Dimension Five

by Tom East

What if it was possible to travel in the fifth dimension? What if “The Wall” had been built in Paris, not Berlin and by the Americans, not the Russians. In the 38,000-word novella, what if the astronomer Percival Lowell had been right and the truth about the habitability of Mars has been hushed up for over a century?“What ifs” are the soul of SF – speculative or science fiction. Other questions asked in this volume include what if colonial history had been different and Europe was now known as “The Dark Continent”, what if Neanderthals had been the more advanced species eliminated by the more aggressive Homo Sapiens and what if a happy pornographer made contact with a member of an alien species? This last is one of the two stories whose prime objective is humour but all seventeen ask the question “what if” in their different ways.This 74,000-word volume includes a novella of 38,000 words and the other stories range from 500 to 6,000 words in length.

275 pages, Paperback

Published September 3, 2019

About the author

Prior to INFIDEL in June 2025, Tom East's most recent full-length publication, in January, 2025 was TOMMY'S WAR: JULY 1914. This is nothing less than an account of an attempt to shorten WW1 in that summer month.

Other books still available include the controversial novel THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO St JUDAS, the unsparing non-fiction of LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE, about recovery from two brain haemorrhages (one kind of stroke), and the three volumes in the Eldritch Collections

Earlier, Tom was the writer of many works of fiction, commercial features, essays, reviews, 'other prose' and poetry. He was the author of six (print) books. 

He was born in London, although of a Welsh family and lived in Wales for many years.

See below, or Benybont.org for details of all fifteen books available as at June 2025. These are available in both paperback and eBook form (and in a few cases also as Audiobooks):

THE ANSWER IS AN EGG SANDWICH
THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT VERSE BRIGADE
THE EVE OF ST ELIGIUS
A FIFTIES’ CHILDHOOD
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST JUDAS
THE GREENLAND PARTY
INFIDEL
THE KA OF STEPHEN CHARLES
LIGHTNING STRIKES TWICE
THE LOWELL LETTERS
LYRICS, POLEMICS AND POETICS
SCENES FROM SEASONS
TOMMY’S WAR: JULY 1914
WHY WRITE HAIKU?
WISH MAN’S WOOD

Three of the four BENYBOOKS are for the moment still available. These are free or at a reduced price in eBook form only.

Reviews

[Petru Iamandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why is “counterfactual” history so appealing to science-fiction writers? Because it can show how imaginative, how intellectually sophisticated they are? Because, being connoisseurs of factual history, and quantum physics (according to which all alternates might occur in a multiverse), they want to show their readers how things might have changed if the past had taken a different route? Because, having a personal or national reason, they would have liked the present to be different? Maybe all of these, and because they have the ability to choose an exciting starting point, to make plausible connections between events, to understand the motivations of individuals, no matter how important they are, and to extrapolate from the individuals to the whole world. You can find everything in Tom East’s latest book, which examines the consequences with fine writing, solid research, and careful logic, combining fantasy and alternate history in intriguingly different ways. His stories do more than build alternate worlds just for pure entertainment. They serve as a mirror to our immediate reality in which, let us face it, we constantly ask “counterfactual” questions – what might have happened if only we had or had not …

[Joyce James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tom East's latest - 'Dimension Five' -
consists of sixteen short stories and one novella.
They are all interesting and thought-provoking.
The writing is good. The plots are gripping whether it be at the Checkpoint or with Cleopatra, in the fields of an Anglo-Saxon tribe or a Lamian boxing ring. We are with historical and biblical characters and, of course, enough science fiction and fantasy to satisfy any ardent fan. I was particularly impressed with so much background knowledge skilfully woven into the narrative.
Tom East has already produced three novels, two collections of poetry and a book of stories on the dark side. I've enjoyed them all and look forward to others scheduled to appear soon.