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The Portal in the Forest #1-6
The Portal in the Forest Compendium
Containing the six books of the Portal in the Forest series, this compendium follows the complete saga of the Crushing Fist and the struggle of the worlds of man to survive in an uncaring and brutal multiverse.
THE PORTAL IN THE FOREST
A rural Virginia neighborhood finds a portal to other realities that changes destinations each day. Unfortunately, all the worlds it reaches have suffered unique and terrible dooms. A determined stranger and a suburb of abandoned children might be able to save the world if they can just figure out the common link between the myriad destroyed Earths.
THE DESOLATE GUARDIANS
Heath, an off-hours network manager, discovers that his computers can connect to other Internets on other Earths. He becomes the only link between the scattered men and women still guarding the worlds of man, but what can a few lonely guardians do against the coming darkness?
THE MOON AFLAME
Poor Alek is a fool that refuses to gaze up at His glory and accept the Change. Alek and the Free heretics must be rooted out and obliterated. The way must be paved for the coming of the Dreamer On High—humanity will dance under the Moon aflame as salvation descends from the sky.
THE EMPTY EARTH
With disaster looming, our scattered few must work together. One such guardian is the reluctant author Noah Fulmer. After returning from a mission, he finds that the human race seems to have vanished. Is there something wrong with the world, with his mind—or with reality itself?
THE CRUSHING FIST
As the worlds of man begin to collapse, displaced billions flee coreward for aid. Conn, an ex-soldier, tries to piece together the link between a slaughter-filled mission five years before and the current doom bearing down on the Earths of the Empire. Between his former military squadmates and his new connections among the elite, he must uncover the truth of the Empire's mortal flaw.
OUR FINAL ACTS
There's nowhere left to run now. The Crushing Fist is bearing down on the Empire from every direction, cutting off any chance of escape. The First World has failed and been destroyed. The skies are beginning to leak compressed space and the ground is oozing magma from the enormous pressure on reality itself. The next few days hold the final acts of the human race. For whatever it's worth, we intend to make those acts count.
THE PORTAL IN THE FOREST
A rural Virginia neighborhood finds a portal to other realities that changes destinations each day. Unfortunately, all the worlds it reaches have suffered unique and terrible dooms. A determined stranger and a suburb of abandoned children might be able to save the world if they can just figure out the common link between the myriad destroyed Earths.
THE DESOLATE GUARDIANS
Heath, an off-hours network manager, discovers that his computers can connect to other Internets on other Earths. He becomes the only link between the scattered men and women still guarding the worlds of man, but what can a few lonely guardians do against the coming darkness?
THE MOON AFLAME
Poor Alek is a fool that refuses to gaze up at His glory and accept the Change. Alek and the Free heretics must be rooted out and obliterated. The way must be paved for the coming of the Dreamer On High—humanity will dance under the Moon aflame as salvation descends from the sky.
THE EMPTY EARTH
With disaster looming, our scattered few must work together. One such guardian is the reluctant author Noah Fulmer. After returning from a mission, he finds that the human race seems to have vanished. Is there something wrong with the world, with his mind—or with reality itself?
THE CRUSHING FIST
As the worlds of man begin to collapse, displaced billions flee coreward for aid. Conn, an ex-soldier, tries to piece together the link between a slaughter-filled mission five years before and the current doom bearing down on the Earths of the Empire. Between his former military squadmates and his new connections among the elite, he must uncover the truth of the Empire's mortal flaw.
OUR FINAL ACTS
There's nowhere left to run now. The Crushing Fist is bearing down on the Empire from every direction, cutting off any chance of escape. The First World has failed and been destroyed. The skies are beginning to leak compressed space and the ground is oozing magma from the enormous pressure on reality itself. The next few days hold the final acts of the human race. For whatever it's worth, we intend to make those acts count.
670 pages, Paperback
First published March 8, 2017
10 people are currently reading
33 people want to read
About the author
Matt Dymerski
30 books82 followersMatt Dymerski is an author and of science fiction and horror. His works cover a wide range, from short story anthologies to full-length novels.
Dymerski is a favorite author in r/nosleep, a popular reddit forum where authors share original horror stories. In 2012, he was awarded Best Multi-Part Story of 2012 for the Asylum series.
Dymerski is a favorite author in r/nosleep, a popular reddit forum where authors share original horror stories. In 2012, he was awarded Best Multi-Part Story of 2012 for the Asylum series.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 25, 2025
Great fun!! Portals between worlds in the multiverse, myriad non-human entities, giant brains, colossal things living amongst the universe bubbles, lots of different character povs! A nice blend of SF, horror, action. I’d say the last bit wasn’t as great tho. And you’ll need to go to the reddit M59Gar to read all the other stories, and there are lots more in the multiverse!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 30, 2025
I've been a fan of Matt's writing since I stumbled into The Crushing Fist arc on r/nosleep in 2016. This is far and away the most inventive series with some of the most fascinating characters and concepts I've ever encountered in a work of fiction. I love it to death and I've probably reread the Compendium and the story that follows online more than ten times.
To be totally honest, when I think of the dream world, or the multiverse, or numerous other metaphysical concepts, this is kinda my go-to for how I would assume all of that stuff works. I think if anyone is a role model for surviving the horrors from beyond the shield, it's Christina Thompson.
To be totally honest, when I think of the dream world, or the multiverse, or numerous other metaphysical concepts, this is kinda my go-to for how I would assume all of that stuff works. I think if anyone is a role model for surviving the horrors from beyond the shield, it's Christina Thompson.
January 30, 2018
The careful world building and character construction of these stories really let the plots bloom. I love the details and the way species and objects and places weave in and out of the different tales, culminating in the finale. An incredible read, and one I highly recommend.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 16, 2018
One of my all time favorite series! It's one of the few books that I keep reading over and over again. I tell everyone I know about it.
October 11, 2024
Not as good as I remember from when I first read the series, but the world building is pretty excellent.
February 14, 2025
While the multiple pov characters tend to have very similar voices I still found this a compelling story. It had a great balance of horror, scifi, and action, and comes to a satisfying conclusion.
January 1, 2023
Just re-read this series and loved it even more than the first time. I was really impressed with this authors story and plan to read more from him in the future! Definitely one of my top favorite books!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews