And On the Story Spins - Dark Speculative Fiction from S.J. Townend

A haunting tale of love, loss, and apocalypse, where tumbleweeds are the harbingers of grief and humanity’s unraveling.

When tumbleweeds bury the world, Ellie clings to memories—and her husband’s secret—while the story spins out of control.

In a world overrun by relentless tumbleweeds, Ellie finds herself wading through loss, loneliness, and the rituals that keep the past alive. As the city chokes on detritus and media hysteria, her daily routine becomes a battle—against nature, against isolation, and against the slow collapse of everything she loves.

Ellie’s story weaves together the tender with the macabre: faded wedding vows, the ache of absence, and the desperate need for connection amid an ever-growing chaos. The supermarket shelves offer no comfort, the streets are graveyards of abandoned cars, and the only constants are the spinning weeds and the ticking clock.

S.J. Townend’s And On, the Story Spins is a devastating, intimate portrait of grief and the human drive to find meaning—even as the world itself is swept away. Fans of literary horror, quiet apocalypse, and bleak speculative fiction will find themselves pulled into this unforgettable tale, where every tumbleweed carries the memory of something lost and the promise of something darker yet to come.