Over the next seven weeks on the blog, I’m delving into the seven short stories and novellas contained within my recently released Love and Other Punishments dystopian sci-fi anthology.
First up: The Thought Improvement Plan
The plot involves a world where thought-monitoring brain implants are standard employment practice. Here a man and woman conduct a secret workplace romance against company policy. Together they find devious ways to fool their thought supervisor by providing false brain metrics.
In a sense, this is a futuristic romantic comedy. The future in which it is set is certainly dystopian. It is also alarmingly plausible considering what is being discussed at the World Economic Forum, regarding potential brain monitoring for employees. However, whilst this story is set in a world where such abhorrent practices are in place, the focus is more on the central couple, Andy and Belinda. They meet one another at work, are mutually attracted, and desperately want to indulge in an old-school workplace flirtation, even though workplace flirtation is considered the height of political incorrectness, and indeed is strictly forbidden.
Andy and Belinda both have a rebellious streak, especially Belinda who is revealed to have significant criminal connections. But her criminality is not violent, nor is she interested in overthrowing their political oppressors through direct activism. Instead, she calls herself an “inactivist”, finding cunning ways to fool the thought monitors, and essentially covertly sticking two fingers up to the system. Andy is swept off his feet by Belinda, but in true rom-com style, their relationship gradually becomes more serious, and is ultimately put to the test.
The inspiration for this story came from the aforementioned horrors at the World Economic Forum. A few minor elements, such as the lab-grown food, also have their origins in real-world scientific research (in the story, only the mega-rich can afford real vegetables or meat, whereas every else is forced to eat lab-grown food). More than anything, the inspiration came from my wife, whom I initially met through a workplace flirtation. Perhaps these days, such a flirtation would be frowned upon. Had corporate thought monitoring software in place, it would have been impossible. I daresay I would have been fired – unless of course, we’d been as devious as Andy and Belinda.
The Thought Improvement Programme is probably the lightest of the stories in this volume, and as such I think the novella is a fine opener for the collection. You can read the first of the six chapters here, as a taster.
To order an ebook or paperback of the Love and Other Punishments anthology, click here (for Amazon in the US), or here (for Amazon in the UK). Digital versions are also available from Smashwords (and their various outlets) here.
I’m thrilled to announce that Love and Other Punishments, my new dystopian sci-fi anthology, is now available in ebook and paperback. To whet your appetite, here’s the blurb from the back of the book.
From the author of Children of the Folded Valley and Peaceful Quiet Lives, a gripping selection of dystopian science fiction novellas and short stories.
A journalist investigates a company manufacturing nightmare suppressing nanotech for children.
A civil servant suspects terrorists hacking the Driverless Vehicle Network and crashing vehicles may be an inside job.
A man and woman conduct an illegal workplace affair, finding ingenious ways to fool corporate brain monitoring.
All these stories and more in this compelling collection of futuristic satire, technological speculation, alternative realities, and melancholy obsessions. Includes The Thought Improvement Programme, Driverless, Bleed with Me, The Traffic Warden, Sweet Dreams, Apocalypse 1983, and Love and Other Punishments.
Some of these stories had previously been available on Medium (all except one are now removed), but three are brand new and exclusive to this volume. Two never-before-seen novellas of about 20,000 and 18,000 words each, and one new short story at around 12,000 words, have been added to the other earlier novellas and stories earmarked for inclusion. The total word count for the volume is around 85,000 words.
For the most part, each story explores one aspect of futuristic technology (for example, nightmare-suppressing brain implants for children), but is otherwise set in a relatable contemporary-ish setting, just a little way into the future. The stories aren’t bogged down in scientific theory but are much more about the potential repercussions of these speculations on humans.
Here is the complete rundown of titles, plus a little about each story.
Sweet Dreams
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.
If you want a taster of this collection, all five parts of Sweet Dreams are currently available on Medium, beginning here (each instalment contains a link to subsequent parts).
The Thought Improvement Plan
In a world where thought monitoring brain implants are standard employment practice, a man and woman conduct a secret workplace romance against company policy. Together they find devious ways to fool their thought supervisor by providing false brain metrics. New and exclusive to this volume.
Driverless
When terrorists hack the Driverless Vehicle Network, threatening to crash cars unless their demands are met by the British government, a civil servant begins to suspect there may have been an inside job. New and exclusive to this volume.
Bleed with Me
In the not-too-distant future, ghost sightings are found to be “quantum contamination” or “memory bleeds” that can be easily disposed of via scientific means. A quantum contamination cleaner becomes secretly obsessed with the unsolved murder of a young woman whose memory bleeds occupy his home. New and exclusive to this volume.
The Traffic Warden
A curious IT technician discovers a surreal, sinister truth about traffic wardens. I almost left this darkly comic tale out of the volume, but ultimately felt it made a nice a palate cleanser following the emotionally intense finale of Bleed with Me. Exclusive to this volume, previously available on Medium.
Apocalypse 1983
In a parallel universe, a Soviet Air Force officer holds the fate of the world in his hands. Inspired by the real-life 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident, in which Stanislav Petrov essentially saved the world from nuclear annihilation. Exclusive to this volume, previously available on Medium.
Love and Other Punishments
In a fascistic future London, a widowed salesman begins to suspect he has repressed memories when he encounters a mysterious woman. Exclusive to this volume, previously available on Medium.
To order a copy of the Love and Other Punishments anthology, click here (for Amazon in the US), or here (for Amazon in the UK). If you have scruples about Amazon, digital versions are also available from Smashwords here.
Here is the cover for my new dystopian sci-fi anthology, Love and Other Punishments, which is out this Friday (2nd June).
I’ll say more about the novellas and short stories in this compelling collection this Friday. In the meantime, to pre-order a copy of the Love and Other Punishments anthology, click here (for Amazon in the US), or here (for Amazon in the UK). If you have scruples about Amazon, digital versions are also available from Smashwords here.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been polishing short stories and novellas to include in a planned new anthology release. Akin to my earlier collection, Infestation: A Horror Anthology, this one won’t be horror but dystopian science fiction. The anthology will be entitled Love and Other Punishments, after one of the stories, previously published on Medium.
The volume is about 80,000 words long. Over half (around 50,000 words) will be new, exclusive material, consisting of two novellas and a short story never seen before. The remaining short stories and novellas have previously been available to Medium subscribers.
Most of these novellas or short stories explore one aspect of futuristic technology, but otherwise takes place in relatable settings a short way into the future. The stories aren’t bogged down in scientific theory but are much more about the potential repercussions of these speculations on humans. Some of them are akin to potential technologies presently being discussed in places like the World Economic Forum.
Here are the titles, plus a little about each story.
The Thought Improvement Plan (exclusive to this volume) – In a world where brain monitoring implants are standard employment practice, a man and woman conduct a secret workplace romance against company policy, finding devious ways to fool their thought supervisor by providing false brain metrics.
Driverless (exclusive to this volume) – When terrorists hack the Driverless Vehicle Network, threatening to crash cars unless their demands are met by the British government, a civil servant begins to suspect there may have been an inside job.
The Traffic Warden (previously available on Medium) – A curious IT technician discovers the truth about traffic wardens in this surreal, sinister, darkly comic conspiracy thriller.
Bleed With Me (exclusive to this volume) – In a world where ghost sightings are found to be “quantum contamination” or “memory bleeds” that can be easily disposed of via scientific means, a quantum contamination cleaner becomes secretly obsessed with the unsolved murder of a young woman whose memory bleeds occupy his home.
Sweet Dreams (previously available on Medium) – A journalist investigates a tech company manufacturing nightmare suppressing nanotech for children. “Sweet Dreams” refers to the technology involved, which the journalist comes to believe may be linked to an increase in suicidal tendencies among young people. Her investigations uncover conspiracies, cover-ups, and eventually murder.
Apocalypse 1983 (previously available on Medium) – In a parallel universe, a Soviet Air Force officer holds the fate of the world in his hands.
Love and Other Punishments (previously available on Medium) – In a fascistic future London, a widowed salesman begins to suspect he has repressed memories when he encounters a mysterious woman.
I shall be announcing a publication date and revealing a cover image very soon. Watch this space.
Whilst I carry on writing the first draft of the new novel in earnest (currently about 75,000 words in, closing in on the end of chapter 18), I’ve continued to be as prolific as ever on Medium and Patreon. Here are a few highlights.
On Patreon, I’m serialising the current unpolished draft of my psychological mystery thriller The Balliol Conspiracy. I’ve also kept up with my awkward video updates, and one or two other bits and pieces. Here’s a sample of what’s available to supporters.
Watch me awkwardly bumble my way through a writing update in a woodland, decidedly in need of a haircut, and sounding out of breath. Plus added snark from subtitles added by my eldest son.
I thought it might be fun to run a series of short interviews conducted with characters from my novels. First up, the protagonist of my most successful novel to date, Children of the Folded Valley. Here, I imagine him being harassed by a curious journalist in-between the events of acts two and three (which are alluded to in mysterious, hopefully intriguing terms, but not spoiled for those who haven’t read the novel).
This is a snippet of a satirical sci-fi comedy project I started fifteen years ago, abandoned, and am considering picking up again. It might wind up as a short story or novella, but this is a sample what I’ve written so far. It concerns an extremely reluctant alien invader, mired in middle management apathy.
The Dillon Empire lists the great director’s films in order of personal preference. (NOTE: There’s a link to the second part at the end, which in turn has a link to the third part at the end.)
You too can breed smug specimens of cinematic literacy. (NOTE: This is the final part in this series. There are links to all five previous parts at the beginning).
That’s a wrap for this month. Thank you again for all your support, and as always, a massive extra huge thank you to all my supporters on Patreon – Claus, Robin, Eric, David P, Steve, Emma, Sterling, Galina, Ian, Gillian, Yasmine and Ville, plus those who have contributed one-off donations on Ko-fi. Also, thank you to Ruth and Iain, and David S, and to everyone who has bought books, reviewed books, and promoted or supported me in other ways. You are hugely, hugely appreciated, and I couldn’t do this without you.
If you aren’t already a supporter on Patreon, please take a look at this link, which outlines my writing goals for the next year, clearly stating how much I wish to raise and why, and offering support levels of £2, £4, £8, and £25 per month, with different benefits at each level. Please consider supporting me, even if only at the lower level, as every contribution helps.
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.
I sometimes mention reviews for my novels received in places like Amazon or Goodreads. However, I’m thrilled to see a pair of great reviews for Spectre of Springwell Forest and The Irresistible Summons on Medium, by the excellent Arpad Nagy. Word is spreading, and soon my nail-biting horror-thrillers will take the world by storm. Or at least, that’s always the aim.
In the meantime, here are a few of snippets from these greatly encouraging reviews. First up, concerning Spectre of Springwell Forest, Arpad says this:
“A fright-inducing, panic-charged paranormal mystery… Putting the book down is nearly as impossible as stopping the horror the story reveals.”
“With each turn of the page, unease swims in your stomach, and your throat goes dry. The reader wants to know what’s beneath the veil and needs to see the truth revealed, all the while wishing the main character would relent in pursuing the mysterious secrets of Springwell and the abnormal behaviours of its citizens.”
“Creepy, dark, shocking, and spooky from beginning to end… Don’t forget to take a long look at the book’s cover when you’ve finished reading.”
Ah, yes. The cover. Anyway, for the full article, click here. On to Arpad’s other piece, this time concerning The Irresistible Summons. Here are a few of his thoughts.
“An unstoppable descent into a paranormal nightmare.”
“From romantic nuance and religious references, Dillon drives the story into dark places. Horror arrives in various forms, and all of them are unnerving and most frightening is the possibility of some of them being real issues we could be facing soon.”
“The story makes you think, unwind and rewind the implications of what is happening, and you quickly lose faith in which characters you can trust. Dillon delivers the right amount of twists and turns, none of which I could accurately predict, and one of them is a real “didn’t see that coming” doozy.”
Arpad’s full review of The Irresistible Summons is here.
To pick up an ebook or paperback of either of these novels, click here (for the UK) and here (for the US). Alternatively, click here to obtain copies via Smashwords and their associated distribution channels.
I’ve had a busy start to 2023. Whilst writing the first draft of my latest novel, I’ve also been posting on Patreon and Medium, as usual.
On Patreon, I’ve added a number of new insights into my writing, updates, and other exclusive bits and pieces for my supporters. For instance, they now have chapters three and four of my novel The Balliol Conspiracy, which I’m serialising the draft, pre-edited version of, as a special bonus for those supporting at “Knight of the Dillon Empire” level (£8 per month), or higher. The Balliol Conspiracy, which will almost certainly be retitled when I eventually decide what to do with it, is a romantic psychological mystery-cum spy thriller a genre apart from my usual gothic oeuvre.
For Knights of the Dillon Empire, here are the two latest instalments.
Bridge engineer Stanley Orchard goes to Heathrow airport to collect the mysterious left luggage suitcase he bid for in an online auction, only to become suspicious he is being watched.
Stanley Orchard goes to visit his mother, having picked up the mysterious left luggage suitcase he’d bid for in an online auction. His mother has some surprising personal news, and an intriguing visitor.
My awkward video update shenanigans continue, and once again, as per my December update, my eldest son tries to muscle in on the act, leaving various sarcastic captions as I spout about what I’ve been up to. I’ve had some supporters tell me they are patrons for these video updates alone, as they enjoy watching me squirm on camera. I shall continue to indulge their sadistic whims. These updates are available from the lowest support tier and up, so if you wish to become an “Ally of the Dillon” Empire, it’s a mere £2 per month.
Supporters on Patreon at “Free Citizen of the Dillon Empire” level or higher (£4 per month) get these exclusive updates and insights into progress on my latest novel, and my writing process in general. If you want news about what I’m up to, you’ll hear it here first.
Elsewhere, I’ve been busy on Medium. Herewith some highlights, beginning with the first part of this series I’ve just started.
That’s a wrap for this month. Thank you again for all your support, and as always, an extra huge thank you to all my supporters on Patreon – Claus, Robin, Eric, David P, Steve, Emma, Sterling, Galina, Ian, Gillian, Yasmine and Ville, plus those who have contributed one-off donations on Ko-fi. Also, thank you to Ruth and Iain, and David S, and to every one of you who has bought books, reviewed books, and promoted or supported me in other ways. You know who you are, and I wouldn’t be here without you.
If you aren’t already a supporter on Patreon, please take a look at this link, which outlines my writing goals for the next year, clearly stating how much I wish to raise and why, and offering support levels of £2, £4, £8, and £25 per month, with different benefits at each level. Please consider supporting me, even if only at the lower level, as every pound makes a huge difference.
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.
Happy New Year from the Dillon Empire. I hope you’re enjoying your holiday. Time to reveal some of what I have planned for 2023, writing-wise.
Firstly, I’m penning another gothic mystery novel. This one involves a young woman caught in a web of blackmail, but that noir-ish opening gradually gives way to potentially supernatural horror elements that creep into the narrative. I don’t want to say too much more at this stage, but I’ve already written chapter one, and I hope to have a first draft within the next three months. The finished novel should sit nicely alongside my previous gothic horror-thrillers, including Spectre of Springwell Forest, The Irresistible Summons, and Phantom Audition.
Secondly, I plan to make good on one of my unrealised goals of 2022 and publish an overdue second volume of short stories. This one will probably stay away from horror, but it will contain romance, science fiction, fantasy, dark comedy, and various other genres. Most of the stories have been previously published on Medium and one or two other places, but at least two stories will be exclusive to this volume.
Thirdly, I plan to revise and polish The Hobbford Giant, so it is ready to show to agents and publishers, should the need arise. I wrote this novel last year, so I’m ready to take another look at it, having given a decent interval of time for the dust to settle on my objectivity. I have a good feeling about this one, so watch this space.
Fourthly, I shall continue pushing my gothic mystery The White Nest (real title still redacted for now) with literary agents, in the hope of securing mainstream publication. I’ve had some encouraging noises on that front, but nothing certain yet. It would be great to get to the end of 2023 with something concrete.
On top of this, I plan to continue writing on Medium and Patreon, and I have one or two other platform launches I’m planning for 2023, which I’ll keep quiet about for now. As ever, watch this space. Thank you for all your support of my writing endeavours, and once again, Happy New Year.
This year has been an exciting one, as I continue to make sense of my new profession: Full-time writer. Some of what that has meant I won’t bore you with. The duller freelance assignments are hardly worth mentioning, though they help pay the bills. However, in this piece, I will review the goals from my New Year post and see how they compare with what I actually achieved.
This gothic mystery novel was top of my year’s writing goals, and I’m pleased to say I now have a first draft. Next year, I will look at the manuscript with a more critical eye, having had a bit of distance from it, and start to polish it up.
A dark and sinister tale to sit alongside the likes of Spectre of Springwell Forest, The Irresistible Summons, The Thistlewood Curse, Phantom Audition, and The Birds Began to Sing, The Hobbford Giant is set in 1997, and concerns a young woman, Mira, who gets a job as a journalist at a local newspaper in the (fictional) town of Hobbford in southwest England. Years earlier, a huge abuse scandal caused the closure of the local orphanage where her parents grew up, revolving around the man in charge, Gregory Barry. Although he was due to be put on trial, Gregory Barry vanished without a trace before he could be prosecuted.
Mira stays with her reclusive uncle Artemis (her mother’s older brother), until she can find a place of her own. Art is a therapist to rich clients. He lives in a large house and seems to have done very well for himself, but for reasons I won’t get into here, he is estranged from Mira’s parents, who are less than keen on her staying with him. Once in Hobbford, Mira reports on an archaeological dig investigating a local legend about a giant buried in a nearby hillside. What took place in the Hobbford orphanage rears its ugly head as the plot thickens, and Mira soon discovers she has a highly personal connection to the mystery.
For this story, I was somewhat inspired by the real-life Cerne Abbas Giant in Dorset, and the legends surrounding it. 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. What bearing this has on the main narrative has to remain under wraps for the time being.
Another writing goal this year was simply to continue with my Medium output. This I have also achieved, having published well over a hundred exclusive-to-Medium articles. Here’s a sample of some of my favourites.
Once again, I set myself the goal of restarting this film podcast series. And once again, this didn’t happen. My producer and co-presenter Samantha Stephen also wants to restart this, but our paths in life have rather diverged of late. Samantha is busy pursuing her academic goals with great aplomb (currently working on her Masters) and no longer lives nearby, so that’s part of the reason we’ve not yet pulled our fingers out on this one.
Has The Tangent Tree had its day? I don’t know. I hope not. I’ll talk to Samantha again and if there is any news, I shall announce it here. But I don’t think it’s fair to include this on my annual goals list next year when a new series failed to materialise two years in a row.
My writing goals for 2022 also included releasing another short stories anthology. This didn’t happen either, but I still plan to do this, ideally early next year. On a more positive note, I wrote a handful of new short stories this year, some of which I’m holding on to for the time being, as they might wind up as exclusives for the aforementioned anthology. Three others were published in Medium publication Fictions.
In-Between
Originally conceived as a supernatural satire, this evolved into something far more personal. It concerns a recently deceased man whose attempts to haunt his family are constantly interrupted by ghost politicians attempting to secure his vote in an afterlife by-election. Check it out in full here.
Sweet Dreams
A science fiction thriller set in the near future, about a journalist investigating a tech company that manufactures nightmare-suppressing nanotech for children. Check out part one here. (NOTE: Links to subsequent parts are included at the end of each instalment.)
Vindicta
A spine-tingling ghost story set shortly after the end of World War II, concerning a jewel thief and murderer whose past catches up with him whilst fleeing for South America. Check out part one here. (NOTE: Links to subsequent parts are included at the end of each instalment.)
The final goal in this year’s list was to keep pursuing mainstream publication. This I did for my grown-up fantasy novel Ravenseed; an epic set mostly in the Dark Ages. Alas, this full-blooded tale of love, lust, betrayal, and vengeance didn’t get any bites. I’m hanging on to the manuscript for now, as I’m hopeful I may be able to generate interest in the future.
However, more hopefully, I have had a certain amount of interest shown by literary agents in my gothic mystery The White Nest (not the real title – I’m keeping that a secret for now). Here’s a snippet of my agent pitch, to give you a taste of the plot.
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 in (title redacted), my 99,000-word modern gothic mystery novel. It’s also a coming-of-age romance with hints of the supernatural, exploring traumatic sibling relationships, parental worries, false guilt, 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 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 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?
As I said, I’m hearing positive noises, and have good feedback post-full manuscript requests, but certain details need to be ironed out. I’ll keep you updated once I have definitive news, so watch this space.
Other Achievements This Year
One of the reasons I didn’t publish a short story anthology this year is because I chose instead to focus on the rewrite, retitling, and rerelease of The George Hughes Trilogy. As I’ve explained elsewhere on my blog, this trilogy of sci-fi adventure novels were originally titled George Goes to Mars, George Goes to Titan, and George Goes to Neptune, but I decided to withdraw them because I felt the titles didn’t do them justice (they sounded too much like picture books for very young children). I also wanted to polish the manuscripts up to my current standards, as the first novel, in particular, needed a shakedown, having been written well over fifteen years ago (I’ve improved a lot as a writer since then).
I rolled my sleeves up and did a big push on rewrites. The new titles are The Martian Inheritance, The Titan War, and The Neptune Conspiracy, each of which I much prefer. I’m enormously proud of these three stories, and always have been (the stories themselves haven’t changed). I designed new covers too. As a result, I’m doing a big push on these stories at the moment, as you’ve probably noticed. I have also released all three novels in a special omnibus volume that’s three for the price of two.
Finally, I decided to launch a Patreon page this year, to help with funding my writing endeavours. I offer people the chance to support me at four different levels (Ally of the Dillon Empire, Free Citizen of the Dillon Empire, Knight of the Dillon Empire, and General of the Dillon Empire), and so far, I’ve had over ten supporters. I post exclusive material for supporters, including exclusive sneak peeks at covers, images, title announcements, and so on, plus early access to short stories and novel samples, writing updates, video updates, film of the month recommendations, interesting deleted segments, and more. At present, for Knight of the Dillon Empire support level and higher, I’m serialising the draft version of my thriller novel The Balliol Conspiracy (the title may change if it is ever released).
Please have a look at my Patreon page here and consider supporting me. If nothing else, check out the hilariously awkward video of me at the edge of Wistman’s wood on Dartmoor last September, in desperate need of a haircut.
As you can see, I’ve certainly been busy during the last twelve months. I’m taking it a bit easier throughout the rest of December, as I’ve been rather flat out this year and could do with the break. What are my goals for 2023? I shall expound on that further on New Year’s Day. Watch this space.
It only remains for me to wish you all a Merry Christmas.
Those of you who have followed my writing over the years will know I once self-published a science fiction adventure trilogy primarily aimed at the Harry Potter/Alex Rider demographic. They were entitled George Goes to Mars, George Goes to Titan, and George Goes to Neptune. I withdrew these novels from publication as they didn’t exactly sell in great numbers, but now they have been published again, this time with new titles.
Why the new titles?
After a bit of research, I discovered people thought the originals sounded like picture books for very young children, when in fact these are aimed at all readers. For the young and young at heart, if you will. Anyone who enjoys a great science fiction adventure, child or grown-up, will enjoy these novels. Consequently, the novels were retitled The Martian Inheritance, The Titan War, and The Neptune Conspiracy respectively, under the umbrella title The George Hughes Trilogy.
Are the titles all that’s changed?
No. Because my standard of writing has improved a great deal since the original manuscripts were written (as it should), I decided to give them a thorough polish before re-releasing them. I’ve removed lots of superfluous dialogue tags, unnecessary descriptions, redundant or repetitious passages, and in the first novel in particular, quite a bit of unnecessary political backstory that rather held up the action. These new versions are brisker, tighter, and frankly more fun to read. I shaved off about 9,000 words from the first novel (originally written in 2006) and about 5,000 words off each of the subsequent sequels (originally written in 2012 and 2014, respectively).
Rest assured, the stories themselves have not changed.
What’s The George Hughes Trilogy about?
I’m glad you asked. In 2005, I came up with the story of thirteen-year-old orphan George Hughes, in what is now The Martian Inheritance. He goes from rags to riches when he discovers he is the sole proprietor of the planet Mars, due to a land registry claim made by his ancestor. Because humans are landing on Mars, he has exclusive rights to sell plots of land to film stars, pop stars, former presidents, and other celebrities with more money than sense, who want to build Martian holiday homes.
Unfortunately, this makes George an assassination target, as other sinister parties covet Mars for themselves. George is protected by the Mars Trust, an organisation set up by his late ancestor, and by a mysterious secret agent called Giles. They journey to Mars together and uncover a sinister conspiracy as well as an alien threat. Along the way, they are joined by the spoiled but spirited Meredith, the daughter of a rich industrialist who wants to build on Mars. An action-packed, thrilling, twist-laden adventure ensues.
What about the sequels?
I originally intended the first novel to be a standalone. But the voices in my head wouldn’t allow it. I don’t want to get into spoilers regarding the sequels, but I’ll say three things about them.
1) The second novel, The Titan War, involves Titan, time travel, and parallel universes. It’s probably the most action-packed of the three and features a much darker, deadlier alien threat than in the first novel.
2) The third novel, The Neptune Conspiracy, still has plenty of action, involving Neptune, miniaturisation, and a lot of big twists. But at the same time, the focus here is on a more psychological, emotionally complex character arc for George.
3) I think the novels get better as they go along, so yes, I like the third one best.
They’re not just for children?
I’m very proud of these novels, and no, they are absolutely and emphatically not just for children.Along the way, some of the preoccupations present in my other novels manifest themselves, including themes of fundamentalist religious oppression, abuse of power, and the responsibilities of the rich. Not that I mean to be preachy. I wrote these novels with no loftier intent than to craft exhilarating, gripping sci-fi tales, with an emphasis on adventure.
There isn’t enough fun sci-fi on bookshelves in my opinion. It all tends to be very highbrow and serious. Despite their occasional darker, more serious themes, the George Hughes adventures are meant to be great entertainment for all ages. So why not give them a go?
Where can I buy them?
Paperbacks and ebooks are available from the usual outlets, including Amazon and Smashwords. By far the best option is to pick up a paperback or ebook of the omnibus edition, which contains all three novels at a discounted price of three for the price of two (on Amazon in the UK here, in the US here, or on Smashwords here). Failing that, the novels can be purchased individually.
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