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The Nightmare Tree
The debut short story collection from a fresh new voice. Thirteen tales of horror and suspense. In the forgotten places of Scotland, terror awaits.
Contains the chilling stories: The Great Slime Kings – Three’s a Crowd – The Summer Bullet – The Only Emperor – Down Below is Silence and Darkness – Guardians – In a Jar of Spiders – We the Dark Deniers – Blocks – Nightmare Soup – The Dumps – Once Upon a Flame – The Nightmare Tree (novella).
Contains the chilling stories: The Great Slime Kings – Three’s a Crowd – The Summer Bullet – The Only Emperor – Down Below is Silence and Darkness – Guardians – In a Jar of Spiders – We the Dark Deniers – Blocks – Nightmare Soup – The Dumps – Once Upon a Flame – The Nightmare Tree (novella).
- GenresHorror
About the author
Paul O’Neill
10 books216 followersPaul O’Neill is a short fiction writer from Fife, Scotland. He is an Internal Communications professional who battles the demon of corporate speak on a daily basis.
His stories have appeared in Eerie River’s It Calls from the Doors anthology, Scare Street’s Night Terrors series, Purple Wall stories and many more. He placed second in Teleport Magazine’s short story competition, and was shortlisted by Writers’ Forum Magazine in one of their regular contests.
His debut short story collection, The Nightmare Tree is available now!
Outside of reading and writing, his favourite pastimes include laughing with his family, the Green Bay Packers, and repeating how to pronounce his sons’ names over and over until people actually get it.
You can find him at pauloneillwriter.com or on Twitter @PaulOn1984.
His stories have appeared in Eerie River’s It Calls from the Doors anthology, Scare Street’s Night Terrors series, Purple Wall stories and many more. He placed second in Teleport Magazine’s short story competition, and was shortlisted by Writers’ Forum Magazine in one of their regular contests.
His debut short story collection, The Nightmare Tree is available now!
Outside of reading and writing, his favourite pastimes include laughing with his family, the Green Bay Packers, and repeating how to pronounce his sons’ names over and over until people actually get it.
You can find him at pauloneillwriter.com or on Twitter @PaulOn1984.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 13, 2021
If you love Stephen King’s books this would be right up your street and one you really need to read. It’s a combination of mini reads with 13 stories that are perfect to digest and let seek through to your core as we approach Halloween.
The intensity and suspense and eerie tales eat away into your mind. Each story is different in length and each story takes you down a complete different path. My favourite story in the set was ‘in a jar of spiders’. For me I loved the cover and I loved the nightmare tree was the final novella in the book.
I kept looking back to the cover and imagining every story was a branch sitting off the tree. This is the perfect spooktacular, terrifying, spine tingling reads just before Halloween. The author does an incredible job at making you feel things right down to your bones, the words make you sweat and the build ups make your heart hammer in your chest.
The intensity and suspense and eerie tales eat away into your mind. Each story is different in length and each story takes you down a complete different path. My favourite story in the set was ‘in a jar of spiders’. For me I loved the cover and I loved the nightmare tree was the final novella in the book.
I kept looking back to the cover and imagining every story was a branch sitting off the tree. This is the perfect spooktacular, terrifying, spine tingling reads just before Halloween. The author does an incredible job at making you feel things right down to your bones, the words make you sweat and the build ups make your heart hammer in your chest.
October 19, 2021
The Nightmare Tree is a phenomenal debut collection of short stories from the weird and wonderful imagination of up and coming author, Paul O'Neill.
A collecion of 13 shorts, each one will leave your skin crawling and spine tingling. What a talent it is to condense such captivating stories into such few words, creating such a sense of eeriness and dread within a handful of pages.
The depth put into these characters is astounding and you will feel so much more than fear when reading. The overarching theme of each story is an underdog protagonist, a working class, every day people falling on hard times, with grief and loss playing a weighty cameo in much of it.
For fans of Stephen King and the likes, this is definitely one to add to your shelves and a perfect one to read at Halloween.
A collecion of 13 shorts, each one will leave your skin crawling and spine tingling. What a talent it is to condense such captivating stories into such few words, creating such a sense of eeriness and dread within a handful of pages.
The depth put into these characters is astounding and you will feel so much more than fear when reading. The overarching theme of each story is an underdog protagonist, a working class, every day people falling on hard times, with grief and loss playing a weighty cameo in much of it.
For fans of Stephen King and the likes, this is definitely one to add to your shelves and a perfect one to read at Halloween.
October 22, 2021
I wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading these, but I found myself really enjoying them the further I read on. As a debut collection I think they were pretty awesome & look forward to reading more from this author.
Stephen King watch out, there's someone coming to steal your crown 👑
Creepy, weird, suspenseful & imaginative, this was a fab collection of very well written mini horror stories & the perfect run up to Halloween read.
𝗜 𝗴𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮 4 ⭐ 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴
Stephen King watch out, there's someone coming to steal your crown 👑
Creepy, weird, suspenseful & imaginative, this was a fab collection of very well written mini horror stories & the perfect run up to Halloween read.
𝗜 𝗴𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗮 4 ⭐ 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴
October 23, 2021
This book was gifted to me in exchange for an honest review.
This collection of short horror stories has been described as “somewhere between Iain Banks and Stephen King”.. now I don’t know who Iain Banks is but comparing to the King is a bold statement!
I have to say, I wouldn’t say this is far from the truth! I was so impressed with the writing! It was so spooky and dark and haunting, and I loved it!! I will definitely check out some of Iain Banks’ work too if this is somewhere between the two, as I will admit it was climbing up pretty close to King’s standards! 👀🤭
Some of the stories were really short and I read them in under 10 minutes. The main story, The Nightmare Tree, was also really great! I love the dark themes of the stories and it did remind me a lot of Full Dark No Stars by Stephen King, maybe because that’s the only short story collection of his I’ve read!
Definitely some super dark topics and twisted tales which is what I loved so much about it, so this isn’t one for the faint-hearted!!
This is definitely a spooky read that I will come back to again next year!!
This collection of short horror stories has been described as “somewhere between Iain Banks and Stephen King”.. now I don’t know who Iain Banks is but comparing to the King is a bold statement!
I have to say, I wouldn’t say this is far from the truth! I was so impressed with the writing! It was so spooky and dark and haunting, and I loved it!! I will definitely check out some of Iain Banks’ work too if this is somewhere between the two, as I will admit it was climbing up pretty close to King’s standards! 👀🤭
Some of the stories were really short and I read them in under 10 minutes. The main story, The Nightmare Tree, was also really great! I love the dark themes of the stories and it did remind me a lot of Full Dark No Stars by Stephen King, maybe because that’s the only short story collection of his I’ve read!
Definitely some super dark topics and twisted tales which is what I loved so much about it, so this isn’t one for the faint-hearted!!
This is definitely a spooky read that I will come back to again next year!!
October 21, 2021
The Nightmare Tree
⭐⭐⭐⭐
The nightmare Tree is a collection of short scary stories. Loved all of them! The Nightmare Tree story, which is the longest in the book, was my favourite. Although I have to say The Summer Bullet also really stuck with me. Another awesome book to get you ready for Halloween!!
⭐⭐⭐⭐
The nightmare Tree is a collection of short scary stories. Loved all of them! The Nightmare Tree story, which is the longest in the book, was my favourite. Although I have to say The Summer Bullet also really stuck with me. Another awesome book to get you ready for Halloween!!
November 12, 2021
This is a fantastic collection of short stories. Paul O'Neill is a very talented writer, staying true to his Scottish roots. His descriptions are vivid, and dialogue authentic. The whole book has a very dark and bleak undertone, fitting with the setting of poor Fife council estates. I'm looking forward to reading more of his work.
October 18, 2021
I really enjoyed these 13 short stories. As the book was comprised if short stories it made it easy to dip in and out of, reading one story at a time or more than one if you chose to and some definitely gave me a chill down my spine while reading.
My favourites were Three's a crowd, The Summer Bullet, Down Below is Silence and Darkness, Blocks, Once Upon a Flame and The Nightmare Tree.
Thank you to the author and randomthings for including me on this book tour and for the copy of the book in exchange for my review.
My favourites were Three's a crowd, The Summer Bullet, Down Below is Silence and Darkness, Blocks, Once Upon a Flame and The Nightmare Tree.
Thank you to the author and randomthings for including me on this book tour and for the copy of the book in exchange for my review.
November 9, 2021
What a great collection of stories!
Paul O'Neill has been able to put together a collection of stories that, some even at just 4 pages, manage to carry a proper story.
What I love about this collection is it so easy to pick up and put down. Each story has been well thought out in terms of pace, easily letting your imagination run.
I would say that The Nightmare Tree was probably my favourite. This could possibly be because of it length, being the longest of the stories you obviously get a little more in terms of plot building. However they're all decent reads regardless of size.
Great addition to your book shelf.
Thank you random things tours and Paul O'Neill for my gifted copy and tour spot.
Paul O'Neill has been able to put together a collection of stories that, some even at just 4 pages, manage to carry a proper story.
What I love about this collection is it so easy to pick up and put down. Each story has been well thought out in terms of pace, easily letting your imagination run.
I would say that The Nightmare Tree was probably my favourite. This could possibly be because of it length, being the longest of the stories you obviously get a little more in terms of plot building. However they're all decent reads regardless of size.
Great addition to your book shelf.
Thank you random things tours and Paul O'Neill for my gifted copy and tour spot.
October 18, 2021
Not the out and out horror I expected, but suspenseful short stories. A good example of the short story writer's craft. An added bonus is author comes from Scotland.
April 6, 2022
📘🄱🄻🄾🄶 🅃🄾🅄🅁 🅁🄴🅅🄸🄴🅆📘
𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙉𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏𝙈𝘼𝙍𝙀 𝙏𝙍𝙀𝙀
Paul O'Neill
🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃
My Review
Who doesn’t love a great spooky story in the run up to the most wonderful time of the year... Halloween.
I could see the influence of the maestro Stephen King in these stories, which can never be a bad thing. This is the perfect collection of eerie stories if you don’t like the dark, because after you’ve read them, you’ll be too afraid to turn the lights off.
Each of the stories was well written, and showed the author’s pedigree in the genre.
As this is a collection, you are free to read one story and give your heart time to recover, before assaulting it with another spooky, suspenseful, tale. I enjoyed each, although one must have a favourite (same goes for your children), and mine was The Nightmare Tree. Because it was a novella, I was able to feel more invested in the story and it has remained with me after finishing the book.
I think if I’m on a camping trip and someone mentions spooky stories around the camp fire, I’ll be reaching for this book. I recommend this to anyone looking for skilfully created spooky stories, especially in the run up to All Hallows Eve. I gave The Nightmare Tree, by Paul O’Neill five stars (pumpkins).
#ad #gifted #thenightmaretree #pauloneill #randomthingstours #halloween #booklover #bookstagrammers #johnsbookshelf #bookreader #blogtour #tbrpile #newread
𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙉𝙄𝙂𝙃𝙏𝙈𝘼𝙍𝙀 𝙏𝙍𝙀𝙀
Paul O'Neill
🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃
My Review
Who doesn’t love a great spooky story in the run up to the most wonderful time of the year... Halloween.
I could see the influence of the maestro Stephen King in these stories, which can never be a bad thing. This is the perfect collection of eerie stories if you don’t like the dark, because after you’ve read them, you’ll be too afraid to turn the lights off.
Each of the stories was well written, and showed the author’s pedigree in the genre.
As this is a collection, you are free to read one story and give your heart time to recover, before assaulting it with another spooky, suspenseful, tale. I enjoyed each, although one must have a favourite (same goes for your children), and mine was The Nightmare Tree. Because it was a novella, I was able to feel more invested in the story and it has remained with me after finishing the book.
I think if I’m on a camping trip and someone mentions spooky stories around the camp fire, I’ll be reaching for this book. I recommend this to anyone looking for skilfully created spooky stories, especially in the run up to All Hallows Eve. I gave The Nightmare Tree, by Paul O’Neill five stars (pumpkins).
#ad #gifted #thenightmaretree #pauloneill #randomthingstours #halloween #booklover #bookstagrammers #johnsbookshelf #bookreader #blogtour #tbrpile #newread
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews