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The Strange Tales of Gillion

Writer's picture: Elliot J HarperElliot J Harper

 

“We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.”

H.P. Lovecraft

 

 

After what seems like forever, I’m finally following through with a project I started in 2021.

 

In classic me fashion, I started to write a short story collection completely by accident. I had composed a few stories roughly set in a similar world. It was only after I’d crafted about five of them that I realised the stories would make a good collection. From there, the quantity ballooned, before I reined it in and calmed down a bit. This was during the early stages of the creation of Gillion, so it made sense to tie the books together, which came about quite organically. After I’d fleshed out New Gillion Street, I found that I really loved the concept of a quasi-alternative Earth, so it was easy for me to expand the series.

 

When the stories were finished - twenty-one in total - I sent the manuscript to some trusted beta-readers, who provided fantastic feedback. I cut the collection down to thirteen and made amendments here and there, which largely involved changing all but one of the stories to third person. After that, I even ordered a book cover! It was on the verge of publication. It was ready, and I was hyped to get it out into the world. This was in 2022!

 



I was ready to publish The Strange Tales of Gillion, but then the unexpected happened… Fly on the Wall took on my novel New Gillion Street. This threw me completely off guard – honestly, I still can’t really believe it – so everything else was put on hold while I focused all my energies on getting a novel ready for publication.

 

Now that New Gillion Street has been out for six months – in reality, I’ve been solidly pushing it for eighteen months, so it’s probably time to give you all a rest - I can refocus on other things. And first and foremost – chiefly because it’s the most complete piece of work I have – I’ve decided to resume self-publishing that weird, strange, cosmic horror short story collection.

 

You might first wonder why I’m doing this myself and not with a traditional publisher? Why hasn’t New Gillion Street led to another book? Well, simply put, no one was interested in the collection. The publishing world is a tough place, especially at the moment, and many publishers are either not open for submissions or don’t publish this kind of thing, which is perfectly fine. That’s just the way it is sometimes.

 

That’s not to say that self-publishing is a step-down, of course. Nowadays, it’s quite common for writers to have a hybrid body of work, a mixture of self-published and traditionally published work. I had some success with it before, so I have faith in the process. But at this point, I just want to get the collection out into the world before I fully move on to something else. I have three other modern-day Gillion novels to work on and find homes for, and I’m starting to plan a dark fantasy book set in an entirely new world – it’s the genre I read these days. I love a good bleak sword and sorcery epic - so there’s no sense in clinging to the short story collection for much longer. I don’t want all my hard work to go to waste!

 

So, I expect to hear much more from me on the strange nation of Gillion in the Victorian-like past. I will aim to publish the collection in early 2025, but that may change depending on how things go.

 






But for now, here is the blurb to whet your appetites:

 

Gillion is a nation of taste, of science, and of civility. It is a green and pleasant land brimming with lush countryside, beautiful meadows and rolling fields. The very same island country that spawned the locomotive, the horseless carriage and the dirigible.

 

But all is not quite what it seems…

 

When a god is called forth, those who summoned him must be careful what they wish for.

 

The career of a man of science reaches its zenith, but what comes next when you have realised your dreams?

 

A holidaymaker finds out that shortcuts are never just that.

 

The future is never quite what it seems when an heiress goes seeking her fortune…

 

These and many more strange and macabre tales await, where peculiar events, odd encounters, and devilish deities abound.

 

That was just a little taste. I will explain more over the coming months.

 

One final note. In relation to the above, I’ve tentatively restarted a Facebook business page again. My personal Facebook profile is where I do most of my promotion these days – especially now I’ve ditched the awfulness of Twitter/X/Elon-Musk’s-midlife-crisis/Far-rights-wet-dream – but you can’t boost posts beyond your friend groups from there. And you can via a business page. So, expect it to pop up every now and then. Please give it a follow here. It makes me look important.

 


Thanks for reading.

 


Elliot J Harper

 

Author of New Gillion Street, published by Fly on the Wall Press and the upcoming short story collection, The Strange Tales of Gillion.

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