Start Reading Tidelands
Where to start, how this works, and everything else you need to know
Tidelands is a weekly serialised sci-fi/fantasy novel that publishes every Friday, emailed straight to your inbox. The first few instalments are free, and subsequent ones are for paid subscribers only.
The Story
Set some years in the future, Tidelands is a blend of dystopian sci-fi and fantasy. It is a time in which science has realised the impossible. Its products now rival those of fairytale, myth and folklore: the undead and the never-dying, the no-longer-human and the never-should-have-been.
In a flooded city battling environmental and societal collapse, the arcology provides a high-tech haven – for those who can afford it. Here, sequestered from the world, Eva lives in pampered but closely surveilled confinement. And while each day she longs for escape, each day she is made to play The Game, a curious virtual environment that seems more designed to monitor and test than to entertain.
Outside the arcology, Squirrel is a memory thief, eking out a fraught existence in service to the criminal gangs that trade in illicit gene hacks, blackmarket tech and purloined secrets. But skills that Squirrel should not possess uncover a secret she doesn’t understand, attracting the attentions of those she’d rather avoid, and she is forced into a game of her own, where the stakes are nothing less than her own survival. And as she fights to outwit the shadowy forces vying for control of her embattled world, her only path out leads to the arcology itself, at the dark heart of which sit answers that will upend all their lives.
Is It For You?
My background is in philosophy, and I’ve found sci-fi and fantasy are a great way for me to explore philosophical ideas and themes that I’m interested in. But I also just love complex stories with rich characters, especially those with a mystery element. I’m a big fan of William Gibson, M. John Harrison, Iain M. Banks and Phillip K. Dick, but also spy fiction (John le Carré, Mick Herron), historical fiction (Hilary Mantel), and experimental genre-hopping (David Mitchell, Susanna Clarke). So you will likely find all those elements here.
For instance, as well as traditional sci-fi fare (AI, robots, VR, etc), there are various fantastical things (genetic monsters, weird aliens, ghost stories and psychic phenomena), a bit of cosmic Lovecraftian horror, some mystery and detective elements, and the odd bit of satirical black humour. It also jumps around quite a bit – different settings and time periods – and involves various characters and interlinked storylines (though still with a central story thread that brings it all together). So if you like your sci-fi clever and mysterious, occasionally funny and weird, suspenseful and thrilling, with a bit of genre-hopping thrown in, then this is for you.
The biggest advert I can make for it is perhaps to say that I’m having great fun writing it.
So How Does All This Work?
Instalments are released on a weekly schedule (on a Friday). I’ll then post links to these on the index (so maybe bookmark that page). The first few instalments are free, with the rest for paid subscribers only (though free subscribers get a free sneak peek of each instalment). If you pay for a subscription, you also get the chance to comment and chat with me about the sections as they appear.
The instalments are grouped into chapters (each of which usually deals with one character or setting), and the chapters are grouped into parts (each of which usually contains two interweaving storylines). Chapter numbering resets with each part, but instalment numbers just carry on increasing. To help you navigate the story, I’ve adopted the following numbering conventions for the title of each instalment:
Tidelands: Part-Chapter (Overall Instalment Number)
So:
Tidleands: I-One (1) = Part I, Chapter One, Instalment 1
Tidelands: II-Three (31) = Part II, Chapter Three, Instalment 31
Tidelands: III-Six (59) = Part III, Chapter Six, Instalment 59
And so on. So you should know where you are at any time, but the number in brackets will tell you which instalment comes next. However, the best way to navigate the story is to use the index. Here, I’ve also given each scene a little nickname – e.g. “Cosmic Sphincter”, “Sentinel”, “Green Fingered”. These were mostly for my own convenience when writing the story, but I figured they’d also serve as more interesting/intriguing headings in the index.
Once a part is completed, I’ll publish it as an ebook, and if you’re a paid subscriber at that point, you will get these emailed out to you for free. Once all parts have been published, I’ll release them together as a complete book (i.e. Volume One of Tidelands). We then start volume two, and carry on from there. At the time of writing, volume one has four parts and is complete in draft form, and work on volume two is already underway, so don’t fret about instalments drying up.
Who is Gareth Southwell?
I’m a writer, philosopher, and illustrator, based in South Wales, UK.
I’ve a PhD in “death”, and have been studying, teaching, examining, and writing about philosophy for the last 30 or so years. I’m a traditionally published author of various books on the subject, mostly aimed at the general reader.
My fiction work is generally sci-fi and fantasy related, and draws on my interests in philosophy. You can find out more here. All titles are published by WoodPig Press.
I’ve been a professional book designer and illustrator for about 20 years, having worked for a range of top publishers. You can see examples of my work, or hire me, via Reedsy.
So Where Do I Start?
You can check out the index page here, which contains links to all currently available instalments in order.
Southwell’s previous fiction feels like William Gibson’s. A lot going on in parallel which takes close reading. Well worth the journey.