Iris Wildthyme: A Clockwork Iris

After the initial publication of Seasons Of War, I was very kindly asked to write for the next Iris Wildthyme anthology to be published by Obverse Books.

Iris Wildthyme: A Clockwork Iris
Iris Wildthyme: A Clockwork Iris – Cover art by Paul Hanley

In Timepeace, Iris and Panda find themselves dipping into the lives of a people both controlled and reassured by the presence of an ominous doomsday clock…

Light from the cockpit profiled a mass of cogs and mechanisms, dominating the circular chamber and stretching vertically to fill what appeared to be a tower.  A straight pathway lead through its centre interrupted by a wooden ladder leading to floors above and below.  At the furthest edge of the room, a columned section of cogs rotated and locked into each other’s teeth, rotating at intervals of slightly longer than an Earth second, the remainder sitting inert.  Iris could almost sense a tension within the static metal – a yearning to move to its next configuration.  This was obviously a timepiece of sorts, she thought, but quite why the majority of its workings lay dormant…that was something more suspicious and temptingly mysterious.  The desire of time wanting to move on but being held back put her teeth on edge.  She needed to know why.

“Is this some kind of wind up?” she joked, turning to Panda with a newly restored grin. She turned and made her way towards the steps.

Iris Wildthyme: A Clockwork Iris, edited by Stuart Douglas, Paul Magrs and George Mann is available from Obverse Books.

It features the writing talents of Stuart Douglas, Aaron Starum, Christopher Bryant, Ian Charles Douglas, Jenna Burtenshaw, Jon DeCles, John Alice, Mark Latham, Matt Bright, Paul Driscoll and Liesel Schwartz with artwork by the amazing Paul Hanley.