Simon J Townley

Ten short stories around the themes of the wasteland, the post-apocalypse, spirituality, sanity, madness, war, enlightenment and liberation.
Stories in this collection include:
Remnants
New Recruits
Buried Deep
The Frail Man
The Secret Weapon
If You Find This…
The Patient
Die Again Today
Buddha on the Road
Children of the Dome

Remnants
Jimmy has spent his life scavenging through the remnants of the old world, living on scraps. He just needs one big find to set him up…

New Recruits
Two teenagers are itching to join the revolution. But first, they must escape their parents.

Buried Deep
Deep underground in the government bunker, the authorities are restless. It’s been five years, with no news, no communications. Is the war over? Did the world survive? Time to send a soldier to the surface to bring back intelligence. If he can get there.
Above ground, two young men on guard duty hear ominous sounds coming from below.

The Frail Man
Who survives when the storm comes?
Barlow leads his gang of raiders into the Welsh mountains, looking for Eldorado - a mythical community where some say food still grows, where children are conceived. Where people smile. He knows there’s some deeper secret, a source of wealth or power that he can seize for himself. If only he can find it.

The Secret Weapon
In a fallen world, an outpost of civilisation searches for a weapon that will save them from the wild raiders. Can they rediscover the old magic, the weapons that destroyed their world?

If You Find This…
Sometimes the most dangerous people are the ones who most fervently want to help…

The Patient
Who is the strange man sitting alone on the park bench, staring at the trees? What goes through his mind? Is he mad? Or dangerous? Or sick? And is it contagious?

Die Again Today
Rescued from drowning, trainee doctor Sarah finds herself on board the yacht of an obsessive billionaire. He has saved her life, but now he wants answers to the most important questions of all: what lies beyond the grave, and can he take his money with him?

Buddha on the Road
Harlow wants to put the war behind him and forget about conflict and violence. But can he turn his back on confrontation? And when a new enemy appears, can his fragile sanity survive?

Children of the Dome
There’s nowhere to run, when war comes ….
When soldiers attack the dome where they have lived all their lives, two teenagers, Michael and Sarah, escape to the outside world, desperate to get away from the gunfire, the explosions, the screaming. But what will they eat and where will they find shelter in this strange environment? Can they ever go home? And who will teach them to live in the wild?