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Drumroll please, or a fanfare will do. Whatever you've got. Because I released the first edition of my newsletter this week. And here's what I wrote to introduce it: Welcome to the first ever Jon Lymon newsletter. As an author and freelance copywriter for more years than you can shake a memoery stick at, I’m going to be sharing tips, tales and travails from nearly 30 years as a professional writer. I also reserve the right to promote my self-published works on here, because i

I’m going to share how I go about writing a new short novel on here with anyone who’s interested in the process, starting with the very first seeds of an idea which were sown this weekend. I woke up in the early hours of Saturday with an idea in my head that I had to write down in case I fell back asleep and forgot it. I did fall back asleep, but woke up to a page of A4 with just about legible red pen scrawl on it on the table by my bed. Most of the contents of the note

Otherwise, the sound of ‘cheers’ ringing in our ears could soon be a distant memory. In my ‘World of The Powers’ dystopian series of books (there are two books at the moment, but I’m working on the third), the youth-led government does not want its subjects to socialise. Socialising gives people a chance to meet and plan and discuss and unite and ask questions. An unpopular government doesn’t want such things, even a socialist government like The Powers. They want peopl

It’s meant to be the meek who inherit the Earth. But the way things are going, sadly, it looks like it’s going to be the geeks... In the World of The Powers, techies have developed The Platform, a super-computer that’s generating so much money for the greedy, that those with the power to curtail the techie's dubious activities – which they themselves say carry a risk of wiping out humanity - are seemingly turning a blind eye to law breaking and job destruction, all because it

This dystopian discrimination is nothing to do with colour, gender or age, and everything to do with being a human being. Employers in multiple sectors (I’m a copywriter) are discriminating against people by giving our jobs to machines. Machines that don’t need paying, or holidays or lunch breaks. Machines that don’t have the pressure of families to support, mortgages and bills to settle. People can’t work as fast or for as long as these machines, so they are being shunned a

When a deadly virus sweeps across Earth, infected households are required to display white flags outside their homes. Initially the flag serves as a symbol that the humans inside have surrendered to the apocalyptic bug. But these flags soon become chilling signs that those who succumb to the infection don’t stay dead for long. They rise and begin an incessant search for sustenance in the form of human meat. As with all apocalyptic tales, not everyone falls victim to the vir

I’m annoyed that every novel I’ve sat down to write since that grim launch in November 2022 has been infected by the scourge of techies who have nothing better to do other than invent theft machines that take people’s jobs away. The bubble can’t burst soon enough, but until it does, and most likely even after it does, I have to face a future in which my line of work (copywriting) is dead as a means of making a living, and my side hustle (writing books) tainted by no-talents w

The cover to the 1998 Jon Lymon novel The Lace Partnership Not even me, until now… It’s the distant cousin the family doesn’t talk about. The one that brought shame upon the family in the dim and distant past. The entity that was swept under the carpet or stashed in the loft to gather dust and be forgotten about. The Lace Partnership was unofficially my first novel, written 14 years before my official first novel The Diamond Rush. I wrote The Lace Partnership back in 19

Which world is in the biggest mess - the fictional world of dystopian novel Dead Headz, or our actual world? What a mess this world is becoming. And I’m talking about the real world, not the First World that features in my World of The Powers dystopian novel series. That’s already a mess when we join Kent Sanderson and friends the day before they are forced by a drone-led government to leave their homes and enjoy themselves on Flying Ant Day (it doesn’t go well, by the way).

A look at the dystopian novels Jon Lymon read before, during and after writing the two books in his World of The Powers dystopian novels series. SUMMARY What are the most popular dystopian novels? How did they inspire Jon Lymon during the writing of his own dystopian novel series? Which classic dystopian novel just didn’t land with Lymon? Goodreads lists 3,790 books under Best Dystopian Novels and Post Apocalyptic Fiction. If there are this many works rated as ‘best’ in this

The cover of darkly comic dystopian novel Dead Headz I wouldn’t have dreamt of attending a pub quiz in my 20s and 30s when I was too cool for school-like environments in which you had to answer questions. But now I’m older, wiser? All over them. And it’s good to see competitors aged 20-80 taking part in the one in my local boozer. Phones away. Engage the brain. Bit of healthy competition. It took the team I quiz with about ten thrashings and a few close calls before we w

A real Santa. Made possible by advances in technology that enabled the creation of a bot that travelled at the speed of light, dressed in red and white, and delivered presents to children all over the world. That’s the book I planned to write in the winter of 2023/4 for release in the autumn of 2024. It was not the book I ended up writing. Somehow the above idea got hijacked by events going on in my life away from screen and keyboard. I was getting divorced. I was losing

There’s only room for a certain amount of books in a suitcase or hand luggage. And if your books (like mine) aren’t fortunate enough to be classed as ideal beach reads, and don’t find their way onto the shelves of a store in an airport bookseller, chances are as potential readers head off on holiday / vacation, your/our books aren’t going to sell or attract page reads like they do during the rest of the year. This will lead to the alliterative condition I’ve featured in the

A man and boy who remain nameless throughout head south with all they have left in the world. Which isn’t much, as there’s not much left of the world. It’s never mentioned what’s happened to the planet, but it’s safe to assume that whatever it was turned out to be extremely unpleasant. So much so that by the time we join the world – a few years after the catastrophic events - there aren’t many people left and zero animals. Cannibalism is rife and bath-times rare in this s

You can’t beat a pub quiz - when you reach a certain age. I wouldn’t have dreamt of attending one in my 20s and 30s when I was too cool for school-like environments in which you had to answer questions! But now I’m older and wiser? All over them. And it’s good to see competitors aged 20-80 taking part in the one in my local boozer. Phones away. Engage the brain. Bit of healthy competition. It took the team I quiz with about ten thrashings and a few close calls before we w

I wrote Last Writer Sitting in 2023. My copywriting business was already on the wane, following the launch of Cheat GPT the previous November (it stands for Generic Pilfered Trash, right?). Even then, it felt like the writing was on the wall for us jobbing writers, not on the page or screen where we prefer it. I’d seen a demo of the tech, and although the output was pure slop, it was quick slop that would be good enough for many clients who were more concerned about their b

Thankfully, I got out of working in ad agencies (as a copywriter) before many of them slid into the abyss of AI slop, and before I wrote The Pub Gardeners. If ever there was an industry bound to embrace technology that enabled the cutting of corners, the lowering of quality and the non-payment of creative human beings, I suspected advertising would be it. The lead characters in my short novel The Pub Gardeners aren’t quite so lucky. The writer and art director duo of Darl

This remains one of the best book reviews I’ve ever received for one of my books: “Wow! (5-stars) OK, here is the thing that is amazing about this book. There were several instances of what? – that’s-not-possible situations, such as doing a space walk with no spacesuit, just an oxygen mask. But the book is so good you don’t care! It’s as if the author asks the reader to just be child-like occasionally and accept that dogs fly and cats talk, forgetting how physically impossibl

This is it. My Dead Headz dystopian novel is likely the best story I’ll ever write. The most important tale I’ll ever tell. And it's out now. If you like the sound of an alternate universe dystopia with a reluctant hero who tries to overthrow an extremist, tech-obsessed government without violence, please give it a try. Cosy crime fiction this isn’t. But I like to think there’s wit, insight, imagination and information in here that’ll make it a rewarding read. Plus plenty

Look at me, giving it all the Q1 malarkey. Sounds like a proper business report from a pin-stripe suit wearing finance guru. Rest assured, it isn’t and I’m not. I’m just a humble author keeping close tabs on book sales and freebie giveaways, hoping I can uncover some nuggets that can help boost sales and indie author visibility for me and anyone else who’s interested. And I’m actually waiting to put the winter wardrobe away and get into the short and t-shirt combo until Oct