The Scourge of God - A Review

 The Scourge of God by C R May

"Vidar, son of Woden, Fenris bane: god of vengeance. Here, another man's son proclaims that he too is keen to avenge his father."

 

The late Roman Empire was an altogether different beast from the heydays of imperium. Riven by internal strife and civil war, since 395AD the empire had been split into the Western and Eastern Empires, centred on Rome and Constantinople. This was also the period of migration, a domino effect far to the east and sent tribes and peoples migrating west. Peoples saw the relative comfort of the Roman empire, with its trappings of civilisation and its established farmlands, and coveted them.

For many years it had been Roman policy to keep the barbarians beyond their borders fighting each other, as well as using their services as mercenaries. With the pressures of the migration period, securing the borders was proving an impossible task for the declining empire, both militarily and financially. The empire cut its losses and abandoned the province of Britannia, while adopting a policy to accommodate invading tribes within the empire, as semi-autonomous regions to act both as buffer states and police rebellious regions of the empire. After all, these tribes didn’t wish to destroy the empire; they wished to enjoy the fine living that civilisation had to offer. It was from these peoples that settled that formed the nations of Europe, their memory retained in the names of countries and regions.

Barbarian Invasions - Wikipedia

Some peoples never reached an accommodation with the empire, hence the modern meaning of the word vandal; the Germanic Vandals were never accepted and migrated through Gaul (modern France), through modern Spain, to settle in North Africa, ironically the area that once was Carthage. From there they adopted naval tactics to pillage Italy and the coasts of the Mediterranean.

At the same time a major military power had exploded on the scene, whose name became synonymous with barbarity; the Huns. The Huns were a confederation of nomadic tribes, originally from the Central Asian Steppes. Renowned horse warriors armed with javelins, lassoes and bows they rode westward carving out an empire in Eastern and Central Europe, with tactics very different to the traditional warfare of infantry and cavalry armed with lance. The subjugated the Ostrogoths, the Alans and numerous Germanic tribes such as the Gepids. After devastating the Eastern Roman empire and exhausting the area of tribute, their king, Attila, turned his attention westward. The western empire had heard dread reports of this Scourge of God, surely this was the coming apocalypse, the battle to end all battles. Such a battle was that of the Catalaunian Fields, also known as the Battle of Chalons, which took place in mid-summer 451AD.

Hun Warrior

Drawing upon a similar, rich vein as in his King’s Bane series, C R May racks up the tension as his characters face taking part in, arguably, one of the greatest battles in history. We experience the conflagration through the eyes of Halga Hunding, a young Jutish nobleman, who narrowly escapes a treacherous attack that claims his father and hearth troop. With his elder brother long disappeared, responsibility hangs on Halga’s shoulders. Swearing vengeance, and arming himself with his grand-fathers sword, he escapes south with a small band of followers, seeking exile with his foster father Hengist of the Angles. He finds Hengist overseas serving in Britannia, however the Angle’s brother, Horsa, takes the young Jute under his wing. Horsa advises Halga that he needs wealth and fame to draw to him the strength to take back what was his. Such an opportunity can be found to the south where Horsa’s military service has been requested by his liege lord, the king of the Sea Franks. Halga agrees but must first mount a daring raid in the depths of winter, during Yuletide. to free one of his father’s retainers, the female Hun archer Arekan.

Travelling with Horsa, Halga meets and offers his service to the Frankish king Merovech. King Merovech accepts his service and gifts him a fine saex, naming it Long Knife. The Franks as members of the Foederati have been summoned to serve the Roman Magistar Militiae, General Flavius Aetius. Aetius is gathering a huge coalition army composed of Romans, Visigoths, Alans, Franks and Burgundians of the Germanic Foederati to push Attila out of Gaul. Aetius himself had personal knowledge of the Huns and their tactics, having once been a Roman hostage in the court of the Huns, and even has them in his own retinue.

Germanic Foederati - Angus McBride

Halga must learn quickly the art of leadership, how he must inspire the men around him by his actions, but with their companionship comes the shouldering of responsibility. He learns this bitterly when a tavern fracas crosses the bounds into seriousness and ends with the death of one of the combatants.

Eager to regain the favour of the Frankish king, Halga acquits himself admirably in a skirmish between the Franks and the Gepid rear-guard, the night before the great battle. Here Halga earns the name Long Knife and Merovech, impressed by the Angles and Halga’s small Jutish band, he rewards them well with mail, helms, shields and swords. Halga is now able to arm his comitatus as a lord should.

Then dawns the day of the battle itself as the vast coalition gathers to face the Hunnish horde.   You stare in wonder, through the eyes of Halga at the armoured Alan horseman and the fierce warriors of different nations, desperately throwing up your shield as the Hunnic archers wheel and shoot arrows, again and again. It’s a relief when they withdraw, to let their subject Germanic warriors crash into the shield wall. Here Halga and his comitatus fight in their traditional manner as the complexity of differing loyalties of each coalition is exposed with Frank fighting Frank, kinsman versus kinsman, as the armies clash in a titanic struggle.

Aetius with Burgundian Bodyguard - Medieval Warlords Blandford Press

Of course, this great battle is merely honing the qualities of Halga, beyond the coalition’s victory, the fall of night and the distant horizon, there lies the need or vengeance, to fulfil his oath to Woden. As Horsa knew, the campaign has been the making of Halga, as we watch him mature from youth into a skilled leader of men.

“The past is a foreign country”, so the saying goes, but not to this author. Ever the wordsmith, C R May effortlessly recreates this heroic world. Being of the era prior to the migration of the peoples who would become the English: the Jutes, Angles and Saxons, the author angelizes the place names of what is now Denmark. This creates a pleasant familiarity with the described landscape for the reader. There is a closeness too with beliefs of the characters. What is now myth and folklore is accepted reality in the character’s mindsets, we are privy to. The gods are ever at our shoulders, our actions felt beyond the confines of Middle-Earth. When Halga rescues Arekan, he recognises that she has suffered, both mentally and physically, during her captivity. Realising that she required healing, Halga takes her (and a captive traitor) to see the Angle witches. What bloody deeds were done to accomplish the healing remains a mystery, but only Arekan returned…

Unusually for C R May, Scourge of God is (at time of writing) a stand alone novel, but it fits in perfectly with the author’s anthology dealing with this fascinating, early medieval period, such as the previously mentioned King’s Bane, and also the Sword of Woden series. Scourge of God is a well-researched novel, the battlefield, armaments and tactics described in detail. Above all the development of Halga's character is a joy to read. This novel is a rollicking read; an action packed tale that will grace anyone's bookshelf.

Scourge of God is available now at Amazon as paperback and kindle.

Medusa's Shame - The Sacred Throne Series Book 1 by Robert Southworth - A Review

 

The Classical gods are fickle entities; divine beings yet all too easily driven by the human traits of jealousy, lust and vengeance. The inhabitants of Olympus demand their worship and adoration from mortals, yet all too often see humanity as nothing but mere pawns to play against one another, regardless of the resultant tragedy, and so the story unfolds …

Among the hotchpotch of Bronze Age Greek city states stands the kingdom of Mycenae.  Its king, Atreus, wears the crown upon a troubled brow; his brother Thyestes coverts the throne and moves against him in the shadows. Through treachery Thyestes takes the city and throne, killing Atreus. The usurper would have killed the princes Menelaus and Agamemnon as well, were it not for Atreus’ trusted general Pallas leading his charges out of the city.

Hunted, and fearing for their lives, the princes are met by a mysterious hooded figure, who seems to possess uncanny abilities. Calling himself Thanatos, their guide leads the fugitives through a maze of mines to seek exile aboard waiting vessels on the coast. After a frustrating failure to seek refuge from King Priam of Troy, an embittered and vengeful Agamemnon joins his brother Menelaus in Sparta, where they are adopted by the aged king Tyndareus. Knowing that Agamemnon seeks revenge against Thyestes and to regain the throne of Mycenae, King Tyndareus names Menelaus as his heir. Both princes marry daughters of Tyndarereus, Agamemnon to Clytemnestra, while Menelaus has a somewhat difficult marriage to Helen, soured early on in their relationship by Helen’s youthful impropriety.

King Thyestes of Mycenae, would seek the deaths of his nephews and increase his wealth and power in the process. He builds an alliance with neighbouring states, built upon threats and coercion, to conquer Sparta...

Robert Southworth is an accomplished author of historical fiction, known for his works on Spartacus and Jack the Ripper (See my review of The Ripper Legacies Here) . In his unfolding Sacred Throne series, while reinterpreting the world of the Illiad, he is able to cut loose from the boundaries of historical fiction and introduce the fantastical. It’s a freedom to be enjoyed and have fun with, and the author's enjoyment shows in Mr Southworth’s wonderful tale.

In this world the gods and demi-gods walk among us. Centaurs haunt the woods on the edge of civilisation and monsters can be summoned from the underworld and Tartarus by those with the power to do so.

The characters come to the fore, the wise Menelaus, the brutal Agamemnon (one would not want him as an enemy), the cruel  and despotic Thysetes, the peaceable Centaur Airlea,  and the manipulative puppet master that is Thanatos; bending all to his will, sometimes subtlety, but all too often not! The author weaves the threads of his characters with a rare skill, brutal and bloody and yet also humorous at times, creating a rich and colourful tapestry in the reader's imagination.

It’s always a good measure of a book when the reader positively devours the imagery and tale, even more so when the eureka-like ending leaves the reader desperate to continue the story, as pieces tumble into place. Medusa’s Shame is such a book. Bravo Mr Southworth, this reader eagerly awaits book 2!

Medusa's Shame is available as kindle and paperback at Amazon

You can view all of Robert Southworth's work and enjoy his regular blog pieces at Robert Southworth-author.com/home

Future Humans

 It was during the period of the C20th and C21st that persistent reports of sightings of the UFO phenomena entered the sphere of public knowledge. The development of mass media communication brought such reports into the mainstream, albeit being a fringe interest at the time. Such reports were treated as far-fetched, especially those involving actual physical encounters. However certain aspects of these sightings exhibited a number of consistent aspects, namely the so-called saucer shape to these extraterrestrial vehicles and the description of the vehicle of their occupants; the “grey alien” trope. 

It was following the end of the major global conflict of 1939-45, and the paranoia of the following cold war between the power blocks of the time, that the number of sightings entered the mainstream consciousness. This conflict, in a century marked by bloodshed, was brought to a conclusion with the use of nuclear weapons. The standoff between the one-time allies during the Second War World (as it became known) was renowned as being one of Mutually Assured Destruction, as both political and economic power blocks developed increasingly sophisticated and powerful weapons of mass destruction. M.A.D. kept the peace, in that a catastrophic hot war between the two sides was averted, however, wars were waged via proxy states in the less industrialized countries instead. To such countries the relative peace enjoyed by members of the “nuclear club”, made the acquisition of these weapons appear desirable, despite the huge financial costs involved in their development. The risk of nuclear annihilation was long held to be the catalyst for the interest in humanity shown by these “extra-terrestrials”. The famous Roswell incident of 1947, with the initially reported crash of a vehicle, and capture of occupants (living and dead), occurred nearby a US nuclear bomber airbase, reinforced this belief. 

Evidence of visitation was long ridiculed and looked upon as fringe subject. As well as vehicle sightings, reports of human and animal abductions, involving medical experimentation became commonplace. It was long held that Govts were privy to knowledge of such events despite vehement denials. Despite career risking whistleblowers making public these govt investigations and coverups, the media kept up the pretense that such events were outlandish and open to ridicule. However, some information was still able to seep into the public consciousness. Believers were frustrated by the slow drip feed of information; however, it became clear that Govts worldwide were very aware of these visitations and were following a set roadmap of releasing knowledge to the general public. 

Some unofficial investigators (so called UFOlogists), fed by rumours regarding the captive E.T. discovered at Roswell, put forward the suggestion that these “grey aliens” were not actually as they appeared to be. Far from being aliens, they were humans from the far future, with the means of inter-dimensional travel across time and space. Such claims were vilified by certain sections of the UFO community, who refused to believe this. These aliens were interstellar naturalists, collecting biological samples. But all those that encountered such beings were struck by their odd insectoid mannerisms. 

However, this raised further questions such as why were some families targeted across several generations, and what would the connection be with the nuclear arms race, unless the unspeakable was due in the near future? The targeted families seemed of no real consequence, being very average; why wouldn’t the “visitors” approach chosen families of renown? 

Other clues were hidden in plain sight, in retrospect. In 1954, just seven years after Roswell an international grouping of governments embarked on building a Large Hadron Collider in Cern in Switzerland. This was a vast civil project, which didn’t come online until 2010 (excluding the abortive magnetic quench attempt in 2008). The building of this particle collider, not only possessing the ability to recreate the moments after the big band but also to open portals to other dimensions, began decades before the technology to operate the facility was available. As the knowledge of physics took great leaps forward, Cern was compatible with the new technology, such as quantum computing. If there were some who questioned this fortunate coincidence, it wasn’t made widespread.  Some recorded strange, and unnerving atmospheric anomalies (many seemingly saucer shaped craft) above Cern published on the internet, which were quickly disavowed as computer generated images. 

Despite the continuing narrative the world’s population were becoming increasingly aware that not all was at it appeared. People began questioning the reality as described in the world’s media, which was in opposition to their own observations. Politics became oddly extreme, despite the Western power block winning the cold war during the late 80’s and 90’s, the peace dividend was squandered in pointless wars. In the C21st a new cold war began to form as a rising economic superpower began to assert global hegemony, economically and militarily. This coincided with deep intersectional rifts forming in western societies in the early C21st; to such an extent that even questioning biological certainties became the status quo. Onetime open and liberal societies were on the point of self-destruction.  

At this point, as reality became increasingly frayed, a global Coronavirus pandemic took hold in 2020. The narrative of this pandemic itself was questionable from the initial nightmare images shown in the country of origin, which weren’t echoed in other countries, to the extreme measures enacted by economy destroying lockdowns. Its origin was a source of contention, from a so called wet market in Wuhan or an actual manufactured virus in a lab, the narrative remained fluid and subject to change, yet forcefully adhered to across all media outlets.  One theme was common, which was repeated across borders, which was the insistent application of RNA based vaccines. Many had questioned the wisdom of mass introducing synthetic RNA into the human genome, as the long term effects were an unknown. Across the media such dissenting voices were ruthlessly silenced. Two shots to acquire immunity required a booster and as the C21st progressed Govts inflicted biannual boosters on their population. This began to have a profound, long-term effect on human biology. 

The change was barely noticeable at first, but as countries across the globe introduced social credit systems and authoritarian control of their populations under the guise of climate concern, only the compliant continued with careers, especially as AI and robots caused mass redundancies amid the mass of the population. Procreation was only possible under license, the universal basic Income and enforced pod habitation made the traditional family life impossible. The vaccinated compliant became increasingly of one thought, developing a “hive mind”. It would take centuries for the physical changes to take shape of diminutive size and greying skin tones. 

It became clear that the future inter-dimensional visitors were indeed humans (if they could still be described as such) and that they had been drawn to the point in history when their branch of evolution began. It remains moot as to whether these future beings were merely observing this change or were the actual architects of their future evolution. 

Grey Alien by Harnois75 deviantArt