Andrew Caldecott

'A book with special and dangerous properties' Hilary Mantel, bestselling author of Wolf Hall 'Enthralling' M.R. Carey, bestselling author of The Girl With All the Gifts 'An imaginative tour de force' The Times 1558: Twelve children, gifted far beyond their years, are banished by their Tudor queen to the town of Rotherweird. Some say they are the golden generation; some say the devil's spawn. But everyone knows they are something to be revered - and feared. Four and a half centuries on, cast adrift from the rest of England by Elizabeth I and still bound by its ancient laws, Rotherweird's independence is subject to one disturbing condition: nobody, but nobody, studies the town or its history. Then an Outsider arrives, a man of unparallelled wealth and power, enough to buy the whole of Rotherweird - deeply buried secrets and all . . . Welcome to Rotherweird. 'A remarkable achievement' Sunday Independent 'Compelling' Guardian

Rotherweird Book I

Rotherweird

'Intricate and crisp, witty and solemn: a book with special and dangerous properties' Hilary Mantel on Rotherweird 'Baroque, Byzantine and beautiful - not to mention bold' - M.R. Carey on Rotherweird WELCOME BACK TO ROTHERWEIRD For four hundred years, the town of Rotherweird has stood alone, made independent from the rest of England to protect a deadly secret. But someone is playing a very long game. An intricate plot, centuries in the making, is on the move. Everything points to one objective - the resurrection of Rotherweird's dark Elizabethan past - and to one date: the Winter Equinox. Wynter is coming . . .

Rotherweird Book II

Wyntertide

'Intricate and crisp, witty and solemn' Hilary Mantel, Man Booker Prize-winning author of Wolf Hall on Rotherweird APOCALYPSE NOW? Geryon Wynter, the brilliant Elizabethan mystic, has achieved resurrection and returned to present-day Rotherweird. But after the chaos of Election Day, how can a stranger from another time wrest control? And for what fell purpose is Wynter back? His dark conspiracy reaches its climax in this unique corner of England, where the study of history is forbidden and neither friend nor foe are quite what they seem. The stakes could not be higher, for at the endgame, not only Rotherweird is under threat. The future of mankind itself hangs in the balance. 'Baroque, Byzantine and beautiful - not to mention bold. An enthralling puzzle picture of a book' M. R. Carey, bestselling author of The Girl With All The Gifts on Rotherweird

Rotherweird Book III

Lost Acre

From Andrew Caldecott, the author of the ROTHERWEIRD trilogy, comes a dark, enigmatic, compelling new adventure: think Alice in Wonderland meets Station Eleven, played out in places where paintings come to life. The world is on the brink of utter destruction. Despite the climate activists' best efforts, the atmosphere has turned toxic, destroying plant life, animals, and most of humanity too. The few survivors live in domes protected from the lethal smog, serving Tempestas and Genrich, the world's last two great companies. They both have plans for mankind's future, but their visions are very different - and an uneasy collaboration between them is about to end, with desperate consequences. But not everyone is bound to the companies: far from these centres of power stands the Museum Dome, where persons unknown have assembled mankind's finest paintings and artefacts. Fogg, the curator, thinks he must be the last man left alive, for in the three years he's been there, he's not had a single visitor, and his only company is AIPT, his automated physical trainer, who's very good when it comes to hamstrings and push-ups, but rubbish at actual conversation. Then a single mysterious pill - a momenticon - appears in the Museum, proving he's not alone after all. Before Fogg knows what's hit him, he is embroiled in a desperate fight against time and the rival forces which threaten to overwhelm all that remains.

Momenticon

A hugely compelling, dark, offbeat adventure from the bestselling author of ROTHERWEIRD, a master storyteller at the height of his powers. The world has become a dangerous place. Despite the environmentalists' best efforts, the atmosphere has turned toxic, destroying almost all life - plants, animals, and most of humanity too. Survivors live in domes protected by chitin shields, serving one or other of the two great companies, Lord Vane's Tempestas or Lord Sine's Genrich, with their very different visions for mankind's future. Fogg has been the curator of the isolated Museum Dome for three years. It contains Man's finest artefacts, but Fogg hasn't had a single visitor. He immerses himself in the exhibits with only AI PT, his automated physical trainer, for company. Then a single mysterious pill appears in the Museum as if from nowhere: a momenticon. It signals the end of his hermit's life and an impending struggle with the dark forces which threaten everything that remains: a struggle which will take him and his new companions to the ends of the earth. This is a post-apocalyptic world unlike any other.

Not Exactly Ghosts by Andrew Caldecott is a collection of downright terrifying tales of blood, anger, and jealousy. Excerpt: "Narrow in bounds, but wide in variety, the garden of Tilchington Rectory was one of the most beautiful in the South Country. It lay in a hollow, some four to five chains broad, down the middle of which ran a small and clear brook marked on the ordnance map as R. Tilch, but beloved of its riparians as, simply, our stream."

Not Exactly Ghosts

Opskurno

Welcome back to Rotherweird, where an ancient plot centuries in the making is about to come to fruition - and this time the forces of darkness might actually win . . . "Intricate and crisp, witty and solemn. Line by line, silent and adroit, it opens a series of trap-doors in the reader's imagination" --Hilary Mantel, Man Booker Prize-winning author of Wolf Hall The town of Rotherweird has been independent from the rest of England for four hundred years, to protect a deadly secret. Sir Veronal Slickstone is dead, his bid to exploit that secret consigned to dust, leaving Rotherweird to resume its abnormal normality after the travails of the summer . . . but someone is playing a very long game. Disturbing omens multiply: a funeral delivers a cryptic warning; an ancient portrait speaks; the Herald disappears - and democracy threatens the uneasy covenant between town and countryside. Geryon Wynter's intricate plot, centuries in the making, is on the move. Everything points to one objective: the resurrection of Rotherweird's dark Elizabethan past - and to one date: the Winter Solstice. Wynter is coming . . .

"Baroque, Byzantine and beautiful--not to mention bold. An enthralling puzzle picture of a book" --M. R. Carey, author of the best-selling The Girl With All the Gifts "Compelling... the love child of Gormenghast and Hogwarts." --The Guardian 1558: Twelve children, gifted far beyond their years, are banished by their Tudor queen to the town of Rotherweird. Some say they are the Golden Generation; some say the devil's spawn. But everyone knows they are to be revered--and feared. Four and a half centuries later, cast adrift from the rest of England by Elizabeth I and still bound by its ancient laws, Rotherweird's independence is subject to one disturbing condition: no one, but no one studies the town or its history. Then an Outsider arrives, a man of unparalleled wealth and power, enough to buy the whole of Rotherweird--deeply buried secrets and all...

Here together for the first time in one volume are the twenty five spooky stories created by Sir Andrew Caldecott in two collections the 1940s: Not Exactly Ghosts and Fires Burn Blue.Caldecott, who only turned to fiction after retiring from the civil service, allowed his lifelong fascination with the supernatural full reign in these simple yet remarkably disturbing stories. Taking his inspiration from the master of the ghost story, M. R. James, who chilled by implication rather than by gory description, Caldecott created believable but unsettling scenarios which effectively produce a sense of unease in the reader. The mundane becomes horrific; the everyday is unnerving; and the commonplace is frightening. At last these rare forgotten gems are available once more to stir the imagination and chill the blood.

Andrew Caldecott

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