Swords of Albion · #1
Published in the UK as The Sword of Albion (2010).
A devilish plot to assassinate the queen, a cold war enemy hell-bent on destroying the nation, incredible gadgets, a race against time around the world to stop the ultimate doomsday device... and Elizabethan England's greatest spy!
Meet Will Swyfte — adventurer, swordsman, rake, swashbuckler, wit,
scholar and the greatest of Walsingham's new band of spies. His
exploits against the forces of Philip of Spain have made him a national
hero, lauded from Carlisle to Kent. Yet his associates can barely
disguise their incredulity — what is the point of a spy whose face and
name is known across Europe?
But Swyfte's public image is a carefully-crafted façade to
give the people of England something to believe in, and to allow them
to sleep peacefully at night. It deflects attention from his real
work — and the true reason why Walsingham's spy network was established.
A Cold War seethes, and England remains under a state of
threat. The forces of Faerie have preyed on humanity for millennia.
Responsible for our myths and legends, of gods and fairies, dragons,
griffins, devils, imps and every other supernatural menace that has
haunted our dreams, this power in the darkness has seen humans as
playthings to be tormented, hunted or eradicated.
But now England is fighting back!
Magical defences have been put in place by the Queen's
sorcerer Dr. John Dee, who is also a senior member of Walsingham's
secret service and provides many of the bizarre gadgets utilised by the
spies. Finally there is a balance of power. But the Cold War is
threatening to turn hot at any moment...
Will now plays a constant game of deceit and death, holding
back the Enemy's repeated incursions, dealing in a shadowy world of
plots and counter-plots, deceptions, secrets, murder, where no one...
and no thing... is quite what it seems.
