If you would like
to see any of the books synopsized here written in full, please contact the
author with suitably large offers of remuneration and publication. Comprising:
[N.B. The seax (or scramaseax)
was the long, one-edged blade traditionally carried by the Saxons, and from
which they drew both their name and that of their chief god. ] SETTING GENERAL
THEME MATTERS
COVERED N.B. My usual ' times doesn't so readily lend itself
to 'light-hearted' treatment. Doubtless it would worm its way in regardless,
but the humour (if such it be) would probably be different from that of, say,
Popes & Phantoms
or The Royal
Changeling. There's scope for the usual stuff in, for instance, rabid Vikings,
effete Byzantine courtiers or the Saxon attitude to sex, but generally the atmosphere
conveyed in the legends and sagas is pretty .... grim. SETTING GENERAL
THEME CHARACTERS MATTERS
COVERED In a tiny village in 'Britannia
Superior', a young member of the 'Regni' tribe is growing up only dimly
aware of the vast Empire of which he is a part. His people are likewise hazy
about their position in the world, or even what year it is: some say 3053 years
after the foundation of Rome (or 2300 AD), others state 3076 (2323): no one
knows for sure. They are aware that their home was once called 'Suonal officials they see. Beneath the enigmatic chalk hill-figure
of the 'Long Man of Wilmington', the villagers live out a simple rural
life, fully occupied in wresting their livelihood out of the land. They give
little thought as to how the world came to be so empty and scattered with ruins
made by giants. The book's main character starts
off in acceptance of this strangely peaceful life, content in due course to
replace his father as village 'Tribune' and custodian of the Imperial
'machine-pistol' provided them. Such quiet contentment is, however, lost for
good after the calling of the rarest of visitors: a genuine Roman; an educated
man and a philosopher. From this disruption comes the restless, questioning
spirit that will take the 'hero' out of his pastoral world and into a fuller
understanding of his times and its history. He progresses from a forbidden
visit to the ruins of 'Brighton' and the consequent shattering of his
every accepted notion, to a career in Imperial service. In Anderida (Pevensey),
Noviomagus (Chichester) and Lone rise of the new Rome and the grim secret at its heart. The
hand once predestined for guiding a plough is led into directing much stronger
and less innocent forces. In opposition to a corrupt and mad Emperor, in surviving
the deadly whirlpool of Rome, and finally in becoming the father of the State
itself, the hero sees how civilisation came to fall - and stagger up again. 'The Eternal City' charts
the course of a questioning man out of blissful ignorance, to the apex of his
society and troubled comprehension. Then, in holding the known world in his
palm, we follow as this dark (but sometimes sympathetic) character finds his
feet drawn inexorably back to his beginnings. The book surveys a future that
is strangely familiar - from the reader's past. It examines the structure of
the new Rome, its strategy for survival and the competing faiths struggling
for its endorsement. Mining from history books, a few men and women are striving
to save what civilisation they can from collapse. 'The Eternal City' can
be read as straight adventuys and means co-exist with machine-guns and decadence
now lies in plundering the magic-like technologies of the past. The story of
the Roman Emperor from 24th century Sussex should
appeal to the reader's sense of history and appreciation of fantasy. Further
novels set in this world would be likely. In 1453 the City of Constantinople,
last remnant of the Roman Empire founded two millennia before, fell to Sultan
Mehmed II. The survivors amongst the defeated Royal house of Palaiologos, last
rulers of Rome, afterwards took various paths. Some embraced Islam and became
useful servants of the 'Sublime Porte'; others fled abroad, taking their
ancient culture and dreams of restitution into the service of foreign realms.
One real historical figure, Theodore Palaiologos by name and an assassin by
trade, made a new life for himself in the barbarian land of England.oln. He seems also to have been associated with King James' 'favourite',
the Duke of Buckingham, and have fought as a mercenary in the bitter Lowland
wars. Contrary to expectation and likelihood, he ended his life full of years
and surrounded by children, in comfort and ease in the still Celtic land of
Cornwall. This much is attested fact. Synopses of books as
yet unwritten
The Seax Saga
Monsters and Marxists
The Eternal City
The Last Roman
Other titles in brief
The Seax Saga
The Saxon Shore
The
Eastern Emperor
The Golden Wyvern
Proto-England, from the
5th to 11th centuries
(with sizeable 15th century postscript). 'Our'
history, as recorded in the standard texts, but also as the Saxons believed
to it to be, and thus beset with interventionist
gods. The books therefore describe a world as the protagonists perceived it,
not later interpreters. This was a 'fluid' time; part of the age of migrations,
in which new Kingdoms and peoples arose, and things thought eternal passed into
history. The series would be similarly swift-moving and wide-ranging. Book
1 would involve the dying days of the Roman Empire and the Saxons arrival
on the south-east coast of 'Britannia'. Book 2 would describe the Viking
era and the main protagonists' travelling east to Byzantium and their service
in the Eastern Emperor's elite 'Varangian guard'. Book 3 would bring
events up to Hastings and the Saxon resistance against the Normans after that.
The fortunes of an abnormally
close knit Saxon clan, on their way from poverty and piracy, right to the very
top. The 'Corleones' of Anglo-Saxon England. Their struggles and triumphs and
disasters, cutting a path through those less single-minded and united than themselves.
Their role in the great events of the age which have gone to form our own..
Principally, either a formidable brother and sister team from said clan, powerfully
linked but pursuing separate careers - thus putting the book/s in split narrative
form. Or different main characters from the family, linked between the books
by a common heirloom, probably a seax knife or 'great-axe', handed down from
generation to generation. Also: Late Roman Emperors, Arthur, Vortigern,
Hengist and Horsa, various over-the-top Vikings, subtle and over-cultured Byzantines,
the exiled English axe-bearers of Constantinople, William-the-bastard, Rufus
the Red (and his pagan, homosexual court faction), Hereward the Wake, Wild
Edric, Robin Hood et al, the 'gods' Woden and Saxneat plus friends - and
an appalling host of barbarians, shamans, witches, monks, saints, grendels,
elves and so on.
Everything from the arrival of the first Saxon mercenaries in Britannia
to the Norman conquest, narrated from one clan's main-chance perspective, and
all drenched in wild magic and 'divine' meddling. An ancient bargain re-struck
with the new-comers by the older races.
Monsters
& Marxists
Our world - sort of. Mainly Russia and England, but also America and the Middle
East, from the 1960s onwards, with brief visits back to Victorian London and
the 1930's. High society, 'High politics' and the cultural elites. 'The
City' in the era of yuppies and the market boom. Oxbridge and the 'Brideshtican.
The desert wastes of Saudi, and Mecca and Medina.
That the 'older races', viz.: the elves and associated weird cousins
that I've featured or mentioned in other books, are alive and fairly well, and
functioning in modern society. Though sickened, weak and at death's door at
the turn of the 20th century; and although brought
near to extinction by the Industrial Revolution's polluting effects, by scientific
rationalism and human overpopulation, the story of how the elves claw their
way back from the edge by adopting their enemy's methods. The recruitment, bes. Their hijacking of communism, the 60's student movements, laisser-faire
capitalism, terrorist groups and myriad other trends to ensure their own survival
and restore their one-time mastery of the Earth. The 'true' history of our times.
Copious 'magic', sorcery, theology and pretty basic ribaldry. The usual mixture
of some seriousness and melancholia, interspersed with horror and double entendres.
Principally: Harry St John Philby, explorer, soldier, British Empire civil servant,
World War 2 traitor, Muslim convert and advisor to the Saudi Royal family (and
dad of Kim Philby) - and older races go-between. Also: Enver Hoxha, Joseph Stalin,
Kim Philby and Guy Burgess, Karl Marx, Erich Honecker, the Baader-Meinhof gang,
Kim il Sung, Sir Anthony Blunt, Henry Kissinger (an officially recognised bi-locator),
Yuri Andropov, Mikhail Suslov, Lavrenti Beria, Menachem Begin and a host of
other familiar names in unfamiliar guise.
What went 'wrong' with the Russian revolution (brieflytance from their secret allies) actually won the Cold War - even though
it doesn't look like it to the unilluminated. The 'coming out' of the older
races, in a position of stylish advantage, complete with anti-discrimination
legislation to protect them. The elites discover there is a higher elite, immovably
atop them. Humanity as 'pets' and 'cattle'. How 'progress'
is being guided along to become a whole lot more .... exotic, than 19th
century materialists might have envisaged.
The
Eternal City
The Last Roman
'The Last Roman' develops these bare details and follows Theodore's adventures in the West. His own branch of the Palaiologi have one set aim: to regain royal status - in Constantinople if possible, but anywhere if not. Under the all powerful supervision of e="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> Theodore treads the path of the soldier-courtier but other kin hedge the family's bets by adopting other ways and faiths, or else burrow lasciviously into advantageous dynastic matches. Throughout his long life Theodore Palaiologos mixes with the high and mighty and interesting; 'Good Queen Bess', King James the Scot, Guy Fawkes, Buckingham and John Smith the warrior-explorer, among many others. Since Grandmother Palaiologos has selected him to represent their Catholic options, he also plays a part in major events of the time, such as the 'Spanish Armada', the 'Gunpowder Plot' and the creation of the 'King James Bible' - but from a viewpoint not often expounded.
He comes to hold a pivotal role in each of the above, serving on board the Spanish fleet with many other English volunteers, seeking to blow up Parliament and frustrate the firm founding of the Anglican Church. Nor is he always as unsuccessful as history would seem to suggest. Attended in all his actions by the supernatural, which was a part of the contemporary world-view, he accepts ghostly and demonic help orls of older, wilder ways. He comes to appreciate that in life there is '.... on the surface, an intelligible lie; underneath, the unintelligible truth.'
In the end, the Palaiologis' single-minded crusade is crowned with success - but not as they expected it or in any way historians record it - yet. The reader's knowledge of English history will be subverted and he/she will look differently at the modern world in consequence. The fall and rise of the Royal Palaiologi should amuse, enlighten and horrify.
AL-LONDON
or
AL-BRITAIN
An 'alternative history', set h him. The modern world is peaceful, scholarly-speculative, somewhat technologically retarded compared to 'our own' - and Moslem.
The book/s would have a split narrative: mostly in the 'modern' era, showing the radical changes wrought, but partly at the time of the 'divergence'; bit by bit revealing how it came about. The vast variety of 'Jinns' (demons) and their summoners would feature prominently. Also featuring : 'King Arthur's Grave' at Glastonbury, Roger Bacon, King John (who offered to convert to Islam in 'our' world) and St. Francis.
The opening scene(s): the future King Edward gets a savage blow to the head at the Battle of Lewes, goes into a coma, and on awakening says he has spoken to .... some interesting beings whilst 'asleep' ....
Meanwhile, in 1995 (or 1925),
a scholar resting in a Derbyshire graveyard (of 'All Saints Church', Mugginton,
as once was) spots a long buried fragment of statuary, brought to light by a
tree-fall. Repr" size="3">CHAOS
& CATHOLICKS
or
PANDEMONIUM & PAPISTS
or
RIOTS & ROMANS
A real-life protagonist, Bishop Richard Challoner (1691-1781) amidst the tumultuous 'Gordon Riots' of 1780. Set in Sussex and London. The efforts of a 'few-in-the-know' to forestall the physical and permanent eruption of the Infernal City, Pandemonium, into England. The Gordon Riots as both symptoms of its coming and cover for its arrival. Savage fighting in central London, the clearing of the bridges at bayonet point. Attacks on prisons and distilleries led by hordes of teenage prostitutes and mysterious men in uniform [as apparently happened!]. Supernatural signs and converse with Demons. Strange and desperate bargains struck on the South Downs. The se-hard Jacobites and po-faced dissenters. A gangster Lord Mayor of London, the mad Lord George Gordon and John Wesley whipping up the mob. Fops, duellists, scandalous bishops, agnostic vicars, clinging-on-by-their-fingertips Elves (again), the ever-fascinating 'mob' - to mention but a few.
USING THE IMAGINATION
Basically straightforward humour, though not outright comedy. Strange phantasmagoria occur, increasingly frequently, in central London. People see visions, have glorious notions or go spectacularly off the rails while the phenomenon persists. Afterwards, many are difficult to coax back to prosaic routine. Normal life in the nation falters. Commentators speak of the 'crazy smog'. The main character is assigned to investigate.
He or she tracks the 'ground-zero' of the events to an area of the City in which many of the august professions have thpopular prejudice - are required to check in their imaginations for safe-keeping (since they'll only be hindered by them), to be returned when they retire - if they require them (unlikely). Naturally, over the centuries the stockpiled imaginations have built up a bit and now exceed the storage available. Imagination spills have occurred. Worse than that, over the long years something strange has happened in the imagination vaults; the imprisoned energies have met and mated and evolved into something new - with a mind of its own .... A five-dimensional creature of pure imagination wants its freedom and the Royal Institute of Chartered Accountants (whilst loathe to come clean and blow the gaff) is no longer up to handling it.
Novelists and such like make dangerous pilgrimages to London to lap up the vibes (and profit thereby) but the rest of the nation is less likely to approve of a dictatorship of the imagination. The professions stand on the edge of a dangerous - and - embarrassing revelation. Also, questions begin to be asked of why accountants frequent the Egyptology Hall of the British Museum quite so much - and for so long.
And so on and on ....
THE RISE & FALL OF WAVERLEY DISTRICT COUNCIL
A novel-length (but entirely stand-alone) 'Binscombe Tale'. The struggle of one world-view against a more powerful and prosaic one, written as an analogy to the Beowulf and Grendel story. Elves, crazed political fantasy and visions of alternate futures. Trips to the past. A guaranteed audience at least ....
THE 6:15 TO THE ALTERNATIVE BALTIC STATES
A commuter at Waterloo Station looks up at the departures board and sees the above signalled. No one else seems to be surprised or remarks upon it. He acts on impulse - and enters a weirder world than our own, similar to it but more .... colourful. The inhabitants of the 'Deeper Version' have little respect for the 'Mundane' but occasionally accept converts or interbreed with them. The commuter's life suddenly becomes a lot more dramatic, as he explores and then tries to maintain omance of time-travel, and Stalinspace, some linked short stories of a Soviet far future, and Ports & Phantoms, supernatural tales set amongst the English community in Portugal, and Let's Kill All the Lawyers! and my unlikely-to-be-set-text book, Revolutionary History for Bolshie Boys and Girls - English History as seen by those it marched all over - and others too numerous to mention ...