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"This is an exhilarating romp through a witty combination of nineteenth-century English fact and fiction. Mark Hodder definitely knows his stuff and has given us steam opera at its finest. In this first novel, he shows himself to be as clever and inventive a writer as those who enliven his pages. We follow English explorer and eroticist (and king's agent) Sir Richard Francis Burton, poet and Sadean Algernon Charles Swinburne, and a cast including Florence Nightingale, Charles Darwin, Francis Calton, and Isambard Kingdom Brunel (rather different to those known to our Victorian ancestors), as well as the mysterious albino, Laurence Oliphant, in an adventure involving the very nature of time itself in a London filled with steam-horses and velocipedes where werewolves prowl the streets and Spring Heeled Jack, star of the Penny Dreadfuls, might provide the key to an ever-deepening mystery. A great, increasingly complex, plot, some fine characters, and invention that never flags! It gets better and better, offering clues to some of Victorian London's strangest mysteries. This is the best debut novel I have read in ages."

-Michael Moorcock

an imprint of Prometheus Books

Amherst, NY

Published 2010 by Pyr®, an imprint of Prometheus Books The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack. Copyright © 2010 by Mark Hodder. 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 Web site without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Cover illustration copyright © Jon Sullivan. Inquiries should be addressed to Pyr 59 John Glenn Drive Amherst, New York 14228-2119 VOICE: 716-691-0133 FAX: 716-691-0137 WWW.PYRSF.COM

14 13 12 11 10 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hodder, Mark, 1962The strange affair of Spring Heeled Jack / by Mark Hodder. p. cm. ISBN 978-1-61614-240-7 (pbk.) 1. Burton, Richard Francis, Sir, 1821-1890-Fiction. 2. Swinburne, Algernon Charles, 1837-1909-Fiction. 3. Spring heeled Jack (Legendary character)-Fiction. 4. Criminal investigation-England-London-Fiction. 5. Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, 1819-1909-Assassination attempts-Fiction. 6. Great Britain-Social conditions-19th century-Fiction. I. Title. PR6108.O28S77 2010 823'.92-dc22 2010020632 Printed in the United States of America

Dedicated to my father

M1EHAEb JOHN HONKER

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ithout the faith and enthusiasm of Emma Barnes and Lou Anders, this novel might never have been published. Without the encouragement and unfailing positivity of George Mann, it might never have been written. Without the influence and genius of Mike Moorcock, it might never have been conceived. My heartfelt thanks to all.

I'd also like to express my gratitude to Saladin Ahmed, who helped with the Arabic, and to Stephane Rouvillois, who helped with the French.

A Rage to Live by Mary S. Lovell was at my side throughout this project. There are a great many biographies of Sir Richard Francis Burton, but this, in my opinion, is by far the best.

To Yolanda Lerma: thank you for being so patient, so supportive, and for feeding me!

Finally, the "famous names" who feature herein are national heroes who loom large in the British consciousness. In this novel I have, with my tongue in my cheek, mercilessly trampled on their reputations and turned them into something they most definitely were not. I did so secure in the knowledge that my tampering will damage their stature not one little bit.

IN WHICH AN AGENT

IS APPOINTED AND

MYSTM~IES APSE INVESTIGATED

A known mistake is bettor than an unknown truth.

-ARABIC PROVERB

THE AFTERMATH OF AFRICA

Everything Life places in your path is an opportunity.

No matter how difficult.

No matter how upsetting.

No matter how impenetrable.

No matter how you judge it.

An opportunity.

-LIBERTINE PROPAGANDA

y God! He's killed