The Villa Delacroix

Maybe you've heard this one: Four writers on holiday enter a villa on the coast of a Swiss lake. When the time comes to leave, all but one of them will be dead.

Inspired by the 1816 Villa Diodati event, and by the novelsYellowface,Birnam Wood,The Haunting of Hill HouseandThe Turn of the Screw,The Villa Delacroixis a gothic horror novella about four writers whose lives are bound together in a toxic stew of resentment, paranoia, nihilism and self-interest. When they agree to write ghost stories on this writers' retreat, matters take a dark turn: somehow, they are all writing the same story as each other. Heads will roll, whether deserved or not, and only one of the four characters will make it out of the villa alive.

The first chapter of this novella is intended to be an entry into the Community Magazine Contest, using the prompt 'Dead men tell the best tales'.

Sensitive content: this story contains casual, conversational profanity; references to violence and murder; references to drugs and alcohol; references to disease and lockdowns; references to addiction and mental illness; references to sex.

I would like to state that the views of the characters do not reflect my personal views. I have tried to represent a sort of ugly truth with some of these characters, in terms of the negative thoughts they have. But the intention on my part as an author is that these thoughts are not good or to be copied. It's just how they are. Sometimes they are not the nicest people, and sometimes it's just the negative voices in their heads - much like with ordinary people in real life. So let me be frank: this could be quite a depressing read. But if you like reading characters who aren't all that lovely all the time, then I've got you.

It also happens in a speculative version of the year 2025 in which bird flu becomes a pandemic. Please God let this not happen, *knock on wood*

NO AI TRAINING is permitted on this work of fiction. Copyright Hiria Dunning 2025