Something strange is happening on British shores.

Britain has a long history of folk tales, ghost stories and other uncanny fictions, and these literary ley lines are still shimmering beneath the surface of this green and pleasant land. Every few generations this strangeness crawls out from the dark places of the British imagination, seeping into our art and culture. We are living through such a time.

This Dreaming Isle is an anthology of new horror stories and weird fiction with a distinctly British flavour. It collects together fifteen brand new horrifying or unsettling stories that draw upon the landscape and history of the British Isles for their inspiration. Some explore the realms of myth and legend, others are firmly rooted in the present, engaging with the country’s forgotten spaces.

Featuring new and exclusive stories from:
Ramsey Campbell, multi-award winning author of over 40 novels.
Andrew Michael Hurley, author of The Loney and Devil’s Day.
Catriona Ward, author of Rawblood and Little Eve.
Robert Shearman, World Fantasy Award, British Fantasy Award and Shirley Jackson Award winning author of four collections.
Jenn Ashworth, author of Fell, Cold Light and more.
Gareth E. Rees, author of Marshland and The Stone Tide.
Tim Lebbon, screenwriter and author of over 35 books including Dusk, The Silence and Relics.
Alison Littlewood, author of The Crow Garden, The Hidden People and more.
Aliya Whiteley, author of The Beauty, The Arrival of Missives and The Loosening Skin .
Stephen Volk, screenwriter and author of Whitstable, Monsters in the Heart and more.
Kirsty Logan, author of The Gloaming, The Gracekeepers, A Portable Shelter and The Rental Heart.
James Miller, author of UnAmerican Activities, Lost Boys and Sunshine State.
Jeannette Ng, author of Under the Pendulum Sun.
Richard V. Hirst, co-author of The Night Visitors.
Alison Moore, author of The Lighthouse, Missing and more.
Gary Budden, author of Hollow Shores.
Angela Readman, author of Don’t Try This at Home and The Book of Tides.

Reader Reviews

Elle Maruska

(4/5)

Apr 29, 2024

Overall this was an incredibly, consistently strong anthology of weird/dark/slipstream/fantasy/horror fiction based on the lands, cities, and waterways of Britain. I really enjoyed how the stories all matched the theme but were still very diverse in style and substance. I really loved Jeannette Ng's story and could honestly read like, a whole series of novels set in her universe. Ramsey Campbell's story was incredibly creepy, Angela Readman's was beautiful and sad, Catriona Ward's called up so m...

Alex Sarll

An excellent anthology of eerie British tales, of which appropriately enough I'd never heard until I happened across it in a curious bookshop while making an unexpected visit to the toytown Britannia that is Bath. A foreword explains that it was kicked off before Brexit was a thing, but that having come out now, there's a horrible sense of foreboding in all these tales of seeping not-right-ness and things thought dead and gone now rearing their ghastly heads in the modern world. I'm sure it will...

Bruna

(2/5)

COUNTRY'The Pier at Ardentinny' by Catriona Ward [3/5]'Old Trash' by Jenn Ashworth [1/5]'In My Father's House' by Andrew Michael Hurley [2/5]'Land of Many Seasons' by Tim Lebbon [2/5]'Dark Shells' by Aliya Whiteley [1/5]'Cold Ashton' by Stephen Volk [2/5]'Domestic Magic (Or, things my wife and I found hidden in our house)' by Kirsty Logan [2/5]CITY'Not All Right' by James Miller [1/5]'The Cocktail Party in Kensington Gets Out of Hand' by Robert Shearman [1/5] (After reading his short story 'The

Alex (The Bookubus)

A wonderful anthology of folk-horror stories set in the British Isles. We have a mix of occult, supernatural, ancient evils, local myths and legends, and more. Overall this was a strong collection and there were only a couple of stories that didn't really work for me. My favourites were: The Pier at Ardentinny by Catriona WardIn My Father's House by Andrew Michael HurleyLand of Many Seasons by Tim LebbonDark Shells by Aliya WhiteleyThe Headland of Black Rock by Alison LittlewoodThe Devil in the

Ross Jeffery

(5/5)

There is so much with This Dreaming Isle to marvel at, from the inception of the remarkable concept from editor Dan Coxon, to the beautifully haunting image that wraps itself around the book. The list of authors that grace the cover and offer remarkable and memorable stories, each showcasing a mastery of the short story form is something to salivate over. There is also the simple fact that all these stories are based in the UK – dealing with folklore and the uncanny that this fair Isle has to of...

Hal

As with most anthologies, a mixed bag. The highlights for me were Alison Moore's story The Stone Dead, and Andrew Michael Hurley's In My Father's House. Alison Moore is excellent at drawing negative space, things which are absent, missing or not being said, and that style made for a great ghost story, operating on a less openly fantastical scale than the others. Hurley's story slips from mundane to symbolic as the characters move more into the landscape, which capture the overall feel of the ant...

Blair

This Dreaming Isle is 'an anthology of new horror stories and weird fiction with a distinctly British flavour'. The 17 stories, divided into sections titled 'Country', 'City' and 'Coast', often – as editor Dan Coxon highlights in his introduction – stray into the realm of folk horror. The collection opens with a trio of stories that represent the best work in the book: 'The Pier at Ardentinny' by Catriona Ward, 'Old Trash' by Jenn Ashworth and 'In My Father's House' by Andrew Michael Hurley. Oth...

Matthew Putnam

(3/5)

Halfway through this anthology I felt it was firmly in the 2-star range, however after finishing I'm giving a tentative 3/5.I wasn't blown away by any of the stories, and felt none were truly frightening, but what this collection of shorts has going for it is a vague feeling of malaise which accompanies most of the tales within.Many of these are rather predictable and follow a similar, almost cookie-cutter formula for telling a creepy story—a normal person finds themself in a new situation, some...

Runalong

17 British horror authors are given the task of creating new folk horror stories set in the cities, coasts and countryside of the U.K.. modern, scary, thoughtful and sometimes charming. A really good collection Full review ‪ https://www.runalongtheshelves.net/bl...‬

Doreen

3.5 stars.I love the idea of this, and I love the way it's been edited, dividing the book into three distinct parts that reflect very much the most vital areas of England: Country, City and Coast. The seventeen stories in this collection cover a host of supernatural occurrences, embracing the diversity of the English experience. Most were very well thought out, even if the execution on some felt iffier than others. I'll discuss a few standouts, beginning with The Headland Of Black Rock by Alison...

Robert

This was such a disappointment. On paper, this is a collection I should adore but even a typically strong Ramsay Campbell story couldn't save it. The stories in The City portion of the book were especially bad.

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This Dreaming Isle

This Dreaming Isle

This Dreaming Isle

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