Sleep Over

For fans of the oral history genre phenomenon World War Z, an inventive new spin on the apocalypse featuring a worldwide plague of insomnia.

Remember what it’s like to go an entire night without sleep?

What if sleep didn’t come the following night? Or the night after? What might happen if you, your friends, your family, your coworkers, and the strangers you pass on the street, all slowly began to realize that rest might not ever come again?

How slowly might the world fall apart? How long would it take for a society without sleep to descend into chaos?

Sleep Over is a collection of waking nightmares, a scrapbook collection of haunting and poignant stories from those trapped in a world where the pillars of society are crumbling, and madness is slowly descending on a planet without rest.

Online vigilantism transforms social media into a blame game with deadly consequences.

A freelance journalist grapples with the ethics of turning in footage of mass suicide.

Scientists turn to horrifying experiments as they grow more desperate in their race for a cure.

In Sleep Over, these stories are just the beginning. Before the Longest Day, the world record was eleven days without sleep. It turns out many of us will be forced to go much longer.


Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

“[Bells’s] linked stories span the globe and the human spectrum, made even scarier by their relatability. . . . Despite the grim elements, human resilience and compassion are the overwhelming themes of this well-written collection, and the coda is full of hope.”—Publishers Weekly

“Readers looking for a twist on conventional apocalypse tales will enjoy this look at alternative human zombies that is no less political than Nancy Kress' Beggars Trilogy. A grimly suspenseful tale with a brutally real ending.” —Booklist

“As thought-provoking as it is disturbing . . . an impressive debut that will, dare I say it, keep you up nights..”—Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog

“A book that gains momentum as it unfolds, taking a truly panoramic approach to a worldwide apocalypse that’s both unexpected and unsettling to read. Highly original and recommended.” —Cat Sparks, author of Lotus Blue

“Prepare for many sleepless nights. Sleep Over is richly realized, and I fully admit: reading the dozens of accounts of what would be personal hell was instead an absolute pleasure.” —Andrew Post, author of Aftertaste

“Bells creates some truly memorable, haunting images and vivid scenes that stay with you long after your eyelids are closed. Whether or not you get any sleep is another matter entirely.” —Mike Bockoven, author of FantasticLand and Pack

"H.G. Bells is brilliant in this chilling, down-to-earth tale that illustrates with frightening ease just how close to disaster our society really is."—Bennett R. Coles, author of March of War