Magnificent Desolation

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

The Moon has inspired people in so many ways for countless millennia, including me. Ulysses Quicksilver braved the Moon's magnificent desolation in the sixth Pax Britannia novel, Dark Side, published nine years ago in 2010.

Ulysses Quicksilver visits the British lunar colonies, searching for his missing brother, Barty, believed to be on the run from gambling debts on Earth. The clues lead our detective and his faithful butler into the path of unsolved murders, battling robots, shady millionaires and stolen uncanny inventions. Used to working inside the law, Ulysses is stalled when his pursuit puts him on the wrong side of the Luna Prime Police Force.

But why is Ulysses' ex-fiancée Emilia also in the colonies? Who is the strange eye-patched man following Ulysses? And what is really happening in a secret base on the dark side of the moon? Used to meeting every adventure with a devil-may-care attitude and a snappy one-liner, Ulysses will be forever changed by the revelations he discovers on this most deadly of trips.

You can pick up a copy of Dark Side here.

Ulysses Quicksilver's Gun

It may be a year since Ulysses Quicksilver's most recent outing, in the story Reckless Engineering, but people are still enjoying my Pax Britannia stories and being inspired by them. One of those people is 3D artist Andrew Bjarnsen.

Only today, Andrew got in touch to let me know that he has modelled Ulysses Quicksilver's gun, as originally designed by Pye Parr. And here it is...

Happy Birthday, Big Ben!

On this day in 1859, 160 years ago, Big Ben's chimes were heard for the first time. However, it won't be chiming today, as the Elizabeth Tower is currently in the middle of a £61 million revamp project.

The Clock Tower (as it used to be called) at the bell Big Ben itself, are a vital part of Tempus Fugit, the Pax Britannia short story I wrote for Abaddon X, the slim volume published to mark Abaddon Books' tenth anniversary, back in 2017.