The Secret of Abdu El Yezdi

Philip K. Dick Award-winning author Mark Hodder continues his Burton & Swinburne Adventures with a steampunk adventure set in an alternate England teetering on the edge of annihilation ... . After barely surviving his discovery of the source of the Nile, explorer Sir Richard Burton returns home to fame, glory, and a knighthood from his highness King George V. But he also receives another title -- King's Agent ... for Burton may be the only man who can save England from doom.. Once he is brought into the king's service, Sir Richard is trusted with a shocking truth: ever since the assassination of Queen Victoria, those in power have been guided and advised by a spirit -- Abdu El Yezdi -- whose wisdom has brought about incredible progress and prosperity.. Unfortunately, the voice of El Yezdi has fallen silent just as a controversial alliance is about to be formed with the Central German Confederation. More suspicious still are the disappearances of a number of England's most brilliant thinkers and builders, with no clue as to who is responsible.. Now, aided by his own circle of unlikely and unconventional allies - including the devilishly lewd poet Algernon Swinburne - Sir Richard must delve into the darkest reaches of both the mystical and machine worlds if England is to survive a coming storm unlike anything ever imagined ...