Drone: A darkly humorous and chilling thriller

by Jon Towlson

Gregory Halverson’s life has always been defined by a quiet job at the Central Municipal Insurance Office, predictable tram rides, lunch at the same diner, and evenings spent with jazz records and crossword puzzles. But one morning, a faint, unsettling whirring outside his apartment window changes everything. A small drone with a single red eye begins to follow him, at first almost comically, then intrusively, haunting every corner of his world.

Attempts to report it are met with bureaucracy and disbelief. Friends and colleagues laugh, warn, or ignore. And as the drone’s presence grows more invasive, Gregory begins to question not only its motives but his own reality. Paranoia, guilt, and absurdity intertwine in a Kafkaesque nightmare, until Gregory is forced to confront the impossible logic of the machine—and the incomprehensible forces that seem to govern his life.

81 pages, Kindle Edition

Expected publication July 10, 2026

About the author

Jon Towlson is a film critic and the author of 40 CULT MOVIES: FROM ALICE, SWEET ALICE TO ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU (2023), MIDNIGHT COWBOY (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2023), DAWN OF THE DEAD (DEVIL'S ADVOCATES) (Auteur/ Liverpool University Press, 2022), GLOBAL HORROR CINEMA TODAY (McFarland, 2021), CANDYMAN (DEVIL'S ADVOCATES) (Auteur/Columbia University Press, 2018), THE TURN TO GRUESOMENESS IN AMERICAN HORROR FILMS, 1931-1936 (McFarland, 2016), CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (CONSTELLATIONS) (Auteur/Columbia University Press, 2016) and SUBVERSIVE HORROR CINEMA: COUNTERCULTURAL MESSAGES OF FILMS FROM FRANKENSTEIN TO THE PRESENT (McFarland, 2014). He is a regular contributor to STARBURST MAGAZINE, and has also written for the BFI, Scream, The Dark Side, Diabolique, Paracinema, Exquisite Terror, Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies, Shadowland Magazine, Bright Lights Film Journal, Offscreen, Cine Excess and Digital Film-Maker Magazine. Jon has contributed extras to Blu ray releases by Arrow, Second Sight, Eureka and 101 Films. Jon has been nominated several times for a Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award 'honoring the best in classic horror research'.

Jon hosts the official STARBURST horror podcast
FRIDAY NIGHT FRIGHTS.