Monthly Archives: January 2021

Peaceful Quiet Lives: Second Excerpt

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My latest novel, Peaceful Quiet Lives, is out now. Last year, this post revealed the opening of the novel. Here’s a taster from early in the second half.

‘You will be expected here, at the Department of Tolerance, to begin your Enlightenment Conditioning classes tomorrow morning at nine o’clock sharp.’

‘Thank you. What about Eve?’

‘As I said, we are not quite finished with her.’

‘But how will I reach her?’

‘She will be told where you are staying in due course, and obviously we will rehouse her as well. For the time being, you cannot have any contact with her.’

I stare at Adams and Lucas. Something isn’t right.

‘What aren’t you telling me about Eve?’

‘We have told you everything. She simply needs further time for processing. Remember, she has been the victim of patriarchal oppression in a society that hates women. She has suffered a lot more than you, and we need further time to ensure she is not a political threat.’

‘A political threat? You just said she was a victim!’

‘It is precisely because she was a victim that she could be a political threat. Women who are oppressed the way Eve has been oppressed will often fall back on expected behaviour patterns, even unconsciously. We need to be sure that she will not display or even encourage such behaviour in the DEAR.’

I can scarcely believe my ears. ‘You’re telling me you’re worried Eve will go around telling women in the DEAR that they need to be subservient to men?’

‘I don’t think she would do so intentionally,’ Lucas says. ‘But we have to be sure, nonetheless.’

I slump back in my chair, unable to believe my ears. ‘This is farcical. Just spend some time with Eve. Have a conversation with her. She is one of the strongest, boldest, most independent people you will ever meet. She has such a great sense of humour, and she is…’

‘Ah yes, humour… Another area where you and Eve will doubtless require Enlightenment Conditioning.’

‘Humour?’

‘Given the situations you were in, I expect you and Eve used dark, offensive, and insensitive humour as a means of coming to terms with your predicament. Here we cannot allow such things. There is no need for it, and such jokes will only cause distress.’

‘You want to make sure we don’t make the wrong jokes?’

‘The Department of Tolerance has many sub-divisions, including an Office of Humour, which regularly advises citizens on what is and isn’t funny.’

I burst out laughing. ‘You can’t legislate humour!’

‘Humour isn’t a laughing matter, Sam. It can be perverted into a terrible weapon of oppressive propaganda.’

‘Eve and I are hardly Goebbels! We’re just two people who love each other and want to live together in peace. I can assure you we will not make offensive jokes to anyone else.’

‘That is good Sam. But we must also make sure you don’t make them to each other. As I said, you will both require Enlightenment Conditioning, if you wish to live as successful citizens in the DEAR.’

Intrigued? Here’s the blurb from the back of the book.

Two Nations Under God. Can their love survive in either nation?

Life, love, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are a distant dream for Sam and Eve. Their forbidden love falls foul of laws in both nations born from the ashes of the Second American Civil War.

A satire of political and religious fears, Peaceful Quiet Lives is a thought-provoking and powerful dystopian future shock.

Peaceful Quiet Lives is available as a download or paperback from Amazon. Order your copy here (in the UK) or here (in the US). It is also available at Smashwords here.

Peaceful Quiet Lives: Influences and Inspirations

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My latest novel, Peaceful Quiet Lives, is informed by a number of classic novels, whilst also being very much its own unique story. Here are five texts that were influential in some way.

Nineteen Eighty-Four (George Orwell) – Orwell’s masterpiece casts a long shadow over all modern dystopian fiction, and to not acknowledge it would be disingenuous. The Winston and Julia romance informs some of what Sam and Eve experience, as does their suffering at the hands of the authorities. However, the central relationship has a very different purpose and outcome in my novel. There are also parallels between the censorship of Nineteen Eight-Four (including “newspeak”) and the censorship rules in both nations in my novel, which operate at opposite political extremes. However, once again, the kind of censorship is very different.

The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood) – The religious oppression of the Gilead regime to a degree did inform the oppression of women in the NPAR (New Puritan American Republic), in my novel. However, there are vitally important differences. For one thing, there is no population crisis, and women are not forced into marriages for breeding purposes in the NPAR. However, women are strictly controlled in terms of the lives they can lead, the careers they can pursue, and so forth. Furthermore, marriages have to authorised by religious authorities.

A Clockwork Orange (Anthony Burgess) – The brainwashing of young Alex to “cure” him of his wicked ways did in some way influence the torment Eve suffers at the hands of interrogators in the DEAR (Democratically Enlightened American Republic), in my novel. However, unlike Alex, Eve is a far less contentious subject, nor is the reader invited to feel torn or backed into a corner over her treatment. I expect and indeed hope that unambiguous sympathy is the reader’s response in her case.

Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury) – A state where all books are banned is the horrifying premise of Bradbury’s most notorious novel (the title refers to the temperature at which paper burns). Not all books are banned in the two nations of my novel, but many are. Sometimes the same novel is banned in both states, but for entirely different reasons. For example, a novel banned for sexual content in the NPAR could also be banned for perceived sexism in the DEAR.

The Trial (Franz Kafka) – Like the protagonist of Kafka’s novel, Sam finds himself chewed up by the inexplicable and unfair machinery of legal processes in both the NPAR and the DEAR. The prosecutions he faces are nonsensical, but are intended as a satire of the fears often expressed by extremists on both ends of the left/right political spectrum. In particular, the trial in the latter part of the second section of the novel reaches an absurdity of hair-clutching proportions, but I shan’t explain how, for fear of spoilers.

Peaceful Quiet Lives was also informed, to a lesser degree, by Gulliver’s Travels, Brave New World, The Hunger Games, and even satirical BBC classic comedy series Yes Minister. Here’s the blurb from the back of the book to whet your appetite:

Two Nations Under God. Can their love survive in either nation?

Life, love, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are a distant dream for Sam and Eve. Their forbidden love falls foul of laws in both nations born from the ashes of the Second American Civil War.

A satire of political and religious fears, Peaceful Quiet Lives is a thought-provoking and powerful dystopian future shock.

Peaceful Quiet Lives is available as a download or paperback from Amazon. Order your copy here (in the UK) or here (in the US). It is also available at Smashwords here.

New Short Story: Regression

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Photos by Joyful and Janko Ferlič on Unsplash

I’ve had a short story published on Medium in the Illumination publication. Regression, a psychological, supernaturally tinged tale about an English teacher haunted by a terrible past secret, is available in four parts for your reading pleasure.

Part One here.

Part Two here.

Part Three here.

Part Four here.

I hope you enjoy it.

Peaceful Quiet Lives: Themes

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There can be no doubt that my latest novel, Peaceful Quiet Lives, has been informed by the ongoing so-called culture wars in America. These culture wars, whether social, political, or religious have been a simmering division in America as far back as I can remember, and in one sense, are nothing remarkable in a western democracy.

However, in recent years, these divisions have become a lot more exacerbated. I’ve also noticed a militant tendency in the language and behaviour of extremists on both sides that is remarkably similar. This militancy, fuelled by social media, television news, and opportunistic politicians, has stirred up some serious unpleasantness. One need only look at the aftermath of the recent US election for evidence.

Let me be absolutely clear: Peaceful Quiet Lives is not a political statement of any kind. It came to me in a strange download in early 2018, whilst writing my (as yet unreleased) Dark Ages set romantic fantasy tale Ravenseed. After getting this download, I wrote Peaceful Quiet Lives purely because I thought it was a good story. I had no political agenda at all.

The central idea – regarding opposite extreme authoritarian states being two sides of the same militant coin – I thought would make an intriguing backdrop for a doomed romance. But I also wanted the novel to be a satire of the worst fears of both sides in the US culture wars. The first half of the novel plays on fears that the US could turn into a religious theocracy. The second half sends up fears that the US is headed for a “woke” dystopia. The novel isn’t so much intended as a warning against both scenarios, neither is it an attempt to lash out in despair at the current problems in America, but rather it is an exercise in absurdity. I hope the tragic lunacy of such a future is inherent within the text, and that as a result, perhaps the fears of both sides will be eased, just a little.

Despite such grandiose ambitions, I hope people enjoy the novel as simply a damn good read.

By the way, the title derives from a couple of New Testament verses; one urging people to live a quiet life and mind our own business (in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4), and another passage urging prayer for those in authority, that we might live peaceful and quiet lives (in 1 Timothy chapter 2). The title is ironic on a number of levels, since events in lives of Sam and Eve are neither peaceful nor quiet.

Here is the blurb from the back of Peaceful Quiet Lives:

Two Nations Under God. Can their love survive in either nation?

Life, love, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are a distant dream for Sam and Eve. Their forbidden love falls foul of laws in both nations born from the ashes of the Second American Civil War.

A satire of political and religious fears, Peaceful Quiet Lives is a thought-provoking and powerful dystopian future shock.

Peaceful Quiet Lives is available as a download or paperback from Amazon. Order your copy here (in the UK) or here (in the US). It is also available from Smashwords here.

Peaceful Quiet Lives: Initial Reviews

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Reviews have started to come in for my latest novel Peaceful Quiet Lives. So far, all are positive five-star raves, but what most surprised me is how different facets of the novel are standing out to different people, depending on the personality, temperament, and background of the reader.

For example, one reviewer on Amazon called it “political science fiction on a very high level”, citing “parallels between the societies in the book, and the current political climate, where you are labelled as a traitor for having a deferring opinion”. He goes on to call the book “deadly serious”, saying it sends shivers down his spine.

By contrast, one reviewer on Goodreads said the novel had “several laugh out loud moments”, calling it “thought-provoking, disturbing, and at times hilarious”. He goes on to label the novel “an awesome thought experiment concerning what extremes of left and right ideology could lead to, should freedom of speech disintegrate in our post-modern era”.

Another five-star review on Amazon commented: “Who doesn’t love a great love story?”, focussing on the romantic plight of protagonists Sam and Eve, who are chewed up by the political machinery of the narrative.

Why not give Peaceful Quiet Lives a read yourself, and discover how you respond to it? Here’s the blurb from the back of the book to whet your appetite:

Two Nations Under God. Can their love survive in either nation?

Life, love, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are a distant dream for Sam and Eve. Their forbidden love falls foul of laws in both nations born from the ashes of the Second American Civil War.

A satire of political and religious fears, Peaceful Quiet Lives is a thought-provoking and powerful dystopian future shock.

Peaceful Quiet Lives is available as a download or paperback from Amazon. Order your copy here (in the UK) or here (in the US). It can also be ordered from Smashwords here.

Happy New Year!

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Happy New Year!

2020 ended with something of a bang for me, with the release of my dystopian future shock novel Peaceful Quiet Lives. I’m going to continue posting articles about that novel as readers continue to respond to it, so that’s the first thing to expect from yours truly this year.

I’m also submitting my fantasy novel Ravenseed to mainstream publishers this month. The first draft of this Dark Ages set tale of love, lust, betrayal, and vengeance was written in early 2018. I have since polished it to the point where I am happy to submit it for scrutiny. Who knows? Perhaps by the end of the year it will have been released. I hope so, as I’m very proud of this novel.

My gothic mystery horror/thriller novels Spectre of Springwell Forest, The Irresistible Summons, and Phantom Audition are also going to be re-released very soon, with brand new covers. Keep an eye out for those, as the new covers are fabulous.

In addition, I’m planning on writing a sequel to my as yet unreleased fantasy/horror novel for children, The Faerie Gate (which I wrote back in 2014). I originally planned this sequel as an entirely separate story, but as I began to plan the narrative, I realised it fitted perfectly into the same universe as The Faerie Gate. The new novel will be a standalone tale, but much larger, and more epic. It might even end up being more than one volume. In fact, in size and scope, it could end up being to The Faerie Gate what The Lord of the Rings is to The Hobbit. In view of such potential lengthiness, I’m not sure I’ll finish writing the first draft this year, but I certainly plan to get as far as possible into the story.

All of which means, my long-planned science fiction anthology will probably remain on hold for the foreseeable future. I’ve written one novella and one short story from the various outlines I had planned, but due to other writing commitments and the inability to bend time and space, I’ve still failed to make any progress since 2019. I’ll get there one of these days.

I’ll continue to update the blog on a regular basis, with various articles and the usual film reviews. I’m also hoping to record a new series of The Tangent Tree, so watch this space for news of that as well.

As to whether I’ll release anything else, I’m uncertain at this point, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. After all, last year I said I was going to take it easier, and I ended up releasing Peaceful Quiet Lives. Perhaps this year will prove just as busy.