Sherlock Holmes delves into the world of early cinema as motion picture groundbreaker Eadweard Muybridge begs him to solve a mystery that will keep you up all night…
1896. A new client at Baker Street claims he’s being threatened via the new art of the moving image…
Eadweard Muybridge, pioneer of motion picture projection, believes his life is in danger. Twice he has been almost run down in the street by the same mysterious carriage, and moreover, disturbing alterations have been made to his lecture slides. These are closely guarded, yet just before each lecture an unknown hand has defaced images depicting Muybridge himself, which he has discovered, to his horror, only as he projects them to his audience. As Holmes and Watson investigate, a bewildering trail of clues only deepens the mystery, and meanwhile, newspaper speculation reaches fever pitch. The great detective’s reputation is on the line, and may be ruined for good unless he can pick apart a mystery centred the capturing, for the first time, of figures in motion, and the wonders of the new cinematograph.
Tim Major is a writer and freelance editor from York, UK. His love of speculative fiction is the product of a childhood diet of classic Doctor Who episodes and an early encounter with Triffids. Tim’s most recent books include Hope Island and Snakeskins, short story collection And the House Lights Dim and a monograph about the 1915 silent crime film, Les Vampires, which was shortlisted for a British Fantasy Award. Tim’s short fiction has appeared in Interzone, Not One of Us, Shoreline of Infinity and numerous anthologies, including Best of British Science Fiction, Best of British Fantasy and The Best Horror of the Year. He tweets @onasteamer.
"The only novel I have read that made my ears tingle." The Times
"Major has a special skill of weaving his characters' inner turmoils into the perils they face in the plot." Morning Star
"Refreshingly out of the ordinary." Sunday Sport
“Tim Major is an exceptional writer” Adam Roberts
"Hope Island is a masterfully tense tale, building a looming sense of dread and growing uncertainty. Disturbing and original, surprising and shocking, it's an excellent novel from a unique voice in the genre." Tim Lebbon, author of Eden and The Silence
"Hope Island is a deliciously creepy mystery. Tim Major knows how to wield the weird and the effect is an original novel that's unsettling and compelling at every turn. The silent children who stalk the island are a disturbing threat outside, and the threat within the family offers a richly-realised emotional disquiet. Prepare to be unnerved." D. K. Fields, author of Widow's Welcome and The Stitcher and the Mute
"Tense and compelling, the taut and tangled mysteries of eerie Hope Island conspire to create a roiling fever dream of a novel in which nothing is certain, and in which even one's own senses cannot truly be trusted. Beneath an authentic and empathetic portrait of a family falling apart lies a deeply intuitive, atmospheric enquiry into those truths which underpin all human relationships: the way we speak and listen, the things we say and the things we hide. Hope Island is a strange and brilliantly original novel which cements Tim Major's rightful reputation as a top class writer of fantastical fiction." Laura Mauro, author of Sing Your Sadness Deep
"Artfully written and brilliantly controlled from the first page, Hope Island explores unsettling territory through well-drawn characters, landscape and a powerful use of sound. But it's the central mother-daughter relationship that gives the book real heart – there's honesty, pain and beauty in here." M. T. Hill, author of Zero Bomb and The Breach
“I tore through Hope Island, unnerved by its escalating tension and its keen sense of isolation — I genuinely didn’t know what to expect whenever I turned the page.” Award-winning author, G. V. Anderson
“Clever, intriguing and suspenseful … a must-read book from a terrific new voice” Alison Littlewood on You Don’t Belong Here
“You Don’t Belong Here is a novel that dares to do something different” Ginger Nuts of Horror
“You Don’t Belong Here is that perfect blend of cautionary tale, psychological horror and introspective character study.” The Eloquent Page
“It has freshness and it’s fluently written entertainment.” Rising Shadow
“Strongly recommended for fans of original and uniquely weird fiction.” Ginger Nuts of Horror on Blighters
“Once I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down until I reached the end” Lynda Rucker on Carus and Mitch
Sherlock Holmes delves into the world of early cinema as motion picture groundbreaker Eadweard Muybridge begs him to solve a mystery that will keep you up all night…
1896. A new client at Baker Street claims he’s being threatened via the new art of the moving image…
Eadweard Muybridge, pioneer of motion picture projection, believes his life is in danger. Twice he has been almost run down in the street by the same mysterious carriage, and moreover, disturbing alterations have been made to his lecture slides. These are closely guarded, yet just before each lecture an unknown hand has defaced images depicting Muybridge himself, which he has discovered, to his horror, only as he projects them to his audience. As Holmes and Watson investigate, a bewildering trail of clues only deepens the mystery, and meanwhile, newspaper speculation reaches fever pitch. The great detective’s reputation is on the line, and may be ruined for good unless he can pick apart a mystery centred the capturing, for the first time, of figures in motion, and the wonders of the new cinematograph.
Creators
Tim Major is a writer and freelance editor from York, UK. His love of speculative fiction is the product of a childhood diet of classic Doctor Who episodes and an early encounter with Triffids. Tim’s most recent books include Hope Island and Snakeskins, short story collection And the House Lights Dim and a monograph about the 1915 silent crime film, Les Vampires, which was shortlisted for a British Fantasy Award. Tim’s short fiction has appeared in Interzone, Not One of Us, Shoreline of Infinity and numerous anthologies, including Best of British Science Fiction, Best of British Fantasy and The Best Horror of the Year. He tweets @onasteamer.
"The only novel I have read that made my ears tingle." The Times
"Major has a special skill of weaving his characters' inner turmoils into the perils they face in the plot." Morning Star
"Refreshingly out of the ordinary." Sunday Sport
“Tim Major is an exceptional writer” Adam Roberts
"Hope Island is a masterfully tense tale, building a looming sense of dread and growing uncertainty. Disturbing and original, surprising and shocking, it's an excellent novel from a unique voice in the genre." Tim Lebbon, author of Eden and The Silence
"Hope Island is a deliciously creepy mystery. Tim Major knows how to wield the weird and the effect is an original novel that's unsettling and compelling at every turn. The silent children who stalk the island are a disturbing threat outside, and the threat within the family offers a richly-realised emotional disquiet. Prepare to be unnerved." D. K. Fields, author of Widow's Welcome and The Stitcher and the Mute
"Tense and compelling, the taut and tangled mysteries of eerie Hope Island conspire to create a roiling fever dream of a novel in which nothing is certain, and in which even one's own senses cannot truly be trusted. Beneath an authentic and empathetic portrait of a family falling apart lies a deeply intuitive, atmospheric enquiry into those truths which underpin all human relationships: the way we speak and listen, the things we say and the things we hide. Hope Island is a strange and brilliantly original novel which cements Tim Major's rightful reputation as a top class writer of fantastical fiction." Laura Mauro, author of Sing Your Sadness Deep
"Artfully written and brilliantly controlled from the first page, Hope Island explores unsettling territory through well-drawn characters, landscape and a powerful use of sound. But it's the central mother-daughter relationship that gives the book real heart – there's honesty, pain and beauty in here." M. T. Hill, author of Zero Bomb and The Breach
“I tore through Hope Island, unnerved by its escalating tension and its keen sense of isolation — I genuinely didn’t know what to expect whenever I turned the page.” Award-winning author, G. V. Anderson
“Clever, intriguing and suspenseful … a must-read book from a terrific new voice” Alison Littlewood on You Don’t Belong Here
“You Don’t Belong Here is a novel that dares to do something different” Ginger Nuts of Horror
“You Don’t Belong Here is that perfect blend of cautionary tale, psychological horror and introspective character study.” The Eloquent Page
“It has freshness and it’s fluently written entertainment.” Rising Shadow
“Strongly recommended for fans of original and uniquely weird fiction.” Ginger Nuts of Horror on Blighters
“Once I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down until I reached the end” Lynda Rucker on Carus and Mitch
