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Eden Book Society #1993
Servants to the King
Photographer Neil Morrish died of a drugs overdose, or so the police claim. His friend Kay Timmis does not believe them. In the months before his death, Neil had become increasingly distant, increasingly preoccupied, as if he suspected he might be in danger.
Kay is determined to discover the truth about what happened to him. The final photographs Neil took were all of the same man. But who is Gregory King, and how might he be linked with a tragic incident from Neil's past?
The Eden Book Society was a publishing house that produced horror novelettes for a private list of subscribers. It was established in 1919 by the Eden family, handed down through the generations issuing short horror novels to a confidential list of subscribers. Eden books were always written under pseudonyms and were rumoured to have been written by some of the greatest horror authors of their day, many of whom had strong ties to the mysterious Eden family. Dead Ink is reissuing eight novels from Eden's 1993 archive encompassing psychological torments, vampiric intrigue, visitors from beyond the grave and much more.
Are you brave enough to join the Eden Book Society?
Kay is determined to discover the truth about what happened to him. The final photographs Neil took were all of the same man. But who is Gregory King, and how might he be linked with a tragic incident from Neil's past?
The Eden Book Society was a publishing house that produced horror novelettes for a private list of subscribers. It was established in 1919 by the Eden family, handed down through the generations issuing short horror novels to a confidential list of subscribers. Eden books were always written under pseudonyms and were rumoured to have been written by some of the greatest horror authors of their day, many of whom had strong ties to the mysterious Eden family. Dead Ink is reissuing eight novels from Eden's 1993 archive encompassing psychological torments, vampiric intrigue, visitors from beyond the grave and much more.
Are you brave enough to join the Eden Book Society?
96 pages, Paperback
First published July 2, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 2, 2026
I spent years wishing and hoping Dead Ink would bring back the Eden Book Society series, while assuming this was unlikely to ever happen. Now that they actually have, I am so thrilled we have Servants to the King, which is worth the money I put into the Kickstarter on its own, and is exactly the sort of book a project like this should exist to create.
The story follows Kay, who refuses to believe her friend Neil really died from an overdose and begins digging into the final months of his life. She uncovers a series of photographs of a mysterious man named Gregory King – now an emerging populist politician – and connections to a missing boy Neil knew in childhood, a case that haunted him. And all those references he made to knowing people, including Kay herself, from ‘the other country’...
Kay was in love with Neil, who often pushed her away; their relationship was complex, and easily dismissed by others. ‘So far as the law was concerned she was invisible, a nobody. Even Neil’s landlord had more rights, a relationship with Neil that at least had a name.’ I loved the book’s portrait of Kay and Neil’s relationship, which acknowledges the depth and meaning of their bond, but does not shy away from the ways in which he sidelined her. Kay’s feelings for Neil are evoked so beautifully. Contemplating his relationship with lover/muse Nadia, a story told through Neil’s photography, Kay thinks: Looking at these photographs I can choose to feel lethally hurt or I can choose to feel empowered. Rather than simply being an object of jealousy, Nadia becomes another treasured, albeit sometimes painful, link to Neil’s memory.
Everything feels very 90s without any overt cultural signifiers; it’s just something about the atmosphere, thick with cigarette smoke. At the same time, certain elements of the plot (especially King as a right-wing figure and the darkness and corruption surrounding him) feel very timely. It’s a combination that Scott handles perfectly. Gradually, small details reveal to us that this story is taking place in an alternate-history version of 90s Britain – the only book in this collection, I think, to attempt something like this and another brilliant move, one that only serves to enrich the story’s themes. ’An infinity of possibilities, steadily funnelled away towards a single known outcome, recorded history the way it had played out.’ Except this story’s recorded history isn’t quite ours, and maybe Neil’s isn’t quite Kay’s, either.
On top of all that, it’s also a story that makes allusions to Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow. Based on the title and epigraph, I knew this from the start, and it made me a little nervous as I started reading; I’ve never actually finished Chambers’ book myself, and I don’t have the best history with stories that riff on it. But Servants to the King wears its influence lightly. You definitely do not need to be a diehard King in Yellow fan (or know anything about it) to enjoy this.
Servants to the King is a story about loss and absence, about voids. The hole left when someone leaves the world – death or disappearance – and what fills it. Grief, a breakdown or the madness of love as portals to other versions of reality. The idea of moving between ‘kingdoms’ lends itself beautifully to this theme, as do the suggestions of an alternate timeline: if something in ‘our’ history happened differently, what would rise up to fill the gaps that got left? Something shifts sideways in the final part of the book – because Kay has found a way forward, has come to terms with Neil’s absence enough to move past the pain, or because she has, unwittingly, crossed over into the other country?
You’d think there might be a little bit too much going on here for a novella but it is all just so perfectly managed, every aspect works. I tried to put it to one side to make it last longer, make sure I took in all the ideas properly and spent time thinking about them, but then I found all I could think about was the story. I wanted to read it again as soon as I’d finished, and indeed I did, a few days later. It was just as good, better even.
(Part of the Eden Book Society 1993 collection)
The story follows Kay, who refuses to believe her friend Neil really died from an overdose and begins digging into the final months of his life. She uncovers a series of photographs of a mysterious man named Gregory King – now an emerging populist politician – and connections to a missing boy Neil knew in childhood, a case that haunted him. And all those references he made to knowing people, including Kay herself, from ‘the other country’...
Kay was in love with Neil, who often pushed her away; their relationship was complex, and easily dismissed by others. ‘So far as the law was concerned she was invisible, a nobody. Even Neil’s landlord had more rights, a relationship with Neil that at least had a name.’ I loved the book’s portrait of Kay and Neil’s relationship, which acknowledges the depth and meaning of their bond, but does not shy away from the ways in which he sidelined her. Kay’s feelings for Neil are evoked so beautifully. Contemplating his relationship with lover/muse Nadia, a story told through Neil’s photography, Kay thinks: Looking at these photographs I can choose to feel lethally hurt or I can choose to feel empowered. Rather than simply being an object of jealousy, Nadia becomes another treasured, albeit sometimes painful, link to Neil’s memory.
Everything feels very 90s without any overt cultural signifiers; it’s just something about the atmosphere, thick with cigarette smoke. At the same time, certain elements of the plot (especially King as a right-wing figure and the darkness and corruption surrounding him) feel very timely. It’s a combination that Scott handles perfectly. Gradually, small details reveal to us that this story is taking place in an alternate-history version of 90s Britain – the only book in this collection, I think, to attempt something like this and another brilliant move, one that only serves to enrich the story’s themes. ’An infinity of possibilities, steadily funnelled away towards a single known outcome, recorded history the way it had played out.’ Except this story’s recorded history isn’t quite ours, and maybe Neil’s isn’t quite Kay’s, either.
On top of all that, it’s also a story that makes allusions to Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow. Based on the title and epigraph, I knew this from the start, and it made me a little nervous as I started reading; I’ve never actually finished Chambers’ book myself, and I don’t have the best history with stories that riff on it. But Servants to the King wears its influence lightly. You definitely do not need to be a diehard King in Yellow fan (or know anything about it) to enjoy this.
Servants to the King is a story about loss and absence, about voids. The hole left when someone leaves the world – death or disappearance – and what fills it. Grief, a breakdown or the madness of love as portals to other versions of reality. The idea of moving between ‘kingdoms’ lends itself beautifully to this theme, as do the suggestions of an alternate timeline: if something in ‘our’ history happened differently, what would rise up to fill the gaps that got left? Something shifts sideways in the final part of the book – because Kay has found a way forward, has come to terms with Neil’s absence enough to move past the pain, or because she has, unwittingly, crossed over into the other country?
You’d think there might be a little bit too much going on here for a novella but it is all just so perfectly managed, every aspect works. I tried to put it to one side to make it last longer, make sure I took in all the ideas properly and spent time thinking about them, but then I found all I could think about was the story. I wanted to read it again as soon as I’d finished, and indeed I did, a few days later. It was just as good, better even.
(Part of the Eden Book Society 1993 collection)
July 20, 2026
All over the shop. Lovely cover though. Would recommend to fans of lovely books covers! Two stars.
September 6, 2026
Servants to the King is one of the best offerings in the clutch of novellas forming part of the 1993 Eden Book Society collection. Ostensibly written in that year by one “Marion Scott”, the story is set in a contemporaneous England that, at first, seems familiar, but is progressively revealed to be a counterfactual one. In this alternative history, the country is in the midst of political upheaval, the result of terrorist attacks and a pandemic that have fuelled xenophobic sentiment.
Against this dystopian backdrop, Kay Timmis investigates the death of her friend and erstwhile lover, photographer Neil Morrish. The police consider him a victim of a drug overdose. Kay is not convinced, especially since Neil had been acting strangely and, just before his death, had posted her a roll of film for safekeeping, containing photographs of an elusive politician named Gregory King.
Through meetings with Neil’s mother and his muse and final lover, Nadia, Kay begins to piece together Neil’s history, haunted by the unsolved disappearance (or likely kidnapping) of the brother of a teenage friend of his. This “cold case” might well be connected to the sleazy King, as well as to a mysterious “other place” that Neil used to refer to.
Servants to the King is an ambitious, genre-bending work, which packs, in under 100 pages, enough material for a doorstopper of a novel. It is a crime story of sorts, delivered in a package decorated with elements of dystopian and gritty urban Gothic. Somewhere in there, there’s also a poignant could-have-been love story, which is really nicely done. In Neil’s death, Kay finds a communion with him, vicariously through the memories of his mother and Nadia, perhaps bringing her closer to him than they ever were when they were lovers.
As if this were not enough, the novella is made “Weird” (or “weirder”) through subtle but clear references to a classic of weird fiction, Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow. These allusions are not essential to understanding the story, but add an aura of unease to what is already a genuinely atmospheric novella.
https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/20...
Against this dystopian backdrop, Kay Timmis investigates the death of her friend and erstwhile lover, photographer Neil Morrish. The police consider him a victim of a drug overdose. Kay is not convinced, especially since Neil had been acting strangely and, just before his death, had posted her a roll of film for safekeeping, containing photographs of an elusive politician named Gregory King.
Through meetings with Neil’s mother and his muse and final lover, Nadia, Kay begins to piece together Neil’s history, haunted by the unsolved disappearance (or likely kidnapping) of the brother of a teenage friend of his. This “cold case” might well be connected to the sleazy King, as well as to a mysterious “other place” that Neil used to refer to.
Servants to the King is an ambitious, genre-bending work, which packs, in under 100 pages, enough material for a doorstopper of a novel. It is a crime story of sorts, delivered in a package decorated with elements of dystopian and gritty urban Gothic. Somewhere in there, there’s also a poignant could-have-been love story, which is really nicely done. In Neil’s death, Kay finds a communion with him, vicariously through the memories of his mother and Nadia, perhaps bringing her closer to him than they ever were when they were lovers.
As if this were not enough, the novella is made “Weird” (or “weirder”) through subtle but clear references to a classic of weird fiction, Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow. These allusions are not essential to understanding the story, but add an aura of unease to what is already a genuinely atmospheric novella.
https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/20...
August 13, 2026
3.5-4. I enjoyed it, the story line was good but it was slightly incoherent and jumpy.
August 30, 2026
This felt like an old school small press indie novella from earlier in this century. Very effective and filled with good ideas, it just didn’t stick the landing for me.
August 27, 2026
REALLY playing on that anna kavan inspiration
from the pretentious thoughts i wrote down after reading anna kavan’s ice, which i think apply equally here: “plotline and chronology kind of serrated and plural; dubious character divisions / synchronicity”
gorgeous vocabulary! and very timely politics while also so early 90s - referencing some nowadays-pretty-niche british political/social history? the alternate history line was such a smart move for this (what if thatcher died in brighton?), for being able to invent so freely while smoothing over any possible anachronisms. would eagerly read much longer works in this world.
wanted much more & i don’t take naturally to slipstream, but my favourite eden book so far!
from the pretentious thoughts i wrote down after reading anna kavan’s ice, which i think apply equally here: “plotline and chronology kind of serrated and plural; dubious character divisions / synchronicity”
gorgeous vocabulary! and very timely politics while also so early 90s - referencing some nowadays-pretty-niche british political/social history? the alternate history line was such a smart move for this (what if thatcher died in brighton?), for being able to invent so freely while smoothing over any possible anachronisms. would eagerly read much longer works in this world.
wanted much more & i don’t take naturally to slipstream, but my favourite eden book so far!
July 31, 2026
Coherent timeline and plot? Never heard of her.
August 7, 2026
Got over halfway through. I can tell that people would enjoy this, just not for me.
September 15, 2026
Creepy and deeply unsettling. 4.5*
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews