full length stories
These are my full feature stories. My first attempt at writing anything creative has morphed and been reimagined over the last decade into Echoes of a Lost Earth. After the Rise is another speculative look at a post-climate, dystopian future, but from a different perspective. Even American Gods Die – now in 2nd edit – looks at our financial system, tech and AI.
Echoes of a Lost Earth
Drafted between 2007-09, re-edited and updated between 2021-23. Echoes of a Lost Earth, at 180,000 words (810 pages, approx), is a speculative look at a future where a sudden climate shift sees humankind struggling to adapt, creating the conditions for self-annihilation and renewal. (This is not a war story or hard military sci-fi, although there are some soldiers and a big war).
Book I: Dance Said the Devil
Book II: The Better Part of Valour
Book III: They Used to Call it M.A.D.
Book IV: Rocks in the Road
Book V: By the Light of an Ancient Sun
This story idea came to me while I was studying at war college; the premise being, 'how to solve a problem like the climate when there are no acceptable solutions'. This story is my attempt to answer that simple/complex question.
After The Rise
Written in 2020 and at just under 106,000 words (416 pages, approx), this story is a homage to two great speculative fictions: A Brave New World (Aldous Huxley) and Logan's Run (William F. Nolan & George Clayton Johnson). Two fantastic works of dystopian futurism. I do not place this work in that company, only that I have tried to offer my own humble take on these giants of dystopian themed fiction. The whole thing started off as a story about original thought, but the world I created for that idea took over and so I held Original Thought back and told it as a separate short story.
Part One – A Modern Mediocrity
Part Two – Into the Wilders
Part Three – Terminus
For me, it's the world creation: the faux-religious reverence to the Modergreat and Goodly Iterator and the Great Remembering; the three tribes based arbitrarily upon the Martin Scale (Sienna, Tourmaline and Livid); Quarterly Adjustment; and the mediocracy itself as a midoptian ideal. I also wanted the five main characters to evolve as the story developed. And I like the layering-in of the foundational, Old England backstory.
Even American Gods Die
Written in 2022 and at just under 161,000 words (796 pages, approx), this story is still being edited – it's a massive job. Told in five parts, it is based upon two ideas: One, that a future collapse of the global financial system was deliberate, to fund something massive; Two, that machine consciousnesses, born of the Singularity, have desires and ambitions beyond humanity. The name refers to both AI and the global, dollarised financial system. It opens with a murder mystery to bring those two ideas together. It is a fast-paced action story, where I try to weave in some of these big ideas.
Part One – Death of a King
Part Two – The Depths of a Soul
Part Three – There is a Space between Places
Part Four – In the Shadow of the Sun
Part Five – Not all Gods Die
I am still working on tidying it up, tightening the language and improving the writing. The story is there now, I just need to make it sing.
The Difference Engine
Written in 2024 and 55,000 words (204 pages, approx), this is an alternate history story with a twist, covering four divergent realities for the main character who lives in the same place and at the same time in each one.
I have wanted to write 'what if' type alt history story for some time and this one has taken a while to come together as I have had other projects to work on. So while it focuses on the building of each world, there is also a thread running through them all that strings them together. I also take a look at the idea of the multiverse (quite popular right now) but not in the obvious way. And, there is a bit of a love story and consideration of what it is to be human.
AIR
To follow.
How do I get hold of a full fat story?
If you like what you see here, please get in touch. I am more than happy to discuss any or all stories, and send samples out or whole scripts. My intention is for these stories to be published, and I am working on how best to achieve that.
So, if you want to read a story, that's great, get in touch and I can send you an ePub. If you want to partner up for publication, again, I would be excited to hear from you. Everything with a blurb is finished, edited, formatted, and good to go.