This is a science fiction/horror tale of fighting on a
different planet, which has its roots in World War I
Europe. A massive crater is linked to the disappearance of
over nine hundred men from Broughtonthwaite who formed
part
of the 13th Battalion of the Pennine Fusiliers. Were they
all blasted by German explosives? Or did they vanish to
another dimension? Suppose that instead of No-Man's-Land,
they went to NO MAN'S WORLD.
This is an omnibus of three books, so the full tale awaits
anyone keen to explore the issues surrounding the Somme
and
the fantastic adventures that wait for the unsuspecting
Tommies. To start with we discover everyday life in the
hundreds of miles of trenching, where signposts bearing
street names include Idiot's Corner - a trench crossroads
which the Germans shelled from time to time, so only an
idiot would hang about here. The men from the same Pennine
town, many of them impoverished teenagers who signed up
for
pay and excitement, are now living a life of horror. An
officer named Jeffries has a cabalistic ritual which keeps
him safe from death, and he intends to use the death
around
him to his own purposes. Perhaps this explains why the
gallant Fusiliers survive a cloud of chlorine gas to find
that the landscape has altered. The mud gives way to
greenery and lush warmth. Naturally, they think they are
in
Heaven. But how come shot men are still suffering? And
what's that awful animal howl?
The men swiftly realise that they are sitting amidst a
scavenger's delight, and have to fight for their lives.
Personally, I'd have been getting away from the bodies and
rat-infested trenches, finding a tree to climb, but they
decide to dig in where they are. Because they are
soldiers
and there are enough of them, including many wounded, this
does seem realistic. In fact the story could easily be
said to be all too realistic at times, so not for the
tender. A tank, a light fighter plane, two nurses and a
padre have been dragged though the dimension gate as well.
The whole group has to link up and work together to
survive. Amusingly the padre has to tell an officer to
compose himself in front of the ranks. Such little touches
make the characters very human and we're cheering for them
even as we realise that some are surely going to meet a
sticky end. They are going to run out of ammo sometime,
maybe even before they run out of food.
Later the party members meet Urmen, Chatts, chainmail-clad
warriors and the remnants of other parties who got dragged
into this dimension from Earth. The tension is constant as
they never know what they'll encounter next, and just
about
everything seems deadly.
Perhaps the most extraordinary message of NO MAN'S WORLD
is
that discipline persists in the face of peril, intensified
by the British class system and flair for organization.
There's a brief glossary at the end which explains
military
terms such as subaltern and revetment, as well as slang of
the day such as plum pudding for a mortar round. Pat
Kelleher has created a hugely detailed and challenging
read, bringing the people of the day to life, which will
be
best suited to those who like a good strong dose of
horror.
On November 1st 1916, 900 men of the 13th Battalion of the
Pennine Fusiliers vanish without trace from the
battlefield
only to find themselves on an alien planet.
There they must learn to survive in a frightening and
hostile environment, forced to rely on dwindling supplies
of
ammo and rations as the natives of this strange new world
begin to take an interest. However, the aliens amongst
them
are only the first of their worries, as a sinister and
arcane threat begins to take hold from within their own
ranks!
No Man's World presents all three novels from this series
,
Black Hand Gang, Ironclad Prophecy and The Alleyman, in
one
extraordinary collection.
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