Over the past few weeks on the blog, I’m delved into the seven short stories and novellas contained within my recently released Love and Other Punishments dystopian sci-fi anthology. This week, I draw this series to a close with the titular novella itself.

Love and Other Punishments is a dystopian romantic mystery concerning, Shaun Harrison, a bereaved insurance salesman living in a not-too-distant future fascist London. Shaun’s wife and two children were murdered, and the grief has crushed him. The killer, Christopher Chapman, was sentenced to experience being stabbed in perpetuity, within a virtual reality matrix that continually resets itself. But such high-tech attempts at making the punishment fit the crime aren’t a comfort amid Shaun’s miserable existence.

Shaun begins to believe he has repressed memories when he encounters a mysterious woman, Lara Taylor. There is something familiar about her, but Shaun can’t put his finger on it. Images of a beach return to his mind, but he can’t place them. He and Lara become romantically involved, and for the first time in years, glimmers of happiness begin to return to Shaun. However, the mystery surrounding Lara deepens. Shaun is determined to discover the truth, but sometimes, the truth is best left undiscovered.

This story was inspired by an overthink on the nature of justice, and what Britain might look like in the future if it was run by the Daily Mail reading hang ‘em and flog ‘em brigade. At the same time, it’s a love story about memory and whether sometimes ignorance is bliss. I can’t say much more than that without getting into spoilers, but this final story in the collection is one of which I am most proud.

To order a copy of the Love and Other Punishments anthology, click here (for Amazon in the US), or here (for Amazon in the UK). Digital versions are also available from Smashwords (and their various outlets) here.