Tag Archives: Romance

A Novel to Offend Everyone: Peaceful Quiet Lives

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Credit: Denisa Trenkle

A new dystopian thriller currently playing in cinemas, Alex Garland’s Civil War, makes provocative speculation on the horrors of a second internal military conflict in the US. It’s a tense, gripping work, well worth watching, and my full review of the film can be read here. However, whilst Garland portrays the President in a vaguely Trumpian manner, the specific issues that might trigger a modern US civil war are deliberately sidestepped. Garland’s priority is to show a hellish conflict to be avoided at all costs.

Garland allows all viewers a way in by uniting Texas and California in the story, as the “Western Forces” leading an insurrection against the US government. With Texas and California sitting on opposite ends of the political spectrum in real life, this union ensures no one in the audience feels got at, regardless of their political views. It’s a smart move and works well for the film.

However, my 2021 novel Peaceful Quiet Lives is set in the aftermath of a second American civil war, in which two politically polarised nations on the North American continent live side by side in an uneasy peace. A satirical dystopian romantic drama, Peaceful Quiet Lives features secret lovers who find themselves at odds with the political powers of both nations. Unlike Civil War, it does not duck the political issues.

I wrote the first draft of this novel in 2018, during Trump’s first term, as I watched the so-called culture wars unfolding in America. Admittedly, I was watching from the UK. Some people have dismissed my book on that basis, suggesting I lack the cultural insight or objectivity to write about this because I’m British. I’m not sure that’s true, and to those who say this, I’d urge them to read my novel first, before judging it.

At any rate, these culture wars, whether social, political, racial, or religious, have been a division in America simmering all my life. In one sense, they are nothing remarkable in a Western democracy. However, in recent years, these divisions have become a lot more exacerbated. A militant tendency in the language and behaviour of both sides is remarkably similar. This militancy, fuelled by fear-driven social media, television news, and opportunistic politicians, has stirred up serious unpleasantness. The events of 6th January 2021, for example.

Although Peaceful Quiet Lives explores some of these divisive topics, it is not a political statement. My novel has no left or right political agenda. However, the central idea — regarding two extreme authoritarian states being two sides of the same militant coin — I thought would make an intriguing backdrop for a doomed romance. I also wanted the novel to be a satire of the worst fears of both sides in the US culture wars.

The first half of the novel plays on fears that the US could turn into an authoritarian right wing religious theocracy. This section explores (among other things) a world in which women’s rights are severely curtailed. For example, sex outside of marriage can result in public flogging or imprisonment. Abortions carry the death penalty for all those involved, and churches have far more political power. Some of what I wrote here in 2018 isn’t that far from recent developments.

The second half sends up fears that the US is headed for an authoritarian left wing state. This section takes place in a world where taxes are higher based on sex and race (white men are taxed more for being white and male), and Incel culture has become a serious terrorist threat. In addition, sexual consent has become a bureaucracy where a man can be charged with rape, even if his partner insists it wasn’t rape, if the correct online consent forms aren’t filled in at the time.

The novel isn’t so much intended as a warning against both scenarios, neither is it an attempt to lash out in despair at the current problems in America, but rather it is an exercise in absurdity. I hope the tragic lunacy of such a future is inherent within the text, and that as a result, perhaps the fears of both sides will be eased, just a little.

Such grandiose ambitions aside, I hope people enjoy the novel as simply a damn good read. I’ll admit this novel exists outside my usual horror-thriller mystery oeuvre, but I’ve explored dystopian tales elsewhere (mostly in short story form — here, for instance), so I expect I’ll dabble in it again, from time to time. I do hope you’ll give Peaceful Quiet Lives a go, even though it’s got something in it to offend everyone (by design).

By the way, the title derives from New Testament verses urging people to live a quiet life and mind one another’s business (in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4). The title is ironic since events in the lives of my protagonists are neither peaceful nor quiet. Nor are they left alone to get on with their private lives.

If you’re interested in reading a sample, the first six chapters of Peaceful Quiet Lives can be read on Medium (here’s chapter one). Otherwise, the full novel is available on Kindle or paperback from Amazon (here in the UK, here in the US). It’s a very different beast to Alex Garland’s Civil War, which is more concerned with the visceral horrors of actual war, but I hope you’ll consider Peaceful Quiet Lives interesting in its own right.

(Originally published on Medium.)

Novels Update October 2022

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Credit: Pixabay

Things have been exceptionally busy for me on multiple fronts lately, with ongoing articles on Medium, short stories, Patreon, and further writing opportunities that have come my way. However, I thought it high time I gave an update as to the status of the novels I’m actively working on, or actively showing to literary agents and publishers.

Ravenseed

This Dark Ages-set fantasy of love, lust, betrayal, and vengeance rather hit a dead end when I submitted it to literary agents and publishers earlier this year. I considered self-publishing, but my instinct is to hold on to it for the time being. I have a sneaking suspicion I’ve not exhausted mainstream publication possibilities. I suppose I’m disappointed by the initial response, but then again, the novel is quite unconventional in a number of ways. It has three points of view – one present tense first person, one third person, and one past tense first person, depending on which part of the story is being told (there are two additional framing device narratives in the present day, though the bulk of the story is the Dark Ages stuff). On top of this, the story is fantasy, with a hefty dash of forbidden romance, which genre-wise falls outside my primary gothic mystery oeuvre.

The White Nest (not the real title)

This gothic mystery thriller is currently being considered by literary agents, and I’m pleased to report some interest has been shown, so there is potential hope on that front. If I manage to land an agent and publisher, naturally I’ll break the news here, so watch this space. I should add The White Nest isn’t the real title. I’m hanging on to that information for now. Well, I was, until I accidentally let it slip in a video update on Patreon. So, if you’re a Patreon supporter you know the real title. Please keep it secret for now, like we discussed.

The George Hughes Trilogy (new titles to be confirmed)

I previously published what I call the George Hughes trilogy under different titles: George Goes to Mars, George Goes to Titan, and George Goes to Neptune. These novels are science fiction adventures aimed at the Harry Potter/Alex Rider demographic (and the young at heart) packed with interplanetary action and thrills. I’m very proud of them. However, I’m not proud of the titles they were originally released under, as in retrospect, it makes them sound like books for much younger children. Hence why they are currently unavailable. I’m retitling them, and also taking an opportunity to do a hefty redraft, to tidy up the manuscripts. These novels were some of the first I wrote, and having learned a great deal since those days, I want to bring the text up to my current standards. But the stories themselves have not changed. I hope to have the newly titled versions out by the end of the year, which is a deadline I may not manage, but I shall certainly aim for it.

I’ll add an update soon concerning the status of the various short stories I’ve worked on this year. It will include where you can read my latest ghost story, Vindicta, and my plans for a second short story anthology. Watch this space.

More Five Star Reviews

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I’ve recently had a few more encouraging five-star rave reviews for some of my novels, on Amazon and Goodreads.

Peaceful Quiet Lives

“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.

Children of the Folded Valley

“Dystopian sci-fi with a high level of haunting creepiness that begets humans in some situations. Interesting character development and interactions.” – Aimee Gramblin, Goodreads.

The Irresistible Summons

“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.

Spectre of Springwell Forest

“Great read! I enjoyed it immensely. The tension was great and I was engaged from the start.” – Jennifer Brewer, Goodreads.

Phantom Audition

“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.

Film Review – The Lost City

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Credit: Paramount

All you really need to know about The Lost City is it’s essentially a remake of Robert Zemeckis’s pre-Back to the Future hit Romancing the Stone. Yes, all right, pedants among you will baulk at the term remake. But whatever you want to call it — reimagining, revamping, reincarnation, reanimation, resuscitation, inspired by, or any other variant — the plot beats are pretty much identical. There’s nothing new under the sun, especially in 21st Century Hollywood.

Despite the lack of originality, The Lost City actually works reasonably well as a romantic comedy adventure. When successful but depressed, shut-in romance novelist Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) is kidnapped by villainous businessman Abigail Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe), it turns out she may hold the key to discovering the priceless “Crown of Fire” at the heart of the supposedly mythical lost city that inspired her novels. Her hilariously clueless cover model Alan Caprison (Channing Tatum), who has admired her from afar, sets out to rescue her. Accompanying Alan is his former trainer, a nigh-on superpowered mercenary appropriately named Jack Trainer (Brad Pitt). Amiable adventure shenanigans ensue.

What makes The Lost City worth a watch is the goofball chemistry between the two appealing leads. An opening scene at a book launch gone wrong sets the scene in agreeably amusing fashion, and the subsequent ineptitude of Alan’s rescue operation is full of laughs (some of which are rather ruined by the trailer, so avoid that if possible). There’s also a less successful subplot involving Loretta’s publisher Beth (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), and her attempts to track down her star novelist, whilst Loretta’s social media manager Allison (Patti Harrison), keeps tweeting to say she’s been kidnapped. All good book publicity, no doubt.

It’s all very predictable, with narrative arcs clearly signposted, even without the Romancing the Stone riffs. Will Alan turn out to be more heroic and capable than he originally appears? Will Loretta come to terms with the death of her late archaeologist husband and realise she needs to move on and enjoy life a bit more? It’s hardly a profound gaze into the depths of the human condition. Then again, although The Lost City fizzles out a bit whenever it cuts to Beth, and the jokes cease to land effectively towards the end, overall, the film might be just the tonic you need after the darkness of something like The Power of the Dog. I believe in a balanced cinematic diet, after all.

Directorial brothers Aaron and Adam Nee helm solidly enough, though ultimately this fails to match the film that so obviously inspired it. On the other hand, this kind of mid-budget, star-driven picture is increasingly rare in a Hollywood landscape dominated by superheroes. As such, it has a nicely old-fashioned feel, and mercifully doesn’t outstay its welcome. At a brisk 112 minutes, this is an example to the current glut of needlessly bloated blockbusters of how to get good entertainment value in a more buttock-friendly running time. Also, stick around for a mid-credits scene at the end. It makes no logical sense, but it is funny.

UK Certificate: 12A

US Certificate: PG-13

Film Review – Ali & Ava

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Credit: Altitude Film Distribution

Superb performances from Claire Rushbrook and Adeel Akhtar elevate this tender, uplifting romance from writer/director Clio Barnard. Set in multicultural Bradford, the film is also an inherent celebration of that community, and of how music can bring people together. It sounds trite on paper, but the film is warm, heartfelt, and surprising.

Akhtar plays Ali; a kindly, extrovert, energetic, young-at-heart landlord. Lonely in the wake of a mutually agreed separation from his wife (though they still live in the same home, in separate bedrooms), Ali finds solace in his dance music, having once harboured dreams of becoming a DJ. He meets Ava (Rushbrook), a classroom assistant, after taking the daughter of one of his tenants to school (in a lovely early scene, where he’s seen persuading her to go by carrying her on his shoulders). Ali gives Ava a lift home, and the two discuss their mutual love of music. Ava is into country and folk, which Ali doesn’t care for, but they nonetheless hit it off. This leads to a rather wonderful moment where they dance together, listening to their own tracks (a pop/dance track on Ali’s headphones, a country song on Ava’s).

Scenes like these are what elevate Barnard’s film above the ordinary. As a director, she weaves in a few subtle visual motifs; fireworks, for instance, which get more explosive as the romance kicks into high gear. Then images of those same firework explosions petering out, as the course of true love meets the inevitable challenges. In this case, Ava’s son’s angry resistance to the relationship throws a spanner in the works. He hasn’t been told the truth about Ava’s now dead former husband, who was abusive and violent.

There’s a clever cyclical element of the narrative, with events taking place over a lunar month (another visual motif). Another early scene, which is later echoed in a scene near the end, features Ava encouraging a scared child to get down from high up on a climbing frame. Since she climbed up, she can also climb down. The scene acts as a metaphor for the way angry, negatively charged situations in the film are often diffused by characters “climbing down” to deescalate the situation. This is Ali’s great strength, shown in another brilliant early moment when children bombard his car with stones. His response? He turns up the car stereo playing a track he knows they’ll love. They immediately stop and instead join in with the music.

All things considered, Ali & Ava isn’t necessarily going to change the course of cinema. Nor is it unflawed. There are a couple of awkward tonal shifts, and the plot is largely predictable. However, it is consistently engaging, buoyed by the strength and chemistry of the leads, with an inherently positive (though never preachy) message.

UK Certificate: 15

US Certificate: R

Content Warnings: Strong language.

New Short Story: Leave

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Photo by Loc Dang from Pexels

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.

To read Leave, click here. I hope you enjoy it.

Borrowing History in My Novels

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Many of my novels draw on history for their narratives, particularly the local history of where I live, in southwest England. Here are three examples of more fascinating historic footnotes that I appropriated, and massaged a little, for inclusion in my stories. The first two are from novels presently available, and the last one is from a manuscript I am holding on to for the time being.

The Dissolving of Buckfast Abbey (referenced in Uncle Flynn)

The facts: Henry VIII went about dissolving many Catholic monasteries during his reign. One of these was Buckfast Abbey, in the village of Buckfastleigh, on the southern borders of Dartmoor, which is a short distance east of where I live. The Abbey was dissolved by Sir William Petre, who in 1539, under instructions from the King, seized considerable amounts of gold which were subsequently taken to the Tower of London. William Petre later retired to the south-west. The Abbey was restored in the 1800s.

My fiction: In Uncle Flynn, the protagonist, eleven-year-old Max, and his mysterious adventurer uncle (who apparently has the police on his tail), uncover clues to hidden treasure written by a monk at the time of the dissolution. He supposedly took a vast amount of the Abbey’s gold, along with priceless Catholic library manuscripts, and buried them in a secret location on Dartmoor. This local legend is supported by William Petre’s supposed obsession with trying to locate this treasure that slipped through his fingers during the dissolution. It also explains why he chose to retire in the southwest.

Slaves of Lundy Island (referenced in The Thistlewood Curse)

The facts: Lundy Island is a tiny island on the Bristol coast, about three miles long and half a mile wide. It is sparsely populated, with limited local amenities, including a church, the Marisco Tavern, and a small airstrip where helicopters can land. Lundy Castle has since been divided into holiday homes. Electricity is only available at certain times of day, and there is no mobile phone signal (though there is a radio in the tavern).

Lundy has a rich and fascinating history, but one episode informed The Thistlewood Curse more than any other. Thomas Benson was an MP for Barnstaple when he owned Lundy in the 18th century. He also traded from the North Devon port of Bideford after inheriting a family fortune. His vessels transported tobacco, but he also kept a slave workforce on Lundy procured from convicts he was supposed to transport to America. After getting involved in smuggling, Benson’s misdeeds were discovered but managed to escape justice by fleeing abroad.

My fiction: Thomas Benson becomes Henry Thistlewood in my novel. As per real life, he secretly holds convicts intended for transportation to Virginia and uses them as slaves on the island. However, I devised the background for a ghost story: One slave, Jeremiah Adams, is executed with medieval barbarity after allegedly raping Thistlewood’s wife Cora. Whilst enduring death agonies, Adams curses the Thistlewood family line, swearing he will return to wipe them out.

In the present day, Henry Thistlewood’s descendant, Charles Thistlewood, son of Lord Alfred Thistlewood, mysteriously drops dead, having suffered an inexplicable heart attack. His wife Sally is an old friend of protagonist Detective Laura Buchan. Despite the doctor claiming Charles’s death is an open and shut case of tragic heart attack, Sally suspects foul play and asks Laura to come and secretly investigate, during Charles’s funeral. Laura brings along another childhood friend of theirs, paranormal investigator Lawrence Crane, who uses astral projection to try and discover the truth.

I won’t say anything more about the plot as I wouldn’t want to spoil it, but I will add that in my novel Lundy Castle is still occupied by the Thistlewoods, not divided into holiday homes.

Oliver Cromwell’s Head (referenced in The Balliol Conspiracy)

The facts: During the English Civil War, Balliol College in Oxford had its silver taken by the Roundheads and melted down for Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army. After Cromwell’s death, when the monarchy returned, Charles II had Cromwell’s body dug up, put on trial, hanged, drawn, and quartered. His head was placed on a spike in London as a warning against anyone who’d seek to overthrow the monarchy again. Here’s where the facts get bizarre: Oliver Cromwell’s head was stolen, preserved, and changed hands multiple times (at one point it was hidden stuffed up a chimney), before supposedly being buried in Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Exactly where is unknown.

My fiction: My as-yet-unpublished novel The Balliol Conspiracy involves the above facts, though I tweak them by pretending Cromwell’s head was buried in Oxford. I won’t say any more about the plot, as the novel is strictly under wraps, suffice to say it’s a treasure hunt adventure for grown-ups, with a spy thriller element and a romantic element. I’ve not penned anything else quite like this, and it took quite some effort to rein in my gothic horror sensibilities whilst writing, to keep the narrative to PG levels. But I was determined that, for once, I’d write a novel that my mother could enjoy.

Uncle Flynn is available from Amazon here (in the UK) and here (in the US).

The Thistlewood Curse is available from Amazon here (in the UK), here (in the US), and here (from Smashwords).

The Balliol Conspiracy will be released at some point in the future. Watch this space.

Writing Update: The White Nest

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With the exception of a couple of short stories, last year I took an extended break from fiction writing after finishing the first draft of a novel tentatively titled The White Nest. This story proved every bit as “personal” as Children of the Folded Valley. In fact, given the level of raw nerve jabbing involved, it’s safe to say I did something of a “Truman Capote”. What I mean by that is Capote was scarred to such a degree after writing his masterpiece In Cold Blood that he never finished another novel.

I am not comparing myself to such a literary giant, nor did I do anything as drastic as attend executions for my art, as he did, but the painful truth is that writing The White Nest affected me in ways I’m still coming to terms with. For some time, I wondered if my “voices” would ever return. I wrote a bit about that experience in this article on Medium. Thankfully I can report that the voices are back.

This year so far, I have written the first novel in a planned trilogy of fantasy stories that exist in the same Universe as my as-yet unpublished dark fairy tale novel The Faerie Gate. However, despite being pleased that I’ve managed to write another novel, I’m not yet convinced the quality is high enough to warrant being shared with the world. I feared the same for The White Nest, but having finally braved another look at the manuscript, I am pleased to report that is not the case.

The White Nest (I’m keeping the real title secret for now) is another gothic mystery, at least in part. It is also a coming-of-age story, a romance, a conspiracy thriller, and obviously it contains some strong horror elements. It deals in themes of complicated sibling relationships, parental fears, and false guilt. Reading it back, I can see why the process of writing it had such an effect on me, due to some of the painful personal experiences on which I am drawing. That said, I think readers will simply enjoy it as a vivid, gripping, page-turning mystery, which was always my primary intention. I think it might contain the best first act I’ve ever written. I can’t say if the ending is up to the same standard, as I’ve yet to reread it, but so far the signs are promising.

In terms of plot, The White Nest represents something of a departure from my previous gothic mysteries, in that the protagonist is male. I’m keeping the specifics under wraps for now, but I can tell you the story contains a full checklist of my favourite gothic tropes, including a sleepy south-west England village, haunted forest, eerie mansion, secret tunnels, dubious secret experimental facilities, occult secret societies, ghosts, demons, curses, mysterious disappearances, childhood memories buried by trauma, rug-pulling twist ending… you name it. You could even call this novel Now That’s What I Call A Simon Dillon Gothic Mystery if you really wanted to, as it is something of a compilation of my preoccupations, genre wise.

Here are some photographs of locations that inspired settings for certain sequences in The White Nest. The novel is predominantly set in Cornwall, but much of the landscape is based on the rugged North Devon coast. However, the first part of the novel is set in Oxford. One key scene takes place in Port Meadow.

Once I finish a second draft of The White Nest, I am moving on to a new gothic mystery, one that’s been gestating in my mind for some time. It is getting to the point where it is an itch I have to scratch, and I’m looking forward to developing it. In the meantime, I may well release a volume of short stories in the future, as I’ve now got quite a nice pile of these, and it would be nice to have them all together in one place. As ever, watch this space.