Draxinger

by Noble Smith

"With its mythic qualities and mesmerizing voice, this novel will appeal to fans of Tolkien, Gaiman and Rothfuss." —Trish MacEnulty, The Historical Novel Society "Draxinger is a brilliant and genre-twisting tale of intrigue and Gothic horror." —David Day, author of An Encyclopedia of Tolkien "Comparable to Roger Zelazny for his blend of humor, serious comment and darkness." —Allen Stroud, Chair of the British Science Fiction and Fantasy Association "Mixing the supernatural with secret agent skullduggery, Draxinger is a gorgeously crafted, action-packed fantasy thriller mashup set during a mind-bending, alternative occult version of WWI."—Ethan Gilsdorf, author of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks "Draxinger holds you spellbound with hilarious dialogue and exciting action until its final page. But the real achievement is a breakdown of the costs of war and hatred on our souls." —Clay Carmouche, writer of The Taken King "Fast-paced and darkly comic, Draxinger is a brilliantly heady mix of fantasy, espionage and the paranormal." —Colin Falconer, author of Silk Road and Harem The charmingly eccentric Otto Draxinger appears to be your typical pipe smoking Oxford professor, doing his best to preserve his sanity while his beloved former students are being slaughtered at the Western Front. But the American expatriate has diagnosed himself with the newly coined term “schizophrenia.” And he believes the nightmarish waking visions he’s been experiencing are caused by the psychological trauma of the catastrophe that is The Great War. But after a chance encounter on a train with a beautiful and dangerous woman, the witty academic is drawn into a web of espionage and the paranormal. Conscripted by a secret British intelligence agency called The Department of Anti-Mageia, the astonished Draxinger is transported to an isolated castle and immediately put into training for a desperate mission. Here, at the mysterious brigade's headquarters called The Crypt, Draxinger makes friends with his fellow recruits including the fighter pilot ace Buppy Singh, the wily weapons inventor code named "Fizz," and the brilliant cryptologist/suffragette known only as Abacus. But Draxinger soon learns that to uncover the appalling truth about his terrifying visions, he will have to come face to face with the German side of his family’s legacy of the Dark Arts. For he has been ordered to fly straight into the heart of enemy territory, and assassinate his murderous brother—an operative for the German emperor Kaiser Wilhelm’s own agency of the occult. From Oxford to Berlin to the skies above No Man’s Land, the reluctant yet always humorous professor-turned-spy must discover how to wield magic for good…in a world gone truly bad. AUTHOR BIO Noble Smith is the Franchise Narrative Director of Microsoft’s legendary video game series Age of Empires from Xbox Game Studios. He is an award-winning playwright, documentary film executive producer, and author of The Wisdom of the Shire—a book about the philosophy of Tolkien’s Hobbits (translated into eight languages). And the epic historical fiction trilogy Nikias of Plataea (Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press) set in ancient Greece during the Peloponnesian War.

255 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 21, 2020

About the author

I am an award winning playwright, documentary producer, and former Franchise Narrative Director of the Xbox video game series Age of Empires.

My latest novel Draxinger is a paranormal spy-thriller set during The Great War and available as a Kindle exclusive.

My nonfiction book The Wisdom of the Shire is published by Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin's Press, and has been translated into 8 languages. Kirkus Reviews praised it as "A life-affirming, must-have morsel for Tolkien's colossal fan base."

My historical fiction action/adventure The Nikias of Plataea Trilogy is published by Macmillan. NYT bestselling authors Michael and Kathleen Gear described it as having "Terrific action, with a wickedly brilliant plot, visceral combat, and nail-biting treachery."

Reviews

[Randy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Draxinger is a fascinating amalgam of action adventure, fantasy and science fiction with a touch of magic thrown in. The setting is WWI. The main character is an unlikely Oxford don, unlikely because he is American. Not only is he an American living in England, he is also a German who has an actual evil identical twin—a German Army major. Draxinger, our professor and hero, suffers from a creeping schizophenia that causes him to have visions and hear voices. This instability, however, does not exempt him from being recruited, Shanghai'd actually, by the DAM, the Department of Anti-magia run by a quirky English lord and staffed by a group of misfits whose idiosyncrasies are a match for those of the professor. This department, with offices in the basement of the British Museum and the aristocrat's country estate, is sadly populated with at least two double agents who cause no end of mischief and confusion. DAM's mission is to find and kill a wraith known as the Pale Major who DAM suspects is Draxinger's evil twin. The Pale Major appears in the British trenches and slits the throats of officers while they sleep. Draxinger, unaware of his brother's suspected misdeeds, is seduced by a DAM operative and tested for his personal patriotism. He passes and in an unlikely turn of events is trained to fly an aeroplane into Germany with the goal of assassinating his own brother. Draxinger knows that the real villain might be his own grandfather, a man who hated his grandson enough to encourage fratricide precipitating Draxinger's American mother's flight back to America with her little son in tow. There is a certain suspension of disbelief when reading the fantastical and with "Draxinger" this is easy enough to do because of the crisp dialogue and wonderful little pedantic professorial asides that entertain and illuminate. There is romance as Draxinger, long a widow, finds love with a mysterious herbalist, while in training at the estate. There is a great sense of place demonstrated by the author's obvious familiarity with the British settings. Along with the mayhem, dog fights, killings and crashes there is a great deal of comedy often provided by a whiny, unhappy Teddy Bear that Draxinger rescues from a three legged dog and attempts to return to Germany from whence it came. Through many twists and turns Drax and Teddy complete their mission with the help of large collection of gadgets that would make James Bond hot with envy. When Draxinger gets to Germany he learns that he is but a pawn in a counter plot to place his brother in his place at DAM and erode it from within. "Draxinger" the book plays out like an old Saturday morning movie serial where the reader is constantly left on the edge of their seat while Professor Draxinger stumbles his way to mission completeness while bringing great entertainment with this black comedy.

[Aloha4Ever · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprisingly entertaining novel with some magical twists and turns. It requires some suspension of disbelief, but I was able to get past it. Looking forward to the next book in the series as I hope we’ll see many of the characters returning for the sequel. A special shout-out to Mein Teddy, who really stole the scenes he was in. 🧸

[Ruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

15. Some books are just too clever for their own good. This has so much going foot but like the main character I was so confused at times and had no idea what was going on nor why. Maybe I will get it if I re-read. ’ don’t anyone get injured today.

[John McDonnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not to sure about this one. Was an okay read but I'm hoping further novels might improve my opinion.