Tag Archives: Anthology

Coming Soon: New Dystopian Sci-Fi Anthology

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Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been polishing short stories and novellas to include in a planned new anthology release. Akin to my earlier collection, Infestation: A Horror Anthology, this one won’t be horror but dystopian science fiction. The anthology will be entitled Love and Other Punishments, after one of the stories, previously published on Medium.

The volume is about 80,000 words long. Over half (around 50,000 words) will be new, exclusive material, consisting of two novellas and a short story never seen before. The remaining short stories and novellas have previously been available to Medium subscribers.

Most of these novellas or short stories explore one aspect of futuristic technology, but otherwise takes place in relatable settings a short way into the future. The stories aren’t bogged down in scientific theory but are much more about the potential repercussions of these speculations on humans. Some of them are akin to potential technologies presently being discussed in places like the World Economic Forum.

Here are the titles, plus a little about each story.

The Thought Improvement Plan (exclusive to this volume) – In a world where brain monitoring implants are standard employment practice, a man and woman conduct a secret workplace romance against company policy, finding devious ways to fool their thought supervisor by providing false brain metrics.

Driverless (exclusive to this volume) – 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.

The Traffic Warden (previously available on Medium) – A curious IT technician discovers the truth about traffic wardens in this surreal, sinister, darkly comic conspiracy thriller.

Bleed With Me (exclusive to this volume) – In a world where 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.

Sweet Dreams (previously available on Medium) – 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.

Apocalypse 1983 (previously available on Medium) – In a parallel universe, a Soviet Air Force officer holds the fate of the world in his hands.

Love and Other Punishments (previously available on Medium) – In a fascistic future London, a widowed salesman begins to suspect he has repressed memories when he encounters a mysterious woman.

I shall be announcing a publication date and revealing a cover image very soon. Watch this space.

Infestation Reviews

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I’ve had a couple of great five-star reviews from readers on Amazon for Infestation: A Horror Anthology, including one from Danish author Claus Holm (author of the excellent Tempus series).

“Dillon has once again produced a book to make your spine freeze like an icicle, and occasionally make you feel slightly sick to your stomach. The main story in Infestation deals with giant spiders, and it is both gross and great at the same time.
Several stories in the collection are remarkable, and able to bring out various emotions. I literally cried once.

There is also a prequel to the novel The Irresistible Summons, allowing my favourite character Raven some more time on centre stage.

Simon Dillon is one of Britain’s best horror authors and this book is definitely another feather in his cap.” – Claus Holm, Amazon.

I also got this review:

“Each story is a carefully woven journey crafted in riveting excellence. I dare you to stop reading a story halfway – highly doubtful that anyone could. A true imagery craftsman! Compelling and delicious to devour.” – Lisa B, Amazon.

Infestation: A Horror Anthology includes 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 as Claus Holm notes, White Horse is a standalone prequel to my gothic mystery novel The Irresistible Summons. All told, the collection comes to a good value 77,000 words, and constitutes a great opportunity to read a selection of my shorter horror fiction pieces in one place..

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.

Infestation Unpacked: Spinner

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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…

Photo by Marten Newhall on Unsplash

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.

Infestation Unpacked: Regression

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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.

Photo by Joyful on Unsplash

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.

Infestation Unpacked: Influencer

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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.

Photo by Cristina Zaragoza on Unsplash

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.

Infestation Unpacked: Once in a Lifetime

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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.

Photo by samer daboul from Pexels

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.

Infestation Unpacked

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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.

Photo by Anthony from Pexels

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.

2019 In Review

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2019 has been an extremely busy year for me, and I am very pleased to have released a number of novels and shorter pieces.

Novels

Two more of my gothic mystery horror thrillers were released: The Irresistible Summons, which erred much more on the horror side, and Phantom Audition, which was more on the thriller side. Both feature nail-biting, page-turning spooky shenanigans, and were very well received. If you’re interested in picking up a copy as a Christmas present (or to read yourself) click here for The Irresistible Summons and here for Phantom Audition.

Shorts

Also this year, my short story Papercut was included in romantic fantasy anthology First Love, also published by Dragon Soul Press. Furthermore, three of my “Drabbles” (micro-fiction of exactly 100 words) were published by Blood Song Books anthology Curses & Cauldrons. These anthologies have also been very well reviewed. Check them out here and here, respectively.

Works in progress

Of the above works, Phantom Audition was a novel I wrote early in the year, and that was fast-tracked for publication. Compared with other years, I have written less than usual, outside of that, but there are still a number of short stories, and one novella, waiting in the wings. Indeed, delving into shorter works has been an agreeable change of pace for me, and the total word count of the above almost amounts to the equivalent of another novel. So I’ve not been that lazy.

On the blog

As ever, I’ve enjoyed covering lots of different topics on the blog. I love to write on subjects I am passionate about, and hopefully spark some discussion. You might have missed some of these, or want to re-read them, so here are three of my favourites.

Never Surrender to the Professionally Offended: A Rallying Cry for Authors

Uses and Abuses of Inner Monologue

Why Spoiler Awareness is Important

The Tangent Tree

Series three of The Tangent Tree – the film podcast I co-host with Samantha Stephen – is about to begin next week. Series two appeared earlier in the year. You can catch up on all episodes at the Tangent Tree website here – or listen on iTunes, Spotify, Podcast Addict and so on.

There have been many people who helped and supported me this year, sometimes through difficult things.

You know who you are.

Thank you.

First Love: Papercut continues to get rave reviews

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Last February, I had a short story published as part of Dragon Soul Press’s First Love romantic fantasy anthology. This was my second published short story, as I usually stick to novels. What’s more I don’t usually write romance (here’s a rare exception).

My contribution, Papercut, is a poignant, heartfelt love story about a lonely teenage boy living with his ultra-strict Jehovah’s Witness mother. In his dreams, he is visited by a mysterious girl made entirely of paper, leading to a fantastical journey which I won’t spoil.

There have been several rave reviews for this story (and for the collection in general). Papercut also ended up in a top-three short story poll conducted by Dragon Soul Press. Here is the most recent of the unanimous five star reviews on Amazon:

“There are so many fantastic stories in this anthology, all with their own take on the theme of ‘first loves’, that it’s hard to decide on a favourite! I certainly think every story earned its place here, but I was intrigued by, and thoroughly enjoyed Simon Dillon’s Papercut. The gritty, perspective on everyday life in a strict religious household was interesting, and provided a stark juxtaposition to the strange magic that brings the Paper Girl into Gabriel’s lonely life. I’d absolutely encourage anyone looking for a nice mix of genres, and voices, to give this anthology a chance!”

First Love also features stories by AM Cummins, Kathryn St John, AR Johnson, DS Durden, Sofi Laporte, Meg Boepple, Melinda Kucsera, Edeline Wrigh, AD Carter, Zoey Xolton, and Galina Trefil. Pick up your copy here.

All Dark Places: One Year On

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Last October, I had a short story published as part of Dragon Soul Press’s All Dark Places horror anthology.

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My contribution, Once in a Lifetime, is a spine-tingling tale of existential dread. It concerns a man who wakes up in a strange London flat, in bed with a woman he doesn’t know, who insists he is someone else. More disturbingly, memories of his former life – including his wife and children – start to fade from his mind, and are replaced by memories of his the life he has awoken inside.

Here are some review snippets for my short story:

“This one was WOW. I felt like I was LIVING the story – which is probably not always a good thing. I could feel his desperation, the desire, and then at the end…. Well you are going to have to read that for yourself.” – Rebecca Hill, Gothic Bite Magazine.

“With a combination of psychological and traditional horror… It had a unique spin to it that left me nearly sobbing at its horror and hopeless tragedy.” – Seraphia, Amazon.

“The mystery, the suspense, the strangeness of this story creates something unique… The author twists this story so well, and the ending, for me, is heartbreaking.” – Anna, Amazon.

All Dark Places also features scary and sinister stories by AM Cummins, Anna Sinjin, and Hui Lang. If you fancy picking up a copy, click here.