Meet Tobin Artichoke, a crypto-cartographer. He maps secret, forgotten places, like the Back Door to Hell, which is actually quite nice, not as hot or as overdeveloped as the more touristy parts of Hell. Or the Faerie City of Finklestone, which only exists for an hour on mid-summer’s eve and smells of fish and plasticine. Or the Tower of Forgotten Things, where odd socks go to die, their passing lamented by dead pens and lost telephone numbers.
Tobin Herodotus Shirley Artichoke is a close personal friend of mine. Well, I say friend, but he never calls me. In fact, I don’t think he likes me. Actually, I know he doesn’t like me, but I won’t let his contempt spoil our relationship. I’ve known him for a long time, almost ten years now, and he’s been living rent-free in the darker parts of my mind all that time, so it’s a relief to finally have him out and earning his keep in the from of my new book, Tobin Artichoke and the Queen of Heaven.
What’s it about?
When an ancient artefact – The Queen of Heaven – is discovered in amongst the junk at a flea market, Tobin Artichoke and his decapitated brother Drake find themselves on a quest that takes them from London to a secret cave under a nuclear power station, to Hell, the Afterlife and beyond, as they try to find the artefact before it falls into the wrong hands. For the mythical Queen of Heaven is the key to possessing all of creation, including every soul on Earth.
In a race against time, Tobin becomes the reluctant representative of a distracted deity, and the fate of all humanity rests in his hands. But Tobin couldn’t care less about other people, and saving every living soul might just be the death of him!
Tobin Artichoke and the Queen of Heaven is the first book in a new urban fantasy series. If you like Douglas Adams, Robert Rankin and Terry Pratchett then this might be for you.
