Richard T. Dawes writes queer fiction, focused on gay noir romance set in the world of Patrick Black. The world of the Gonič, a sprawling European syndicate, smothers Patrick and other characters as they navigate, survive, and live their complex lives.
Strands of Control
Published in 2025, Richard’s debut novel introduces Patrick Black, an American who thought he could disappear in Europe. He left behind his country, career, partner, and name—vanishing into Europe’s undercurrent, hoping for reinvention. But freedom slips through his fingers when he’s ensnared in a Serbian-run criminal network known as the Gonič. What begins as survival turns into complicity, especially once he meets Vlado, a man who offers protection, control, and twisted comfort.
After weeks on the run, Patrick resurfaces in London—now sober, anonymous, and drifting between routines and empty hookups. Just when he finds uneasy stability, he’s tasked with monitoring Jovan, an alluring and attractive young man scarred by the same Gonič that broke him. As Patrick navigates his own past and a family desperate to find him, he must decide: stay hidden in the life that protects him, or fight to reclaim the one that could set him free.
Forthcoming Works
Richard has written two other novels in the Gonič syndicate and is simultaneous writing Strands’ follow-up and a standalone novella.
Richard T. Dawes 