Silver Linings

By Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris

Wellington Books and Eliza D. Braun arrive in Cairo, Egypt, sent from Ministry headquarters on an archival audit. What Wellington hopes will be a stay in the cradle of civilization and a break from the bitter winter of England instead looks to be a brief visit on account of Eliza’s poor attitude and the disdain of the area field director, Marcus Donahue.
The plans for an uneventful collection of case documents and artefacts are soon shattered by a massacre that that can only be described by the visiting archivists as peculiar.
Tales from the Archives are short stories set in the world of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences. They explore events mentioned in the novels, characters seen and unseen and may include novel teasers of things to come.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ImagineThat Studios
• Release date: Apr 29, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311362636

Pip Ballantine

Born in New Zealand, Philippa (Pip) Ballantine has always had her head in a book. A corporate librarian for thirteen years, she has a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Library and Information Science. She is New Zealand's first podcast novelist and has produced four podiobooks. Many of these have been shortlisted for the Parsec Awards, and she has won a Sir Julius Vogel Award. She is also the author of Geist and the soon-to-be-published Spectyr. While New Zealand calls, currently Philippa calls America home.

Book preview

Silver Linings

SILVER LININGS

PIP BALLANTINE

TEE MORRIS

Published by Imagine That! Studios 2014

Copyright © 2014 by Pip Ballantine and Tee Morris

Interior Layout by Imagine That! Studios

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or conveyed via the Internet or a website without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead is purely coincidental. Any actual places, products or events mentioned are used in a purely fictitious manner.

ALSO FROM PIP AND TEE

The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series

Phoenix Rising

The Janus Affair

Dawn’s Early Light

The Diamond Conspiracy

The Ghost Rebellion

Operation Endgame

Verity Fitzroy and the Ministry Seven

The Curse of the Silver Pharaoh

The Mystery of Emerald Flame

The Secret of the Monkey God

Steampunk Anthologies

The Books and Braun Dossier

Magical Mechanications

Ministry Protocol: Thrilling Tales from the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences

From Pip Ballantine

Books of the Order

Geist

Spectyr

Wrayth

Harbinger

The Chronicles of Art

Chasing the Bard

Digital Magic

The Shifted World

Hunter and Fox

Kindred and Wings

Winter, 1896

Cairo, Egypt

Ah, Cairo. Wellington sighed as he stood on the ship’s gangway for a moment, taking in the impressive desert vista before him. The cradle of civilization and human innovation.

Along with the cradle of oppressive heat, barren wastelands, and flies that you could hitch up to a hansom and use as a cheap alternative to camels, grumbled his junior archivist as she disembarked.

Wellington Books looked down at the diminutive Eliza D. Braun, arching an eyebrow at her as she twirled her parasol in annoyance.

Miss Braun, come along, are you telling me you do not find Egypt tantalizing in its history, its undiscovered mysteries the foundation of modern language and even the sciences began here

She bit back, "If I were fond of this kind of heat, I would take