Power drifts. Allegiances blur.
Some are taken. Others forced to spy
Thomas X Veil writes psychological dystopian fiction focused on surveillance, ideological conflict and moral ambiguity.
Rosehaven is dominated by competing factions. The rigid Heritage Front clings to the past, while the charismatic New Tomorrow sells the promise of renewal. A third movement, The Return, rejects both.
In Rosehaven, these factions have no clear boundaries. Even locals are unsure where loyalties truly lie.
Rosehaven: Stories of Quiet Division
Book 1 of The Rosehaven Shift series, the Quiet Division stories trace the psychological cost of factional and ideological conflict. Residents of Rosehaven face slow, pervasive fractures in trust, loyalty, and morality, creating dark indie speculative fiction grounded in human experience, perfect for fans of Children of Men, Station Eleven and tense dystopian tales. * Until recently, this book was called Rosehaven: Stories from the Quiet War.
Inside this collection you’ll find:
- Interconnected dystopian stories set in the same uneasy town
- Ordinary people navigating fraught loyalties, survival and quiet resistance: steadfast Sara (echoing Offred & Sarah Connor), conflicted Chris Jenkins (mirroring Theon Greyjoy & Anakin Skywalker), calculating Major Cleverly (in the vein of Karla & Hans Landa)
- Dark humor amid small acts of defiance
- A world where even tiny choices carry dangerous consequences
Fans of Cloud Atlas, A Visit from the Goon Squad, Severance and Black Mirror will embrace these character-driven speculative stories of division and quiet defiance.
The Grey (working title of forthcoming sequel)
Book 2 of the Rosehaven Shift series. New characters join old ones to overcome the manipulation of the masses by the force behind the factions.
Several years later the power structure has changed behind the scenes.
What begins as an innocent fact-finding journey turns into a fight for survival.
In The Grey, the conflict moves deeper:
- from individuals to systems
- from suspicion to design
- from survival to complicity
The question is no longer who to trust,
but whether trust is even possible.
Excerpt from The Grey
There always seems to be something hovering at the edge of my mind, of my consciousness, but I just can’t seem to grasp it. I’ve tried to talk to some of my close friends about it, but it’s like they know, but refuse to tell me what it is. It’s like I’m being excluded.
Rosehaven:
10 Stories of Quiet Division
Roselife
Fighting the Quiet Tide
In a coastal town ruled by rival factions and constant surveillance, Sara navigates checkpoints, fanaticism, and quiet coercion to protect her daughters. As loyalties blur and old connections resurface, survival becomes a daily act of suspicion in a dystopia where rebellion begins at home. Genre: Speculative Family Drama [Read Online] [Download Story]
Rosehaven
On the town shared by these stories
A small town mapped in silence and omission. This origin story traces the hidden agreements, shifting allegiances, and quiet wars that shaped Rosehaven, revealing how factional conflict, fear, and compromise became the town’s natural order. Genre: Dystopian Worldbuilding [Read Online] [Download Story]
Roseslave
In the Quiet Depths
Summoned by the woman who once destroyed him, a former victim is pulled back into a dynamic of control and submission. As past trauma resurfaces, he confronts how deeply power embeds itself, long after escape seems possible. Genre: Coercive Dystopian Fiction [Read Online] [Download Story]
Rosecoven
Whispers Are Not What They seem
A weary patrolman uncovers a secret circle of women living beyond faction law. As duty collides with doubt, he is drawn into a psychological mystery where belief, obedience, and rebellion erode the fragile structures holding the town together. Genre: Psychological Dystopian Fiction [Read Online] [Download Story]
Rosecell
A Quiet Choice
Four strangers share a holding cell under faction control. As fear, paranoia, and hidden motives surface, the psychological threat inside the cage eclipses the guards beyond it, turning confinement into a study of suspicion and survival. Genre – Darkly Comic Speculative Fiction [Read Online] [Download Story]
Rosecommerce
Profits of Conflict
Dino sees profit in repression, monetising faction checkpoints alongside the calculating Louisa. In a town shaped by coercion and fear, commerce becomes another weapon, and every transaction tightens the grip of control. Genre: Satirical Speculative Fiction [Read Online] [Download Story]
Rosecode
A Silent Key Turns
A naïve intelligence officer infiltrates an enemy organisation to steal a guarded secret. In a dystopian system built on deception and surveillance, every success deepens the trap, and the true mystery is whether loyalty itself can survive exposure. Genre: Ideological Conflict Fiction [Read Online] [Download Story]
Roseistance
A War of Quiet Refusals
A group of teenage tinkerers turn sabotage into survival, dismantling surveillance systems with improvised tech and reckless courage. Their quiet rebellion masks grief, guilt, and the knowledge that in a dark fiction world, resistance always demands a price. Genre: Surveillance Thriller [Read Online] [Download Story]
Roserain
It Washes Nothing Clean
As the city fractures under faction conflict, four friends steal abandoned art to survive. What begins as opportunity becomes a moral thriller, where loyalty corrodes and value is measured in betrayal rather than currency. Genre: Dark Speculative Fiction [Read Online] [Download Story]
Rosewar
What Quiet Sounds Like When it Breaks
When bombers force rival factions into a fragile alliance, Rosehaven’s quiet conflicts erupt into open catastrophe. As authority falters, Mary discovers how easily protection becomes tyranny, and how quickly small-town intrigue turns lethal. Genre: Ideological Conflict Fiction [Read Online] [Download Story]
Thomas X Veil – Indie Dystopian Fiction Author
Thomas X Veil is a Scottish writer of dystopian fiction whose stories explore the quiet tensions beneath ordinary life. Having lived for many years in different cultures, particularly in East Asia, he draws inspiration from their subtle differences.
Creative Influences
My writing is forged from a broad spectrum of layered storytelling, visual art and atmospheric music, all shaping the quiet unease, restrained tension, moral ambiguity and immersive mood that runs through every narrative.
Literary Core Influences
Dystopian and speculative works exploring societal division, systemic control, conformity and quiet resistance: Iain (M) Banks, Joseph Heller, Ann Leckie, Kazuo Ishiguro, China Miéville, Ray Bradbury, Rupert Thomson, Margaret Atwood, Ursula K. Le Guin, and George Orwell.
Stylistic Palette Influences
Literary, fantasy, spy and crime fiction that informs worldbuilding, hidden identity, layered treachery, lingering regret and complex character dynamics: Stephen Donaldson, Haruki Murakami, classic dramatic literature, political spy fiction, Scandinavian noir and introspective contemporary storytelling.
Visual Art Influences
Dark symbolic and expressive fine art that shapes visual tone, shadowed imagery and unsettling atmospheric framing: Hieronymus Bosch, Matisse, alongside additional evocative fine art influences.
Musical Influences
Brooding, mood-driven post-punk and atmospheric alternative soundscapes that guide pacing, tension and subdued emotional undercurrents: early Simple Minds, early Pink Floyd, Dead Kennedys, Echo & The Bunnymen, Gang of Four.