Paused – Best Plot of the Year!

My bio-horror novella, Paused has picked up some fantastic recognition since its publication. Most recently, I was delighted to discover it has been awarded Scribble’s Worth Book Reviews Best Plot of the Year. https://scribblesworth.wordpress.com/2023/01/08/book-awards-2022/

First published via Silver Shamrock before the publisher closed, it found a new home and new cover with Brigids Gate Press (left).

Want to know what it’s about?

A terrifying pandemic sweeps the world, rendering its victims completely immobile but leaving them conscious with their minds intact. The victims are helpless against the environment, completely at the mercy of wild animals, weather, out of control fires, and other dangers. There’s no hope for those safe in their homes either, as they slowly starve to death, unable to feed themselves or drink.

Dr. Alex Griffiths leads a team racing against time to find a cure before it’s too late. Will he succeed?

I started writing this well before there was even a hint of the covid pandemic, my story being triggered by a what-if? moment after reading an article about locked-in syndrome. To be afflicted in this manner struck me as being possibly one of the worst things which could happen to a person. The idea of the ‘thinking cap’ is also developed from another article which talked about the possibility of reading thoughts becoming a reality, although this science is in its infancy. I love to find something in science, a possibility, and take it further. Sometimes I’ve even developed an idea and then found there is some truth in it after I’ve followed that train of thought – and I don’t know whether to be pleased – or frightened! – to discover that my ’cause’ for this particular pandemic has some basis in truth. If I mention what that aspect is, I give the story away, so I apologise, but you could always pick up a copy!