City of Nightmares

GOTHAM meets INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE in a version of our world where when people go to sleep, they can wake up as their worst nightmare.

Face your fear…or become your nightmare.

Ever since her sister woke as a man-eating giant spider seven years ago and slaughtered her way through town, Ness has been terrified—terrified of some other Nightmare murdering her, and terrified of turning into one herself. Some people who become Nightmares are monstrous only in appearance, able to live semi-normal lives, but others are twisted in body and mind from what they’ve become, and Ness will do anything to avoid becoming like her sister.

But her cowardice has a cost, and the Director of the definitely-not-a-cult she lives in is on the verge of kicking her out after an incident where her fear nearly cost someone their life. Desperate, Ness snags a simple job for the cult to buy herself time to find a way to convince the Director to let her stay.

Except that simple job? It blows up in her face. Literally. 

Now, tangled up in the aftermath an explosive assassination that killed hundreds and left only two survivors—Ness, and a Nightmare boy who she suspects might be planning to eat her—Ness has to survive, figure out who’s trying to kill her, and stop them, before she loses everything that matters to her.


Content warnings can be found here.

Read the first chapter online here!

Alternate, less official, more chaotic fun description:

In a Gotham-inspired city that is comedically chaotic and full of so many villains they literally trip over each other’s plots in Bacanno style chaos, people are literally transformed into their worst nightmares. We follow a perfectly normal, non-Nightmare, non-villainous girl, who just happens to have joined a cult for the free rent. As one does. She’s also a huge coward (which really, relatable given this is the kind of city where the Mayor has a pet pterodactyl that eats people).  But when she gets blown up in some random villain’s plot, she need to grow a semblance of a spine before she ends up a casualty in multiple villainous wars. 

Some things this book features:

  • black comedy

  • Gotham spoof

  • Baccano vibes

  • sad vampire boy

  • a cult

  • capricious dream demon

  • so many different types of monsters. Just. So many.

Cage of Dreams

Return to the City of Nightmares in the sequel, Cage of Dreams. With more chaos, more monsters, and a lot more nightmares.

But always remember—All nightmares begin as dreams…

FAQ

Will City of Nightmares be adapted into a Webtoon like Not Even Bones?

So far there’s no indication of this, but if that changes I’ll let you all know!

Will it be a series?

The sequel comes out in fall 2023!

What INSPIRED City of Nightmares?

Gotham! I wondered what it would be like to be a random normal person in a city full of rampaging supervillains and monsters, and so this book was born.