In case you were unaware, I’ve recently released and have been extensively promoting my new dystopian sci-fi anthology Love and Other Punishments. Now available in ebook or paperback from Amazon, Smashwords, and associated outlets, this selection of novellas and short stories is proving a hit with readers. Featuring futuristic satire, technological speculation, alternative realities, and melancholy obsessions, Love and Other Punishments is a compelling compliment to my earlier dystopian novels Children of the Folded Valley and Peaceful Quiet Lives.

Some of these stories had previously been available on Medium (all except one are now removed), but three are brand new and exclusive to this volume. Two never-before-seen novellas of about 20,000 and 18,000 words each, and one new short story at around 12,000 words, have been added to the other earlier novellas and stories earmarked for inclusion. The total word count for the volume is around 85,000 words. Not bad value for £2.99 (or $3.99, in the US).

Here’s a plot taster for each story, plus the accompanying graphics. For more detail on the story and what inspired it, click on the link to the appropriate specific article on this blog.

Sweet Dreams

A journalist investigates a tech company manufacturing nightmare suppressing nanotech for children. “Sweet Dreams” refers to the technology involved, which the journalist comes to believe may be linked to an increase in suicidal tendencies among young people. Her investigations uncover conspiracies, cover-ups, and eventually murder.

For more about this story, click here. Also, if you want a taster of this collection, all five parts of Sweet Dreams are currently available on Medium, beginning here (each instalment contains a link to subsequent parts).

The Thought Improvement Plan

In a world where thought monitoring brain implants are standard employment practice, a man and woman conduct a secret workplace romance against company policy. Together they find devious ways to fool their thought supervisor by providing false brain metrics. New and exclusive to this volume. For more about this story, click here.

Driverless

When terrorists hack the Driverless Vehicle Network, threatening to crash cars unless their demands are met by the British government, a civil servant begins to suspect there may have been an inside job. New and exclusive to this volume. For more about this story, click here.

Bleed with Me

In the not-too-distant future, ghost sightings are found to be “quantum contamination” or “memory bleeds” that can be easily disposed of via scientific means. A quantum contamination cleaner becomes secretly obsessed with the unsolved murder of a young woman whose memory bleeds occupy his home. New and exclusive to this volume. For more about this story click here.

The Traffic Warden

A curious IT technician discovers a surreal, sinister truth about traffic wardens. I almost left this darkly comic tale out of the volume, but ultimately felt it made a nice a palate cleanser following the emotionally intense finale of Bleed with Me. Exclusive to this volume, previously available on Medium. For more about this story click here.

Apocalypse 1983

In a parallel universe, a Soviet Air Force officer holds the fate of the world in his hands. Inspired by the real-life 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident, in which Stanislav Petrov essentially saved the world from nuclear annihilation. Exclusive to this volume, previously available on Medium. For more about this story click here.

Love and Other Punishments

In a fascistic future London, a widowed salesman begins to suspect he has repressed memories when he encounters a mysterious woman. Exclusive to this volume, previously available on Medium. For more about this story click here.

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 associated outlets here.