Today on the blog, guest Rupert Stanbury provides an introduction to his latest novel, Pimlico People , and presents an extract. The author has been featured on the blog before, and his works always have wonderfully whimsical covers.
Other posts featuring Rupert's work:
Introduction
PIMLICO PEOPLE is my third book about the Greek Gods in the 21st Century. Like my first two books, GODS GALORE and THE FOUR HORSEMEN, it’s a fantasy / comedy, but PIMLICO PEOPLE also has the added twist of having plenty of crime in it as well.
So, what’s PIMLICO PEOPLE about?
Well, much of the action is based in Central London – particularly in the combined Pimlico and Westminster neighbourhood. At this point, I need to make a disclosure – I’ve lived in this area for most of my adult life and continue to do so. However, readers will be pleased to hear that I don’t feature in the book.
The book principally focuses on two of my favourite goddesses – HEBE, the Goddess of Eternal Youth, and ARTEMIS, the Hunter Goddess. ARTEMIS has recently been put in charge of running the Equalities Committee on Mount Olympus, which is looking at ways of improving equality amongst us humans. However, she doesn’t really know much about people, so she and HEBE come to live in PIMLICO in Central London to study life in a big city. PIMLICO PEOPLE tells the story of what the two goddesses get up to while here.
When HEBE and ARTEMIS first came to London, they intended to lead a normal human life to see what it was like. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out quite as planned. I don’t want to give away too many spoilers, but I’d suggest that plots to blow up foreign embassies, or indeed sophisticated operations to steal valuable paintings, are not the sort of day-to-day events most of us humans come across.
Meanwhile, Cerberus, the Underworld’s three-headed Guard Dog, meets another dog for the first time – a perplexing experience! As in the world above, there’s a villainous plot afoot which needs to be foiled.
Finally, I will be giving all the Royalties I receive from the sale of PIMLICO PEOPLE to Charities for the Homeless. People sleeping on the streets is becoming a serious issue, especially in the London area where I live, so the local charities need as much support as possible.
Extract
The extract below refers to events taking place in St James’s Park, Central London. The reference to Blefescu is to an island near Lilliput in Gulliver’s Travels where people are only about six inches tall. Rach and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders are all from Lilliput. Finally, Iris is another goddess who regularly visits Hebe and Artemis while they are living in London.
“As this small armada was making progress, exciting things were beginning to unfold on West Island where four Blefuscu commandos still remained, together with a couple of swans. None of them knew precisely what their role was, other than to be ‘back-up’, so they just rested on the ground expecting to have a quiet time until their comrades returned. They were therefore surprised to hear a paddling noise from the lake and even more surprised when a large black dog with three heads emerged. All these heads had the same face which bore a remarkable resemblance to the Goddess Iris.
The dog raced along the ground towards the commandos. It snarled and growled as it moved at speed, its three mouths spitting out saliva and showing a large number of very sharp teeth. The commandos tried to get up and run, but the dog was on them before they could get away. They were by now all terrified and started to scream.
“Give us a Mars bar or I’ll bite yer bums!” they heard, but it made no difference because the dog decided not to bite their bums; instead, it proceeded to kick them all into the water.
“Help!” screamed one of the commandos. “I cannot make ze swim! Help!”
The two swans were nearby in the lake and, considering themselves pretty tough, didn’t run away, but instead tried to help the commandos. However, the three-headed dog launched itself from the bank and landed on top of one of the swans. It gave the white bird a number of painful bites and used its powerful front paws to thump the swan in all sorts of sensitive places. Eventually, its victim was so battered and bruised the black dog left it floating on the lake.
The other swan by now had decided he wasn’t quite tough enough to take on a manic three-headed dog and had started swimming away. Unfortunately, it was now the next target for the Iris-Cerberus look-alike who, despite being a four-footed canine, could out-swim any of the St James’s Park swans. The dog soon caught up with the fleeing swan, jumped on its back and meted out the same treatment as it had given to its companion. Having left the second swan equally battered and bruised, the dog swam back to the Blefuscu commandos, who were still flailing around in the water. Three sets of jaws each took hold of a commando at the same time and then proceeded to toss them back onto the island. They were soon joined by their final companion as they lay moaning and groaning on the ground. At this stage the three-headed dog turned round and began to swim towards Duck Island.
The next minute a miniature boat arrived at West Island, having travelled along the length of the lake near the north bank. It had a silent motor, specially designed by Rach’s Special Projects team. A number of Argyll and Southern Highlanders disembarked, went over to the four Blefuscu commandos, tied their hands behind their backs while at the same time taping their mouths. They were put into the boat which set off on its return journey, again along the north side of the lake.”
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