Over the past seven weeks, the wonderful people at Medium publication Fictions serialised my fantasy novella Bloodmire. The plot concerns a Dark Ages knight undertaking a quest to rescue the young woman to whom he is betrothed. She has been captured by a mysterious Beast and taken into a mysterious and dangerous uncharted forest. On his quest, the knight encounters bandits, witches, and strange supernatural beings, journeying ever deeper into the forest, and ever deeper into himself.
Sounds trope-tastic? I can assure you Bloodmire is not a straightforward tale of damsels in distress. In fact, it’s a narrative designed to invite different interpretations and perspectives. Inspiration wise, it draws on everything from Arthurian legend (particularly Sir Gawain) to Heart of Darkness. It is also intended as a companion piece to my upcoming novel Ravenseed and features one of the supporting characters. However, I stress Bloodmire requires no prior knowledge of Ravenseed. It stands entirely alone.
I’ve had some terrific response and comments so far, so do check it out. Part One of Bloodmire can be found here, with links to subsequent parts at the end of every instalment. I hope you enjoy it.
Happy New Year! With the year of change that was 2021 in the rear-view mirror, I’m hoping this year will see many exciting developments with my writing. I shall of course keep you fully appraised on this blog, so here are a few of my plans for 2022.
First and foremost, I am writing a new novel. It’s another gothic mystery, currently untitled, which I hope will sit nicely alongside previous titles such as The Birds Began to Sing and Phantom Audition. I won’t mention anything about the plot at this point, other than to say it is set in a fictional south-west England town and features a young journalist who gets drawn into a local mystery with links to her past. That’s deliberately vague, as I am protecting what I believe to be a pretty rock-solid story with a cracking finale.
Secondly, I will continue to contribute articles to Medium, though I might slow down a little in that regard whilst getting the first draft of the aforementioned novel on paper. Film reviews will continue to be available both on this blog and on Medium, but other articles on literature, film, music, television, and the odd rant, will be exclusive to Medium.
Thirdly, I aim to resurrect The Tangent Tree film podcast this year, with my co-host Samantha Stephen. Yes, I know I said I’d do that last year, but life threw a few spanners in the works. This year however, I hope to deliver on that promise.
Fourthly, I hope to publish at least one further anthology of short stories. This time they won’t be horror stories, but some of my more romantic pieces, and perhaps some fantasy, satire, and a couple of exclusives, akin to what I did with Infestation: A Horror Anthology last year.
Finally, I am taking another crack at the mainstream publication route with my fantasy novel Ravenseed and am actively chasing agents and publishers to that end. I had planned to do this last year, but again, life threw a few gremlins into the mix. At any rate, Ravenseed is a gripping, grown-up tale of love, lust, betrayal, and vengeance, primarily set in the Dark Ages, with a parallel story in the present (or rather, in 2019, to avoid pandemic references). I’m rather pleased with this novel, so I hope agents and publishers are similarly positive. Here’s hoping, and as always, I will keep you updated.
I’ve had a highly unusual year in 2021. For one thing, I’ve made the awkward transition to full-time writer. Much remains uncertain. However, I don’t intend to bore you with the cycle of fear and self-doubt that are the inevitable concomitant of any writer who takes such steps. Instead, I’ll dive right in with what I’ve been up to over the past twelve months.
Perhaps most excitingly, this collection of scary shorts was released. Infestation: A Horror Anthology included a six-chapter science fiction horror novella – the eponymous Infestation – along with five other short stories: Once in a Lifetime, Spinner, Regression, Influencer, and White Horse. The latter two are exclusive to this volume, and White Horse is a standalone prequel to my gothic mystery novel The Irresistible Summons.
Infestation is set in the near future, at a time when mysterious giant spider nests have appeared. No one knows where these nests came from, but nations are adjusting to the challenge of living alongside dangerous oversized arachnids. A mercenary desperate for money to purchase medical treatments that can save his wife is hired by an influential businessman. His objective: Infiltrate a spider nest on a mission of vengeance.
For information about the plots in the other stories, simply click on their respective links, and it will take you to articles about each of them. I’ve had some very positive response to this story, and to the collection in general, which is encouraging. At 77,000 words, I feel this anthology represents a good value selection of my shorter horror pieces.
Gothic Mystery New Covers
Some of my gothic mystery horror thriller novels were reissued with new covers. Check them out below.
Work in Progress: Sequel to The Faerie Gate
The Northern Lights feature in The Faerie Gate. Photo by Vincent Guth on Unsplash
Yes, I know I’ve not yet released my very dark and scary children’s 2015 novel The Faerie Gate, despite talking about it a great deal on this blog. However, in early 2021 I started writing not one but three sequels. It is a hugely ambitious project that in some ways is The Lord of the Rings to The Faerie Gate’s The Hobbit. I’m very pleased with it so far, though I halted once I completed the first of the three sequels. I have a very clear plan for the remaining novels, but there are other projects I wish to complete first. Since I am acutely aware of the dangers of “doing a George RR Martin”, I’m going to hang on to the three sequels until all have been fully written. However, The Faerie Gate I may well release before that, since it stands entirely alone.
Medium
Yours truly, in a rare smiling photo (as seen in the interview mentioned below).
As part of my expansion into full-time writing, I am building an audience on Medium (currently 1.6 thousand followers and climbing). I’ve proud of the many articles I have on that site, often placed in prestigious publications. If you have a Medium subscription, please consider following me. In addition to articles on film, music, literature, television, and the odd rant, I have published a number of novellas and short stories there, and will continue to do so.
Here are a few Medium pieces from the past year of which I am particularly proud.
Leave – One of several short stories written and published this year. Life takes an unexpected turn for a young wife desperately missing her royal marine husband during the recent Afghanistan War.
The principles for penning a passionate, sinister, satisfying page-turner. (Apologies for the use of American English; The Writing Cooperative publication insists on it.)
I shudder to think of anyone discovering these for the first time on the small screen.
And just because I can’t resist including it, here’s my interview with The Writing Cooperative: Write Now with Simon Dillon
The Guardian
I also managed to get an article published in The Guardian this year, which makes a nice addition to my writing CV. It’s a short, slightly tongue-in-cheek piece exploring why so many of my childhood films are having their BBFC ratings upgraded from PG to 12A in the UK. You can read it here.
The Tangent Tree
Finally, for those of you wondering what has happened to film podcast The Tangent Tree (which I co-host with Samantha Stephen), I hope this will be resurrected in 2022. Various spanners in the works this year prevented the creation of new episodes.
To finish, I want say a big thank you to all of you, for your ongoing readership and support. Thank you so much for reading my novels and short stories. I hope you enjoyed them. Also, thank you for leaving reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, and elsewhere. For those of you who follow me on Medium, thank you for reading and supporting me there too. It has been a tumultuous year, but there are exciting things ahead. I will revealing my plans for 2022 on New Year’s Day, so watch this space.
My recently released book Infestation: A Horror Anthology features my Infestation novella – a six-chapter sci-fi horror tale – along with five other short stories. In my final entry in this series examining each story in the collection, here’s a closer look at White Horse, which like Influencer is exclusive to this volume.
Raven is a snarky, ambitious young camera operator/editor working for a production company specialising in documentaries that usually debunk the supernatural. Whilst on a location scout/research excursion with her producer, they meet a woman claiming her house is haunted. Although initially thinking her an opportunist after television fame, Raven comes to believe there might be something to her claims. Also, the woman’s face is unsettlingly familiar…
White Horse is a prequel to my gothic mystery horror novel The Irresistible Summons, in which Raven is a supporting character. Here she is the protagonist, working alongside a different producer, investigating a sinister and apparently supernatural mystery with a link to Raven’s childhood. I should add that no prior knowledge of The Irresistible Summons is required to read White Horse. It is entirely standalone, though it does hint at what is to come for Raven in the dying embers of the story.
Like the other stories in this collection, White Horse is a variation on the running theme of guilt, in this case involving a moral dilemma in Raven’s past. Where did the idea come from? Fellow author and friend Claus Holm had been pestering me for years to write a spinoff from The Irresistible Summons featuring Raven, and eventually I had an idea I considered worthy of development. White Horse delves more into Raven’s background and motivations, and is, I believe, a fine companion piece to the novel. I’m rather pleased with it, and I hope you like it too.
Incidentally, the title refers to the Uffington White Horse, an extraordinary piece of minimalist Bronze Age art in which a large chalk horse is rendered on a hillside. There are several White Horse hills in the UK, but the Uffington White Horse is the most famous. The story takes place near said hill, and aside from the geographic setting, there are (fictional) occult elements linked to the hill that prove relevant to the narrative.
Infestation: A Horror Anthology is available on Kindle and paperback from Amazon here (in the UK) and here (in the US). It can also be ordered via Smashwords here.
My recently released book Infestation: A Horror Anthology features my Infestation novella – a six-chapter sci-fi horror tale – along with five other short stories. In the penultimate instalment of this series examining each story in the collection, this week I take a slightly deeper dive into Spinner.
Graphic designer Isabel is trapped in an abusive relationship with her bullying business owner partner Tyler, which is exacerbated once Covid lockdown hits in early 2020. They have recently moved into a new home; one which the son of the previous owner, Maud Spinner, was particularly keen to get off his hands. Never a good sign. Nor are the sinister sounds coming from the basement…
As a fusion of abusive relationship drama and supernatural horror, Spinner is dark, claustrophobic, and frightening. The running theme throughout the Infestation anthology concerns guilt, real or perceived. In the case of Isabel, she is constantly gaslit and made to feel guilty by Tyler. This set-up feeds into her later paranoia over the malevolent supernatural presence in their home, and whether maybe, just maybe, it might all be in her head.
Spinner almost didn’t get included in this collection, as I had concerns it wasn’t quite up to scratch. However, when I tested the story on Medium, I received some very strong positive feedback, here for instance, from people for whom the story resonated on a personal level. It is worth adding that Spinner is partly informed by the experiences of two people I know personally, besides a few obvious literary horror giants such as MR James and Stephen King.
Infestation: A Horror Anthology is available on Kindle and paperback from Amazon here (in the UK) and here (in the US). It can also be ordered via Smashwords here.
My recently released book Infestation: A Horror Anthology features my Infestation novella – a six-chapter sci-fi horror tale – along with five other short stories. Continuing this series examining each story in the collection, today’s tale under the microscope is Regression.
Jack Walker is a divorced English teacher haunted by a terrible secret in his past. When new neighbours move in next door to Jack, their young daughter reminds him of his secret, bringing up long-buried feelings of guilt. Even more unsettlingly, the girl seems to know things about his past, which ought to be impossible as she didn’t exist when the events took place.
A creepy, psychological, supernaturally tinged tale previously published on Medium, Regression deals in themes of guilt, conscience, and punishment. How much the girl really knows, and how much is a projection of Jack’s paranoia is left teasingly ambiguous throughout, inviting the reader to bring their own interpretation of events as lines between fantasy and reality begin to blur.
The story for Regression originated from my youngest son, who came up with the bare-bones idea a couple of years ago, with a slightly different central mystery. I then did the hard work of fleshing out the details and making narrative tweaks. Regression also shares DNA with some of Daphne Du Maurier’s short creepy gothic mysteries, as well as elements of MR James and Susan Hill. Ambiguous ideas about reincarnation and ghosts derive inspiration from Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights. There’s a little bit of Arthur Conan Doyle in there too.
Infestation: A Horror Anthology is available on Kindle and paperback from Amazon here (in the UK) and here (in the US). It can also be ordered via Smashwords here.
I’m interrupting my series examining each short story in my most recent release Infestation: A Horror Anthology to draw attention to another recent short story of mine, published in Medium publication Fictions.
Leave isn’t a horror story but a romantic tale, involving a young wife desperately missing her royal marine husband during the recent Afghanistan War. Life takes an unexpected turn for her, though I don’t want to say too much more about the plot.
Hopefully this story will be an agreeable respite for those among my readers who aren’t partial to horror. It features an underlying mystery of sorts, so is more akin to earlier romantic stories of mine such as Papercut.
My recently released book Infestation: A Horror Anthology features my Infestation novella – a six-chapter sci-fi horror tale – along with five other short stories. Continuing this series unpacking each story in the collection, this week I expound a little on Influencer.
Janice Hopper is a young, Oxford-based social media influencer with a considerable following. Manufacturing an online persona that is on-trend and relevant, her writing has proved popular and lucrative. However, to say she is prone to exaggeration in her writing, stretching the truth to breaking point, would be an understatement. When an online commenter accuses her of lying in a piece about sexual abuse, events escalate into a nail-biting tale of stalking and revenge.
A previously unpublished story exclusive to this volume, Influencer draws on themes of wealth, privilege, and self-deluded, self-justifying narcissism. A series of shocking and satirical twists make this a distinct, singular take on the overall theme of guilt running through the stories in the Infestation volume.
Influencer draws inspiration from noir novels and the cycle of psycho-horror thrillers from the late 1980s and early 1990s – think Fatal Attraction, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Single White Female, and Martin Scorsese’s remake of Cape Fear. It also nods to satirical elements in recent TV thrillers such as Netflix’s You. Influencer is certainly the most darkly comic tale in this collection. However, I’d argue the undercurrent of suspense and dread, not to mention the bloody finale, push it firmly into the horror bracket.
Infestation: A Horror Anthology is available on Kindle and paperback from Amazon here (in the UK) and here (in the US). It can also be ordered via Smashwords here.
My newly released book Infestation: A Horror Anthology features my Infestation novella – a six-chapter sci-fi horror tale – along with five other short stories. As I stated in my article last week, I’m going to expound a little on each story in the weeks to come, continuing in this article with Once in a Lifetime.
After inexplicably awakening inside a different home with a different wife, Hayden Jones experiences an existential crisis, as memories of a new life, that of another man named John Hunter, gradually replace those of his old life.
In desperation, he tries to write down all that happened in his old life – his wife, his children, friends, and acquaintances – when he finds in his new life, he is unable to contact them. He also finds he has awoken in London, miles from his country home near Dartmoor.
Previously published by Dragon Soul Press, as part of their All Dark Places horror anthology, Once in a Lifetime is based on a surprisingly well-plotted nightmare I had some years ago. Continuing with the recurrent theme of guilt contained within this volume, the story also touches on issues such as childhood bullying, abuse, and denial. Like several of my horror stories, it is designed with deliberate ambiguity, leaving room for the reader to separate reality from fantasy; a process they undertake based on their own personal baggage.
On a lighter note, I’ve had it suggested to me that the story is an endorsement of living in the country versus living in the city. That isn’t consciously the case, although I do confess that I wouldn’t want to live in London instead of southwest England. London wouldn’t suit me at all (except for the many cinemas, and arts scene in general).
Influences for this include David Lynch films such as Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, and Twin Peaks, which also deal in existential themes of people being subsumed into different lives/universes. Once in a Lifetime was also slightly informed by lyrics in the classic song of the same name by the seminal band Talking Heads. (“You may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife… You may ask yourself: How did I get here?”) Most of all though, I wanted to tell a story about the unconscious, sometimes self-destructive impulses of middle age, where it is common for people to wonder about paths not taken.
Unlike the physical, external, creature-based horrors of Infestation, Once in a Lifetime is a much more psychological piece, though emphatically still designed to rattle and disturb, especially in the shocking finale.
Infestation: A Horror Anthology is available on Kindle and paperback from Amazon here (in the UK) and here (in the US). It can also be ordered via Smashwords here.
Recently, I’ve been making a lot of noise about my newly released book Infestation: A Horror Anthology. It features my Infestation novella – a six-chapter sci-fi horror tale – along with five other short stories. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to expound a little on each story, starting in this article with Infestation itself, which I consider the collection’s main attraction.
In the near future, no one knows where the giant spider nests came from, but nations are adjusting to the challenge of living alongside dangerous oversized arachnids.
A mercenary desperate for money to purchase medical treatments that can save his wife is hired by an influential businessman. His objective: Infiltrate a spider nest on a mission of vengeance.
There is a lot more to this story than just giant spiders. The protagonist, Jonah Seymour, is deeply troubled by the nature of his mission, and throughout the story experiences doubts and dithering about whether he should go through with it. Thematically it deals in issues of denial, guilt, revenge, and punishment. The story is also open to a number of different interpretations. I have deliberately designed it with a certain degree of ambiguity, so the reader can bring their own piece of the puzzle that completes the picture.
For instance, I have had it suggested to me that the story is an allegory about Covid. I didn’t intend it as such. For one thing, I wrote the story back in 2017. However, I am pleased that for some readers, the narrative also has contemporary resonance, as a reflection on human attitudes and actions concerning the recent pandemic.
My influences for this story mostly came from cinema rather than literature, with films such as Them! (1954), The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), The Fly (the 1958 original, rather than the more famous 1986 David Cronenberg remake), and Aliens (1986) informing the story. There is possibly a touch of Stephen King’s The Mist in there too. I should add that much of the inspiration came from a nightmare I had a few years ago.
For all its loftier aims, in the end, Infestation is a story I wanted to grip, thrill, and disturb, with plenty of action and scares along the way. If you enjoy a blend of science fiction, action, and horror, this story is definitely for you.
Infestation: A Horror Anthology is available on Kindle and paperback from Amazon here (in the UK) and here (in the US). It can also be ordered via Smashwords here.
Simon Dillon Books 
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