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The Harrison Peel Files #3
The Elder Codex
In a blend of cosmic horror with weird science fiction and action spy adventure, the Harrison Peel Files recounts the adventures of former Army Intelligence Officer turned mercenary who travels the globe fighting the good fight against alien monsters wherever they appear threatening to destroy humanity. The series is set in the worlds of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos and the third collection of adventures features two novellas set against the backdrop of war fuelled African nations.
The Elder Codex — when ripples in the fabric of space-time warp reality in Somalia, Peel is propelled into a mystery that wants burying, and retraces his past in the ruins of devastated land.
The Spiraling Worm (with John Sunseri) — a missing U.S. soldier resurfaces in the jungles of the Congo, mutilated and deformed, and commanding an army of cultists soldiers warring against Peel and a small contingent of special forces soldiers.
The Elder Codex — when ripples in the fabric of space-time warp reality in Somalia, Peel is propelled into a mystery that wants burying, and retraces his past in the ruins of devastated land.
The Spiraling Worm (with John Sunseri) — a missing U.S. soldier resurfaces in the jungles of the Congo, mutilated and deformed, and commanding an army of cultists soldiers warring against Peel and a small contingent of special forces soldiers.
185 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 16, 2014
About the author
David Conyers
82 books60 followersDavid Conyers is science fiction author and editor from Adelaide, South Australia. He has a degree in engineering from the University of Melbourne, and today works in marketing communications. David’s fiction has appeared in magazines such as Albedo One, Ticon4, Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine, Book of Dark Wisdom, Lovecraft eZine and Jupiter, as well as more than twenty anthologies. His previous books include the science fiction Cthulhu Mythos blended thriller, The Eye of Infinity published by Perilous Press and the prequel The Spiraling Worm co-authored with John Sunseri. Previous anthologies he has edited include Extreme Planets, Cthulhu Unbound 3, Cthulhu’s Dark Cults and Undead & Unbound. His e-books include The Uncertainty Bridge and The Impossible Object.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 4, 2016
I've read a fair bit of Conyers' works, and I have to say that his Peel character is one of my favorite. The Elder Codex contains possibly one of the more horrific Peel stories involving the Spiral Worm. From beginning to end, the action is there right up with the eldritch mythos/horror that we expect from one of Conyers' stories.
As always, the character development within Conyers' stories is handled extremely well, with Peel coming off as a multi-layered character with a number of motivations, hopes and dreams as he deals with the knowledge of things beyond the human realm. Conyers' portrays people's reaction to eldritch horrors beautifully and is one of my favorite aspects of his tales.
Another thing that I admire is Conyers' ability to work with other writers to craft a story that doesn't read like two people writing a piece. Instead, the stories always come across as seamless, and very rarely does the reader notice the separate styles. Having tried to do collaborative writing myself, I know how tricky this can be, so hats off to Conyers for his ability to do it so well.
One thing I will say about the version of this collection that I received is that unlike others in the series, the copy editing felt weaker. Often I would come across misspelled words that seemed to have been missed during the editing phase and couple possibly have been fixed in later versions of this book. Though a bit jarring during reading, it wasn't enough to fully pull me from the story itself.
In the end, The Elder Codex was a fun read and as always, I look forward to reading more of Conyers' pieces which include Peel. It is nice to read a piece about a special agent who isn't American, and it is nice to see the eldritch horror being tackled and not having it always be mythos related. I recommend this book, and the rest in the series to anyone who is interested in special agent fiction with a Lovecraftian twist.
As always, the character development within Conyers' stories is handled extremely well, with Peel coming off as a multi-layered character with a number of motivations, hopes and dreams as he deals with the knowledge of things beyond the human realm. Conyers' portrays people's reaction to eldritch horrors beautifully and is one of my favorite aspects of his tales.
Another thing that I admire is Conyers' ability to work with other writers to craft a story that doesn't read like two people writing a piece. Instead, the stories always come across as seamless, and very rarely does the reader notice the separate styles. Having tried to do collaborative writing myself, I know how tricky this can be, so hats off to Conyers for his ability to do it so well.
One thing I will say about the version of this collection that I received is that unlike others in the series, the copy editing felt weaker. Often I would come across misspelled words that seemed to have been missed during the editing phase and couple possibly have been fixed in later versions of this book. Though a bit jarring during reading, it wasn't enough to fully pull me from the story itself.
In the end, The Elder Codex was a fun read and as always, I look forward to reading more of Conyers' pieces which include Peel. It is nice to read a piece about a special agent who isn't American, and it is nice to see the eldritch horror being tackled and not having it always be mythos related. I recommend this book, and the rest in the series to anyone who is interested in special agent fiction with a Lovecraftian twist.
December 30, 2014
First, I have to say that the kindle version is shamefully in need of a good edit. However, like all of Conyers's Major Peel books, this was a very fun read. But, seriously, dude, hire an editor. I'm not always in a good mood.
August 30, 2016
Major Harrison Peel, formerly of Australian Military Intelligence, works with his NSA allies to protect the world from the Old Ones and Shoggoths. It was a fun, fast paced read.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews