Scenes from the Secret History (The Secret History of the World)
Read Scenes from the Secret History (The Secret History of the World) Online
Authors: F. Paul Wilson
Scenes
from
the
Secret History
of the
World
by
F. Paul Wilson
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The Secret History of the World
The preponderance of my work deals with a history of the world that remains undiscovered, unexplored, and unknown to most of humanity. Some of this secret history has been revealed in the Adversary Cycle, some in the Repairman Jack novels, and bits and pieces in other, seemingly unconnected works. Taken together, even these millions of words barely scratch the surface of what has been going on behind the scenes, hidden from the workaday world.
A c
hronological listing follows. (NB: “Year Zero” is the end of civilization as we know it; “Year Zero Minus One” is the year preceding it, etc.)
“The Compendium of Srem” (1498)
“Aryans and Absinthe” (1923-1924)
These tales occur three years before
Nightworld
“The Barrens” (ends in September)
“The Long Way Home” (November)
These tales occur two years before
Nightworld
“Interlude at Duane’s” (April)
These tales occur during the year before
Nightworld
“Infernal Night” (with Heather Graham)
The Peabody-Ozymandias Traveling Circus & Oddity Emporium
We start
with a story from waaaay in the past, set about 15,000 years ago in what I’ve come to call the First Age, when the Ally and the Otherness were more open about their contest for Earth.
“Demonsong” was written early in my career – 1978, to be exact – and sold to Gerald W. Page for
Heroic Fantasy
(DAW #334). I had become a fan of Robert E. Howard at age fourteen when I found
Conan the Conqueror
in the back half of an old Ace Double. “Demonsong” was how I thought sword and sorcery should sound – people saying “nay,” calling each other “outlander” or “interloper” and such, and lots of passive voice.
I had no idea that a couple of years later I would haul these two characters into the twentieth century. When I was working out the names and backgrounds of the immortal archenemies in
The Keep
, I flashed back to “Demonsong” and latched onto them. This then is the first appearance of Glaeken and Rasalom.
l may cringe now at the style, but I find “Demonsong” interesting because I realize it’s where I began my practice of turning genres on their heads. I remember consciously setting out to write a sword-and-sorcery tale wherein no one slashes anyone or even draws a sword. And I succeeded.
(BTW – the Choir of Chaos was inspired by the Finlay illo above)
You can grab the story
for free
here:
“Demonsong”
The
Compendium
plays a huge role in the Secret History. It contains all the lost lore from the First Age in a seemingly endless number of pages. But in the final run-up to
Nightworld
its content-ordering technology crashed and the pages began appearing in chaotic order. Only someone with a brain like Weezy Connell’s could even begin to make sense of it.
How the story came to be: Somewhere during 2010 or so I bumped into Otto Penzler at either the Edgar banquet or Thrillerfest. He said he was starting a line called Bibliomysteries which would be short mysteries centered around books. He would publish them as stand-alone volumes.
I made the mistake of mentioning that I wanted to write a story about a “forbidden” book that falls into the hands of the Spanish Inquisition and completely flummoxes them. I say “mistake” because I had all sorts of other commitments and wasn’t ready to write it yet. Well, Otto proved to be relentless. Every time – and I do mean
every
time – we ran into each other that was the first thing out of his mouth: “Where’s that story about the Inquisition book?”
It took me until late 2013 to get it done. We were both delighted with the story.
Those of you who are into the Repairman Jack series will recognize the
Compendium
– it’s been a source of knowledge about the First Age since it first appeared in
Crisscross
.
Here’s the opening section:
The Compendium of Srem
(sample)
1
Tomás de Torquemada opened his eyes in the dark.
Was that…?
Yes. Someone knocking on his door.
“Who is it?”
“Brother Adelard, good Prior. I must speak to you.”
Even if he had not said his name, Tomás would have recognized the French accent. He glanced up at his open window. Stars filled the sky with no hint of dawn.
“It is late. Can it not wait until morning?”
“I fear not.”
“Come then.”
With great effort, Tomás struggled to bring his eighty-year-old body to a sitting position as Brother Adelard entered the tiny room. He carried a candle and a cloth-wrapped bundle. He set both next to the Vulgate Bible on the rickety desk in the corner.
“May I be seated, Prior?”
Tomás gestured to the room’s single straight-back chair. Adelard dropped into it, then bounded up again.
“No. I cannot sit.”
“What prompts you to disturb my slumber?”
Adelard was half his age and full of righteous energy – one of the inquisitors the pope had assigned to Tomás four years ago. He seemed unable to contain that energy now. The candlelight reflected in his bright blue eyes as he paced Tomás’s room.
“I know you are not feeling well, Prior, but I thought it best to bring this to you in the dark hours.”