I’m thrilled to announce my horror mystery novel The Hobbford Giant is now being made available to paying Substack subscribers. It will be serialised over the coming weeks, but to whet the appetite, the first chapter is available to everyone. I do not plan to release The Hobbford Giant in any other format at this time. Therefore, for the foreseeable future, this novel is a Substack exclusive. Here’s a brief tease of what lies ahead, plot wise.
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.
The Hobbford Giant belongs at the darker end of my fiction. It opens like a mystery thriller, but evolves into a psychological horror story with (possible) supernatural elements in play. It explores themes of repressed memories, childhood trauma, and what happens when lies are covered by more lies. The tagline “Some secrets can claim your soul” feels apt, for reasons I obviously won’t spoil.
The first chapter of The Hobbford Giant is available to read now, entirely free of charge. Head over to my Substack page by clicking here. To read later chapters as they are released, and for full access to the rest of my archive on Substack (including several novellas, short stories, film retrospectives, top tens, exclusive videos, and more), upgrade from being a free subscriber to a paid subscriber at $5 per month.
What have I been up to lately? Here’s a brief summary of my recent writing endeavours.
Short Story: 35 Chestnut Terrace
A young woman tries to exonerate her fiancé of a horrific murder, but is he innocent?
This mystery thriller whodunnit, inspired by a Sherlock Holmes short story I won’t mention (for fear of spoiling both my story and Arthur Conan Doyle’s) has just concluded on Substack and Medium, having been serialised in weekly parts every Thursday.
Check out part one of this suspenseful tale on Substack here. If you don’t subscribe to me on Substack, click here to do so (or upgrade your existing subscription for the appropriate access). Alternatively, part one can be read on Medium here (this is a “friend link” appetiser, so should bypass the paywall, though you’d need to subscribe to Medium to read the remaining parts on this platform).
New Short Story
I’ve just finished another new short story, but it has yet to be tested with beta-readers, so it is somewhat under wraps at present. I won’t reveal the title, but it’s a dystopian thriller, set a few decades in the future, involving an Oxford university student whose unusual dream makes him a target of cultists and sinister government agencies with dubious agendas. This is sci-fi, but it also blends elements of fantasy, and arguably horror. Although a bit of an odd tale, I enjoyed experimenting with it.
At present, this short story sits at a rather bloated 18,000 words, so more of a novella. I may hack it down a bit as I can think of at least one character and subplot I’d like to excise. But on the whole, I’m pleased with this. The premise fits nicely with some of my previous dystopian short stories, such as those I included in my dystopian anthology Love and Other Punishments.
Patreon
I’ve also recently updated my Patreon aims (click here for full details). How did I get on with the goals I posted last September? Check out this article here. Accountability is important on Patreon.
I started my Patreon page a couple of years ago. This has attracted a small but wonderful group of people who believe in my fiction writing endeavours, and financially support my ongoing quest for mainstream publication. They are hugely appreciated, and whilst they provide ample encouragement, I’m keen to grow this branch of the Dillon Empire.
Depending on giving levels, these lovely people are named Allies, Free Citizens, or Knights of the Dillon Empire. All giving levels get my awkward video updates, like this one (which I’ve made free to view). Then, at higher levels, there are insights into my writing process, interviews with my characters, exclusive deleted scenes or bonus material, advance peeks at covers and artwork, and previews of short stories, novellas, and novels. I’ve also finished serialising chapters from my current draft of mystery thriller The Balliol Conspiracy and have recently started another serial of a draft novel, dark fantasy tale The Deviant Prophet.
I’ve recently released a new short story. Red Butterfly concerns a man grappling with repressed memories of abuse in a cult his parents were part of when he was a child. It’s a companion piece of sorts to an earlier short story, Aftermath, about a young woman returning to her estranged mother after leaving a cult. This brace of stories about coming to terms with leaving cults are quite personal to me, as they are in part informed by personal experience. But to be clear: both are fiction.
You can read both parts of Red Butterfly on Medium (here) or on Substack (here), depending on whether you have a Medium account, or if you subscribe to me on Substack (a mere $5 a month for unlimited access to short stories, classic film analysis, top tens, and my full film review archive). There’s a link to the second part at the end of the first.
My latest short story, Trigger Warning, is now being serialised in Fictions on Medium, and also on Substack, if you are subscriber. Here’s a “friend link” to the first part on Medium, so you can get past the paywall and enjoy a free sample of this four part satirical tale.
Trigger Warning concerns a future where a small but growing minority of people are being offended to death when reading contentious novels. The protagonist, a novelist who unrepentantly writes controversial material, finds their persective challenged when they become romantically involved with someone whose close relative died reading one of the author’s books.
If you enjoy what you read so far, why not subscribe to me on Substack? In addition to full access to my film review archive, you also get access to all the other articles I syndicate from Medium (film analysis, top tens, classic cinema retrospectives, etc) plus many short stories. It’s well worth the $5 per month, I think, so why not at least give it a free trial? Subsequent instalments of Trigger Warning will appear each Friday over the coming weeks.
Alternatively, for Medium subscribers, the story will also be revealed in full over the next three weeks. I hope you enjoy Trigger Warning, wherever you read it.
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.)
As you are no doubt aware, all my film reviews have now moved to Substack or Medium. I syndicate them to both sites, with Medium available only to those with a Medium account. However, those with a Substack account can access my film reviews for FREE – for four weeks, before they disappear behind a paywall.
This FREE option isn’t the only thing I’m up to on Substack. I’m also creating a mirror of my Medium account, which means for just $5 per month, you also have access to short stories, including horror stories like Crockern’s Curse or Once in a Lifetime, poignant dramas including Aftermath, satirical fantasy such as In-Between, satirical thrillers like Call the Number on Your Screen, and many others as I release them. For example, my dark fairy tale Window of the Soul will be serialised there over the next eight weeks, and new subscription-only material is added constantly (for one thing, I’m gradually transferring my entire Medium back catalogue, as well as releasing new stuff).
Your monthly subscription also gets you access to all the film essays, top tens, and other cinema analysis I write on Medium, along with access to the full film review archive, which doesn’t disappear after four weeks behind a paywall (unlike the FREE option). There’s also a try-before-you-buy option, so why not take a free trial of Dillon Empire on Substack? Click here and sign up today, as they say in commercial speak.
Thank you to everyone who has supported my writing by signing up so far.
Simon Dillon Books 
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