Hi everyone, I will be participating in a live author reading at Black Rock Books as part of the Horror Writers’ Association Connecticut Chapter. The bookstore is located in the Black Rock neighborhood of Bridgeport, CT on Fairfield Avenue. The event starts at 6:30 PM and features authors Edward Ahern, Gevera Bert Piedmont, and Jackson Kuhl. Hope to see you there!
I’m excited yet humbled to announce the publication of A Silent Dystopia: Stories Of A Quiet Apocalypse. The book was released as an eBook on November 30, 2021. Print editions of the volume will be available in early 2022.
This being my first foray into editing a themed anthology, A Silent Dystopia was a labor of love. The project presented a few challenges. For instance, working within the confines of Dave Jeffery’s established universe of A Quiet Apocalypse would be challenge enough for one writer not living inside Dave’s brain. Overseeing ten, well, actually eleven writers when you count in Dave’s contribution, required using a new approach that I can attribute to managing multiple projects in my corporate eCommerce life. All of the stories needed to be rooted in the continuity established in the source material. A well-formed timeline spanning decades and a conceptual map defining the stories’ geographies across North America and Europe provided the necessary framework to thrive in this vivid world.
The novellas making up the A Quiet Apocalypse series and the stories in A Silent Dystopia are set in a not-too-distant future pandemic-ravaged version of our world. The original book was written long before our current day real-life pandemic and bears no resemblance. The disease meningitis unspecified, also known as MNG-U, has eradicated about 95% of the human population. The vast majority of survivors are left deafened by the virus. Those few lucky enough to retain their hearing after falling ill, or fortunate enough to have never contracted the virus, become precious commodities to the deafened. Forms of slavery and indentured servitude develop as class systems take shape. Meanwhile, those born without hearing, the culturally deaf, are blamed for MNG-U and living endangered lives.
Check out this list of contributors, each strong talents in their respective roles, with whom I am proud to share this volume.
· Raven Dane – The Invisible Girl
· Stephanie Ellis – Babel Hour
· Kev Harrison – The Courier
· Tom Jeffery & Dave Jeffery – The First Samaritan
· A.S. MacKenzie – Shut Up, Donny
· John Palisano – The Platform
· Steve Stred – Do You Remember?
· J.A. Sullivan – Wolf Pit
· Morgan K Tanner – In the Midst of Monsters
· David Youngquist – I Live to Serve
Afterword by: Chris Kelso
Design by: Adrian Baldwin
Artwork by: Roberto Segate
Published by: DEMAIN PUBLISHING
I hope that you will support these artists by buying our book. And after you read A Silent Dystopia, give it a rating and honest review.
Here it is, my big editing project of 2020-2021 … A Silent Dystopia. A collection of ten stories set in the world of Dave Jeffery’s A Quiet Apocalypse featuring horror writers from across Europe and North America.
This project has been my passion since its inception about a year ago and has kept me quite busy through the latter half of our real-life pandemic. Working with Dean Drinkel at Demain Publishing, creator Dave Jefferey, and all of the talented writers and artists listed below has been a wonderful experience. One I hope to repeat in the not too distant future.
I give huge thanks to my wife Melissa who has endured my countless hours of reading, editing, and corresponding with authors across multiple time zones to bring this project to life. I couldn’t have done this without her loving support.
HEaR TODaY …
The disease known as MNG-U has staked its claim on humanity and ended the world. Most of those who survive have been robbed of their hearing, deafened in this quiet apocalypse. Around the globe, people do what they can to exist in the terrifying silence, even what was once considered unthinkable. Whether in isolation or in new communities, they must persevere amidst a changed and brutal landscape disguised as a world they once knew.
Coming soon from the world of Dave Jeffery’s A QUIET APOCALYPSE come ten stories with one, ultimate vision … A Silent Dystopia.
With original fiction from:
· Raven Dane – The Invisible Girl
· Stephanie Ellis – Babel Hour
· Kev Harrison – The Courier
· Tom Jeffery & Dave Jeffery – The First Samaritan
· A.S. MacKenzie – Shut Up, Donny
· John Palisano – The Platform
· Steve Stred – Do You Remember?
· J.A. Sullivan – Wolf Pit
· Morgan K Tanner – In the Midst of Monsters
· David Youngquist – I Live to Serve
Edited by: David T. Griffith
Foreword by: Gavin Kendall
Afterword by: Chris Kelso
Design by: Adrian Baldwin
Artwork by: Roberto Segate
Published by: DEMAIN PUBLISHING
I am excited to announce the publication of my latest book, Plain, from Demain Publishing as #20 in the Short Sharp Shocks! series. It’s available in Kindle format now with a print version on the way.
Check out my interview with Dean Drinkel, editor of the SSS! series and founder of Demain here.
About the story:
Essy is released from a psychiatric hospital after orchestrating her mother’s death a few years earlier. She moves to the neighboring town, where she can continue therapy with her psychiatrist. In pursuit of an idealistic happiness and normalcy, she finds herself both haunted and driven by those she hurt.
It’s part ghost story and part psychological horror … with a violent streak.
Also available on Amazon UK.
What a great way to start off autumn. My latest story “Blood & Gingerbread” has just released as part of the anthology Masks from Black Shuck Books, an imprint of Great British Horror. It seems I am becoming a British author by proxy as this is my second in a series of at least four sequential books lined up with British presses.
This story was fun to write. Inspired by Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery” and real-world accounts of militant separatist compounds, “Blood & Gingerbread” is set in a secluded community where bizarre annual rituals keep death at bay. It explores the raw human need to control, holding domain over violence, nature, families, behavior, life, and death. What happens when that power is disrupted?
Check out the table of contents below featuring some of the great writers you’ll find in the independent horror field right now. Masks is edited by Dean M Drinkel and the cover art is by the late and great illustrator James Powell, may he rest in peace.
Purchasing info and other details are available on Black Shuck Book’s site: blackshuck.greatbritishhorror.com/masks.
D.T. Griffith 