Inside Your Screams: Stories of Restless Terror

by Hayden Robinson

TWENTY STORIES TO TERRIFY YOU

Playing cards with your dead grandmother.

Being caught in a rainfall of blood.

Troubled by night terrors of horrible grins.

Running to save someone trapped under ice.

Seeing yourself rot before your very eyes.

Watching the rage of a girl obsessed with dolls.

In this terrifying collection from author Hayden Robinson, you will experience stories that will leave you screaming into the night.

Paperback

Published October 31, 2025

About the author

Hayden Robinson is an English writer. He writes mainly in horror and poetry. His themes often focus on overcoming trauma and neurodivergent characters. He currently lives in Decatur, GA with his wife, their dog and their two cats.

Reviews

[jennydav]

Favorites:
- Ashlyn & Rosie (MAN, THIS ONE!!!)
- Mothman
- Rot
- Roach
- Burials

[Anastasia Henning]

Inside Your Screams isn’t just a horror anthology — it’s an exploration of what happens when the things we repress start whispering back. Each story feels like a different kind of nightmare, from grief and guilt to rage, loneliness, and the fragile boundary between love and madness. Hayden Robinson doesn’t just aim to scare; he dissects the quiet, human horrors that live in everyday life and dares you to look them in the eye.

The imagery is stunningly grotesque yet poetic — scenes that twist reality without losing emotional truth. Stories like Roach, Sleep, and Ashlynn and Sophie cut deep with their raw humanity, while Soul Pond and Bloody Abyss feel like cautionary fables for the age of moral decay.

What I loved most is that not every story screams — some simply ache. The sadness, the loneliness, the monstrous empathy that lingers — it’s all part of the same pulse. Some stories terrified me, others hurt to read, and a few felt like being seen in the dark.

Robinson writes horror with heart — and Inside Your Screams proves that true terror isn’t about what’s hiding in the dark, but what we bring into it ourselves.

[Books For Decaying Millennials]

I received a digital ARC of this forthcoming title, from the author. All views and opinions are my own.
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Coming this October 31st....Hayden Robinson delivers a collection delightfully chilling tales, best read by the light of a single lamp in a dark room, or the flickering light of a Jack-O-Lantern. I became acquainted with Hayden's writing through his inclusion in VIOLENT ADVENTS. Whereas that was an anthology with his story gathered with the voices of other writers, here we readers have only the wicked tales from Hayden's own brain to hold our attention. Inside Your Screams delivers an excellent variety shocks and chills. You'll find stories suited for reading aloud to huddled listeners by the light of a campfire, and stories that will hit you best...when read alone, late at night. Readers beware, some of these stories seem like easy going scary stories, but make no mistake, the further you reader the deeper into the dark recesses of Hayden's mind you will be drawn. The final tale is simply the perfect climax, and something my fellow splatterpunk readers will most definitely enjoy. An excellent array of literary frights to expose your mind to this Halloween.

[Sharron Joy Reads]

20 short stories filled with the uncanny, tales of unease that creep around and probe your brain with imagery that lingers long after you close the book.

Dark and deceptively macabre, there is a real sense of pathos and heartbreak amongst the horror along with a strange surrealistic mood that is quite intoxicating. It is part fever dream, part squelching, blood soaked malevolence.

Perfectly snack sized morsels of depraved delight and perfect reading material for this season of dark nights and stormy days.

[Esme Hill]

What an incredible selection of short stories! I loved how different they all were and I’ve had so much fun reading, really kept me on my toes and as well as being spooky also had some really lovely and important moments/messages too! The last short story (Ashlyn and Sophie) was my favourite for a number of reasons, but they were all so great! Definitely one that I can’t wait to reread again and again!

[Bethany]

The long awaited short horror story collection by Hayden Robinson. Thank you Hayden for letting me have an ARC. It is out October 31st! Perfect timing.

Ashes
Grief horror at its finest! Haunting but somewhat heart warming too.

Soul Pond (This is my favourite one of the bunch!)
Short but a great impact! Shelly was creepy but I loved her tone! Hayden really brought that to life (that sounds like a pun, not my intention!)

Roach
I loved the last sentence! Creepy!

Mine
Second person tense! That's something new! (Adding to this to say Hayden mixes up the tenses a lot throughout this collection and it's a really fun and unique touch!)

Bloody Abyss
Wonderfully descriptive! Lots of screaming!

Aglaeca
"Limbs scatter the corners; internal organs pile up; the empty faces of my classmates stare into nothing, their mouths opened wide in their last moments of life."
I sell you this story with a quote taken from it! Wowza!

Escape by Midnight
I really enjoyed the writing style of this one!

Mothman, (anti)Christ (my second and third favourites of the collection!)
Putting these two together because I particularly enjoyed them! Mothman was creepy and (anti)Christ was beautifully written.

Mask
This instantly reminded me of a goosebumps episode that terrified me as a kid!

Nan
Hayden really knows how to write grief horror and I'm all for it! This was haunting... but love and loss was its main theme and this is a type of horror that I just love.

Uncle Bob, Rot, Walking Child, Potentia, Seiren, Sleep, Sweet Treat, Burials and Ashlyn and Sophie
These are all separate stories in the collection that I'm bunching together to say I enjoyed! Although they were not as memorable as some of the others for me, they were still great additions to the whole novel.

A fantastic horror debut by Hayden Robinson! He's going to be a beautifully haunting voice in the horror community and I can't wait to see what he brings us next. He knows how to frighten us, but more importantly, he knows how to send a story right to the heart... and that's where it haunts us most!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Aubrey Jenkins]

Was selected to ARC read this book and it’s a great book filled with spooky and chilling short stories that are definitely perfect for Halloween night! Check it out October 31st!!!

[Amber Kestner]

I am not DNFing it this time. I got through 7 chapters better than before. I still had 13 stories to go but my threshold had it's limit. I got scared like literally scared which is a good sign when you love to read and love collecting books for a living.

Hayden's stories are gruesome to me like really badly sickening that I couldn't go any further than what I already read before. His writing though, it is amazing and what a direct way of story telling that I've seen.

I do have a few favorites:
Nan (from before I didn't need to read it again)
Ashes
Soul Pond
Bloody Abyss

I didn't read further because cannibalism and child abuse scare me. I have watched horror movies so please don't think that I'm judging based on not knowing horror and I do. I'm saying this as a fellow Author, Hayden is the best in his stories to get this Author to stop twice.

I do recommend giving a shot but please, please, please be cautious.

DO NOT EAT OR DRINK during some of the stories. Best to read during the day, not bedtime.

[Barbra Simons]

I dived right into this book because I am a huge horror fan. I love discovering young new talents and Hayden Robinson did not disappoint. The book is a roller coaster ride from start to finish, one minute I was laughing at the dark humor, the next minute I was crying for the torment of some poor soul that I could relate to. Not only were they entertaining, but they definitely hit the mark with the scares, I was nervous going downstairs to the bathroom in the dark afterwards! Other than the horror aspect though there is a deeper aspect to these stories. We root for the bad guy to get his comeuppance, wishing it could only be like that in real life more often. Domineering and mentally abusive relatives, bullying, soulless millionaires, it's all in here. Each story had a meaning beyond what was on the surface, and I loved peeling away the layers. I look forward to reading more from this author.

[Stranger Steph]

Hayden Robinson is a new up and coming voice of horror. He brings everything to the table. From gross out to grief to spatter-punk and everything between. There is a story in this collection for every fan of the horror spectrum.
The stories are short but all pack a serious punch. They are also so original. None of the same recycled old tropes here. And I can't forget to mention how much representation there is for queer, disabled, homeless, and neurodivergent folks.
This is the perfect collection to read during a chilly autumn evening. Be sure to keep the lights on.

Thank you to the author for the ARC!

[Jen Self]

There is truly something for every horror fan in this collection of short stories. I love the new and unique ideas, and the writing is excellent! Every story included here is thought-provoking, creepy, haunting and so much fun to read, and I can't wait to read more from this author!