What is The Optimism Epidemic?
A regular newsletter where I publish original short stories across a range of genres PLUS a weekly journal of my life as a novelist.
I love short stories and I regularly write them, for anthologies and for my regular newsletter subscribers. Now I have started a second newsletter called THE OPTIMISM EPIDEMIC, hosted on the Substack platform, where I publish short stories every two weeks. I usually write crime, thriller and mystery novels. But my reading tastes range across all genres and because of that I have ideas for stories that don’t fit into the novels that I am contracted to write. The Optimism Epidemic allows me to write stories with a much broader range, with a wide array of characters, settings and periods, connected by two simple things: humanity and humour.
Who is The Optimism Epidemic for?
For people fed up of relentless doom-and-gloomery. For people who are willing to see the lighter side of life, who believe that humour can improve our mood, who need a regular hit of good vibes. My short stories – and my journal articles – will be quick to read – 500 to 1500 words (with longer ones for Paid subscribers) – and will leave you (hopefully) with a smile on your lips.
To find out more or subscribe click here
What sort of stories?
I am, at heart, a humorist and I love poking fun at the human condition. Whether it’s a humorous take on modern dating or a biting look at a disgraced politician’s attempts at rehabilitation or a gentle tale of two friends setting off on a road trip, each of my stories will, hopefully, provide you with a sunny interlude amid the storm of general negativity whirling around us. (And yes, given that I’ve written over a dozen crime, mystery and thriller novels, there may be the occasional twist in the tale.)
Here I am pondering another story….
What’s new?
From the beginning of November 2026, I will also use The Optimism Epidemic as a journal to bring you the day to day life of a novelist. I will use it to write pieces about the following topics:
- My writing life – what I am working on, how it’s going, what research I am doing, the inside stories of the publishing experience, the despair and the glory
- Exclusive snippets from my work-in-progress novels
- Analysis of great books I love
- Biographies of great authors I admire
- Stories from history that intersect with my novels
- Tales from my writing travels
- Writing advice
In essence we will be having a regular conversation, with lots of interesting stories to tell and, hopefully, something that leaves a smile on your faces each and every time.
What is the new schedule?
- I will publish one piece every week, on Mondays.
- A second piece will be published on every other Thursday.
- All Monday pieces will only be for Paid subscribers.
- Thursday pieces will be for all subscribers.
- As noted above, two of these pieces per month will continue to be short stories, one for Paid only subscribers and one for all subscribers.
Can I persuade you to upgrade from free to paid subscriber?
Thank you to all those who have already upgraded to paid subscriber status. I am going to briefly try to convince more of you to upgrade. Here are some reasons that you might think about:
- The time I spend on crafting the short stories for The Optimism Epidemic is completely supported by paid subscribers. The more of you that subscribe, the easier it is for me to justify that time in between writing my contracted novels.
- Paid subscribers receive additional benefits including access to ALL the short stories (that’s twelve extra stories per year, some of them longer ones) and access to ALL the journal pieces I will be writing from November 2026. That’s a lot of extra goodies!
- Paid subscribers get other benefits such as occasional audio stories, narrated by myself. I recently narrated my short story TRAIN TO CALCUTTA for The Optimism Epidemic, and it proved to be a real hit!
- A paid subscription only costs £40 per annum. I publish 24 stories -a year so this equates to only £1.66 per story.Plus you will have access to regular journal pieces from November 2026.
Hopefully I have convinced you to invest in The Optimism Epidemic. I really believe the world needs more ‘good vibes’ right now and by becoming a paid subscriber, you are supporting me in doing my little bit to add to the positivity.
At any rate, look out for new posts soon. Thanks again for all your support!
