High John The Conqueror
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Summary
A dark comedy, written at the Devil's dictation.
Welcome to London! Not quite the London we know. The King of England has converted to Roman Catholicism, along with his sons, and has abdicated in favour of his brother, now known as Andy One. Sickened by years of corrupt and incompetent presidents, the United States has petitioned Andy One to resume sovereignty over America. In England, the government of Christian Coalition Socialists has been ousted in a coup d'état. The survivors have gone underground, led by High John the Conqueror, chief of the Flagellants, a squad of paramilitary sadomasochists. To escape arrest and execution, High John (real name Organ McWhinny) fakes his own death and disappears, so successfully that his son Lingus, a boy in his mid-teens, believes him to be dead. Motherless and fatherless, Lingus takes to the streets.
Welcome to London! Not quite the London we know. The King of England has converted to Roman Catholicism, along with his sons, and has abdicated in favour of his brother, now known as Andy One. Sickened by years of corrupt and incompetent presidents, the United States has petitioned Andy One to resume sovereignty over America. In England, the government of Christian Coalition Socialists has been ousted in a coup d'état. The survivors have gone underground, led by High John the Conqueror, chief of the Flagellants, a squad of paramilitary sadomasochists. To escape arrest and execution, High John (real name Organ McWhinny) fakes his own death and disappears, so successfully that his son Lingus, a boy in his mid-teens, believes him to be dead. Motherless and fatherless, Lingus takes to the streets.
Reviews
So we have a fant-sci-historico-romp on our hands. And we'll need both of them because this is one juggling act of a novel....some will cover their ears but some will want to leap up to dance
Tom Gatti, The Times