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Phileas Fogg and the War of Shadows
Phileas Fogg and the War of Shadows by Josh Reynolds
Limited Edition of 125 Signed Papberback copies
Limited Edition of 125 Signed Hardcover copies
The Other Log of Phileas Fogg was only the beginning!
It is 1889 and Phileas Fogg has settled into a life of quiet sequestration in the rural idyll of his family estate with his wife and children. The millenia-old conflict which once threatened to consume him is over and done. Or so he thought. But when an old foe disrupts his peaceful retirement, seeking his aid against an enemy which threatens them both, Fogg finds himself once more thrown into the white-hot crucible of war.
Now, with his loved ones under threat of death, and accompanied by the unpredictable colonel who has been described as the second most dangerous man in London, Fogg must dare the dangers of the City of Light in order to uncover the deadly secrets hidden beneath the streets of Paris. And as the wonders of the Exposition Universelle unfold around him and the air quivers with the impossible reverberation of nine great clangings, Fogg must plunge into the shadowed depths of the Parisian catacombs on the trail of his phantom enemy…
Limited Edition of 125 Signed Papberback copies
Limited Edition of 125 Signed Hardcover copies
The Other Log of Phileas Fogg was only the beginning!
It is 1889 and Phileas Fogg has settled into a life of quiet sequestration in the rural idyll of his family estate with his wife and children. The millenia-old conflict which once threatened to consume him is over and done. Or so he thought. But when an old foe disrupts his peaceful retirement, seeking his aid against an enemy which threatens them both, Fogg finds himself once more thrown into the white-hot crucible of war.
Now, with his loved ones under threat of death, and accompanied by the unpredictable colonel who has been described as the second most dangerous man in London, Fogg must dare the dangers of the City of Light in order to uncover the deadly secrets hidden beneath the streets of Paris. And as the wonders of the Exposition Universelle unfold around him and the air quivers with the impossible reverberation of nine great clangings, Fogg must plunge into the shadowed depths of the Parisian catacombs on the trail of his phantom enemy…
124 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
3 people are currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
Joshua Reynolds
313 books339 followersJosh Reynolds’ work has previously appeared in such anthologies as Historical Lovecraft from Innsmouth Free Press and Horror for the Holidays from Miskatonic River Press, and his novel, Knight of the Blazing Sun, is currently available from Black Library. He can be found at: http://joshuamreynolds.wordpress.com
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
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December 26, 2015This is one of 125 copies signed by Josh Reynolds.
December 31, 2014
Very nice use of the classic Jules Verne character. nice read and good plot. Very recommended
August 14, 2019
I’ll start with a couple of admissions: 1. I’m a big fan of Philip Jose Farmer’s Wold-Newton novels/biographies. 2. I’m a big fan of the work Meteor House has done to continue Phil’s legacy, with the backing of Phil and Bette Farmer (before their deaths) and the Farmer family (since). 3. It’s been many a year since I’ve read The Other Log of Phileas Fogg. Those three facts are pertinent, I think, to reviewing MP’s latest Wold-Newton novella.
There’s a lot of talk lately about sequel novels “sanctioned by [family of original author],” but I can’t think of any recent such situation where the family has been involved the way the Farmer family has been with Meteor House (extending back to Phil hand-picking certain authors to continue certain worlds/stories before he passed on), and I think such involvement lends books like this more than just an air of authenticity. Of course, the family stamp of approval doesn’t guarantee the sequel/continuation will be well-written or even connect with the spirit of the original work (I was notoriously vocal about how little I felt Dacre Stoker’s Dracula continuation followed his grand-uncle Bram’s original, for instance, as compared to how much it owed to versions like Francis Ford Coppola’s film). But Meteor House does a solid job of matching authors with the works they’re going to continue (Christopher Paul Carey on the Opar books; Win Scott Eckert on the Patricia Wildman stories) and Josh Reynolds is a great fit to continue Fogg’s adventures.
It having been years since I last read The Other Log, I can also report that Reynolds does a fine job filling in enough background that I didn’t feel lost or confused as to the main characters and their histories (both individual and shared) while also not so over-burdening the story with background and wink-wink-nod-nod cameos that the novella loses momentum. (This latter is a tendency some New Pulp and “crossover fiction” authors have; I love cameos and small nods to other characters, but I don’t want them to overwhelm the story I’m currently invested in. They need to be pertinent, as they are here.)
Character-wise, this is absolutely the Fogg I remember from Farmer’s novel: self-possessed, aware of his weaknesses, more concerned about family and friends than about the War he has long since left behind. It’s also the Nemo/Moriarty I remember (Farmer posits them as the same person). I don’t recall Sebastian Moran being quite so blood-thirsty, but time and a large number of Holmes pastiches could have erased that from my memory.
Plot-wise, Reynolds doesn’t waste a page of the space he’s been given. He starts with a slam-bang action scene that both serves to set the tone and to remove our hero Fogg from his support systems. While I was initially sad that Passpartout is written out of the story so quickly, I also understood why it was necessary: this installment is about Fogg being drawn, however unwillingly, back into a shadow war on the world stage – subplots involving his sidekick or his family would only work against the urgent nature of the plot. As the first installment of an intended series, War of Shadows sets a bunch of intriguing stuff in motion, but it also feels pretty complete in and of itself. If the remainder of the project were somehow not to see print, I’d still feel satisfied that I read a rollicking good adventure yarn with a strong ending.
There’s a lot of talk lately about sequel novels “sanctioned by [family of original author],” but I can’t think of any recent such situation where the family has been involved the way the Farmer family has been with Meteor House (extending back to Phil hand-picking certain authors to continue certain worlds/stories before he passed on), and I think such involvement lends books like this more than just an air of authenticity. Of course, the family stamp of approval doesn’t guarantee the sequel/continuation will be well-written or even connect with the spirit of the original work (I was notoriously vocal about how little I felt Dacre Stoker’s Dracula continuation followed his grand-uncle Bram’s original, for instance, as compared to how much it owed to versions like Francis Ford Coppola’s film). But Meteor House does a solid job of matching authors with the works they’re going to continue (Christopher Paul Carey on the Opar books; Win Scott Eckert on the Patricia Wildman stories) and Josh Reynolds is a great fit to continue Fogg’s adventures.
It having been years since I last read The Other Log, I can also report that Reynolds does a fine job filling in enough background that I didn’t feel lost or confused as to the main characters and their histories (both individual and shared) while also not so over-burdening the story with background and wink-wink-nod-nod cameos that the novella loses momentum. (This latter is a tendency some New Pulp and “crossover fiction” authors have; I love cameos and small nods to other characters, but I don’t want them to overwhelm the story I’m currently invested in. They need to be pertinent, as they are here.)
Character-wise, this is absolutely the Fogg I remember from Farmer’s novel: self-possessed, aware of his weaknesses, more concerned about family and friends than about the War he has long since left behind. It’s also the Nemo/Moriarty I remember (Farmer posits them as the same person). I don’t recall Sebastian Moran being quite so blood-thirsty, but time and a large number of Holmes pastiches could have erased that from my memory.
Plot-wise, Reynolds doesn’t waste a page of the space he’s been given. He starts with a slam-bang action scene that both serves to set the tone and to remove our hero Fogg from his support systems. While I was initially sad that Passpartout is written out of the story so quickly, I also understood why it was necessary: this installment is about Fogg being drawn, however unwillingly, back into a shadow war on the world stage – subplots involving his sidekick or his family would only work against the urgent nature of the plot. As the first installment of an intended series, War of Shadows sets a bunch of intriguing stuff in motion, but it also feels pretty complete in and of itself. If the remainder of the project were somehow not to see print, I’d still feel satisfied that I read a rollicking good adventure yarn with a strong ending.
December 7, 2014
The no. of Holmesian/Sherlockian pastiches, belonging to various genres and sub-genres, have been too numerous to count or catalogue. However, certain works written by Philip Jose Farmer, as cogs in the giant literary wheel that he had created in his “Wold Newton Universe”, bringing various aspects of the world of Sherlock Holmes as well as those of several other heroes (and villains) of 19th & 20th Century literature together in an elaborate myth-arc, stand out for their sheer ingenuity. In recent times, Titan Books has done a seminal work by bringing most of the works of PJF back, which had included the utterly brilliant “The Other Log of Phileas Fogg”. Yes, it depicts one of the greatest chronologically oriented adventures ever to grace literature: “Around The World in Eighty Days” by Jules Verne, but through such a strange glass, that your perceptions regarding Verne’s work, especially some of the most memorable characters penned by him, would change forever.
If you have read the PJF book, then you must have been intrigued by the thought that, would such a character like Phileas Fogg allow himself to become thoroughly domesticated afterwards, or if there would be another ‘yarn’ of him. The particular book under review answers that question in the affirmative, in the strongest possible manner, by giving us an absolutely brilliant adventure. Also, it bridges the world of Fogg with the world of Doc Savage and his daughter Patricia Wildman (enjoying a rather adventurous life in recent times, thanks to Win Scott Eckert’s literary efforts), bringing it up-to-date with Kim Newman’s Diogenes Club connections as well. NO, I wouldn’t summarise the story, and would encourage you to get hold of the book as quickly as possible. Meteor House has done a splendid job in terms of production, and the few illustrations that grace the book, are superb. Highly Recommended.
If you have read the PJF book, then you must have been intrigued by the thought that, would such a character like Phileas Fogg allow himself to become thoroughly domesticated afterwards, or if there would be another ‘yarn’ of him. The particular book under review answers that question in the affirmative, in the strongest possible manner, by giving us an absolutely brilliant adventure. Also, it bridges the world of Fogg with the world of Doc Savage and his daughter Patricia Wildman (enjoying a rather adventurous life in recent times, thanks to Win Scott Eckert’s literary efforts), bringing it up-to-date with Kim Newman’s Diogenes Club connections as well. NO, I wouldn’t summarise the story, and would encourage you to get hold of the book as quickly as possible. Meteor House has done a splendid job in terms of production, and the few illustrations that grace the book, are superb. Highly Recommended.
June 5, 2016
I had a blast rereading this excellent novella, which I was able to contribute to as a continuity editor!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews