Thunder Child in an Alternative Britain - Science Fiction Adaptation.

The bold ironclad that attacked three Martian tripods in War of the Worlds is about to be re-launched with a second edit and a new section. The new improved version of the pastiche novel is due out on January 2017.

Everything will be revamped. In the meantime, this version can still be bought, but only in the USA. For more, click here.

Thunder Child in an Alternative Britain - Science Fiction Adaptation.

The bold ironclad that attacked three Martian tripods in War of the Worlds is about to be re-launched with a second edit and a new section. The new improved version of the pastiche novel is due out on January 2017.

Everything will be revamped. In the meantime, this version can still be bought, but only in the USA. For more, click here.

Victorian Battleship Model

I saw a model ship from Victorian times in a military Museum in Norfolk as I drove along the coastal road back to my home in the Fenlands. It was a pleasant surprise because the museum had a little more to look at than I expected.

In one section I saw a number of model boats. One of them HMS Hornet of the Dreadnought class or just pre-Dreadnought. I wrote a pastiche novel of H.G.Wells' War of the Worlds. It is called: The Last Days of Thunder Child. Although in my book, Thunder Child is visualised as a ship looking more like HMS Devastation the HMS Hornet, the models figures of the sailors on board would look the same. I loved the look of the superstructure and the wheel house and the figure standing about in their RN uniforms of the era.

I could not help but excitedly snap the model in order to get a look at the sailors aboard. It sets my old imagination going into overdrive.  

To my further delight, I saw a paddle steamer called the Waverly. This little boat still exists and goes all around the British Isles to various seaside locations each year. When I lived at Southend-on-Sea she often came to the pier and took people out on excursions. I based the paddle steamer on the one in H.G.Wells' War of the Worlds when I wrote the Thunder Child pastiche story. Therefore, I had to click all. I have the image of the sailors aboard HMS Hornet for the uniforms of the day, the paddle steamer Waverly (re-named Southend Belle) for the fleeing boat full of refugees and the model of HMS Devastation for my mind's image of the fictitious  HMS Thunder Child.  

The model of HMS Devastation with her short barrelled muzzle loading guns are what I imagined Thunder Child to look like. Outdated, even in 1898, but able to pack a punch for the people on the paddle steamer in the Last Days of Thunder Child.

The Invisible Man - H.G. Wells (Retro SciFi)

This was a thrilling story. I thought it would be corny and I was only half interested when I picked it up. I did not think anything could surpass The War of the Worlds or The Time Machine. However, to my delight, The Invisible Man was so wonderfully presented. It takes place at an Inn in an English village during the time of Victorian Britain. The locals are nosey rumour mongers who find the strange bandaged man a bit of an odd fellow who keeps himself to himself. From here the wonderful plot begins as we gradually learn of the invisible man and the growing intolerance towards his desperate need for isolation and secretive studies. A gripping tale with characters that are deeper and more real than those in H.G. Wells' other good novels.

This story drip-feeds the reader with a developing plot. The scientific explanation for the man's invisibility is remarkable and very plausible too. The clothes and bandages to hide his transparency are all wonderfully thought out. 

One would think the prospect of being invisible would be exciting and advantages, but H.G. Wells thought otherwise as our scientist becomes obsessed, bitter and twisted in his attempt to find a cure for his invisibility - the result of a scientific experiment that went wrong. The reader is introduced to the invisible man as he is about to embark upon a new quest to reverse the accident that rendered the scientist permanently invisible. It is a race against time as he gradually loses his sanity while trying to keep his dilemma a secret. Desperately, he searches for a formula to reverse the dreadful process. 

John Wyndham - The Midwich Cuckoos (SciFi at its best)

I enjoyed this novel so much and John Wyndham's gripping style of writing is at its best during this wonderful science fiction story. I could not put it down. I have enjoyed many of John Wyndham's fantastic science fiction stories - The Chrysalids, and The Day of the Triffids among others. All great, but this - The Midwich Cuckoos is the best of all, in my humble opinion. 

The feel of the story and its location show the reader how difficult the situation is for the villagers of Midwich. We also see how the outside world is nothing more than an impotent spectator as the unearthly phenomenon evolves and grows with terrifying credibility over the years. The actual writing style is superb and gripping from beginning to end. A smashing SciFi story with a 1950s/1960s Retro British feel. 

Everything about the uncanny tale allows the reader to feel so personally involved (as an impotent onlooker) and marvel at the ways of the villagers as the try to adapt to the sinister fate that has befallen them. One person, in particular, is the patient learner. He politely observes and works out a way around the complex and dreadful situation of the village of Midwich. What an absolute climax at the end. I love science fiction in all forms, but this is my absolute favourite SciFi story of all time.

A Great Steampunk Adventure

Great Steampunk adventure set in an alternative British Empire with advanced steam driven machinery and airships. We follow the adventures of Captain Folkestone and his Martian accomplice, Sergeant Felix Hand. The British Empire is policing colonies on Mars and Venus in the year of 1882. It's a wonderful weird and wacky adventure of a retro sci-fi world from our past. An alternative British Empire in a bizarre space age. The image of Victorian machinery (iron and steam) in a space age dreamed of by people with futuristic imaginations of the late 19th and early 20th Century. H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burrows type Sci-Fi. A story of ancient Dark Gods known to Martians and Venusians from their entwined pasts yet not to Humans who are new comers building empires and colonies upon both planets. The restless natives of these colonised worlds are resurrecting taboo old Gods. Those that must not be spoken of. Their aim (The Dark Gods) to destroy the alternative British Empire of 1882 and bring vengeance upon humanity. Only the dashing Captain Folkestone and Sergeant Hand can thwart the evil as they travel on a quest from Mars to Venus following leads where humanoid and reptillian Venusians dwell. Plus some work back on Earth, in London, by Scotland Yard’s Chief Inspector Ethan Slaughter as he searches among London's immigrant population of Chinese, Laskers, Martians and Venusian workers in a quest for secrets of the Dark Gods too.

Great adventure for all fans of Steampunk Sci-Fi where even Victorian London's back streets are awash with inter-planetary multi-cutralism. The whole story moves well with its wonderful alternative Victorian feel combined with retro steampowered machinery from a mythical, dreamed of, age.

Thunder Child Fights the Martians in War of the Worlds Adaptation.

The countdown for the UK book market begins. The War of the Worlds adaptation of HMS Thunder child's perspective of the events. Victorian Britain in 1898 reigned supreme. 

Then H.G. Wells imagined alien beings from Mars invading the Earth and Britain with her vast Empire seemed impotent. to the terror from space. 

Today, War of the Worlds is a Science Fiction/Alternative Reality story that still thrills readers imaginations.

From 1st of January 2017, the new adaptation of The Last Days of Thunder Child will be on sale in the UK with its new added text and improved second edit.