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Anthologee

Horror — Dark Fantasy — Weird Fiction

by Dylan Orosz

Twenty-three tales of eclipses and nightmares, weirdo shamans and killer puppets, lovelorn witches and sentimental sorcerers, a jester who plays his victims like instruments, and a field trip to a crash-landed UFO.

23 Stories
~93,000 Words
Spring 2026 Release
Enter the Dark
✶

Introduction

Cemetery Entrance by Caspar David Friedrich, 1825

Cemetery Entrance (1825) — Caspar David Friedrich

Anthologee = anthology (collection of literary works) + apogee, or peak.

Anthologee was originally conceived of as something akin to Clive Barker’s Books of Blood series: a collection of a storyteller’s core aesthetic boldly spread across a variety of tales that may satisfy all yearnings and cravings of a diabolical nature. Another major inspiration is Rod Serling’s Night Gallery, the horror-themed anthology show wherein the wizened master of the weird tours a hall of lurid paintings. In either case, by page or canvas, the guest knows they are in for a saga of grisly treats. Rod and Clive are brilliant examples of the kind of artist I set out to be. Fearless, bold, and endlessly imaginative. This book of stories is dedicated to them.

Rod Serling

Rod Serling

Clive Barker

Clive Barker

For my collection, I wanted to make a volume of superbly macabre horror fiction (weird and dark fantasy-inclusive), one able to stretch supremely into every archetype my imagination desires. Clive’s brand of sublime horror is a major aspiration for me; Barker’s willingness to get into the psychosexual meat and potatoes of daemonical human matters is a cherished throughline in how I think about the occult and storycraft itself. The imaginer must be willing to go there in order to make maximal impact. In horror, or in the setup of any good joke, you must craft a believable enough encounter, featuring brightly lit caricatures, in order to properly prepare for the damnable endgame threshing you have in store: spilling guts (laughter or viscera).

The stories gathered here were conceived as one unit from the beginning, to fulfil archetypes and satisfy specific literary desires. Some of the tales are interconnected by circumstance or character. I hope you will find the tales well-paced and throughlines worthy of your voraciously enterprising mind. Let us co-create these ancient battlefields and noonday daemons together, using our imaginal realms as One for a short spell! Look forward to eclipses and nightmares, weirdo shamans and killer puppets, lovelorn witches and sentimental sorcerers, a jester who plays his victims like instruments, and a field trip to a crash-landed UFO. Look forward to indulging yourself utterly in the irresistibly impossible.

I reckon Anthologee should be read in the spirit of a trickster’s lusty recounting, as pernicious jests told by the light of campfire cinders — or as painfully impassioned scrawlings by one such living book of blood (me!) that yet persists in storying out the fates of most inauspicious souls.

Anthologee is separated into two volumes of relatively equal length, PRIMORDIO (9 short stories + 1 novella) & MUNDIMANIA (13 short stories). The former latches onto beginnings & endings, gods & myths, the ancient soils, whetted by source; the latter features modernized tales of brutal malevolence and inspirited occult chicanery inside classrooms and convention centers and catacombs and ill-fated connections, either mundane or inhumane.

I sincerely hope you enjoy Anthologee, my book of dark delights. Not everyone will survive the night, but remember: some ghosts may be coming out better than they just had it…

In reading and writing, as in all things, please use your soul as sole authority.

Godspeed,
Dylan

Anthologee art

Volume I

Primordio

Beginnings & endings. Gods & myths. The ancient soils, whetted by source.

Horror und Delight by John Martin

Horror und Delight — John Martin

Godblink art

I

"Godblink" Published: The World of Myth, #130

1,500 words

Two armies of the ancient world, the Solissians and Panopticks, react separately to the midday eclipsing of their battlefield.

Behewrit art

II

"Behewrit" Published: The World of Myth, #131

2,300 words

A soldier wakes at the bottom of a body pile, his leg gone, his army destroyed. Inside the folds of his ruined armor he finds a twenty-sided charm made of poetry parchment that grants a single wish.

Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space Gaston Bachelard, The Poetics of Space
Zobe art

III

"Zobe" Published: The World of Myth, #132

3,100 words

Four warriors settle around the campfire after a battle in the hills. They tell stories, one of them recounting the myth of Zobe — a cosmic cryptid who sings songs of lightning and rides the thunder.

Panidiot art

IV

"Panidiot"

4,400 words

A man named Geronimo shadows the god Pan through the forest for a day.

“The cancrous cities spread over the grass, they clatter in their lairs continually, they glitter about us blemishing the night. The woods are gone, O Pan, the woods, the woods. And thou art far, O Pan, and far away.” — Lord Dunsany, ‘The Prayer of the Flowers’ (1915)
“[Tolkien] once remarked to me that the feeling about home must have been quite different in the days when a family had fed on the produce of the same few miles of country for six generations, and that perhaps this was why they saw nymphs in the fountains and dryads in the woods — they were not mistaken for there was in a sense a real (not metaphorical) connexion between them and the countryside. What had been earth and air & later corn, and later still bread, really was in them. We of course who live on a standardised international diet (you may have had Canadian flour, English meat, Scotch oatmeal, African oranges, & Australian wine today) are really artificial beings and have no connection (save in sentiment) with any place on earth. We are synthetic men, uprooted. The strength of the hills is not ours.” — C.S. Lewis
Shibboleth x Egregore art

V

"Shibboleth x Egregore"

1,500 words

Two titanic and mysterious creatures borne of the imaginatrix do dialectical battle over the psychosphere of humanity.

Shibboleth x Egregore secondary
Grimjest art

VI

"The Ballad of Grimjest"

4,400 words

Meet Grimjest, traveling jester, highwayman, and part-time serial killer. He is putting on a show for you!

The Mysterious Portal by Arild Rosenkrantz, 1938

VII

"Angælien"

2,100 words

An alienated corporate superstar has a surreal encounter with a being from well beyond our reality.

The Mysterious Portal (1938) — Arild Rosenkrantz

VIII

"Gaols"

2,300 words

Exploring the concept of imprisonment through the experiences of five different gaols, or jails, in distinct historical and cultural settings.

BreadKing art

IX

"BreadKing"

4,500 words

About four eighth-grade boys who break into a BreadKing factory to expose what they believe is a harmful ingredient called “Sand” used in the bread.

Psireskin novella art

X — Novella

"PSIRESKIN" Novella · 20,112 words

The Centrepiece

An Interpol agent and captured international art thief cross into the English countryside after an accident on the way to the airport. Meanwhile, a ritual has commenced in the town of Psire, summoning daemons and perhaps the endtimes… Suddenly hard-boiled Detective Gehn and magnificent bastard Solomon Goodfellow must work together to survive the night!

Psireskin secondary art

“Men died savagely and constantly. The grass was starting to grow on blood.”

— “Godblink”

“Then Manny felt the exquisite pain of regrowth. Fresh flesh crawled out from the frayed ending, long bones wrenching back into place.”

— “Behewrit”

“Zobe is said to shadow these beings. Jesters and murderers. Sometimes illuminating their minds, other times possessing their bodies. Zobe’s wyrds landing in the right ear can lead to laughter or slaughter. Zobe is not a wolf in sheep’s clothing; Zobe is a wolf with the demeanor of an otter, the shape of a jaguar, and the heart of a ram. Zobe is a killer of minds and a flayer of flesh, but only the best of either.”

— “Zobe”

“The Shibboleth and Egregore are, in fact, like everything else, contributing to the state of alchemy. Time and space collide and produce the action swirling about the cosmic cores. Leths and Gores coincide and summon the angels and daemons borne of mortals, set to endlessly battle and evolve their co-counterpart. Together they build out schemes, blueprints, and shower thoughts. It is deep inside of the imagination of Mankind where these two make their arena. There are universes within the mind of even a single man, so one can begin to understand their sheer power in terms of navigational capabilities.”

— “Shibboleth x Egregore”

“What Geronimo experienced here was the very soul of the world.”

— “Panidiot”

“Sidoh is for slicing, but Vicious is for gutting.”

— “The Ballad of Grimjest”

“This is not the first time that my cock has betrayed me.”

— “Psireskin”

“The sudden intrusion of a dull, hardened reality had ended his furious flight of fancy, all the glee and anima now draining from a broken form.”

— “Angælien”

“Boys, let’s unleash hell.”

— “BreadKing”

Volume II

Mundimania

Modernized tales of brutal malevolence and inspirited occult chicanery — inside classrooms and convention centers and catacombs and ill-fated connections, either mundane or inhumane.

The Mundane Egg by William Blake

The Mundane Egg — William Blake

Operation Terror Eviction art

XI

"Operation Terror Eviction"

4,500 words

Four-man SWAT team delves the catacombs underneath Washington D.C. in search of “terrorist” encampments. They encounter something demonic lurking in the dark…

Gnome with newspaper and tobacco pipe under a toadstool by Heinrich Schlitt

XII

"How to Be a Gnome: An Impractical Guide" Published: Thresholds of Transformation

700 words

A cheerful, suspiciously detailed instructional guide on the curious nature of gnomes and the twenty steps required to become one. Decrees included. Results not guaranteed.

Gnome with newspaper and tobacco pipe under a toadstool — Heinrich Schlitt

XIII

"Shiva x Kali"

2,400 words

A caring boyfriend tries to help his anxious girlfriend by imagining himself as Shiva slaying her mental demons.

Benji x Huck art

XIV

"Benji x Huck"

2,400 words

Two class clowns sow mesmerizing terror upon their English teacher while sublime, reaping forces come down to will these wayward souls back toward their education.

Heene art

XV

"Heene" Published: Dandelion Revolution Press, Winter 2024

3,600 words

A giddy ghost hunter and livestreamer rents the tomb of her great-great-great grandfather — pillar of the community and rumored necromancer. She plans to live there for ten days and commune with his spirit before a live audience.

Our Accursed Arsenal art

XVI

"Our Accursed Arsenal"

4,900 words

A master and his apprentice tour the hall of sorcerers. The master enumerates his most precious tools and artifacts, elaborating on their bloody powers and origins, soon confronting his apprentice with a rather diabolical reality.

The 176 People You Become Before God art by Keisuke Tsuchida

XVII

"The 176 People You Become Before God"

4,300 words

A treasure hunter buys a mystic puzzle sphere at a bazaar. It contains 176 lives. He solves them all in one rip-roaring psychic experience — becoming warrior, mother, heretic, saint, child, corpse, and everything between.

Art by Keisuke Tsuchida

The Walnut Tree in Benevento (The Witches' Sabbath) by Giuseppe Pietro Bagetti

XVIII

"Devilcry"

4,700 words

A god emperor dies on a battlefield and his three witches and consorts rush to his aid with a dangerous spell.

The Walnut Tree in Benevento (The Witches’ Sabbath) (1826) — Giuseppe Pietro Bagetti

Puppet Master by Rashad Mehdiyev

XIX

"Puppetmeisters"

10,300 words

Five conmen show up to a convention center under mysterious circumstances; a cabal of billionaires hire a magician with killer puppets to slaughter them for live betting entertainment.

Puppet Master — Rashad Mehdiyev

Subwayhead art

XX

"Subwayhead"

1,800 words

Introverted creative Sho encounters a strange cryptid on the subway that he deems “Subwayhead.” He watches its behavior and tries to determine the truth of its existence.

XXI

"Nightmarish"

1,800 words

A napping woman is attacked by the noonday demon and defended by her cat.

Nightmare (1800) by Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard Nightmare (1800) — Nicolai Abraham Abildgaard
Strawberry Meadow art

XXII

"Strawberry Meadow"

900 words

A young couple races through a meadow during a majestic lightning storm. The passion between them and the violence in the sky are building toward the same crescendo.

A Better World art

XXIII

"A Better World"

1,500 words

An elementary school class takes a field trip to an old crash-landed UFO in the mountains of Hungary. The ship has been here for decades. The children have questions. The ship might still have answers.

“All three witches felt it before they heard it. The death cry of a God.”

— “Devilcry”

“Perhaps Abildgaard enjoyed feasting on the dreams of women simply because their dreams tasted best.”

— “Nightmarish”

“He was a dog named Mogwai who sometimes saw gnomes huddling in the corner of the backyard, but only ever when the door was closed or when he was chained up.”

— “The 176 People You Become Before God”

“Dino necromancy was long ago proved impossible. Unfortunately, their anima has fled the planet.”

— “Our Accursed Arsenal”

“One-thousand-year education in the noble and time-honored tradition of puppet mastery and what do I have to show for it beyond another thirty million I don’t know how to spend and another quadruple homicide on my conscience?”

— “Puppetmeisters”

“A half-flayed man sits upon a gleaming golden throne slick with his lifebloods. On his face is affixed a daemonic iron mask, wide-eyed and long-toothed.”

— “Heene”

“Nothicks and Nightmares, Styggs and Familiars, Tulpas and Doppelgängers.”

— “Subwayhead”

“The sight of Kali’s disposition brought a heavy rain to Shiva’s eyes. And a heavier rage.”

— “Shiva x Kali”

“Some call them angels. Others call them aliens. E.T. Shadows. Travelers. Daemons.”

— “A Better World”
✶

Meet the Author

Dylan Orosz

Anthologee is the debut horror collection from Dylan Orosz, arriving Q2 2026. Twenty-three stories spanning ~93,000 words of horror, dark fantasy, and weird fiction, conceived as one unit from the beginning, to fulfil archetypes and satisfy specific literary desires.

Dylan Orosz

About the Author

Dylan Orosz is a writer from Texas, focusing primarily on fantasy × science fiction × horror novels and short fiction. As an imaginative lover of the sublime and fantastique, Dylan writes to entertain readers with mystifying phantasy adventure fiction within worlds larger than themselves. His books are character-driven and fast-paced. Through the storytelling power of myths and archetypes, Dylan wants to bring about transformative alterations in the consciousness of others and himself. Readers can expect stories of divine beasts and dark magicians, supernal villainy and secret agencies, cyber-detectives and AGI archangels.

Novels

Journeyers is an epic fantasy about a trip through a magical forest by a human boy, a snake, a monkey, and a bird.

Wherever He May Swarm is a horror satire about a local man who gains power over insects and travels America.

Cyber-Serial: Postmodern Prometheus is a sci-fi cyberpunk tale of an orphan hacker and her AGI influencer plotting world domination via digital memetic warfare.

Dylan writes to express visions that will awaken, evolve, and cultivate the world. His website is DylanOrosz.com and as @finalboyo on Twitter/X & BlueSky.

In reading and writing, as in all things, please use your soul as sole authority.

Godspeed,
Dylan

Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman

“I reckon Anthologee should be read in the spirit of a trickster’s lusty recounting, as pernicious jests told by the light of campfire cinders — or as painfully impassioned scrawlings by one such living book of blood (me!) that yet persists in storying out the fates of most inauspicious souls.”
— Dylan Orosz
Visit DylanOrosz.com Pre-Order Anthologee — Coming Soon