Burton & Swinburne Series by Mark Hodder

London, 1861.Sir Richard Francis Burton—explorer, linguist, scholar, and swordsman; his reputation tarnished; his career in tatters; his former partner missing and probably dead... moreLondon, 1861.Sir Richard Francis Burton—explorer, linguist, scholar, and swordsman; his reputation tarnished; his career in tatters; his former partner missing and probably dead.Algernon Charles Swinburne—unsuccessful poet and follower of de Sade; for whom pain is pleasure, and brandy is ruin!They stand at a crossroads in their lives and are caught in the epicenter of an empire torn by conflicting forces: Engineers transform the landscape with bigger, faster, noisier, and dirtier technological wonders; Eugenicists develop specialist animals to provide unpaid labor; Libertines oppose repressive laws and demand a society based on beauty and creativity; while the Rakes push the boundaries of human behavior to the limits with magic, drugs, and anarchy. The two men are sucked into the perilous depths of this moral and ethical vacuum when Lord Palmerston commissions Burton to investigate assaults on young women committed by a weird apparition known as Spring Heeled Jack, and to find out why werewolves are terrorizing London's East End.Their investigations lead them to one of the defining events of the age, and the terrifying possibility that the world they inhabit shouldn't exist at all! less

It is 1862, though not the 1862 it should be. . . . Time has been altered, and Sir Richard Francis Burton, the king’s agent, is one of the few people who know that the world is now careening along a very different course from that which Destiny intended... moreIt is 1862, though not the 1862 it should be. . . . Time has been altered, and Sir Richard Francis Burton, the king’s agent, is one of the few people who know that the world is now careening along a very different course from that which Destiny intended. When a clockwork-powered man of brass is found abandoned in Trafalgar Square, Burton and his assistant, the wayward poet Algernon Swinburne, find themselves on the trail of the stolen Garnier Collection—black diamonds rumored to be fragments of the Lemurian Eye of Naga, a meteorite that fell to Earth in prehistoric times. His investigation leads to involvement with the media sensation of the age: the Tichborne Claimant, a man who insists that he’s the long lost heir to the cursed Tichborne estate. Monstrous, bloated, and monosyllabic, he’s not the aristocratic Sir Roger Tichborne known to everyone, yet the working classes come out in force to support him. They are soon rioting through the streets of London, as mysterious steam wraiths incite all-out class warfare. From a haunted mansion to the Bedlam madhouse, from South America to Australia, from séances to a secret labyrinth, Burton struggles with shadowy opponents and his own inner demons, meeting along the way the philosopher Herbert Spencer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Florence Nightingale, and Charles Doyle (father of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle). Can the king’s agent expose a plot that threatens to rip the British Empire apart, leading to an international conflict the like of which the world has never seen? And what part does the clockwork man have to play? Burton and Swinburne’s second adventure—The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man—is filled with eccentric steam-driven technology, grotesque characters, and a deepening mystery that pushes forward the three-volume story arc begun in The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack. less

It is 1863, but not the one it should be. Time has veered wildly off course, and now the first moves are being made that will lead to a devastating world war and the fall of the British Empire. Caught in a tangled web of cause, effect, and inevitability, little does Burton realize that the stakes are far higher than even he suspects... moreIt is 1863, but not the one it should be. Time has veered wildly off course, and now the first moves are being made that will lead to a devastating world war and the fall of the British Empire. Caught in a tangled web of cause, effect, and inevitability, little does Burton realize that the stakes are far higher than even he suspects. A final confrontation comes in the mist-shrouded Mountains of the Moon, in war- torn Africa of 1914, and in Green Park, London, where, in the year 1840, Burton must face the man responsible for altering time: Spring Heeled Jack! Burton and Swinburne's third adventure is filled with eccentric steam-driven technology, grotesque characters, and bizarre events, completing the three-volume story arc begun in The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack and The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man. less

Burton & Swinburne return in a new series! The Beast is coming. History will be remade. Since the assassination of Queen Victoria in 1840, a cabal of prominent men-including King George V, HRH Prince Albert, Benjamin Disraeli, and Isambard Kingdom Brunel-has received guidance from the Afterlife. The spirit of a dead mystic, Abdu El Yezdi, has helped them to steer the empire into a period of unprecedented peace and creativity... moreBurton & Swinburne return in a new series! The Beast is coming. History will be remade. Since the assassination of Queen Victoria in 1840, a cabal of prominent men-including King George V, HRH Prince Albert, Benjamin Disraeli, and Isambard Kingdom Brunel-has received guidance from the Afterlife. The spirit of a dead mystic, Abdu El Yezdi, has helped them to steer the empire into a period of unprecedented peace and creativity. But on the eve of a groundbreaking alliance with the newly formed Greater German Confederation, scientists, surgeons, and engineers are being abducted-including Brunel! The government, in search of answers, turns to the Afterlife, only to find that Abdu El Yezdi is now refusing to speak with the living. Enter the newly-knighted Sir Richard Francis Burton, fresh from his discovery of the source of the Nile. Appointed the king's agent, he must trace the missing luminaries and solve the mystery of Abdu El Yezdi's silence. But the Beast has been summoned. How can the famous explorer fulfill his mission when his friends and loved ones are being picked off, one by one, by what appears to be a supernatural entity-by, perhaps, Abdu El Yezdi himself? less

SPRING HEELED JACK IS JUMPING BACK!It's 9 p.m. on February 15, 1860, and Charles Babbage, the British Empire's most brilliant scientist, performs an experiment. Within moments, blood red snow falls from the sky and Spring Heeled Jack pops out of thin air in London's Leicester Square. Though utterly disoriented and apparently insane, the strange creature is intent on one thing: hunting Sir Richard Francis Burton!Spring Heeled Jack isn't alone in his mental confusion... moreSPRING HEELED JACK IS JUMPING BACK!It's 9 p.m. on February 15, 1860, and Charles Babbage, the British Empire's most brilliant scientist, performs an experiment. Within moments, blood red snow falls from the sky and Spring Heeled Jack pops out of thin air in London's Leicester Square. Though utterly disoriented and apparently insane, the strange creature is intent on one thing: hunting Sir Richard Francis Burton!Spring Heeled Jack isn't alone in his mental confusion. Burton can hardly function; he's experiencing one hallucination after another-visions of parallel realities and future history. Someone, or something, is trying to tell him about…what? When the revelation comes, it sends Burton and his companions on an expedition even the great explorer could never have imagined-a voyage through time itself into a twisted future where steam technology has made a resurgence and a despotic intelligence rules over the British Empire! less

Having returned from his expedition to the future, Burton reveals to the authorities what he witnessed there. In response, prime minister Disraeli initiates a programme whereby the empire's elite have their consciousnesses transferred into mechanical bodies, thereby ensuring eternal rule. As a brutal plutocracy emerges, Burton and Swinburne find themselves leading a revolution.The Sixth and final Burton and Swinburne Adventure!

Burton and Swinburne return for a series of new adventures exclusive to Kindle. Mark Hodder introduced his steampunk heroes in the Philip K. Dick Award-winning novel THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF SPRING HEELED JACK. Through that and five subsequent novels, Sir Richard Francis Burton and his erratic assistant, the poet Algernon Swinburne, battled to repair the mechanisms of time... moreBurton and Swinburne return for a series of new adventures exclusive to Kindle. Mark Hodder introduced his steampunk heroes in the Philip K. Dick Award-winning novel THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF SPRING HEELED JACK. Through that and five subsequent novels, Sir Richard Francis Burton and his erratic assistant, the poet Algernon Swinburne, battled to repair the mechanisms of time. In this new series of short stories, they have settled into their new lives in an alternate 1862 and are now tackling a new threat to the British Empire: a nefarious organisation known as the Black Pentagram. Straightforward crime fighting? Not when the opponents are practitioners of black magic! In THE MYSTERY OF THE EMPTY BAY (9,000 words), the first sorcerer is identified and hunted but seems to vanish into thin air ... or perhaps into deep water! Look out for the second story in the series: THE DISASTER AT DALE DYKE. less

In the second of Burton & Swinburne's new adventures, they continue their battle against the Black Pentagram, a cabal of sorcerers whose criminal activities threaten the security of the British Empire. THE DISASTER AT DALE DYKE (12,000 words) is — like the Burton & Swinburne novels — inspired by real events, though in this alternate reality the Great Sheffield Flood of 1864 occurs two years earlier ... and has a villainous purpose! Steampunk shenanigans from Philip K... moreIn the second of Burton & Swinburne's new adventures, they continue their battle against the Black Pentagram, a cabal of sorcerers whose criminal activities threaten the security of the British Empire. THE DISASTER AT DALE DYKE (12,000 words) is — like the Burton & Swinburne novels — inspired by real events, though in this alternate reality the Great Sheffield Flood of 1864 occurs two years earlier ... and has a villainous purpose! Steampunk shenanigans from Philip K. Dick Award-winning author Mark Hodder! less