Hail The New Age by Mike Chinn (book review).
Agatha Christie published ‘Murder On The Orient Express’ ninety years ago. Now, Mike Chinn has penned a fantastic fantasy adaptation of this classic. In a more-or-less 19th-century world, where wizardry competes with science and technology, a railway track has been laid between Ramini’s two major ports, Scan Lorath and Scan Carsofi. The inaugural two-week train journey is about to begin.
On board are the technological genius responsible for the project, Professor Alva, and a small number of invited guests. They are meant to be celebrating the technological innovation of the steam railway. But nothing is as it seems to be, and at least one of the guests is secretly a wizard (they are now out of power and beyond the law) determined to make the journey a total failure.
Wilonek Scilli, an unprepossessing young man, is the Hercule Poirot figure here, tasked with figuring out who is who and preventing the trip’s failure. He has survived years of training at the Wizards’ Seminary without becoming a wizard or in any way favoring them. He’s also rather like a US crime fiction investigator, in that he’s often beaten up and bleeding. His weakness is this: his wizardry training has left him needing a liquid drug, chavet, every day or two, or else he suffers awful withdrawal symptoms.
All the power of wizardry on this world emanates from crystals of abaston, a rare mineral of which wizards control the supply. An important part of their training is the handling of abaston.
Aboard the train is a marvelous group of eccentrics. There’s the artificially created heteromorph, Batrix, currently in female shape, who is a military lieutenant-commander in charge of the venture with whom Scilli has numerous encounters, trying to convince her that they’re on the same side. Others include Thryme (Alva’s mentor), Senator Nachollni, Dr. Tork (a medical man), and Scendik Boz, a fiction writer from a nearby country. Also present is Major Rengalet, a former military hero and current alcoholic, who commands a group of about a dozen Sharpshooter militia, who seem to be non-speaking characters, only there to be killed. This being 19th centuryish, the sharpshooters all have muskets, while most of the others carry repeating pistols, another Alva invention, which are sometimes reluctant to work properly.
Numerous issues plague the journey. There are appearances by various swamp creatures and other monsters. The main train driver or pilot, as Chinn would have it, is Sanej, a planted detective and a great friend of Scilli. When he is killed, Scilli is accused of the crime. The steam-driven locomotive is revealed to be abaston-powered. There are crashes and uncouplings of carriages as characters and their pasts are revealed. Every scene contains tension, excitement, and surprise.
Just when you think the novel is ending, along comes an advertisement for a second exciting adventure starring Scilli and Batrix. A wonderful cover illustration accompanies the private publication of ‘Hail, The New Age’.
Chinn writes in several genres. He’s best known for his ‘Damian Paladin’ fantasy stories set in mid-1930s New York.
Chris Morgan
September 2024
(pub: Saladoth Productions, Birmingham, UK, 2024. 264 page paperback. Price: £12.00 (UK). ISBN: 978-1-73909-381-5. Ebook: £ 6.00 (UK))
