Masquerade
()
About this ebook
I planned this novel as the Iskander version of the 'Man in the Iron Mask' trope. To fit it into the Iskander story-line it had to be turned around...instead of the mystery man who is incarcerated for an unknown purpose, we have a missing person who's dungeon is unknown and the key to solving the riddle is to prove that the person taking his place is a fraud.
Gisel has to penetrate the dangerous palace to take DNA samples from the impostor. She follows the man's young sister though secret passages that only they knew and has to win a silent swordfight to avoid waking the whole palace. But that is only the start of her problems...Commandante Zagdorf, the Emperor's top spymaster, is soon on the trail, and the more successful Gisel becomes, the closer Burgundene gets to a full-blown civil war.
The background of the novel's plot follows on from the Islander's plan to use their knowledge to change society that we saw in the first novel, Arrival. It seems that it is very dangerous to become Iskander's friend, because the Emperor's minions are in perpetual alert to prevent their world changing manufactures from being established before the Iskander plan can take off. However, without the use of the Iskander's hi-tech spaceplane, the communications network, and the nuclear powered Sirius they would not have the slightest hope of pulling off their covert attack on the Empire's hegemony.
Gisel's life...and her love life...are both on show in this story. The assassin/sword-master BelGassem shows up from where he was at the end of Arrival and the reader gets a hint of the plan she had entertained to elope with him and sail to the rich spice lands. He is more than twice her age, so every one of her companions tries to keep them apart. But Gisel is a little older and wiser now and knows her reckless plan would have failed even if her father had not spirited her away. She will accept the rapier and mane gauche of his that saves her in the palace, but returns them to him because she will not use them again to enter into the life of an assassin.
Christopher Hoare
I am retired and live with my wife, Shirley, and the shelter dog Emmie, in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies, writing fiction and working with others on their fiction, as much as life allows. As a lad I lived, breathed, and dreamed aeroplanes; I won a place at RAE Farnborough learning to engineer them. But the reality didn’t fit my dream, so I took off into a stint in the army and then away to join the oil circus. Flying objects are tools when they now appear in my writing―I guess that’s the effect of maturity, but I hope, not a constricted, resigned, and unimaginative maturity. The mind still soars, even without wings, and the dream of carrying others to a better future is now on the page.Some readers comment that none of my stories take place next door to the lives most people live; the less charitable find similarity in characters who tend to be stubborn, independent, and out of step with the world’s expectations. Perhaps there’s a connection between the worlds I portray in fiction, and my working life in oil exploration in the Libyan Desert, the Canadian Arctic, and the mountains and forests of Western Canada.My stories have been set in Regency England, Anglo-Saxon Britain, in modern industrial projects, in the alternate world of Gaia, and the fantasy world of Rast. Sometimes I satirize jobs I’ve done. Many of my central characters are smart, beautiful, and dangerous women who lead unwilling males to fulfil the duties before them. Lt. Gisel Matah in “Deadly Enterprise” is perhaps the most Bond-like of these. I like writing novels about realities my readers can enjoy in the guise of dashing adventurers; loyal comrades; lovers; or pledged sovereigns. I hope they find there the spark that brings them to realize greater dreams of their own.
Read more from Christopher Hoare
The Wildcat's Victory Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsVisiting Pemberly Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArrival Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeadly Enterprise Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Wildcat's Burden Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Peril of Rast Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Masquerade
Related ebooks
Masquerade Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Saint of the Speedway Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAKA Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Blood dimmed Tide Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Butt of Heads Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeed of the Arctic Ice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Glitter of Stone Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeed of the Arctic Ice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWith Drake on the Spanish Main Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOnce Upon a Caribbean Summer: Once Upon a Summer Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dream Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFuture Science Fiction Issue 2: Future Science Fiction Digest, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Maquinna Line: A Family Saga Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Traitor's Emblem: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Anno Stellae 2171, Anno Stellae 2251: RetroStar Chronicles, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHunters of the Red Moon: Hunters, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Children of Man: Age of Androids, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMiss Mannequin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dream Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Francesca Legacy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeal of the Third Golden Eagle Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeneath the Artic Ice Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn Search of the Castaways Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Garden of God Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSiren Land: “Education is a state-controlled manufactory of echoes” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMonarch, the Big Bear of Tallac Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTropic Hell Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Garden of God (Romance Classic) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeyond the Burning Sea: Fate's Crucible, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHigh Sorcery Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Science Fiction For You
Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Annihilation: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silo Series Collection: Wool, Shift, Dust, and Silo Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shift: Book Two of the Silo Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Camp Zero: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stories of Ray Bradbury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wool: Book One of the Silo Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Is How You Lose the Time War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flowers for Algernon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Institute: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Am Legend Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frankenstein: Original 1818 Uncensored Version Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cryptonomicon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sarah J. Maas: Series Reading Order - with Summaries & Checklist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Who Have Never Known Men Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England: Secret Projects, #2 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Troop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dust: Book Three of the Silo Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Perelandra: (Space Trilogy, Book Two) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blindsight Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Time and Again Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How High We Go in the Dark: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Light From Uncommon Stars Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Psalm for the Wild-Built Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Masquerade
0 ratings0 reviews