THE SACRED STONE
The Sacred Stone is the sixth collaboorative novel by the Medieval Murderers, and the first to which I have contributed. It will be published by Simon & Schuster on July 8th 2010, in simultaneous hardback and trade paperback editions.
Order the hardback from Amazon, or from any bookshop, quoting the ISBN: 978-1-8473-7676-3.
Order the trade paperback from Amazon, or from your local bookshop (ISBN: 978-1-8473-7677-0.
In the desolate wastes of Greenland, Viking hunters watch a meteorite fall to earth. The finding of the strangely shaped stone seems to bring good fortune to the little community, healing a lame boy and giving them unusual luck in hunting, but violence quickly follows as men fight for control of the sacred stone.
My fellow Medieval Murderers and I have collaborated to trace the story of the sacred stone through the centuries, as it is brought to England on a Viking ship, and passes from owner to owner down through the ages from Medieval Wales to Elizabethan London in an intriguing series of interlinked mysteries.
Along the way the meteorite falls into the hands of mad monks and kabbalists, thieves and murderers, for men and women will stop at nothing to gain possession of it. For though some try to use the sacred stone to heal and to give hope, its very power always awakens the dark side of men, bringing envy, greed and murder in its wake.
The full cast list is:
- Prologue: Greenland, 1067: by Susanna Gregory
- - In which the stone is discovered by a band of hunters
- Act 1: Welsh Border, 1103: by Simon Beaufort
- - In which the stone causes a rift between Church and State
- Act 2: North Devon, 1236: by Bernard Knight
- - In which the stone is invoked to heal a manor lord's sick wife
- Act 3: Norwich, 1241: by Karen Maitland
- - In which the stone is acquired by a Jewish merchant
- Act 4: Oxford, 1272: by Ian Morson
- - In which the stone finds its way to King Henry's bedchamber
- Act 5: London & Jersey, 1606: by Philip Gooden
- - In which the stone plays a part in the kidnap of Nick Revill
- Epilogue: Present Day
- - In which the stone resurfaces
