Hello. Have you ever wondered what would actually happen if an AI was left completely unattended? Or have you ever felt a shiver when you walk alone in the woods at night?

Ceri Nyx is the darker side of author Ceri Clark. Ceri is short for Ceridwen, which is my real name. Ceridwen was the Welsh goddess of wisdom. Nyx comes from the Greek goddess of night. Together, the name felt right for the dark speculative fiction, techno-horror, corporate dystopian thrillers, and YA horror that I write.

Most of these stories begin when something ordinary starts behaving badly. Sometimes it’s a wellness app that knows far too much. Other times, a workplace keeps taking more of your life until the arrangement feels rather less voluntary than advertised. Machines have a habit of learning faster than anyone planned for, too. And then there’s the night shift where nobody asks the obvious question because everyone is exhausted, which, to be fair, probably describes most night shifts.
Cough. Moving on. Then I push that fear.

When I’m not writing, I’m probably eyeing the nearest smart appliance with deep suspicion. Definitely not the chocolate in the fridge, honest.

Welcome to Nyx Bytes

Nyx Bytes is my series of short dystopian thrillers and techno-horror stories, for readers who want a dark story without committing to a doorstop of a book.

The series begins with Halcyon Days, a corporate dystopian thriller about Martha Veinn and her graveyard shift team inside Halcyon’s basement call center. The company has a new employee perk called Drift. The high-tech wellness pods promise better rest, better recovery, and better performance. Martha wants nothing to do with them. Then her notebook starts filling with handwriting she doesn’t remember making, and her coworkers begin waking from pod breaks with split lips, strange marks, and the same nightmare in their heads.

For Lighter Trouble

If you need a breather from the shadows, I also write warmer fantasy as Ceridwen Hughson. That’s where you’ll find the Annwniad books, full of Welsh myth, dry humor, and ordinary people being dragged into very strange jobs.

One side of me writes about corporate nightmares and dangerous machines. The other side writes about council workers turning into dogs for the civil service afterlife. Both are probably more revealing than I intended!

Free Stories

I’ve never fancied writing a conventional newsletter just to have something to send. I’d much rather give you a story.

Subscribers receive free, slightly unusual short fiction that shows you what my darker work feels like. Writing these stories also gives my brain somewhere new to go while I’m deep in edits on a novel or novella. Apparently it needs the occasional shiny object. You get a complete story, and I return to the larger book with fewer thoughts of throwing it into the sea.