019. Pre-orders to go live on Amazon and the Sinister website in due course. Cover art by Jorge Wiles. Facebook.com/JWilesIllustrator Twitter: @j_illustrator   Comments are closed.
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