A Decent Man

Set in 2025, Luke steps in to help a young woman getting harassed in a club, only to be brutally beaten up for his troubles, before a video of his heroics goes viral and he becomes a role model to millions. It should be a happy ending, but Luke soon tires of being labelled a “Decent Man” and after a drunken online rant, where he declares that “he will no longer be dating women”, he unwittingly starts a male empowerment movement. Now aided by Vaughan 2Lose, a middle-aged podcaster, he founds Mithras, while media mogul, Alex McDonald and self-styled conscience of London, Jake O’Callaghan join forces to plot his downfall. Despite this, armies of men now follow Luke’s new creed of “emotional self-sufficiency freed from the constraints of the female gaze” and after “No women February” and “The Summer of Bruv”, it seems that Mexit (male exit) is fast becoming the new reality and 200,000 years of romance may be coming to an end. Or is it? Conspiracies, bomb plots and an accidental orgy all follow, while a chance meeting in the street causes further complications until Luke reaches a final conclusion.

End Of Times

End of Times emanates from a voice from another time, in fact, the end of time. It tells an epic story over hundreds of years in classic science fiction fashion, which encompasses religious beliefs, potential dystopian futures, space, and time travel, and addresses eternal questions such as who we are, what is our purpose, what do we want, what is good and evil, is there a god and so on. It offers the reader a rollercoaster ride which expands to different time zones and multiverses, and it examines what reality actually is. Is there hope for humankind? Is there a connected plan to life, and if so, what is it? End of Times takes the reader on a compelling journey which begins with one single disembodied voice from the end of time. I listened to it, and this is its story.

Ground

In an England shattered almost beyond repair by the Great Catastrophe and the war that followed, Mark Norman is brought up in one of a few fertile Grounds, Grounds surrounded by land that is, at best, liable to cause sterility and, at worst, to be lethal to all who venture into it. His doubts about the truth of what he is taught increase and when duty calls him to sterile service in the Domain, ruled by a sterile but near-immortal nobility, he flees to the Outland, the land where rebels have maintained a fragile truce with the Domain for more than 200 years. His flight is a catalyst, provoking violent reactions on both sides. In the chaos that follows, his recall of vital information acquired in his escape determines the future that is unfolding.

Marsupial Tracks

As a jaded regular in the city’s underground music scene, the only thing that mattered to Jacob Blythe was punk rock. When the arrival of a mysterious girl tempts him into seeing a vision of the world that exists beyond the confines of his cosmic nihilism, Jacob finds himself helpless to resist it.

Now, sitting alone in an unfamiliar train station, and possessing no memory of how he got there, Jacob has no choice but to piece together the scattered remnants of this fractured past before he is consumed by the sinister creature chasing him.

With time running out and one of the greatest punk bands of all time about to take the stage, Jacob has only one chance to discover the answers to life’s most complicated questions.

If only he and his friends hadn’t drunk so much first…

East

In East, society has abolished money, property ownership, names, gender, marriage, and religion, and is controlled by a ruling class. A392 must navigate this dystopian world, full of propaganda and a poor citizen score, while questioning the belief in this system that has been instilled since birth. Along the way, A392 encounters the Silencers, suspicious citizens, and a mysterious owl, ultimately leading to a journey that delves into the importance of individual freedom and the right to think and live freely without government interference.

The Kindling Chronicle

A man was driving a lorry when it broke down. He got out of the cab to see if he could repair the lorry when a massive blast overturned it and rendered him unconscious. When he awoke, the world was on fire and he found some shelter in a partially ruined building. He remained there for some days before finally walking away to try to find other survivors.

He found a small family and helped them in their difficulties. He realised then that his future mission in life was to find more survivors and help them as much as possible.

The Narrative

What happens when a child is never told “No”?

What happens when politicians are never told “No”?

What happens when politicians lie, manipulate and trick you into saying “Yes”?

An existence created for the centralisation of absolute power, sold to the masses under the promise of an impossible ideal, elimination of offence of any kind and of any type. Noble in its outset but eventually leaving a personal existence devoid of virtually any meaning.

Leaving places, roads and indeed people without names and the truth hidden and warped for the endless, narcissistic pursuit of unaccountable power, where life itself is of no value to those owning it.

In this existence of total neutrality and equity of outcome for all, a dream tugs at a lost and tired soul, continuously trying to create a spark that ignites the flame of freedom. But where does it come from? What is its meaning? What is this thing called freedom?

Who will stand and fight for that freedom? Who will take on the heart of absolute power, being not only the politicians but The Narrative itself?

It is irrelevant if you believe The Narrative, because like everyone else, you belong to it…

Soot

Soot is a powerful and secretive substance.

Little is known of the crystal’s origins, but its multiple uses make it the most expensive commodity in the country. A commodity on which New Chimera was built.

New Chimera is a steampunk metropolis separated by wealth into two ringed districts, with the only consistent links between them being the secrets and corruption that flow like water, fuelled by its dictatorial ruling family, the Flintlocks.

The only people able to travel freely (although illegally) through the districts are the varied street gangs who battle for truth, liberty and survival on a daily basis.

Red is the newest resident of New Chimera, after spending his formative years in one of the city’s many orbiting orphanages, where the unexplained death of his brother alienated him entirely.

After falling in debt to a gang of underground freedom fighters, Red must fight, steal and possibly kill his way to not only uncover the answer to his brother’s death but also the true origins of New Chimera’s wealth and the terrifying link between the two.