When I decided to release a fantasy anthology, I initially jotted down several titles for potential inclusion. One of these was my previously unreleased novella, Offline Dream. However, when I settled on a theme for the anthology, namely the idea that the stories should feature dark forests of a literal and metaphorical nature (as each protagonist journeys deeper into the forest, they journey deeper into themselves), I realised Offline Dream didn’t fit this theme. What’s more, the story seemed too genre-fluid for the collection, beginning more in dystopian sci-fi mode, before becoming more fantastical as it progressed.

All the same, Offline Dream is a curious beast I’m quite proud of, so I’ve decided to serialise it exclusively on Substack as a bonus story of sorts. Or, you can think of it as a song left off a music album, as it didn’t quite gel with the other tracks, instead used as a single B-side, if you will (I discussed the music analogy in this Medium article). As for the story, it is set in a future where humans cannot dream without plugging their brains into the carefully controlled International Dream Network. A young student at Oxford has a natural dream involving a mysterious girl he’s never met. Unfortunately, this makes him a target to those who wish to exploit him for one reason or another.

You can read the first part of Offline Dream for free here, but the remaining four parts require a $5 per-month subscription. There’s also a lot more available for that monthly subscription, including access to my already fully serialised supernatural thriller novel The Thistlewood Curse. Here’s a link to chapter one, which again, I’ve made available for free as a taster. Paying Substack subscribers also get access to my full short story and novella archive on this site (there’s a lot of those in a variety of genres). From now on, Substack will be the main platform where my short stories and novellas are showcased online, so becoming a paid subscriber is a must if you want to read these as I constantly release new material. With extremely rare exceptions, I will no longer publish fiction on Medium.

Your $5 per month also gets you access to the full film review archive, as well as all my classic film retrospectives, top tens, and other material I also syndicate on Medium. And if that’s not enough, you get to see my monthly videos, where I discuss various subjects (sometimes suggested by subscribers), and you get to laugh at my awkwardness.

As for The Dark Forest Within collection, it is out now in ebook or paperback via Amazon here (in the UK) and here (in the US). For Draft2Digital and its various outlets, you can pick up ebooks and paperback copies here.