I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve completed the first draft of my latest novel. I typically write a new novel at least once per year, normally between January and April, having done the hard work of research, preparing character profiles, chapter outlines, and so forth, during the late summer months to around November of the previous year. It’s always a great feeling when I’m able to draw a proper line under the first draft.
What’s it called?
I’m keeping the real title a secret for now, but the working title was False Witness. I didn’t want to use that as a real title, considering how many published novels are entitled False Witness. Finding a unique title is very difficult these days and involves a lot of googling about to make sure it hasn’t already been used. Most titles cannot be copyrighted, so in one sense it doesn’t matter, but at the same time, it makes discoverability of my work all the trickier if I don’t come up with something entirely original.
What’s it about?
At the moment, the story is under wraps, suffice it to say, the 93,000-word manuscript is a nail-biting mystery thriller involving a prank that goes wrong. It also concerns a dark secret in the protagonist’s past that comes back to haunt her present. Yes, I know the latter statement could apply to just about any of my mystery thriller novels, but I’m keeping plot descriptions deliberately vague for now. I will add that this particular dark secret is unlike any I’ve written about previously, and it definitely ranks among the darkest of dark secrets hidden by my protagonists.
When can I read it?
Not for at least two years, alas. Why? Well, after completing a first draft, I generally put it aside for twelve months so I can approach the second draft with fresh eyes. In the meantime, I am about to start shaping the second draft of the novel I wrote this time last year; another gripping mystery thriller. With any luck, this time next year, agents and publishers will be mulling it over, and hopefully saying yes. That’s assuming they don’t first say yes to The Hobbford Giant, yet another horror-thriller mystery currently under consideration. If I get no bites, I expect that one will be self-published sometime in the autumn.
In the meantime, I have an equally exciting publication announcement coming soon, so watch this space.
I was going to pose with a death stare for Death Nest, but my wife ruined that by telling a joke.
Annual reviews can sound terribly self-serving, so the first thing I want to say in this one is thank you so much to all of you. Thank you for buying my books, reviewing my books, and most of all, I’m thrilled that you are enjoying them. Thank you for all your kindness and support all this year, and through many previous years. Things are developing slowly but surely, as I ease my way into this full-time writing business, and I have much to celebrate and be thankful for in 2023.
New Novel Release: Death Nest
The achievement I’m most proud of this year is the release of my supernaturally tinged mystery thriller Death Nest. It’s had some stunning reviews so far (as you can see here) and readers are finding it every bit as gripping as I’d hoped. It’s a huge encouragement to me and something of a relief, considering how personal this novel is to me (as you may have already read about here).
New Anthology Release: Love and Other Punishments
This year also saw the release of another short story anthology entitled Love and Other Punishments. This one had a dystopian science fiction theme, with seven stories, most of them exclusive to this collection. Driverless cars being hacked by terrorists, mind-reading software implanted in the brains of office workers, nightmare-suppressing nanotech for children, and much more are explored in a wide-ranging set of tales incorporating satire, thrillers, and even a touch of romantic comedy. For more information, click here.
New Novel First Draft Written: A Thorn in Winter
Another major achievement this year was penning the first draft of this new gothic mystery thriller. It involves a young woman initially caught in a web of blackmail, only to uncover something much more sinister when a tarot card reading links her situation to a decades-old unsolved murder case. I’m very proud of what I hope is a page-turning whodunit, and I can’t wait to share it with you all.
New Novel Rewritten: The Hobbford Giant
This horror-thriller I originally wrote in 2022. It was on my list to polish up this year, and this has been done. It is now being submitted to mainstream agents and publishers in the hope that someone finally says yes on that front (I came frustratingly close this year with Death Nest, eventually self-publishing it, and feeling thoroughly vindicated by the positive feedback).
Here’s a brief idea of what the novel is about, from my pitch letter to literary agents:
Is it sometimes better not to know the truth? This question lies at the heart of The Hobbford Giant, my 83,000-word horror-thriller mystery. Set in 1997, it concerns a young journalist investigating an unusual archaeological dig, an abuse scandal at a former children’s home, an ancient folklore legend, and a dark family secret that connects her to all three. The story also explores repressed memories, childhood trauma, and what happens when lies are covered by more lies. A tagline for the novel might be: “Some secrets can claim your soul.”
Against the wishes of her parents, Mira Webb moves in with her estranged uncle, after getting a job at the local paper in the southwest town of Hobbford. Her first assignment involves a piece on archaeologists digging in the grounds of a children’s home closed years previously in the aftermath of an abuse scandal. Their discoveries may shed light on the legend of a giant that once menaced the area, but after she experiences ghostly visitations, and the archaeologists start winding up in comas, Mira comes to believe an ancient curse may be at work; a curse to which she has a horrifying personal connection.
Sound gripping? I hope so. Hopefully, agents and publishers will think so too. I’ll keep you posted with updates on this next year.
I’ve written six short stories and novellas this year, some of which were exclusives for the aforementioned Love and Other Punishments anthology. Two others were released on Medium and Substack, the latter of which I branched out into recently. At this point, Substack is a mirror of my Medium output, with a free option for people who only want the new release film reviews (as you’ve probably noticed, I no longer host those here), and a paid option for those wanting everything. However, I may well start putting exclusives on Substack too. Here are the two short stories in question. Links to subsequent parts are included at the end of every instalment.
Aftermath
After leaving a cult, a young woman returns to her estranged mother. Read on Medium here, or on Substack here.
Crockern’s Curse
A young couple investigating a childhood mystery on Dartmoor are menaced by supernatural forces linked to local folklore. Read on Medium here, or on Substack here.
Other Achievements This Year
One of my long term projects is an epic sequel to an as-yet unpublished fantasy novel for children entitled The Faerie Gate (though that title will probably change). This huge undertaking is a novel I return to between other writing priorities, and this year I managed to write a hefty chunk, to the point that it is now about halfway finished. I hope to write more of this monster novel next year.
I’ve also continued to give exclusive early access to short stories, sneak previews of artwork, exclusive insights into my writing processes, video updates, novel draft previews (including serialised unpublished novels), and other material found nowhere else, on my Patreon page. I still offer four levels of pricing support: Ally of the Dillon Empire, Free Citizen of the Dillon Empire, Knight of the Dillon Empire, and General of the Dillon Empire. I’ve grown my support a little this year, so that’s encouraging. Take a look at my Patreon page here, for more information.
In short, 2023 has been a breakneck year, with lots achieved, and much still to achieve. I’m taking a break over Christmas, but as usual, I’ll unveil my goals for 2023 on New Year’s Day. Watch this space.
It only remains for me to wish you all a peaceful, restful Christmas.
(All images by author or created by author in Canva, unless otherwise stated.)
Seldom-seen relatives one only catches up with at Christmas can be difficult to buy presents for. However, most people love a nail-biting, page-turning mystery thriller. To that end, I humbly suggest my recently released novel Death Nest.
I’ve written about this novel a little on Medium, principally in this Orson Welles-ish faux-interview prank designed to intrigue readers (I interview one of the supporting characters). I’ve also written a lot about it here, for example in this piece, which is probably as close as I’m ever going to get to a baring-my-soul, personal essay-type article. In it, I discuss the real-life fears and traumas that metaphorically and emotionally informed the novel.
But if that makes it all sound heavy and depressing, don’t be put off! Death Nest is first and foremost a gripping thriller with a touch of romance, a smidgen of coming-of-age drama, and the odd moment of supernaturally tinged horror. There are also a few funny bits, and that’s important in any novel if you ask me, purely to provide contrast.
Here’s the blurb from the back of the book to give you an idea of the plot:
From the author of Spectre of Springwell Forestand The Irresistible Summons…
A nail-biting new mystery.
After his young son Ben writes a disturbing story about murdering a boy in a forest, widower Nick Unwin is alarmed by eerie parallels between his son’s behaviour and that of his younger brother Jason, prior to his inexplicable disappearance twenty years previously. This tragic past returns to haunt Nick when he sees an image of his long-lost brother in a newly released film.
Fearing history will repeat itself, Nick decides to investigate, along with Tanith, an old flame from his early teenage years, with dark secrets of her own connected to Jason’s disappearance. But as they delve deeper into the labyrinthine mysteries of their past, long-buried memories resurface. Nick is forced to face the terrible fear that has plagued him for decades: Was he responsible for the death of his brother?
A riveting coming-of-age thriller exploring traumatic sibling relationships, parental fears, and the misleading nature of memory, Death Nest is Simon Dillon’s most gripping novel yet.
If you want to try before you buy, the first three chapters of Death Nest are available to read on Medium in Fictions. Here’s chapter one.
Of course, Death Nest isn’t the only novel I have available for potential Christmas presents. I’ve also written other mystery horror thrillers, children’s adventure stories, dystopian sci-fi tales, and one or two other things. For a full list of my published novels, click here.
Death Nest is available in paperback or on Kindle from Amazon here (in the US) and here (in the UK). It is also available via Smashwords and its various outlets (click here).
In October, I published a new short story. Crockern’s Curse concerns a young couple investigating a childhood mystery on Dartmoor are menaced by supernatural forces linked to local folklore. A spine-freezing tale of supernatural horror, this proved very popular with readers of the Fictions publication on Medium (where it was published). It’s in five parts, but there are links to every subsequent part at the end of each instalment.
Check out the first part on Medium here. Alternatively, if you are a subscriber to Dillon Empire on Substack, check out all five parts there, starting with part one here (again, there are links at the end of each segment to the next part). I’ll explain more about what I’m up to on Substack soon, but the short verison is you can get all my film reviews there for free (they disappear behind a paywall after four weeks), or else take up the paid option of $5 per month and in addition to unlimited access to the film review archive, enjoy all my other articles syndicated from Medium, including top tens, classic film analysis, and of course, short stories.
My new mystery thriller novel Death Nest is out now. I’ve been writing a lot about it recently, from many different angles. Here’s a summary of what I’ve been discussing, with links to the articles in question. First though, here’s a brief idea of what the novel is about.
A widower fears his young son is cursed when he shows disturbing behaviour akin to that of his younger brother, before he vanished without a trace twenty years previously. Gnawing dread that history will repeat itself is inherent throughout this modern gothic mystery novel. It’s also a coming-of-age romance with hints of the supernatural, exploring traumatic sibling relationships, parental worries, and the misleading nature of memory.
After his young son Ben writes a disturbing story about murdering a boy in a forest, widower Nick Unwin is alarmed by eerie parallels between his son’s behaviour and that of Nick’s younger brother Jason, prior to his inexplicable disappearance twenty years previously. This tragic past returns to haunt Nick when he sees an image of his long-lost brother in a newly released film.
Fearing a repeat of history, Nick decides to investigate, along with Tanith, an old flame from his early teenage years, with dark secrets of her own connected to Jason’s disappearance. But as they delve deeper into the labyrinthine mysteries of their past, long-buried memories resurface. Nick is forced to face the terrible fear that has plagued him for decades: Was he responsible for the death of his brother?
The following articles explore different aspects of the novel and the making of it. I have worded them carefully to avoid plot spoilers.
This story is quite personal for me, as it has been informed (in broad metaphorical terms) by the sectioning of my youngest brother following drug abuse, as well as my own fears about the future of my autistic youngest son. The article above was slightly written through gritted teeth, as I’ve revealed a lot more of my personal life than I’m normally accustomed to, but I hope this provides some valuable insights.
Various locations in southwest England, as well as my home city of Oxford, were chosen as a setting. This article also touches on other research aspects, and some of the ways in which the novel was rewritten.
Here I discuss the initial idea for the novel, and how it evolved, including an abandoning of almost all the original premise, and the switching of the protagonist’s gender from female to male (my horror-thriller novel protagonists are usually female). I also mention other novels and a few films that informed the story.
The five-star raves are starting to trickle in! Check out some reader feedback here.
Death Nest is in paperback or on Kindle from Amazon (click here for the UK, and here for the US). It’s also available from Smashwords and its various outlets.
The first reviews for my latest novel, mystery thriller Death Nest, are starting to trickle in. I’m thrilled to tell you they are five-star raves! I’m extremely pleased readers are finding this book as gripping and entertaining as I had hoped. My fears that the story would prove too painfully personal (for reasons discussed here) seem to have been unfounded. I’m glad.
Let’s take a look at what people are saying.
“Once I started reading this, I couldn’t put it down. The mystique of the storyline drew me in and held my attention until the very end.” – Joseph M Zobel, Amazon.
“I couldn’t put it down because the twists and turns kept me on my toes. Dillon’s deep dives into characters, narrative, mystery, and intrigue kept me totally engaged. There were no lulls… I was sorry when it ended.” – Annabelle Colbert, Amazon.
“The perfect pre-Halloween read. A wonderful combination of dark and supernatural forces with moral dilemmas in life that we can all relate to, and a thread of romance that runs right through the story… Thoroughly enjoyable (if deeply disturbing at times) and hard to put down from start to finish.” – Saltram, Amazon.
If you’ve read and enjoyed Death Nest, please do add a review to Amazon or Goodreads (or ideally both). It doesn’t have to be long or eloquent. A one-liner saying you enjoyed it is fine. I seek reviews not to massage my ego (though obviously good reviews are encouraging) but because they are absolutely vital for independent writers like yours truly. Reviews mean the algorithms show my books to more people who potentially buy them. As such, reviews literally put food on my table, so a huge thank you to all of you who take the time to write them. It is so, so appreciated.
If you’ve not read Death Nest, here’s the blurb from the back of the book to whet your appetite.
From the author of Spectre of Springwell Forest and The Irresistible Summons…
A nail-biting new mystery.
After his young son Ben writes a disturbing story about murdering a boy in a forest, widower Nick Unwin is alarmed by eerie parallels between his son’s behaviour and that of his younger brother Jason, prior to his inexplicable disappearance twenty years previously. This tragic past returns to haunt Nick when he sees an image of his long-lost brother in a newly released film.
Fearing history will repeat itself, Nick decides to investigate, along with Tanith, an old flame from his early teenage years, with dark secrets of her own connected to Jason’s disappearance. But as they delve deeper into the labyrinthine mysteries of their past, long buried memories resurface. Nick is forced to face the terrible fear that has plagued him for decades: Was he responsible for the death of his brother?
A riveting coming-of-age thriller exploring traumatic sibling relationships, parental fears, and the misleading nature of memory, Death Nest is Simon Dillon’s most gripping novel yet.
Death Nest is available in paperback or on Kindle from Amazon (click here for the UK, and here for the US). It’s also available from Smashwords and its various outlets.
My latest novel, the mystery thriller Death Nest, has recently been released. Lately, I’ve been exploring different aspects of this novel, which as well as dealing in page-turning suspense also features coming-of-age elements, a touch of romance, and the odd horror moment (especially in the latter stages). It’s also possibly my most “personal” novel to date (as I’ve discussed elsewhere), with a variety of influences and inspirations informing the book.
Here, I want to share a few insights into the settings, research, and revisions that went into the creation of the novel. Beginning with the settings, I should point out that the town of Corthpothan in the novel is fictional, but slightly based on the real Cornish village Porthcothan. I visited this lovely area on the north Cornwall coast a few years ago with the family, at the height of summer.
Porthcothan beach. Photo by Zara Dillon.
If you drive past, it looks deceptively uninteresting, but if you walk the short distance along the sand of the small inlet next to the village, it widens out into a vast sandy beach. The sea has phenomenal waves, so it is great for surfers. The area is bordered by a spectacular rugged coastline that boasts caves and gorgeous rock pools. Some of the latter are great for children to swim in (if one is concerned about the ferociousness of the sea waves and strong currents).
We had a fantastic time here, but at the same time, the details of the area were carefully logged away in my mind, knowing they might one day make their way into a novel. As for other settings that wound up appearing in the novel, these include the lovely Bagley Woods on Boars Hill, Oxford. In fact, the opening movement of the novel features a variety of Oxford locations, including the King’s Arms pub; a real place, which used to be a regular watering hole of mine. The story also includes scenes in the Magdalen Street cinema (now sadly closed), and Port Meadow, which is another fabulous place to go for walks if you ever visit Oxford, especially if you’re a keen birdwatcher.
Beyond that, the sinister Darkfire Forest is inspired by a few different woodland areas in and around where I live in Devon. Of course, eerie, possibly haunted forests have cropped up before in my novels Spectre of Springwell Forest, but what takes place in Death Nest is a little different. Here’s a photograph I took a while ago that sets the tone for the Darkfire Forest.
Photo by author.
Much of my research for this novel came about from simply checking details about places I already knew, making sure I either rendered them accurately, or deliberately changed them (as was the case with the name Porthcothan). The novel also dealt with certain subjects with which I am already greatly familiar (film production, for instance). However, some more in-depth research took place into dark subjects like human trafficking and brainwashing. I also had to research pagan folklore quite a bit, which is where I discovered and adopted the name Damara for the ancient spirit that may (or may not) influence events in the story. But I also made up a great deal too.
The initial draft had a lot more overtly supernatural stuff included. I cut or greatly reduced much of this, deciding a greater ambiguity over such incidents was preferable. There are still plenty of spooky edges in the final text, and one can read the supernatural into the events. But at the same time, there are enough doubts and questions to leave such matters up to the reader, rather than forcing them into a particular perspective.
Death Nest is available in paperback or on Kindle from Amazon (click here for the UK, and here for the US). It’s also available from Smashwords and its various outlets.
Here’s another taster of my latest mystery thriller novel, Death Nest. This excerpt is taken from chapter 7; a flashback chapter in which the protagonist, Nick, meets the enigmatic Tanith, in his early teens. The excerpt begins as Nick is looking after his younger brother Jason, playing a game with him.
Created by author in Canva.
For the best part of an hour, we rushed along the stream, following the dusty footpath away from the village green to the south, running a little way uphill, parallel to farmland and clusters of tall hedges and spinneys. Along the way, Jason and I selected our usual weapons of choice from the various sticks that lay around, all the better to shoot the marauding malevolent aliens on the strange planet where we had crash landed. I threw myself more vigorously than usual into the pew-pew of shooting, and we would often take cover together behind rocks, trees, and bushes, looking ahead into the distance and blasting alien threats from afar. Sometimes we would attack. Other times we would be on the run. For Jason, it was exhilarating and fun. I enjoyed it too.
Ultimately, our game petered out, but we decided to keep walking. I knew eventually we’d reach a small cluster of cottages on our left that lay on the southern border of the Darkfire Forest. The stream continued south to its source somewhere in the woods, skewing right with the building site of Wally’s Wonderland in the distance, further up the hill. I decided this was where we would halt and head home for lunch.
More than ever, reality seemed heightened. The stillness, sweaty heat, glimmering sunshine dancing through branches, bouncing off the stream… It all fused together, slowing time down into a kind of meandering trance. Jason and I had enjoyed a boisterous time together, but now we ambled along the stream path in silence, as the cottages at the foot of Darkfire Forest came into view. They lay on the opposite side of the path, their thatched roofs and well-tended vegetable gardens gradually revealed as the path wound to the right. Absorbed in the hazy tranquillity, I halted.
That’s when I first heard the singing.
The high, clear, beautiful voice of a girl rang out across the stream.
At first, I couldn’t see her, but her song carried through the still air like a magic spell. I tried to locate the source of the music. My eyes wandered across the water, through a patch of reed and tussock, to the foot of a great oak tree. A young teenage girl emerged from behind the trunk, still singing. She wore a bright summer dress and held a marigold. I couldn’t see her face properly, as her long auburn hair hid her features. Almost ritualistically, she took the marigold to the edge of the stream and began to pluck at the petals, throwing them into the water one at a time. I watched in fascination, listening to catch the words of her song.
It’s over again, no longer together.
But dry your tears, they’re not forever.
Another comes, to take the rein.
The cycle begins again.
Earth, air, water, flame.
The cycle begins again.
We watched for a while, before Jason got bored, wandered to a nearby willow tree, and started to climb. I remained transfixed, staring at the girl beneath the oak tree, plucking the petals and throwing them into the stream. After about a minute, she turned and caught my eye. Bright blue eyes shone across the water, captivating me in their gaze. For the briefest of seconds, she appeared startled, but the flicker of surprise passed from her face almost immediately. She smiled, as though she were expecting me. A strange dizziness came upon me, and I stumbled where I stood.
The girl resumed her singing, continuing until she had finished plucking the petals. She discarded the stalk with the final note, staring across the water towards me. I remained arrested in the dreamlike stillness, sensing something had taken place between us, though I didn’t know what.
‘I’m Tanith,’ the girl said.
‘Nick,’ I replied. I indicated my brother, who was busy climbing the willow tree. ‘That’s Jason.’
Tanith’s eyes made a brief dart in Jason’s direction, before snapping back to me.
‘How old are you?’
‘Fourteen. How old are you?’
‘Fifteen. Come over here a moment.’
‘Why?’
‘I want to ask you something, but I want to whisper.’
Too intrigued to refuse, I made my way down the bank to a rocky place in the stream. The crossing was easy enough, but I took more care than usual, not wanting to trip and fall in the water, thus embarrassing myself in front of Tanith.
Whilst climbing the bank on the other side, I again became acutely aware of the bubbling stream, still air, hazy heat, distant birdsong… It all blended like a peculiar enchantment. I couldn’t take my eyes off Tanith and wondered at how she drew me in like a fish on a hook. Suddenly self-conscious, I turned away, staring determinedly at the grass, the reeds, and back across to Jason, busy having fun in the willow tree.
‘Look at me,’ Tanith said.
Her tone was commanding, but beguiling. She appraised me, and I felt uncomfortable, as though I were standing before her naked.
Presently, she nodded. ‘Scruffy, a bit smelly, but you’ve got kind eyes. I think you’re safe.’
‘Safe?’
‘I can tell straight away if people are safe. It’s a gift. My grandma taught me how to do it. Look into a person’s eyes and see inside their soul.’
Tanith was certainly beautiful, but all this weirdness started to annoy me. ‘Look, what did you drag me across here for?’
‘I wanted to ask you a question.’
‘What question?’
Tanith leaned closer. My heart began to speed up, and once again I felt dizzy. For one thrilling, terrifying second, I thought she was going to kiss me. But then she placed her mouth close to my ear and whispered.
Death nest, Simon dillon, 2023.
Want know what Tanith whispered to Nick? Check out Death Nest, which is out now in paperback or on Kindle from Amazon (click here for the UK, and here for the US). It’s also available from Smashwords and their various outlets.
What inspired, influenced, or otherwise informed my latest novel, Death Nest? It has a strange history. I’ve already spoken on this blog about how intensely personal the book is on a metaphorical level, but whilst the novel frames this by exploring traumatic sibling relationships, parental fears, and the misleading nature of memory, the genesis of the story itself came from an altogether different source.
A cursory glance at my scribbled notes informs me the first time I conceived this story was in early 2019, but the premise is rather different. At that point, the working title was simply Film Censor and the protagonist was female. She worked at the British Board of Film Classification in London (BBFC), where films are given certificates (U, PG, 12A, 15, and 18). Here, she views a film that features an image of what appears to be a young girl who mysteriously vanished during her childhood. How has the director managed to capture this young girl on film? Is it a ghost? Or someone who simply looks like her?
Remarkably, this premise is almost identical to the film Censor, which came out in cinemas a couple of years later (though that film takes a very different turn from what I would have done with my story). I ditched the idea of making the protagonist work for the BBFC, as unlike Censor, my story wasn’t really about the issues around film censorship. Instead, I had the protagonist be a member of the general public who sees this image of her childhood friend at a public screening in the cinema. But at this point, the story went in an entirely different direction to what happens in the final version of Death Nest. I won’t say what else was in my original outline, as I may explore the subsequent plot threads in another novel at a later date.
However, when I had the dream I discussed in this article, the idea for the book radically changed. After a long period of reflection, I ditched everything except the idea that the protagonist sees the image of what appears to be a ghost at a cinema screening. The rest of the story was built from scratch, and it became a much more intensely personal work, focused on coming-of-age elements in flashbacks, and the more sinister revelations that come to light in the second half of the novel. At a certain point, I broke with tradition and switched the protagonist’s gender to male. All my other novels in the gothic mystery horror-thriller tradition feature female protagonists.
With a radically new plot outline, character profiles, and so forth, I proceeded to write the first draft in early 2020, with the working title The White Nest. Afterwards, I changed that title to Death Rattle, which eventually became Death Nest. As I’ve written about elsewhere, after completing the first draft, I set the manuscript aside for a long time, and the subsequent to-ing and fro-ing between beta readers in which the final draft was shaped isn’t worth recounting in detail here.
Perhaps unusually, the tales that informed this novel aren’t necessarily supernatural thrillers or horror stories. Instead, the influences were an eclectic bunch ranging from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens to (bizarrely) films like romantic comedy Adventureland. Obviously, my novel bears no resemblance to the latter, but it does feature a somewhat second-rate theme park as a setting, like that film. As for the Dickens classic, themes of thwarted adolescent love are in my story too, though the object of my protagonist’s affection, although enigmatic, is certainly not cruel like Estella. Elsewhere, the brainwashing elements present in A Clockwork Orange, The Manchurian Candidate, and The Parallax View also lingered in the back of my mind while writing.
Death Nestis out now. Here’s the blurb from the back of the book:
From the author of Spectre of Springwell Forest and The Irresistible Summons…
A nail-biting new mystery.
After his young son Ben writes a disturbing story about murdering a boy in a forest, widower Nick Unwin is alarmed by eerie parallels between his son’s behaviour and that of his younger brother Jason, prior to his inexplicable disappearance twenty years previously. This tragic past returns to haunt Nick when he sees an image of his long-lost brother in a newly released film.
Fearing history will repeat itself, Nick decides to investigate, along with Tanith, an old flame from his early teenage years, with dark secrets of her own connected to Jason’s disappearance. But as they delve deeper into the labyrinthine mysteries of their past, long buried memories resurface. Nick is forced to face the terrible fear that has plagued him for decades: Was he responsible for the death of his brother?
A riveting coming-of-age thriller exploring traumatic sibling relationships, parental fears, and the misleading nature of memory, Death Nest is Simon Dillon’s most gripping novel yet.
Get your copy today! Available in paperback or on Kindle from Amazon (click here for the UK, and here for the US). It’s also available from Smashwords and their various outlets.
My mystery thriller novel Death Nesthas recently been published. With all the will-readers-like-it anxiety that comes with a new release, this one particularly has my stomach in knots, as it is one of my most “personal” novels. Written in early 2020, I experienced an unusually intense time getting it on the page, in a way that hasn’t happened with any other novel. This one felt painful to write, and by the end, I was exhausted, emotionally drained, and didn’t even care if the manuscript was any good.
In the aftermath, for the first time ever, I found myself unable to write fiction. The voices in my head, normally yelling over each other to be heard, fell silent. It was frightening. I was worried I’d done a Truman Capote and wouldn’t be able to write anything of significance ever again. This lasted for the rest of 2020, and when I finally got back on the horse the following year, I was terrified. Could I write another novel?
Thankfully, I could. In retrospect, certain other factors besides those I’m about to discuss doubtless contributed to my inability to write in 2020. A global pandemic and redundancy from a day job in television I’d held for over twenty years will do that for you. Nonetheless, Death Nest (or The White Nest as it was tentatively titled in those days) carried a lot of personal baggage. When I finally reread the manuscript, it was much better than I remembered, and whilst I could see a fair bit of raw nerve jabbing in the story, for anyone else reading, I suspected they wouldn’t detect the same anguish. Instead, I hoped they’d think of it purely as a nail-biting mystery with hints of the supernatural, akin to previous novels I’d published, like Spectre of Springwell Forest and The Irresistible Summons.
Of course, describing a novel as “personal” is a little silly, as I consider all my fiction writing personal in some way. At the same time, I would be foolish not to acknowledge when a story is more directly rooted in personal experience. Children of the Folded Valley, my most successful book to date by far, was previously the most “personal” of my novels, as it is directly informed by some of my own experiences. In contrast, Death Nest is every bit as personal, if not more so, but not on a literal level. It is personal on a metaphorical, emotional level.
What’s it about?
The narrative concerns a widower who fears his young son is cursed when he shows disturbing behaviour akin to that of the widower’s younger brother, before he vanished without a trace in a supposedly haunted forest, twenty years previously. In fact, the protagonist, Nick, thinks there’s been a curse on his entire family ever since his late entrepreneur father developed land considered sacred in pagan folklore into a theme park.
The novel flashes back to coming-of-age incidents in Nick’s early teenage years, including his first love. Several mysterious incidents feed into the subsequent narrative, including the baffling disappearance of Nick’s younger brother. Nick has felt a weight of guilt and responsibility for years, as he was in the forest with his brother when he vanished, but has no memory of what took place, beyond a vivid recollection of fleeing the forest in terror, covered in blood and bruises.
Why is this one so personal?
Fears that Nick’s young son will end up likewise being lost are at the core of why this novel is personal to me. Time to grit my teeth and tell you the personal stuff: My youngest brother, ten years my junior, went on a deep dive into drugs during his mid-teens. He got worse and worse, and wound up being diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. My parents had to have him sectioned in late 2005. They had no choice, as he’d come to believe they were trying to kill him, and he was living in their coal shed with a plastic bin bag of items that weren’t “contaminated”.
Seeing this happen to my beloved younger brother, with whom I had once been so close, was distressing beyond my ability to put into words. His “disappearance” in this respect has often felt worse than death. I have grieved him many times, and also felt a sense of guilt over it for complicated reasons. For instance, I wonder if my partying days as a teenager (which didn’t involve drugs) were something to which he aspired. In my darkest moments, I ask painful questions: Was my love for drug-addled bands like The Prodigy a bad influence? Was I wrong to show him Trainspotting, a film I thought condemned drug use, but that he later claimed turned him on to drugs?
Flash-forward several years, to 2019. In my youngest son, I see eerie parallels to my youngest brother. He is sharp, quick-witted, and shares the dark sense of humour my brother had at the same age. He is incredibly clever, just like my brother was before his brain was destroyed by drugs. Complicating matters, my youngest son has an autism diagnosis, and is struggling in many respects, in school (with school culture rather than academically), in self-esteem, and socially. I sense the walls of a world hostile to the neuro-diverse moving in to crush him, and I am powerless to help.
An upsetting dream proved a catalyst for the novel
Whilst on holiday that summer, I had a vivid and profoundly upsetting dream. This dream appears, in a slightly modified form, in the novel. I saw my youngest son as an old man, holding the toy dinosaur we’d bought him that holiday, which he loved. In the dream, I know that my wife and I, and his older brother, are all long since dead. I saw him alone, with no wife, children, relatives, or friends. He sat in a room filled with packed boxes, and an orderly from an old person’s home arrived to take him away. My son put down the toy dinosaur on his chair as he stood. The orderly asked if he wanted to bring it, but my son shook his head, saying he didn’t need it anymore. The last connection with the halcyon days where he shared in the love and laughter of our family had been severed.
I awoke from this dream. It was early, and everyone else was still asleep. I took a shower, then curled up in the corner as the water ran, overwhelmed with grief. Everything collided in my head; the grief of what had happened to my younger brother, and the anguish I felt at this vision of a possible future for my youngest son. I didn’t necessarily expect my son to get into drugs, but I feared he would wind up in a future where he was completely alone. It was unbearable. I daresay anyone who loves their child would feel the same.
The upshot
When I wrote Death Nest, it was an exorcism of sorts; a cathartic exercise in turning these complicated emotions — grief over my brother, fear for my son — into a page-turning mystery. As I indicated earlier, I hoped that the anguish in which this story was conceived would not register with those who read the novel. So far, that appears to be the case, as not only was the beta-reader feedback for Death Nest overwhelmingly positive, but it was taken exactly how I had hoped, as a gripping and sinister thriller.
I hope you’ll forgive me for being so personal in this article. I wanted to provide a glimpse into what was ultimately a positive experience that helped me come to terms with some of these complicated feelings concerning my brother and my son. I don’t pretend to be a psychiatrist, and I know everyone will approach such personal matters differently based on personality, temperament, upbringing, culture, and so on. However, writing fiction is a powerful tool that has helped me process a lot of difficult feelings and events. I’m sure I’m not alone in experiencing this.
I hope this has been insightful. My novel Death Nest is out now in paperback or on Kindle from Amazon (click here for the UK, and here for the US). It’s also available from Smashwords and their various outlets.
NOTE: This article originally appeared in The Writing Cooperative on Medium.
Simon Dillon Books 