PLAGUE IN CHESTER

On Saturday 20th October during Fantasycon in the historic city of Chester, UK, NewCon Press launched in hardback the second and concluding part of The Waters of Destiny by me and collaborator Andy West, our historical and variant-present techno-thriller about how a Syrian Arab doctor of genius (and of genocidal religious faith) could in the 12th century—realistically within the mindset and medical technology of the time—have understood and isolated and stored the cause of the medieval mass-killer Black Death.

Sorry New Scientist and others, silly billies (apart from Deborah Mackenzie in 2001), but the Big Bad Black Death has nothing to do with flea-bites or rats, as you will realise sooner or later. The Middle Ages was a filthy place. Bubonic Plague could burst out at the same time and place as the truly devastating Haemorrhagic Fever, cousin to flesh-eating organ-dissolving Ebola, but it was the latter which was the really lethal Black Death… and can become so once again, for our Syrian Doctor’s work of old will bear deadly fruit in our own time.

Here are the two dustcovers:

Here’s the link to buying our 291 epic pages (plus 263 epic pages for Vol 1 if not already grabbed by you a few months ago). Total length: 554 pages.

Here are Andy and me at the book launch, me looking strangely like the food writer Matthew Fort on a judging panel for The Great British Menu:

A star of the show must be the Hallmark Hotel Chester The Queen, which goes wonderfully over the top as regards statuary both indoors as well as within its gardens. Just for instance:

Much can be written of the beauties of Chester, from its free Cathedral with lots of interesting things inside, and the town’s ancient timbered shops, to its large well-appointed Zoo, to its hundreds of mostly large restaurants packed to the rafters every Friday and Saturday night. But this is about THE BOOK LAUNCH. However, here as a bonus is a Roman beekeeper’s helmet:

Esteemed bestselling historical novelist Angus Donald has praised our novel as “Fluidly written, with finely drawn characters and spot-on historical research… a tightly plotted international thriller that flips effortlessly between the 12th and 21st centuries to tell a gripping tale of ancient hatreds and modern-day nightmares. Starring a murderous sect of medieval Muslims – that may just have survived into our own age – a Christian fundamentalist US Government agent hot on their trail, and a sexy Canadian history professor looking for love in all the wrong places… Highly recommended.”