Dark Dreamers: Being a Teen is a Curse

by Leon Mitchell, Nick Ashton (Illustrator), Cherry Sweet (Illustrator)

These stories will crawl under your skin and live there, built from the anxiety of a missing person, the terror of a flickering screen, and the absolute certainty that when you turn around, something could be there.

You know the feeling. The prickle on your neck when you’re alone in your room. The shadow in the corner of your eye that vanishes when you turn to look. The whisper on the edge of hearing. What if you aren't just imagining it?

This collection isn't for everyone. It’s for the ones who look into the darkness and feel something looking back.

Being a teenager is its own kind of nightmare—but for the teens in these stories, the horrors are all too real. Step into a world where the line between bad dreams and waking life is terrifyingly thin, and every fear has a life of its own, especially at school.

Dark Dreamers is a collection of chilling short stories that will haunt you long after the lights are back on. For those who love scary sleepovers, camp fire spooks and twisted thoughts, this collection is for you.

Open it if you dare... but don't say we didn't warn you!

211 pages, Hardcover

Published July 6, 2025

About the author

Leon Mitchell is a popular British author, BAFTA member and multi-award-winning director, renowned for his captivating work for young audiences. With an impressive track record of 51 festival award wins, 18 nominations and a winner at both the Science Festival of India and iLife Best in Business Awards, Berkshire, UK for Innovation. His creative vision and writing has been showcased across a wide range of major platforms, including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky, and Amazon Prime. His projects have achieved recognisable commercial success, reaching the coveted #1 spot on Apple's film chart, and his audiobooks being broadcast on BBC Radio and BBC Sounds. His teen novel "Dark Dreamers" was featured in the Amazon thriller top 100 best sellers chart. His other books, to include "Felicity Fire and the Forever Key" have also been featured in Amazon's best seller and hot new release charts and are available from Waterstones and book stores.

As an author, Leon channels his creative energy into two distinct areas of literature. He specialises in crafting thrilling narratives for tween and young teen readers, weaving together compelling elements of science fiction, fantasy, magic, and high-stakes adventure. For younger audiences, he creates enchanting short stories designed to captivate inquisitive minds and foster a lifelong love of imagination. His creative exploration also extends to the world of poetry, with a number of published collections.

Born in Cambridgeshire, Leon holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honours from Guildford, Surrey, and a Master's degree from the University of Wolverhampton, grounding his extensive creative career with a solid academic foundation.