Jilly Paddock-Author
JILLY PADDOCK-AUTHOR
Gillian M. (Jilly) Paddock's earliest published works were in the field of medical reseach in the mid-70s. One of which, she presented at a conference in London in 1975.
She's been writing science fiction and fantasy stories for as long as she can remember. An early version of her first full-length novel did the rounds of publishers both sides of the Atlantic, courtesy of the Dorian Literary Agency. Sadly, while all the responses to the work itself were very positive, none of the publishers felt they had a place for it on their lists at that time. She sold three short stories to small press magazines in the early 90s, but two of them folded shortly after publication and the third before they even published her story.
This depressing fact, along with the lack of interest from publishers & pressure of work, led to her pretty much giving up writing for many years.
Having taken early retirement from the National Health Service, she decided the time was right to resurrect her stalled writing career.
Since then, she has self-published several books on Amazon Kindle, which have received excellent reviews. The title story of her short story collection, 'The Dragon, Fly', was written on a creative writing course and received high praise from the tutor, the late, great Iain (M.) Banks.
She has a story in Pro Se Presents #19 (her first for Pro Se), and another upcoming in 'Blood Type: An Anthology of Vampire SF on the Cutting Edge', from Nightscape Press. 'Blood Type' is a charity anthology in support of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, which brings her full circle, in an odd way, to her early work in medical research.
Pro Se will be republishing her first novel, 'To Die a Stranger' and further volumes in that series. Her other regular characters, 'Afton and Jerome', from her Kindle ebook, 'The Spook and the Spirit in the Stone' will also return in a new volume from Pro Se... as soon as she finishes writing it!
She lives in a small, untidy house in the flat bits of East Anglia in the UK, which she shares with an editor and reviewer, and an insanely large number of books and CDs.
Pro Se Presents, the multiple award winning magazine, debuts in its larger quarterly format with PRO SE PRESENTS #19! Featuring a new BROTHER BONES tale from New Pulp Veteran Author Ron Fortier, this action packed issue also includes stories from Kevin Rodgers, Jilly Paddock, Charis Taylor, and Ron Capshaw! Aaron Smith's hockey star turned detective Marcel Picard makes his return in PSP 19 alongside the magazine debut of Ralph L. Angelo, Jr.'s Torahg the Warrior (Recently debuting in his own novel from Pro Se)! The magazine also includes its share of mystery with the second adventure of Joan the Dog Detective by A. M. Paulson and an intriguing essay from Robert Kingett entitled THE DEATH OF SHERLOCK HOLMES- A DATED UPRISING! Wrapped in an eerily excellent Brother Bones cover by Rob Davis, Pro Se Presents #19 has enough mystery, fantasy, horror, and more to keep any Pulp fan happy!
A woman finds stardom out of boredom. Then a twist of fate sets her on a road to danger, espionage and leaves her to deal with what it feels like TO DIE A STRANGER.
Pro Se Productions Presents TO DIE A STRANGER, a Science Fiction Thriller from author Jilly Paddock set in a world where human and machine are paired in order to assure control. A control that one such pair will challenge.
Anna-Marie has it all. A pretty face and a life of leisure backed by the wealth and status of the family business, the Delany Computer Corporation. It's not enough. Anna's bored, so she dabbles in showbiz as the holo-actress Amaranth Dusk. She gains some success, then loses it all in an aircar accident that almost claims her life.
Scarred and severely injured, Anna struggles back to health. As her memory clears, she realizes that the accident was a deliberate attack and tries to discover who wanted her dead. Her investigations take her to Delany Corp, which as a secret at its core, a hidden conspiracy of government funded technology and espionage. Anna unwittingly stumbles into a top secret project that takes ordinary humans and pairs them with computers to create spies who can read minds and walk through walls. These agent-pairs are used by Earth Intelligence, Mother Terra's primary security force, as powerful weapons to keep her empire of colony worlds under control.
Zenith-Alpha 4013 is part of the project, a flawed computer who has failed to find a partner. It chooses Anna and together they must outwit all of Earth Intelligence to escape and survive.
TO DIE A STRANGER is equal part science fiction tale, thriller, and mystery, blended into a seamless exploration of what the future may hold and into one fast paced action packed ride. TO DIE A STRANGER by Jilly Paddock from Pro Se Productions.
A man is killed on the streets of Prosperity City, stabbed through the heart by a unicorn, In the cold light of dawn, the glamour fled, the creature is just a shaggy pony with a tin-plate horn. Detective-Inspector A. Afton Lamont and her not-quite human partner, Jerome, are handed the case and follow the trail to Avalon, a private estate owned by the last son of one of their colony world’s founding families. It’s also home to a strange community of bohemian artists, plus a controlling AI who can inhabit a variety of bodies. In a tale of deception and illusion, of an idyllic rural paradise underpinned by technology, of dreams made flesh, can Afton and Jerome discover the murderer in a tangle of lies, secrets and outright magic? From Author Jilly Paddock (To Die A Stranger) comes Dead Men Rise Up Never, featuring tales of mystery, magic, technology, and intrigue. Also included is a short tale revealing what these intrepid detectives do after solving a high-profile murder case, which is of course get drunk in a local bar with their colleagues from Forensics. Excitement, danger, and more await in Jilly Paddock’s Dead Men Rise Up Never. From Pro Se Productions.
The time is the 26th century and the world has just about recovered from the Dark, an ecological and political catastrophe that brought humanity to the brink of extinction. Life is good now on Earth and the core planets of her trade empire, but it’s not as easy or comfortable in the poorer colonies. The Mother-world preserves her dominance by means of covert manipulation and elimination of her enemies, that being the remit of Earth Intelligence. EI have a secret weapon, a small group of agents who can read minds, move objects without touching them and walk through walls, tricks worked not by magic but by pairing ordinary people with computers that give them access to psionics. While investigating a devastating aircar crash that almost killed her, Anna-Marie Delany stumbled into EI’s operations and became a spy by mistake. She combined with Zenith Alpha 4013 and had to steal him. They fled Earth and are still on the run. EI want Zenni back and Anna dead, and set a trap for the novice agent-pair on the desert planet of Lysseya. Lysseya is a name Anna knows from the pulp novels and trashy sci-fi romances of her youth, a world rumoured to be full of treasure and riches guarded by a race of night-black warriors, all of them telepaths. She and Zenni feel safe enough there, protected by their newly-gained psi powers, but can they survive when EI’s trap is sprung under the hell of Lysseya’s triple suns in the desolate black desert? With Amber Tears- The sequel to To Die a Stranger and second volume in Jilly Paddock's epic space opera, Zenith Alpha 4013. From Pro Se Productions.
A nine year-old girl is abducted on a backwater colony world. Bad enough, but Sophie Crispianou is the daughter of the Terran Ambassador and the step-niece of Earth’s President, and the kidnapper has struck before, leaving his previous victim dead. Finding the child falls to Detective Inspector A. Afton Lamont and her new partner, Jerome. The Earth authorities don’t trust the local police to solve such a high profile case and send in some help from Terrapol, an agent with psionic abilities—a spook. Giselle is beautiful but deadly, a mind reader and possibly much more, and her only goal is rescuing the lost child, regardless of the consequences. Can this unlikely team find Sophie and save her before tragedy strikes? Deep in an abandoned mine at the edge of the city, something lurks, something old and evil, woken by the tears of a scared little girl and the cruelty of her captors. Jerome crosses its path, but Jerome has his own secrets and he isn’t exactly human. Can he defeat the Spirit in the Stone? THE SPOOK AND THE SPIRIT IN THE STONE by Jilly Paddock (DEAD MEN RISE UP NEVER). From Pro Se Productions.
From Presumed Dead to Intelligence Agent… From Espionage to Celebrity… From Hunter…to Hunted… StarChild is a quirky, subversive band famed for the slick visual effects in their shows. Citizens from a dozen worlds follow the band almost religiously, a cult of fans. When they’re invited to play on Ile Garoque, a world that severed all contact with Terra two decades ago, Earth Intelligence moves to plant a spy in their entourage. Enter Anna-Marie Delany and her computer partner, Zenni, a pair known for the skills and prone to danger. It seems simple enough until the lead singer refuses to set foot on the planet, so Anna must use her acting skills and EI’s technology to impersonate Taheera. What she does not expect is falling for Jeb Lucas, StarChild’s drummer and tech-wizard, nor for stumbling into a hostile first contact situation with a group of predatory aliens. All of this while her father is ill, longing for Anna to inherit his company and fortune, even though she is missing and assumed dead. The world could be Anna’s, yet she and Zenni must survive attacks from enemies within EI, capture by the venomous Xha and a pair of dragon-storms, weird elemental disruptions in non-space that can destroy unwary spacecraft. From Author Jilly Paddock, the third volume in Her Zenith Alpha 4013 series takes science fiction and espionage to galactic new heights. Starchild. From Pro Se Productions.