The
Ghost Rebellion
The
Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences
Book
Five
Pip
Ballantine and Tee Morris
Genre:
Steampunk
Publisher:
Imagine That! Studios
Date
of Publication: 6/10/16
Word
Count: about 100,000
Photography
by Michael D. Ward of Go ForWard Photography
Design
by Starla
Book
Description:
The
chase is on! After the destruction of the Diamond Jubilee, Agents
Eliza D Braun and Wellington Books are in hot pursuit of Dr Henry
Jekyll. While he continues his experiments on the aristocracy of
Europe, he leaves a trail of chaos and despair in his wake. However
when Eliza and Wellington run him to ground in India, they are forced
to come face to face with ghosts from the past, and the realities of
empire.
Meanwhile
Brandon Hill and Bruce Campbell travel deep into Russia hunting down
ingredients to save Queen Victoria's life. Amid the cold they uncover
a new threat from the revitalized House of Usher .
All
the agents of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences will find their
allegiances in question, and their mettle tested as a new dastardly
era of international intrigue dawns.
Chapter
One: Wherein a Delightful Luncheon Is Cut Short
Wellington
Thornhill Books took in a deep breath, sparing just a moment to
collect his wits. Otherwise he risked not living to see dessert.
The
archivist-turned-agent dabbed at the corner of his mouth with his
snow-white napkin, and draped it carefully over his lap. Outside the
window the gleaming Atlantic rolled under their ocean liner the
African Sunset, but that was not the view that held his attention.
His focus remained with the dandy in front of him. Since their first
meeting, the bombastic Lord seemed rather taken with the sound of his
own voice, which was why the change in his dining companion's
demeanour came as such a shock.
If
an attack should come Wellington still had his dinner knife and fork.
He was also in possession of a glass of wine, half finished—a pity
to use, since it was a delightful vintage and paired perfectly with
the duck—that could blind his opponent for a few valuable moments.
His
lunch date kept a hard glare fixed on him, the monocle digging into
the folds of his cheek. Rather unexpected to Wellington, Lord
Hieronymus Featherstone had run out of things to say, and was now
giving him his undivided attention.
Wellington thought
he had shown unending fortitude while being subjected to
Featherstone's eternal droning on about his recent excursions across
Africa, India, and Siam. He now knew to what far reaches Lord
Featherstone had traversed in the name of Her Majesty—which might
be useful.
Yet
now Featherstone sat before him, no longer the awful, droning
chatterbox. The gentleman's jaw twitched as he kept his ice-chip blue
eyes trained on Wellington, demanding satisfaction.
"Well,"
the lord spoke, his voice booming from his barrel chest, "answer
me, man."
Sod
it, Wellington thought as he picked up his glass. At the very least,
I will finish this excellent wine.
"You
obviously mentioned her name during one of your riveting stories when
crossing the Serengeti," Wellington replied, taking in a good,
long sip of his wine.
"My
dear Bernice does not care for heat."
"Then
perhaps you mentioned her joining you as you crossed the Canadian
Rockies?"
"Nor does she
care for the cold."
Mrs.
Bernice Featherstone did not sound either lovely or agreeable, a
perfect match for her husband, it seemed.
Nodding
in resignation, Wellington cast another quick glance across the
table, taking note of the knife and fork. Both hardly suited for
close-quarter combat, but still useful. "M'lord, we could
speculate for the entirety of the afternoon on how I came to know
your lovely wife's name, but why don't we just cut this clever banter
short and try a more direct form of engagement."
"Which
would be?"
"The
truth." With a final dab at of the corners of his mouth,
Wellington dropped the napkin on the table, swiping up the fork and
placing it in his lap. He positioned the silverware for a quick
thrust as he began. "Lord Featherstone, it is no lie when I say
your company has been enlightening. I have genuinely enjoyed our
spirited and scintillating discussions whilst we journey around the
Ivory Coast. However, to say we 'met you' by chance would be
disingenuous." His grip tightened on the fork as he said, "My
associate and I have been tracking you since your boarding in
Conakry."
About
the Authors:
Philippa
(Pip) Ballantine
Born
in Wellington, New Zealand, Philippa has always had her head in a
book. For this she blames her father who thought Lord of the Rings
was suitable bedtime reading for an eight year old. At the age of
thirteen she began writing fantasy stories for herself.
She
first earned a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Political
Science and then a Bachelor of Applied Science in Library and
Information Science. So soon enough she found herself working in the
magical world of libraries where she stayed for over a decade.
Her
first professional sale was in 1997, and since then she has gone on
to produce mostly novel length fiction. In 2006 she became New
Zealand’s first podcast novelist, and she has voiced and produced
Weaver’s Web, Chasing the Bard, Weather Child and Digital Magic as
podiobooks. Her podcasts have been short listed for the Parsec
Awards, and won a Sir Julius Vogel award.
Philippa
is the author of the Books of the Order series with Ace- Geist and
Spectyr and Wrayth out now, and Harbinger to follow. She is also the
co-author of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series with Tee
Morris. Phoenix Rising debuted in May 2011 and The Janus Affair came
out in May 2012. She also has the Shifted World series with Pyr
Books, with the first book Hunter and Fox out now.
When
not writing or podcasting, Philippa loves reading, gardening, and
whenever possible traveling. With her husband, Tee and her daughter,
she is looked after by a mighty clowder of three cats.
Tee
Morris
Tee
Morris began his writing career with his 2002 historical epic
fantasy, MOREVI The Chronicles of Rafe & Askana. In 2005 Tee took
MOREVI into the then-unknown podosphere, making his novel the first
book podcast in its entirety. That experience led to the founding of
Podiobooks.com and collaborating with Evo Terra and Chuck Tomasi on
Podcasting for Dummies and its follow-up, Expert Podcasting Practices
for Dummies. He won acclaim and accolades for his cross-genre
fantasy-detective Billibub Baddings Mysteries, the podcast of The
Case of the Singing Sword winning him the 2008 Parsec Award for Best
Audio Drama. Along with those titles, Tee has written articles and
short stories for BenBella Books’s Farscape Forever: Sex, Drugs,
and Killer Muppets, the podcast anthology VOICES: New Media Fiction,
BenBella Books’ So Say We All: Collected Thoughts and Opinions of
Battlestar Galactica, and Dragon Moon Press’ Podthology: The Pod
Complex.
Tee
brought all these skills to the award-winning Ministry of Peculiar
Occurrences series which he wrote with his wife, Pip Ballantine. When
he is not writing, Tee enjoys life in Virginia alongside Philippa
Ballantine, his daughter, and three cats.
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/BooksandBraun
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