The Quarantined City

"The triumph of Everington’s first novel is that, while hinting at lofty literary precedents, it cumulatively takes on an unsettling voice all of its own." The Guardian

The Quarantined City: sealed off from the outside world, with only the sight of the ocean to remind its inhabitants of life beyond. No one knows why the city has been quarantined and conspiracy theories abound.

But for Fellows life continues largely as before. He walks the streets, hunts out rare books; the sun continues to shine and the gulls circle above.


There’s the small matter of the ghost haunting his house, but Fellows doesn’t let himself think of that.


But when he tracks down a story by the reclusive writer known as Boursier, his old certainties fade as he becomes aware that the secrets of the city, the ghostly child, and the quarantine itself, might be more connected than he thinks…

Published by Infinity Plus.

Ebook: AmazonBarnes & NobleKobo;AppleSmashwords
Paperback (ISBN: 1533255660): AmazonCreateSpace

Reviews:

"...There is an edge of Murakami here, we are in a world just slightly skewed from our own but all the more foreign for that. Everington has a crystal clear prose style, reminiscent of J G Ballard but, like China Mieville, twisted toward the gothic..." Damien G Walter

"The Quarantined City is a novel that dares to jump into the rabbit hole head first and delights in the potions it finds down there. It’s complex, layered and above all thoroughly enjoyable." This Is Horror.

"All that has gone before is masterfully tied up in a brilliantly constructed conclusion. There is great joy to be had as each revelation is made; as each of the perplexing riddles seeded throughout the narrative are answered; as sense is finally made of the skilfully created confusion... It’s a masterclass in technique...I was blown away by The Quarantined City, loved its structure and its intelligence." Anthony Watson, Dark Musings

"There is a wonderfully surreal quality to this story so far... the writing skill here and the narrative hooks are enough to keep readers coming back to see how it will all play out." The Geekiary

"This is the kind of thing Everington does better than just about anybody: the sense of contamination across the author-reader lines, the suggestion of the double... the nameless disquiet. We have our horror authors who focus on cosmic terror, who focus on physical distress, who focus on moral revulsion, but Everington is one of the few horror bards of unease—that prickling sensation that something must be wrong, even if you can’t pinpoint it—and this story, a kind of liminal horror, is proof." Lauren James

"A post-modern ghost story that bears the essential and classic hallmarks of a ghost story, a flawed protagonist that sees his world and certainties gradually and subtly unravel..." Adrian Selby

Guest Posts:
This novel was originally meant to be published as a monthly serial, an idea that did not go fully to plan... Nevertheless, that was the way it was written, and I wrote the below guests posts about the experience:


"It was a really bad time to begin writing a monthly serial..." - read 'The Story Behind The Quarantined City' at the Upcoming4me site here.


Read my guide do writing episodic fiction, Do As I Say Not As I Do - Some Hypocritical Advice On Writing Episodic Fiction, on the Gingernuts Of Horror site.



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