Simulation Bleed

This is the introduction to the sample from Simulation Bleed I included in my book of short stories, Troubled Cities.

'This is an extract from Simulation Bleed which started off as a series on my website. It ran for several years before being collected and published as a novel in 2020. It sees the return of the hostile and anti-social fairy Rainith the Red and the introduction of two unwanted companions, Mixt and Nakishdan, both of whom have been dragged through history into the present day. None of them are suited to working as government agents. However it happens and they're all stuck with it.

I wanted the serial to be based on things I knew a lot about. One main theme was punk and post-punk gigs in London. I went to very many of these. Most of the gigs in the serial are based on concerts I was at. I always enjoy the opportunity to talk about these early punk events, though this extract is set a few years before the advent of punk in London. It also features some gaming. I've spent a lot of time playing video games. The space adventure game that Mixt and Nakishdan play isn't described in much detail in Simulation Bleed but while writing about it I had Mass Effect in mind. Mass Effect is a great trilogy of games and I've played through them all many times.

Another theme of the serial, not exactly planned, is therapy. That's not what I'd call a favourite topic but I do know quite a lot about it from my own experience of treatment for anxiety and agoraphobia, both of which I've suffered from badly in the past. Things are feeling better at this moment. There's a scene in this extract where the outpatients in group therapy have to evacuate the building because the inpatients upstairs are rioting. That really happened to me.’

Simulation Bleed, Collected Serial

Simulation Bleed. My published version of a serial I wrote on my website. Recently corrected of various typos, my arch nemesis.

When writing this serial I had several topics in mind. Things from my life that I wanted to write about but not in an autobiographical way. Memories, some good, some nagging. Good memories about all the gigs I saw, late 70s and into the 80s, punk and post-punk. And not so good memories about therapy on the NHS, sitting in some uncomfortable classroom with a therapist whom I knew was never going to help me with my agoraphobia.

So I folded these memories all into the story, not making it about myself. I took inspiration for this from Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse 5, in which Vonnegut dealt with his experiences during the firebombing of Dresden by writing about it in a rather oblique manner. Admittedly that was a far weightier topic than my experiences at punk gigs but still, I did take inspiration from that book. And then I added fairies, which does seem to happen in my writing quite a lot.

Paperback and ebook –– Amazon UK – Amazon US

Introduction to my new edition of Simulation Bleed

I wrote Simulation Bleed as a weekly serial on my website. There were three parts made up of 211 short chapters. I always enjoyed writing it. I'm fond of the main characters: Rainith, Mixt and Nakishdan. Rainith the Red is a particularly bad-tempered and anti-social fairy. Mixt and Nakishdan are two people with many problems who'd much rather be left alone to play video games. None of them are suited to working as government agents. But it happens, and they're stuck with it.

Because it's a serial, it is slightly rambling. I couldn't say it was tightly plotted. Several threads are not pursued and some occurrences are not resolved. However, I did resolve the main events, and as the story involved various timelines, I could claim that any sub-plot that wasn't resolved simply disappeared when history was changed.

When I started Simulation Bleed I planned to write about things I knew about. Firstly, early punk gigs in London. I went to a lot of these, and most of the gigs in the serial are based on concerts I was at. I've seen most of the bands whose records are mentioned. The video game that Nakishdan and Mixt play in the book is mostly based on Mass Effect. I played that trilogy a lot, with great enjoyment. As it turned out, there's a lot of therapy in Simulation Bleed as well. That's not what I'd call a favourite topic of mine but I do know quite a lot about it, from experience.

Several elements of the book such as the gaming, and Nakishdan's liking for all things kawaii, did go on to feature more in the next novel I wrote, Supercute Futures. That's fine, I find both topics very interesting. Despite the occasional loose ends, and some small overlap with a later novel, I haven't revised the serial, preferring to publish it as it was originally written. So here it, Simulation Bleed.

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Simulation Bleed

After a long holiday, Mixt, Nakishdan and Rainith return to action in Simulation Bleed, my online serial. It was a longer holiday than I anticipated, but now they're back, ready for action. Rainith the Red, last seen falling from the sky after being defeated in combat, is temporarily putting to one side her ambition of attending the first Sex Pistols gig in 1975. She's returning to the present, to hunt down the Elf who defeated her, and kill him at the first opportunity. Rainith is generally an angry fairy, and her mood has now become a lot worse. Nakishdan, meanwhile, is recovering from his own wounds, resting on his new kawaii pillows in Mixt's London mansion.

Simulation Bleed is on my website here, in a new mobile-friendly layout. I posted two new chapters, 133 and 134, on the 28th September.