Daniel Barnett built a horror epic out of eternal night, and the Nightmareland omnibus is only the halfway point. Twelve volumes are planned.
We sit down with horror author Daniel Barnett to talk about the Nightmareland Chronicles, the horror fantasy series he pitches as The Dark Tower meets The Last of Us (the games, and he is a purist about that). John Hawthorne is crossing a darkened America to reach his daughter's blue house by the Atlantic Ocean, with Mariah Nowak and thirteen-year-old Marcos Walker beside him. Marcos is deaf, and in this world, that turns out to be a defense rather than a limitation.
Nightmareland Chronicles: Premise, Scope and the Omnibus
Daniel describes Nightmareland Chronicles as one man's journey to reach his estranged daughter in a world claimed by eternal night, then admits that the logline does not cover all of it.
The illustrated omnibus collects volumes one through six, a complete first season rather than an arbitrary halfway cut.
Twelve volumes are planned; he originally thought ten. Individual volumes stay available for serialized readers.
Dark Tower Meets The Last of Us: Influences and Genre
His pitch is The Dark Tower plus The Last of Us, the games specifically. John Hawthorne shares an archetype with Roland; his dark tower is a blue house by the Atlantic.
The revenge odyssey of The Last of Us Part II fed the dread of volume six. He also notes an accidental overlap: both stories put a brother in Wyoming.
Nightmareland has fantasy bones (a quest, a small party, a great evil) but the architecture is all horror.
Building the Book: Illustrations and Design
Leslé Kieu created six original black-and-white illustrations that run in both the hardcover and the ebook, so digital readers get the art too.
Daniele Serra's volume cover artwork runs as chapter title page backgrounds in the hardcover. Todd Keisling assembled the package.
Writing Process: Gardens, Lullabies and Unwritten Lines
He compares drafting to tending a garden; some things you plant will not bloom for years.
A key lullaby in the first six volumes originally belonged to someone else. Moving it years later made it much more significant.
The biggest lines at the end of volume six were never written down. He let them burn in him for years, so writing them became the reward. Lily is the book he always set out to write.
Found Family in the Dark: John, Mariah and Marcos
The trio is John Hawthorne, Mariah Nowak, and Marcos Walker, a deaf thirteen-year-old whose deafness is a real protective advantage here.
Asked how long he would survive in his own universe, his answer is short: grab the dog, run somewhere remote.
The defining survival trait is enduring and holding onto hope, the thematic spine of the whole series.
Horror Is a Big House: Stigma and Recommendations
His horror origin story is being shown Legend at two years old by a father who still claims he does not like horror. [LINK: Legend]
He argues horror is a foundational genre, and emotional resonance rings sharper against the darkest material.
Recommendations: the original version of The Stand, Robin Hobb's Assassin's Apprentice, and Doctor Sleep, which he says almost makes up for what Kubrick did to The Shining.
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