Death warrants, sewer rebellions, and a decaying gothic city where every hero has a villain's shadow. Reviewers have called Craig Hallam's gothic steampunk 'Gormenghast on the river Ankh.'
A Hero murdered.
A Girl alone.
A city of Villains.
Gothic spires battle for height, overlapping until the skyline is a jagged mass of thorns.
From the crumbling Belfry to the Citadel's stained-glass eye, across acres of cobbled streets and knotted alleyways that never see daylight, Greaveburn is a city with darkness at its core.
Archduke Choler sits on the throne, his black-sealed letters foretelling death for the person named inside. Abrasia, the rightful heir, lives as a recluse in order to stay alive.
Under the cobbled streets dwell the Broken Folk, rebels forced into the dark by a city that chose order over justice. Their leader, Darrant, once stood as Greaveburn's protector, until the city left him scarred and discarded. And in a darkened laboratory, the devious Professor Loosestrife builds a contraption known only as The Womb.
As Greaveburn is torn apart around her, Abrasia must avenge her father's murder before the Archduke's letter spells her doom.
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From international bestselling author Craig Hallam, for readers of Mervyn Peake and Joe Abercrombie who want gothic scale without slow pacing. Hallam builds a world where the throne is held in a bloody fist, the sewers house the palace's lost moral, and every character carries just enough villain to make their heroism cost something. Dark, macabre, occasionally funny... and never quite what you expect.
"A richly-textured and suitably macabre gothic fantasy fit for this cynical age." - Mark Cantrell, Cheshire Today
"This generation's Gormenghast, but with a sleek, action-packed narrative." - J.S. Collyer, author
"It is strange, but it is beautifully strange. It's grim but gorgeously so." - Mark Hayes, The Passing Place
"A pacey creation full of surprises, a touch macabre and thoroughly unpredictable." - Nimue Brown, author of Hopeless, Maine
Craig Hallam is an international best-selling author from Doncaster, UK. Channelling his experiences from being a nurse, undertaker, and librarian, he writes real people in impossible worlds. His work spans all aspects of Speculative Fiction but his heart lies under the floorboards of a haunted mansion. He paints his own book covers to make sure that The Horrors stay personal. He also gives lectures on folklore at conventions, bookshops and podcasts.Since his debut in the British Fantasy Society journal, his tales have nestled between the pages of magazines and anthologies the world over. His novels and short stories have filled the imaginations of geeks, niche and alternative readers with their character-driven style and unusual plots.Craig chronicled his experiences of living with depression and anxiety in the international best-seller, Down Days. The book has since been a finalist for the IAN Book of the Year Awards.When he isn't behind a keyboard, Craig is hosting talks on folklore, the gothic, and teaching writing skills all across the country.
