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Nightmares
A collection of stories which chill the senses with tales of vivid imagery. Prepare to be drawn into worlds of dark innermost secrets, bleak violence, and ancient lore.
121 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 30, 2015
28 people want to read
About the author
Dan Sihota
2 books23 followersDan Sihota is an author who lives in Birmingham, England. In addition to being an author, he works as an IT analyst. In his spare time he enjoys learning new languages and travelling.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 23, 2015
Nightmares is a collection of stories created by Dan Sihota. I received a copy of the book for an honest review. In each story the protagonist is presented with a crossroads or found in a place that they did not foresee. Sometimes in life decisions are made for us, and are beyond our choosing. What could better describe the definition of a nightmare?
I liked that each character felt real. That’s a credit to the author’s style of writing and set-up for each short story. He builds on a premise and drops the reader in the middle of it. The situations we are placed in are tenuous, and I liked that many of the endings came as an unexpected surprise. Not all of them pay off, but each put me on the spot and made me think: “What if I that was my nightmare?”
I liked that each character felt real. That’s a credit to the author’s style of writing and set-up for each short story. He builds on a premise and drops the reader in the middle of it. The situations we are placed in are tenuous, and I liked that many of the endings came as an unexpected surprise. Not all of them pay off, but each put me on the spot and made me think: “What if I that was my nightmare?”
January 21, 2017
Dan Sihota has written a collection of shocking, scary short stories that take place in contemporary settings including Road Rage, Dead Man’s Fruit and many others.
Road Rage deals with an angry driver who lets his rage get of control. Dead Man’s Fruit deals with a ghostly encounter. Each story has shocking moments that serve as a warning to anyone who doubts supernatural forces.
For the reader who wants a fast-paced, quick scare this is definitely a great collection to read!
Road Rage deals with an angry driver who lets his rage get of control. Dead Man’s Fruit deals with a ghostly encounter. Each story has shocking moments that serve as a warning to anyone who doubts supernatural forces.
For the reader who wants a fast-paced, quick scare this is definitely a great collection to read!
September 25, 2015
Genre: Sci-Fantasy, Mystery & Thriller
The book is a collection of nine short stories, ranging from voodoo mysticism to unrelenting violence. These selections grab your interest from the start and end with a clever twist. I am reviewing three stories that I liked the best.
"Road Rage" *****
Excerpt: "Chris was beginning to feel impatient as he sat behind the wheel of his car. It was going to be another frustrating evening stuck in rush hour traffic again."
The Friday night commute home is anything but pleasant for Chris. The promotion at work, that should have been his, instead, had been given to an undeserving co-worker. Feeling unappreciated and angry, he is spoiling to teach the next slow driver a lesson. He soon catches up to one. When Chris gets out of his car to confront the other driver, he gets the surprise of his life.
"The Bus Journey" *****
Excerpt: "Dave hated being the only passenger on a bus. It gave him an uneasy feeling, it was probably something that came from watching too many horror movies. Dave sat down and reassured himself that nothing unpleasant was going to happen."
Dave is traveling to Phoenix, by bus, to spend the with weekend with his college sweetheart. He drifts off to sleep during the journey and awakens to find the bus stopped. He is the only passenger on the bus. Now, the nightmare begins. . . .
"The Jungle" ****
Excerpt: "There seemed to be nothing to suggest the villagers were expecting them. But appearances could be deceptive, that was always the possibility that they might find themselves walking into a trap. But such a scenario didn't seem likely today. The village appeared no different from many others they had seen throughout this part of the world. But once the mercenaries had finished what they had been sent to do there would be no village left."
The small band of mercenaries had a job to do. They traveled all over the world - killing for money. The men enjoyed the kill. Later that night, however, the soldiers of fortune awoke and began to feel uneasy.
I highly recommend this great collection of stories and look forward to reading more from Dan Sihota.
ARC courtesy of the author in exchange for a fair review.
The book is a collection of nine short stories, ranging from voodoo mysticism to unrelenting violence. These selections grab your interest from the start and end with a clever twist. I am reviewing three stories that I liked the best.
"Road Rage" *****
Excerpt: "Chris was beginning to feel impatient as he sat behind the wheel of his car. It was going to be another frustrating evening stuck in rush hour traffic again."
The Friday night commute home is anything but pleasant for Chris. The promotion at work, that should have been his, instead, had been given to an undeserving co-worker. Feeling unappreciated and angry, he is spoiling to teach the next slow driver a lesson. He soon catches up to one. When Chris gets out of his car to confront the other driver, he gets the surprise of his life.
"The Bus Journey" *****
Excerpt: "Dave hated being the only passenger on a bus. It gave him an uneasy feeling, it was probably something that came from watching too many horror movies. Dave sat down and reassured himself that nothing unpleasant was going to happen."
Dave is traveling to Phoenix, by bus, to spend the with weekend with his college sweetheart. He drifts off to sleep during the journey and awakens to find the bus stopped. He is the only passenger on the bus. Now, the nightmare begins. . . .
"The Jungle" ****
Excerpt: "There seemed to be nothing to suggest the villagers were expecting them. But appearances could be deceptive, that was always the possibility that they might find themselves walking into a trap. But such a scenario didn't seem likely today. The village appeared no different from many others they had seen throughout this part of the world. But once the mercenaries had finished what they had been sent to do there would be no village left."
The small band of mercenaries had a job to do. They traveled all over the world - killing for money. The men enjoyed the kill. Later that night, however, the soldiers of fortune awoke and began to feel uneasy.
I highly recommend this great collection of stories and look forward to reading more from Dan Sihota.
ARC courtesy of the author in exchange for a fair review.
March 19, 2016
Reading 'Nightmares' can be likened to taking a road trip through a dangerous land. You embark on the journey with only a few hushed warnings that the area you are travelling through has been known to be extremely mysterious and not many people make it through alive. This collection of short stories certainly holds a similar essence. From the first story 'Road Rage,' you begin to learn that you are about to be introduced to some interesting characters. Some you will like, some you may not...
What first struck me was the intensity evoked in some of the stories, particularly in 'Torture' and 'The Jungle'. The author manages to encapsulate the horror of violence in a truly gut-wrenching manner. I found this quite refreshing in the sense that where you would normally find yourself confronted with ghosts, monsters, vampires and all other manners of supernatural beings in horror anthologies, this collection (whilst still introducing some of these themes) explores horror on a realistic level which in turn, makes it even more horrifying and therefore not suitable for the faint hearted! 'The Train' was a subtle example of this, the author invites the reader into the mind-set of Wil, a man fed up with life and reminiscent about his childhood. It's a relatively simple tale and as it unfolds, you find yourself living Wil's life through his eyes right up to its terrifying conclusion.
Overall, 'Nightmares' provides the reader with enough material to ignite many a restless night. A great mix of realistic and supernatural horror that ultimately leaves you feeling uneasy and yet wanting more. I look forward to receiving more nightmares from Dan Sihota!
October 29, 2015
There is a reason I love to read and I'm going to be quite frank here. At first, it was because I had to. I hated it. Then I wanted to, like many. Later, I found I had to. Created within me was a lust, a ravenousness, insatiable hunger for more books, more lives. So I grab books from all walks of life, as long as they're walks I can't take on my own.
Nightmares by Dan Sihota didn't give me that. I'm not saying the stories weren't good, because they were. They just gave me tastes of other people's ordinary lives. Everyday, someone's killed, chased, divorced, lost, crabby, enraged, etc. These are life's nightmares, yes- but I was expecting more.
When I saw the book cover, because you know I studied it, I thought, "Ooo, mystery. Something shocking?" What I got was life.
Each story was nicely written, though paragraph breakdowns would have made the read easier on the eyes. For me, the best story was Road Rage, though it rambled quite a bit. Then the action began... and ended. It all happened with such an abruptness, I was left deflated. For the rest of this review, http://tinyurl.com/o3u84t7
Nightmares by Dan Sihota didn't give me that. I'm not saying the stories weren't good, because they were. They just gave me tastes of other people's ordinary lives. Everyday, someone's killed, chased, divorced, lost, crabby, enraged, etc. These are life's nightmares, yes- but I was expecting more.
When I saw the book cover, because you know I studied it, I thought, "Ooo, mystery. Something shocking?" What I got was life.
Each story was nicely written, though paragraph breakdowns would have made the read easier on the eyes. For me, the best story was Road Rage, though it rambled quite a bit. Then the action began... and ended. It all happened with such an abruptness, I was left deflated. For the rest of this review, http://tinyurl.com/o3u84t7
July 18, 2016
Nine creepy stories ranging from straight violence/gore to Indian mysticism. Very straight-forward and effective storytelling. Excellent pacing as each story builds to an often unexpected climax. My favorite were the two stories set in Punjab. The shift in cultures gives these stories a uniqueness that could make them stand out in a crowed genre. Well done, Dan!
September 8, 2015
Good read, captivating and scary. I look forward to reading more!
April 1, 2020
Ok, I’ll be honest, this one was mainly for numbers. Which is to say it was a decent looking relatively short kindle freebie downloaded specifically on the last day of the month to boost that month’s reading numbers. But then again, it promised and kind of sort of delivered a selection of literary nightmares, which is always fun for a genre fan. But…then again, one takes a chance with random freebies and unknown authors and this one definitely was representative of both of those factors. On the positive note, for what it was, it was presented and edited on a very professional level cover to finish. Writing wise…well, here is where it gets tricky, because the writing itself was actually quite decent, but the stories didn’t know how to finish themselves. The endings were almost uniformly abruptly lethal with a redundant one sentence summation. I’ve actually read another freebie recently, inferior in quality, but with the same weird ending thing going on. Not sure why, maybe it’s difficult to wrap up a story. Maybe the authors can’t imagine what to do with the character past semi creatively killing them off. This collection tried for something like morals in the end too, which didn’t quite work. So yeah, mixed bag, too much tell, not enough show, but a lot of new authors do that. It’s mainly just the fact that the narrative didn’t match the ending or vice versa. No, it’s more like the ending shortchanged the narrative each and every time. A perfectly decent meal followed by a thin stake slice of cake sort of thing. But the writing does show some potential and the entire thing read very quickly.
December 20, 2015
Read full review at: http://thereadingarmchair.blogspot.gr...
Nightmares is a collection of nine short stories. All of them deal with situations that feel like nightmares do come true, so I couldn't imagine a better title for the collection.
Some of the stories are pretty realistic, while others have heavy supernatural elements. Whether a young man is taking the bus to visit his girlfriend, or a group of friends travel to India, things get really quickly out of hand. And there is no hope to be seen. In fact, all of protagonists have dark futures ahead of them. I like the fact that superstition and folklore is a part of some of these stories and these are the ones that I prefered, stories like The Spell, Dead Man's Fruit and The Field. I also like the fact that many of them are set in India, a country that seems so different from my own, yet has such rich traditions.
But I didn't find all of the stories that appealing. For example, the first two stories, Road Rage and The Bus Journey, left me unsure. I couldn't really understand why things were happening the way they did. In these two stories, I couldn't really connect with the characters, because I felt that I was lacking information about their idiosyncrasy.
The rest of the protagonists, though, were pretty likeable and I was sorry to see them in misery and distress. Ok, some of them brought their bad luck upon themselves, but I was still sad about the way the ended up. I have to comment in particular about the main character of the short story called Torture. He is such a well-developed character that I was very impressed.
All in all, Nightmares is a good collection of unsettling stories. This is a pretty quick read and if you love horror stories and maybe a little bit of violence, then you'll definitely find something to like.
Nightmares is a collection of nine short stories. All of them deal with situations that feel like nightmares do come true, so I couldn't imagine a better title for the collection.
Some of the stories are pretty realistic, while others have heavy supernatural elements. Whether a young man is taking the bus to visit his girlfriend, or a group of friends travel to India, things get really quickly out of hand. And there is no hope to be seen. In fact, all of protagonists have dark futures ahead of them. I like the fact that superstition and folklore is a part of some of these stories and these are the ones that I prefered, stories like The Spell, Dead Man's Fruit and The Field. I also like the fact that many of them are set in India, a country that seems so different from my own, yet has such rich traditions.
But I didn't find all of the stories that appealing. For example, the first two stories, Road Rage and The Bus Journey, left me unsure. I couldn't really understand why things were happening the way they did. In these two stories, I couldn't really connect with the characters, because I felt that I was lacking information about their idiosyncrasy.
The rest of the protagonists, though, were pretty likeable and I was sorry to see them in misery and distress. Ok, some of them brought their bad luck upon themselves, but I was still sad about the way the ended up. I have to comment in particular about the main character of the short story called Torture. He is such a well-developed character that I was very impressed.
All in all, Nightmares is a good collection of unsettling stories. This is a pretty quick read and if you love horror stories and maybe a little bit of violence, then you'll definitely find something to like.
March 29, 2016
I don't usually read stories in this genre however I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The stories contained in this collection were quite entertaining, some where quite ordinary however I particularly enjoyed the stories with super natural elements, these seemed to be the most exciting.
Overall, it was quite a good collection and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys horror stories.
The stories contained in this collection were quite entertaining, some where quite ordinary however I particularly enjoyed the stories with super natural elements, these seemed to be the most exciting.
Overall, it was quite a good collection and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys horror stories.
October 16, 2015
A really fascinating collection of short stories. Each story is presented with a unique style that leaves you remembering it after you've finished.
June 25, 2016
A great bunch of short stories, vivid imagery, dark and creepy. I really enjoyed them. Sucked me in so much, I needed a minute between stories to come back to reality. Definitely give it a read!
November 1, 2024
I really enjoyed this collection of short stories from Dan Sihota.
There's a great mixture of paranormal experiences, mystical lore and downright scary situations (The Bus Journey FREAKED me out!) These could easily all be a part of the same universe, and I loved the inclusion of a mixture of different experiences from different cultural perspectives. Dan has done a great job of immersing the reader in such a short space of time and each of these stories are interesting in their own way, giving the impression that Sihota spends a lot of time observing people and enjoying their experiences.
I read these all in one evening, which says something about the enjoyment I had!
There's a great mixture of paranormal experiences, mystical lore and downright scary situations (The Bus Journey FREAKED me out!) These could easily all be a part of the same universe, and I loved the inclusion of a mixture of different experiences from different cultural perspectives. Dan has done a great job of immersing the reader in such a short space of time and each of these stories are interesting in their own way, giving the impression that Sihota spends a lot of time observing people and enjoying their experiences.
I read these all in one evening, which says something about the enjoyment I had!
March 30, 2016
Ok, so this genre is not really my type of thing but I wanted to expand my horizons and read something different. It was ok but I will probably stick to the genre's that I like best.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews