Fiction

The Black Terror

A story of traumatic relationships and how wounds make us vulnerable.

Emily returns to her family home in Leicester after escaping an abusive relationship. The house is filled with echoes—of comfort twisted into control, and of childhood memories buried beneath trauma. When she befriends an eccentric sweetshop owner, a black dog begins stalking her.

But this is no ordinary dog. It is the Black Shuck—a shadow hound, a mythic portent of doom. As the creature terrorizes her, Emily quickly learns that death may be waiting around every corner.

As she stumbles through the ambiguity of comfort, the terror of vulnerability, and the slow unpacking of her past, Emily begins to understand that healing isn’t just about becoming strong—it’s also a painful confrontation with truth.

The Black Terror is a novel about toxic relationships, emotional survival, and the mythic forces that shape our inner lives. It blends folklore, horror, and emotional realism to ask:
How do we recover from exposure to what we are most vulnerable to? And what must we risk to truly be free of it?

Themes,

Toxic relationships,

The architecture of healing and reclamation of self

Recognising the difference between predators and protectors.

Mythic symbolism

Emotional realism

Status and intent;

Currently querying agents and publishers.

An Extract from The Black Terror

I invite you to dip a toe into the world of The Black Terror, where myth and reality collide;

Emily recalled dark images. Bones grinding. She saw bones -- young bones laying in the dark, sinking into mud. She quickly forced the images out. They could be memories. But Emily didn’t want them to be. Her pace quickened, “Jesus Emily”, she whispered, “scared of the dark, aren’t you nearly thirty years old?” she scolded herself.

An uneasy feeling began to grow in her gut. She felt eyes on her. somewhere in the darkness, in the trees. Could that be a memory, or was she about to get jumped? Either way, she no longer felt safe in this world of darkness, where dreams and memory are indivisible. She sobered up fast, and the chill in the air met her flesh.

She gave up on her search and quickened her pace. She wanted out. She wanted the road, she wanted the light. She walked alongside the green with the great chestnut tree but soon her path would curve away, and she’d head into the shadows once again. She wanted to hold herself back, but it was the only way out. Damn she wished she still felt drunk.

As she approached the trees there was a slight incline ascending a low mound. The grinding continued to get louder. Then, her heart leapt into her throat as the most terrifying sound she had ever heard rang out from somewhere up ahead. It was louder than anything else she had ever heard, and it shocked her to her bones. Gravely, hard, angry barking. A chorus of grenades exploding around her. Like Fenrir had emerged from Lynge and was gearing up to swallow the moon. Area denied. Emily couldn’t imagine what beast this was, but it must have a chest cavity as vast as hell itself. Emily staggered back as the barks kept coming. She could almost feel the impact in her chest. Her skin broke out in goosebumps and the cool air was replaced by warm terror. The barking continued. It felt close. Too close to escape. Soon she thought some monster was going to leap out and get her. In her mind it already had.

The full terror awaits.