Neil
Bailey
Thrillers where nature, science and human behaviour collide
Title
The Archive of Ashes
One liner
If perception can be rewritten then truth is only as strong as the person holding it.
Short blurb
Clara Morven, a social media WWII historian, takes an MoD archiving job at a remote airfield in Scotland. While cataloguing fire-damaged records in a buried archive, she inhales ash and begins experiencing vivid, intrusive visions that feel more real than her waking life.
As the visions intensify, Clara teams up with Pip, a young historian, and Catriona, her guest house host. Together they uncover evidence of a secret government programme called the Happiness Lens, designed to manipulate perception and control entire communities. Beneath the archive lies the Paradise Block, a hidden human testing facility where reality itself was altered.
Trapped inside, Clara’s grip on reality fractures. She finds records that place her inside the project decades before her birth. The deeper she searches, the less real her world becomes.
Publication date
Coming April 2028
Publisher
Genre
Psychological thriller
Who might enjoy it
Fans of We Spread by Iain Reid, Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney, and Broken Light by Joanne Harris, combining psychological thriller, a high concept mystery, and an exploration of perception and identity.
Behind the story
This was an interesting story and was an idea driven by my NLP training back in my corporate training days. The story comes from my head asking questions about what is perception and what happens when we begin to challenge it. As ever with my books I didn't want to go supernatural. I like to keep causes and connections within the boundaries of science where I can. From that challenge, rather than Clara's perception being affected by anything ghostly or demonic, I began my thinking at the beginning of a path leading from psychotropics and went from there.
Updates
Awaiting first edits from Rowan Prose Publishing
Where to find it
Currently you can find the initial details on my Goodreads page where you can add it to your want-to-read list.
Outtakes
If perception defines existence, can joy be created without truth? If perception can be rewritten then truth is only as strong as the person holding it.
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“I’m beginning to question not only what the truth is, but also what truth is.”
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Clara nodded. “If perception defines reality, and someone breaks perception…” “Reality cracks.” Finished Catriona
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If you can influence how people feel about their circumstances, you influence how they vote, how they comply, how they engage. You don’t need force or even persuasion. You adjust perception, and behaviour follows.