Shadows Against the Empire

Love the idea of a Steampunk British Raj that includes interplanetary colonies?  Then Ralph Vaughan's latest novel,  Shadows Against the Empire (#336) is for you.  It certainly suited me to a T(ea)!

Mysterious things are happening on Venus and on Mars, and Captain Folkestone and Sergeant Hand, his faithful Martian comrade-in-arms, are assigned by London to investigate the attacks and the perpetrator behind them.  What these intrepid soldiers find leads them from Mars to Venus and back to Earth again in pursuit of followers of the ancient Dark Gods. Lady Cynthia is right there alongside them with her powerful connections and mad skills to give them a hand whether they like it -  Sergeant Hand is definitely in favor! - or not!  Doth Captain Folkestone protest too much?

As I was reading Shadows Against the Empire, I couldn't help but think of some of those classic black and white films set in India like King of the Khyber Rifles, Gunga Din, or even some scenes in Wee Willy Winkie.  I pictured Captain Folkestone as Erroll Flynn or perhaps Tyrone Power, but Sergeant Hand, who out-Britished the English themselves, would get the juiciest character actor part with his clockwork heart replacing his original by the finest British medical artificers.  Lady Cynthia could be played by a number of blond athletic actresses who could simultaneously play the society beauty presiding over a tea table as well as a diplomat, or pilot of an experimental aethercraft.  Hmm.

Mr. Vaughan has created some gorgeous settings on his planets, bringing the sense of ancient and forgotten races and their places of worship to life with his prose.  Threaded throughout are allusions to the mythology of the ancient Greeks, adding an extra layer of enjoyment to the narrative.  The one nitpick I have is a wish that he could find an alternative for the word "crystalline".  It was appropriate, but a tad overused here, I thought.

I certainly hope that there are going to be further adventures of Captain Folkestone, Sergeant Hand and Lady Cynthia.  I know there have to be fascinating back stories for all of them, and there is certainly the possibility of romance in the future.  Perhaps the Sergeant will have to lend a "Hand"!