The Collector

A frightening dystopian horror novel where grief is forbidden and purged from the mind – a nightmarish mix of 1984 and Never Let Me Go

Sorrow is inefficient. It’s also inescapable.

Lieutenant Dev Singh dutifully spends his days recording the memories of people who, struck with incurable depression, will soon have their minds erased in order to be more productive members of society. After all, the Bureau knows what's best for you.

At night though, hidden in the dark, Dev remembers and writes in his secret journal the special moments shared with him – the small laugh of a toddler, the stillness of a late afternoon. The first flutter of love. But when the Bureau finds out he's been recounting the memories – and that the depression is in him, too – he’s sent to a sanatorium to heal. 

A nightmarish descent from sadness to madness, THE COLLECTOR is a dystopian horror novel where grief is forbidden and purged from the mind.

Laura Kat Young, author of The Butcher, is a writer and teacher living in Chicago with her family. Her works blend genre and seek to explore a deeper understanding of human behavior. The 2019-2021 Writer-in-Residence at the Ernest Hemingway Foundation, her works have appeared in The Blood Pudding, Shoreline of Infinity, The Lindenwood Review and others.  More can be found at www.laurakatyoung.com.

@writerlylaura