September 2023 – Vampires in the Sunburnt Country

NOVEL

Publisher: IFWG, 2023

The first book of the Salt Lines duology, in which history gets an occult makeover. Set in two timelines, the story imagines a hidden purpose to both the fall of Jerusalem in 1099 and the French destruction of the Templars in 1307. There’s a large cast (blessed be the character list), taking in the two sides competing for an artefact of Biblical proportions, with would-be ruler of Jerusalem Godefroi and newly minted Templar Bertrand at the forefront. Burrage, not unused to this terrain, finds contrast in the heat of the Holy Land and foggy, rainy France, the intersection of the two storylines no doubt to be made in book 2, due out in 2024. Bertrand and his trusty bodyguard make for an engaging duo, being dropped into the conspiracy as they are pursued across France, while driven Godefroi takes the role of hunter in the desert. The supernatural slips easily into the well-drawn historical elements, making this an entertaining read.

NOTE: I’ll have the pleasure of helping Nathan launch The Hidden Keystone at Conflux in Canberra on Sunday 1 October 2023.

The Left-Handed Booksellers of London, by Garth Nix (Allen & Unwin, 2020)

In 1983 England, all is not what it seems in this slightly askew historical setting.

Creatures of folklore and myth intrude into the human realm, with a dedicated band of booksellers keeping them in check.

The booksellers, versed in lore and adept in magical and martial battle, police the realm with a nod and a wink from the authorities.

Enter art student Susan, with a family secret that leads her into the secret world, with left-handed bookseller Merlin and his right-handed sister Vivien keeping her company as they pursue their own quest.

The characters are vibrant, the world as intriguing as you’d expect from a master of the genre such as Garth Nix.

There’s an engaging voice to the narrative that harks to the likes of Susan Cooper, Alan Garner and others who have brought the mythic into the mortal, and Nix is not adrift in that company as he doffs a fresh hat to that tradition.

A version of this review appeared in the Herald Sun, 31/10/2020