The Codex by Helen McCabe
The Codex by Helen McCabe
The finale in the Piper Trilogy
Volume one is Piper (2008), Volume two is The Piercing (2014) – both excellent novels.
The Codex ISBN: 978-1-84583-923-9
Published by Telos
Kindle and Paperback
Paperback £12.99 UK Amazon link https://www.amazon.co.uk/Codex-3-Piper-Trilogy/
Link to the publisher’s site on the Piper Trilogy http://www.telos.co.uk/product/the-codex-the-piper-trilogy-3/
Ever since I saw the quaint, historical town of Hamlein from atop the shoulders of my father and chortled in delight at the re-enactment of the Pied Piper with his flute, luring the town’s children away, I’ve been absorbed by the genre. Of course, as a toddler I didn’t know it wasn’t real. Yet, that notion returns to bite me in the bum with Helen McCabe’s Piper trilogy. Why? Because The Codex didn’t stop in the Middle Ages. The piper is transformed and with us today!
The eponymous object, The Codex, refers to an ancient alternative Bible compiled by the dark side around 800 AD. Evil leaks from this tome and part of the mission by Pip is to seek the whole of the Codex and render it harmless. Forces are out to stop him and manifest themselves in unknown ways. This is a quest and in a kind of recursive, self-referencing way. I yearn to write a successful recursive story and find them as rare as black daisies. Note that the Codex has recursive elements. For instance it is the third volume of a trilogy. The protagonist is a writer needing to promote his third book of a trilogy, which in itself is a kind of Codex. It’s as if the readers are invited to be involved in drawing out the hidden elements of horror and evil not just written as writhing inside this novel.
As usual McCabe is a mistress of the artful word although I’m uncertain whether the Codex itself has its finger on her pen as for example: “ …a headache…skinny string reediness that crept through his skull and stuck like a hapless insect in his memory web.” The author is enviably skilled in oblique dialogue – I already refer my editing clients to chunks of her Piper stories for these writing masterclass elements.
Interesting left-field logic is used throughout such as should a virgin avoid the beast’s attention by giving herself to a willing lad and so change her sexual status?
In Codex we have medieval hardcore horror meeting the 21st Century where “secrets breed lies”.
Nelder News
One of my favourite short stories is CLOCKWORK. It’s a historical fantasy in which I’ve cheekily grabbed a day out of the life of Sir Francis Bacon in 1617 and made him and his dog experience an Earth-saving moment he had to pass on down the ages. A link to it is here (to buy but cheaper than a MacDonald’s fast meal and lasts much longer.)
http://www.fictionmagazines.com/shop/realm-issues/new-realm-vol-04-no-12/
Links to buy ARIA and other of my books are on my Amazon author page
Geoff’s UK Amazon author page
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Geoff-Nelder/e/B002BMB2XY
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Later this week Solstice Publishing releases my Chaos of Mokii story as an ebook. More later.
Meanwhile I am writing a daft short story – Wits End in which a Welsh valley has experienced continuous rainfall since 1859. A meteorological phenomenon or a deliberate obfuscation by the military / aliens? I can’t wait to finish it and find out!
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