Death Nest: A widower fears his young son is cursed when he shows disturbing behaviour akin to that of the widower’s younger brother, before he vanished twenty years previously.
The Irresistible Summons: A television producer who debunks the supernatural encounters a genuine haunting in a London office block.
The Birds Began to Sing: An aspiring novelist enters a mysterious writing competition at a sinister mansion.
Phantom Audition: The grieving widow of a famous actor begins to suspect a supernatural hand at work in his apparent suicide, linked to his final acting role.
Spectre of Springwell Forest: A mother comes to believe her young daughter is cursed, after discovering a mysterious painting in her attic containing a gradually revealed figure, which only she can see.
The Thistlewood Curse: A detective and her paranormal consultant suspect supernaturally assisted murder after the sudden heart attack of a Lord’s son on Lundy Island.
Children’s Adventures
Uncle Flynn: A timid boy gradually overcomes fear and mollycoddling as he searches for hidden treasure on Dartmoor with his enigmatic uncle.
Dr Gribbles and the Beast of Blackthorn Lodge: A monster, a mad scientist, and a haunted house… That’s just the beginning for a boy who finds himself caught between spy factions near the end of the Cold War.
Echo and the White Howl: A exiled young wolf seeks revenge after his Alpha father is murdered by a pack rival.
The George Hughes Trilogy
The Martian Inheritance, The Titan War, and The Neptune Conspiracy: Teenager George Hughes unexpectedly inherits the planet Mars. He finds himself the target of covert assassins, hostile aliens, and even darker forces. But he also comes under the protection of a mysterious secret agent, and finds friends in unlikely places.
Other Novels
Children of the Folded Valley: A man looks back on his past when he grew up in a mysterious cult cut off from the rest of the world.
Peaceful Quiet Lives: Forbidden lovers fall foul of laws in both nations that emerged following the Second American Civil War.
Love vs Honour: Teenage lovers pretend to convert to Islam and Christianity to appease each respective set of parents.
Ravenseed: As a teenage girl reads a mysterious account of two knights in the Dark Ages attempting to break an enchantment, her face is gradually disfigured. But she is obsessed with discovering the outcome and unable to stop reading.
All titles are available from Amazon here (in the UK) and here (in the US). Some of the above titles are also available from Draft2Digital and their various outlets (such as Smashwords).
If you enjoy my novels and short stories, please consider supporting my writing on Patreon or Ko-fi. Thank you.
Herewith an update on where you can read my currently available short stories and novellas. Most are online in Medium publications such as Fictions and Illumination.
Dystopian Sci-Fi/Thriller. 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.
Fantasy. 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.
Horror/Sci-Fi. 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.
The former also features two short stories, Influencer and White Horse, exclusive to that volume. Copies can be ordered here (in the UK) and here (in the US). Digital versions are also available from Smashwords here, as well as the various outlets to which they distribute (Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, and Kobo, for instance).
The latter features exclusive stories The Thought Improvement Programme, Driverless, Bleed with Me, The Traffic Warden, Apocalypse 1983, and Love and Other Punishments (as well as Sweet Dreams, which can be read on Medium). Copies can be ordered here (in the UK) and here (in the US). Digital versions are also available from Smashwords here, as well as the various outlets to which they distribute (Barnes and Noble, Apple Books, and Kobo, for instance).
Papercut and Once in a Lifetime were originally traditionally published by Dragon Soul Press for their First Love and All Dark Places anthologies respectively. These collections are now out of print, though copies can be obtained via sellers. Papercut is also available to read in both short story and adapted screenplay form on this blog, here.
Last September I took the plunge on Patreon, not knowing whether I’d find a single supporter. As it happens, I attracted a small but dedicated group of brilliant people who have been consistently wonderful and encouraging, in their support and patronage of my writing endeavours. I offer this article as a transparent attempt at encouraging more patrons (should you be so inclined), and also as an encouragement to other writers considering attempting a similar endeavour.
How should one go about starting a Patreon page?
I offer this advice purely from an experiential perspective, not as any kind of expert. Goodness knows, I’m hardly businessman material, nor am I part of the know-it-all “hustle-bro” contingent (I despise that term, so will put money in the swear jar for using it). But if I consider it worth giving something a go, I tend to try my absolute best. So here are my thoughts on starting a Patreon page, to be taken with a pinch (or sack) of salt, due to my limited credentials.
To start, I recommend laying out a clear case for support, to which you can be held accountable. My “About Simon Dillon” page has a little about myself, where I live, my interests, and the case for supporting me on Patreon under the headings “What Do I Write?”, “What Will You Be Funding?”, and “What Do You Get In Return?” The first discusses what I write, and why I need financial support. The second lists clear goals for the first year (to be updated in the second), which I am working through. As for the final section, it details what I offer patrons, depending on their giving levels.
Regarding giving levels, I know some pages have umpteen different support levels, but I kept to four in the end. And in truth, I probably should have kept it to three (I’ll get to why in a moment). These need to offer clear perks for supporters.
I’d also recommend having a video at the start, welcoming people and asking for support. I hate talking on camera, but I do think this is a necessary evil, as it helps people connect with you better, no matter how awkward you might feel. I also recorded a video message to welcome those who support me. Nice graphics on your profile also help. It is important to present yourself well.
After that, it’s a matter of consistently updating patrons, providing what you promise to benefit-wise for each giving level. Most importantly, it is vital to remain accountable, explaining to your supporters exactly where you are at in your stated goals. This demonstrates that you are using their money to productive effect, and not merely sitting on the sofa watching Netflix.
What do I offer on Patreon?
Returning to my earlier comment on giving levels, I opted for four: Ally of the Dillon Empire (£2 per month), Free Citizen of the Dillon Empire (£4 per month), Knight of the Dillon Empire (£8 per month), and General of the Dillon Empire (£25 per month).
No one has taken me up on the latter giving level yet. The reason for the big cost is at that level, I offer ”a monthly 30-minute one-to-one discussion over Zoom, where you can ask any questions about my writing, pick my brains for writing advice, or simply chat about favourite novels or films.” I think, in retrospect, that isn’t the biggest draw. People get quite enough of my wittering in print, so experiencing it one-to-one for that cost is perhaps a bit much. Still, I’ll keep it up there for now. Some people do ask for advice from time to time, and my wife and various other encouraging people around me insist my time is valuable.
As for the other levels, I’ve had plenty of success. Here’s a brief look at some of the perks I offer. I’ve made the example items concerned public, for the purposes of this piece, but normally they’d be encrypted for patrons-only access.
Regular update videos: These invariably feature me looking awkward whilst my eldest son adds snarky remarks in post-production. Here’s one from a couple of months ago, as an example. For some reason, these are my most popular posts on Patreon.
Insights into my writing process: These exclusive articles offer my thoughts on exactly how I go about writing novels, short stories, and so forth. Here’s a short piece I wrote on my bad writing habits.
Interviews with my characters: These are fun pieces intended as a bit of a laugh for my patrons, especially if they are familiar with the novels or short stories in question. Here’s an example, in which I interview a supporting character from my horror-thriller novel The Irresistible Summons.
Exclusive unseen material: Short stories and novellas are previewed in draft form to patrons, either in full or in part. They also get all my fiction writing news first, with first looks at covers, as well as discarded concepts, deleted scenes, and other short fictional bits and pieces that will never be seen anywhere else. For instance, here’s a piece written for an online writing course I recently attended at the Curtis Brown Literary Agency, run by One Day author David Nicholls.
Exclusive serialised chapters of entire novels: This is, I suspect, the biggest draw for supporters. I’m currently serialising my mystery thriller The Balliol Conspiracy, a novel that rather sits outside my usual gothic horror oeuvre. As I say, at the start of the preface to Chapter 1:
“It’s a somewhat unusual story that begins as a psychological mystery, evolving into a romantic spy thriller of sorts akin to novels such as John Buchan’s The Thirty-Nine Steps and Hitchcock films like North by Northwest. This proved a real change of pace for me when I wrote it, as frankly, I wanted to write a novel that (for once) wouldn’t give my mother nightmares. As such, I strove to keep events at a PG level, even though it is a grown-up thriller with a strong, suspenseful narrative.
At its heart, this is a history-based treasure hunt tale, leading to a new lease of life for its bereaved protagonist, who has a mysterious compulsion for purchasing and cataloguing suitcases left in airports. I don’t want to say too much more, except that it also involves Balliol College in Oxford, the infamous “Galloping Gertie” Tacoma Narrows bridge disaster, and the head of Oliver Cromwell!”
Several chapters are now up on Patreon, and I’ll keep serialising this draft novel until it is finished. Afterwards, I shall start serialising another unpublished novel draft in my back catalogue. To read chapter one of The Balliol Conspiracy, click here.
I hope that has provided an insight into what can be done on Patreon, as well as enticing some of you into supporting me, if only out of morbid curiosity for my inept video updates. To find out more, check out my Patreon page here.
Me looking moody next to some of my novels, trying to hide how badly I need a haircut. Photo by author.
I have a new Patreon page, and I’d love you to take a look at it.
Why Patreon?
I’ve resisted having a Patreon page for some time, because of the begging bowl baggage with which I associate it. However, I believe I have found a way to give potential supporters back something of value. If I am serious about this full-time writer malarkey, especially with my ambition to land a mainstream publishing deal for my novels, I need to be realistic about the costs involved. My Patreon page is a means of (hopefully) addressing this reality. I lay out my writing goals over the next year in some detail, so potential supporters can see exactly what their contributions will fund.
What am I offering?
On my Patreon page, I offer various levels of monthly support (plus a link to a newly created Ko-fi account, for anyone who wishes to go the one-off donation route). Those who support me will get certain exclusives, including writing updates, video updates, film of the month recommendations, alternative cover imagery, interesting deleted segments, and early access to short story and novel chapter drafts (in some cases, a year or more ahead of official release). I’m going to serialise one (and possibly more) of my novel drafts, exclusively on Patreon, though my first literary preview will be for my upcoming ghost story, Vindicta (part 1 is already up).
I’m also offering the chance for Zoom interactions, either to offer my writing expertise (such as it is), or else to simply chat about books, films, and so forth.
Image by author (Cover design credits: Charles Bown, Yasmine Nuoraho, Denisa Trenkle, Simon Dillon).
Please do check out my Patreon page here and consider supporting me. If nothing else, have a good laugh at the video of me at the edge of Wistman’s wood on Dartmoor, in desperate need of a haircut.
(This is a shorter verison of an article originally published on Medium).
This month on Medium, I’m showcasing some of the opening chapters from my novels. These will be primarily from my gothic mysteries, though there may be one or two others. This week I feature the first part of gothic psychological thriller The Birds Began to Sing.
I wrote this novel back in 2012, and in all honesty, I think if I were writing it today, I’d open the book differently. Yes, I have a bit of satirical fun with the publishing industry, but I fear it comes off as a little petulant. Still, I love the book overall, and am proud of it. Here are the opening paragraphs.
Rejection is normal. Everyone experiences rejection at some time in their life, so there is no point getting upset about it. Don’t give up. Just move on. Tomorrow might be better.
That’s what Alice Darnell kept telling herself. Yet having her writing rejected again and again by agents and publishers was beginning to feel worse than getting dumped by a boyfriend. She had just received another rejection letter from a literary agency through the post, and every time she read one it felt like something inside her died. Her bedroom now had an entire wall plastered with rejection letters of one kind or another, all of them saying more or less the same thing:
Dear Alice,
Thank you for your sample chapters and synopsis which we read with interest. Unfortunately we don’t feel this is one for us, but we wish you the best of luck elsewhere.
Kind regards
The Publisher/Agent
Alice thought a more honest summary might read as follows:
Dear Alice,
I’m not sure why you bothered to send us your sample chapters and synopsis, as you are not an established author. Obviously, we didn’t bother reading it. You might want to try elsewhere and see if anyone is foolhardy enough to take on an unknown author, but don’t count on success.
Indifferent regards
The Publisher/Agent
Alice pinned the most recent rejection letter alongside the others, and glanced at the alarm clock at the side of her bed. Almost half past nine. She had a cold, and had already called in sick so wouldn’t be going to work. That meant a day alone trying to rest, recuperate and watch daytime television whilst trying not to feel too depressed.
From The Birds Began to Sing by Simon Dillon.
You can read the whole of the chapter here, and read my companion piece article on this series here. Alternatively, to purchase a copy of The Birds Began to Sing (ebook or paperback) click here (for the UK), here (for the US), or here, if you wish to purchase via Smashwords.
This month on Medium, I’m showcasing some of the opening chapters from my novels. These will be primarily from my gothic mysteries, though there may be one or two others. This week I feature the first part of gothic psychological thriller Phantom Audition, which begins like this:
What Mia noticed most was the silence.
She kept expecting to hear Steven’s voice, or the insistent thud of his feet, as he rehearsed his lines, pacing up and down. She expected to hear him on the phone to his agent, publicist, or to a director.
In the mornings, she no longer heard his absurd singing in the shower. His seat at the breakfast table stood empty. Mia would avert her eyes, unable to bear staring at the space he should occupy. He should be sipping his tea, scrolling through his phone, crunching his cereal… Silence chewed the room instead, like wind and rain gnawing an eroding landscape.
At nights, Mia would awaken and roll over, hoping to warm herself on his body. But Steven wasn’t there, and he wasn’t coming back. He had been replaced with the same terrible silence that screamed, clawed, and tore at her mind whenever she entered the rooms that still had his smell. The memory of her husband had stained the entire house.
Mia had always thought the mansion ludicrously big for the pair of them, but now more than ever she felt the size of the place. A curious unease lingered, as though the carpets, furniture, paintings, and ornaments had turned against her. She felt like a stranger in her own home, imagining everything around her glared in frowning disapproval. Perhaps her presence was a desecration.
One Monday morning a month after the funeral, the unpleasant sensation of feeling watched by the house became too much, and Mia yelled out into the silence.
‘It’s my bloody home too!’
The house responded without mercy, making every tiny tick of the clock an intolerable cacophony. Mia put her hands over her ears. She knew her behaviour was absurd, but the curious mixture of anger and fear that stirred within her had taken her by surprise. Sadness at Steven’s passing was to be expected, but she had not expected to feel so defensive or fearful. Perhaps bewilderment at the events leading up to his suicide by drug overdose still had her on edge.
From Phantom Audition by Simon Dillon.
You can read the whole of the chapter here, and read my companion piece article on this series here. Alternatively, to purchase a copy of Phantom Audition (ebook or paperback) click here (for the UK), here (for the US), or here, if you wish to purchase via Smashwords.
Apologies for the recent dearth of information on my writing. I’ve not posted anything other than film reviews on this blog for a couple of months, as I’ve been extremely busy – both working on novels (expect an update on those soon) and working on Medium articles. Regarding the latter, here are just ten highlights from the past two or three months.
Those of you who aren’t Medium subscribers get three free reads per month. However, if you decide to subscribe to Medium to read all my work (and the work of many others), please do so via this link, as it means I financially benefit from your subscription. Thank you for supporting my writing endeavours, and I hope you enjoy the following.
First, my apologies for the lack of Medium update in April. I have been exceptionally busy elsewhere, mostly writing short stories. However, here’s a selection of my more notable Medium pieces over the past couple of months.
Those of you who aren’t Medium subscribers get three free reads per month. However, if you decide to subscribe to Medium to read all my work (and the work of many others), please do so via this link, as it means I financially benefit from your subscription. Thank you for supporting my writing endeavours, and I hope you enjoy the following.
“A futuristic book about a post-civil war America. The east is ultra-liberal and the west is ultra-conservative. What I loved about this book is the detailed thought Mr. Dillon put in about what an extreme society would look like. In my personal life, I live mainly on one side of the aisle. The description of the other side’s extreme made sense to me. The description of the extreme side of my ideals was shocking. It made me understand what the other side of the aisle is so afraid of. Quite an eye-opener. I’d like to believe the proverbial “slippery slope” will never end in the extremes described in this book. And hope this book is a warning to us all of what could happen if we continue to widen the gap and refuse to compromise.” – Heather K, Amazon.
“Dystopian sci-fi with a high level of haunting creepiness that begets humans in some situations. Interesting character development and interactions.” – Aimee Gramblin, Goodreads.
“An extraordinarily imaginative tale, the supernatural infused with technology, love and hatred and an intense sense of dread and mystery. Thoroughly enjoyed it. I recommend you check out more of Simon’s extensive body of work both here and on Medium.” – Alison, Amazon.
“Simon Dillon has done it again with this gripping story full of intrigue and mystery. Characters full of emotions that a reader can invest in.” – AM Cummins, Goodreads.
If you enjoy my novels, please do leave reviews on Amazon, Goodreads, or wherever you picked them up. They are an encouragement to me, but much more importantly, they mean the algorithms show my work to more potential readers, which is a great support to me as an independent writer. Reviews literally help me put food on the table, so a huge thank you to everyone who shows their appreciation in this way. Even a one-liner helps (as you can see from the above), so they don’t have to be long.
I know I’ve not written a great deal of book/writing related articles here over the last month, but I expect that to change soon. I’ve been busy on a number of other fronts, including writing a new short story which I hope to announce here soon. Watch this space.
All titles are available from Amazon here (in the UK) and here (in the US). Some of the above titles are also available from Smashwords.
I don’t want to say too much about the plot at this stage, but here are a few titbits. As previously stated, it concerns a young journalist, who investigates a local mystery with links to her past in the fictional town of Hobbford. There are variations on a few typically gothic locations, including a large spooky house and a sinister forest. In the background of the narrative is an archaeological dig taking place on the site of a now-closed children’s home, following a major abuse scandal. The protagonist’s mysterious estranged uncle is also a key character. He runs an expensive mental health clinic for rich clients.
As for the title, it refers to Hobbford folklore. On a nearby hill, is the chalk outline of a giant figure, somewhat akin to the real-life Cerne Abbas Giant in Dorset (see below). In my story, local legend states this giant was sent by a witch to take revenge, after the witch in question was persecuted. The giant was slain, and the body supposedly buried inside the hill. How does this have a bearing on the plot? I wouldn’t dream of spoiling the surprise.
Credit: Wikipedia Commons. Nigel Mykura / Cerne Abbas Giant / CC BY-SA 2.0
What else can I tell you about the book? It took about three months to complete the first draft (working from a thoroughly researched and plotted outline I prepared last year), and in the process, the story became rather darker than I originally intended. Although the essentials of the plot didn’t change, I realised whilst writing that the subject matter and tone veered more towards the horror end of my oeuvre than I originally thought. I’d expected this to read as more a thriller, like The Birds Began to Sing. But it ended up closer in tone to Spectre of Springwell Forest, though to my mind not quite as frightening. Perhaps The Thistlewood Curse is my closest point of comparison, as that one also sits at the mid-point between horror and thriller.
Thematically, this story deals with hidden secrets, as with all good gothic mysteries. More specifically, it concerns what happens when lies are told and perpetuated, and how these lies act as a kind of black hole, sucking in others when they chose to keep silent out of fear and intimidation, rather than bringing the truth into the light. I didn’t set out to write anything particularly profound, but looking back over the first draft, I can see more, in retrospect, what must have been lurking in my subconscious whilst writing this: Lies and cover-ups, however well-intended, are never a good thing.
I will now be following my standard procedure of sitting on the novel for a while, before redrafting with fresh eyes anywhere between six months to a year from now. At that point, I will start the process of showing the manuscript to beta readers, and then think about publication possibilities. I’m excited about this novel and look forward to sharing it with you in due course.
Simon Dillon Books 
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