alternative history

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.

I’ve only just stumbled across the table of contents for Tales from the Bell Club (edited by Paul Mannering for KnightWatch Press), in which I’ve managed to place a story entitled ‘The Kiss’.

It was one of those yarns that popped up out of the ether, a happy collision between a visit to the gallery to see an exhibition about the Secessionist painters of early 20th century Vienna and the announcement of the anthology. In particular, a painting of Count Verona by Oskar Kokoschka and the unavoidable if enigmatic presence of Emilie Floge. It took a while to get this one to come together; I was dreading trying to reconfigure it if it missed the mark for the Bell Club. I realise now that, with last year’s riff on the disappearance of Harold Holt, I’ve definitely joined the ranks of alternative history; bless you, Emilie Floge, and your crazy band of artists! It will be interesting to see who else is rubbing shoulders in the Bell Club halls…

Emilie Floge

Count Verona, 1910

The TOC:

The Adventure of the Laboratory – Kathleen Brandt
Tell Tom Tildrum – Edward M. Erdelac
The Quarrantine Station – Lee Zumpe
A Gentleman’s Folly – Phil Hickes
The Kiss – Jason Nahrung
Divine Providence – Robert J. Santa
The Widow Dotridge – Jason D. Moore
Spawn Of The Crocodile God – John McNee
Life and Limb – Andrew Freudenberg
The Girl In The Cabin – Richard Barnes
The Wager – Jeff C. Carter
Sayuri’s Revenge – Helen Stubbs
Fluke (originally: untitled) – Lynne Jamneck
The Shrieking Woman – Doug Manllen