The Peabody-Ozymandias Traveling Circus and Oddity Emporium

The Secret History of the World #34

by F. Paul Wilson

A novella culled from "Freak Show," the nigh impossible to find anthology F. Paul Wilson edited back in 1992 plus new characters and storylines. It involves the Otherness and ties into both the Repairman Jack series and The Adversary Cycle. Follow Oz and his band of freaks as they tour the country on a dark mission that threatens the nature of reality itself.

A companion piece to "The Last Rakosh"

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Fiction, Short Stories, Ebooks, Thriller

180 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Francis Paul Wilson is an author, born in Jersey City, New Jersey. He writes novels and short stories primarily in the science fiction and horror genres. His debut novel was Healer (1976). Wilson is also a part-time practicing family physician. He made his first sales in 1970 to Analog and continued to write science fiction throughout the seventies. In 1981 he ventured into the horror genre with the international bestseller, The Keep, and helped define the field throughout the rest of the decade. In the 1990s he became a true genre hopper, moving from science fiction to horror to medical thrillers and branching into interactive scripting for Disney Interactive and other multimedia companies. He, along with Matthew J. Costello, created and scripted FTL Newsfeed which ran daily on the Sci-Fi Channel from 1992-1996.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/fpaulw...

Reviews

[Lou · Rating 5 out of 5]

This work is taken out from a collection of stories horror writers wrote named freak show which Wilson edited. Based around a circus group which consists of unique people that have a connection to the Otherness another dimension. I have the signed limited edition with all authors signature and did not want to open up the pages and ruin them, a kindle version was released so was great opportunity to check it out. Was not disappointed great stuff interesting reading it's important reading before the other book of his All The Rage a RepairmanJack novel which is also full of good thrill and excitement. I really need to get reading the first in the Jack series The Tomb, that had been sitting there for that special time. Wilson is really good writer I recommend highly a vampire story of his The Keep that was really good.

" Jacob did not quite understand what the Otherness was, but he learned that it existed on the far side of "the Veil" and that the Device was a gateway to the Otherness"
" Jacob's search through unorthodox sources revealed that the Device, as his curio was called, was one of the "Seven Infernals" and could provide a link to "the Otherness."
" Look, almost all of us in the Emporium are a special kind of freak. Our deformities are the result of exposure as fetuses to the Otherness that leaked through the Device. This Otherness is a much older, more dominant, more powerful reality than ours. It changes any of our reality it touches"
"The Device will change the way the world sees us. When our day comes we will no longer be considered freaks. We will be accepted. We will get our due."

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

More grist for the mill in the unfolding Secret History.

[14 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I should have read this sooner, as I always wondered what happened to Oz and his troupe. Fantastic.

[Richard Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

A slim novella, beautifully produced by Necessary Evil Press, following the assembly of freaks put together by Ozymandias Prather as they tour the US, secretly hunting down the scattered parts of a device that once constructed, will change the world. Readers of Wilson's Repairman Jack series will already have met some of these characters in the novel All the Rage, and here they have their own tale. It's an entertaining yarn, diverting enough, and probably essential reading for followers of Wilson's Secret History of the World (which include the Jack books). This lovely edition sold out from the publisher before the official release date, but in order to make it more widely (and cheaply) available, Wilson has self-published a paperback edition, which can be picked up on Amazon and the like.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A character and troupe introduced in a previous Repairman Jack book (All the Rage) is given a back story as well as a continuation in what could be an important story in the long-running Secret History of the World from F. Paul Wilson. It's novella length, and very good. Some shoddy research is apparent as he says that one character went to Florida State University and identified that school as being in Gainesville (FSU is in Tallahassee, and University of Florida is in Gainesville), but otherwise is a solid read.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is amazing! It is a freak show/horror mix that has serious legs. The characters are very strange and unique and give rise to many thoughts about who they are and what they are, and in many cases what they will become. Lush background information with yet small tidbits of the unknown spur the reader to burn through the book, and yet there is so much to ponder on. I have never read anything like this, though there is another review to come based on this book, because the writer got some help. If you can find this book, get it. Rare as hen's teeth in print form now, I'm told.

Danny

[Dan Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this one. My only gripe is that it seemed to end suddenly. I knew this was going to be a fairly quick story, but there were things that I thought could have been given more time to explore. Tarantello and the formula were two things that could have been given more exploration. I guess that is the sign of a good book. I am left wanting more.

[L.A. Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I worked for a carnival one summer, and even though we didn't "tour" as extensively as a circus, a lot of the slang was used. (Porta-potties were "donnikers".) Reading this brought me back to that summer, when, if we had extra money, we'd rent a motel room; sleeping in the back of trucks on the floor...yes, good times.

[Denise Dorman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading this tale and I really enjoyed the atmospheric backdrop of the traveling circus - it felt like HBO's Carnivale to me as I was reading it, or the final season of TV's HEROES. F. Paul Wilson never disappoints.

[Joe Romaninsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Keeps You Guessing

A good yarn, this novella. A veeeerry strange tale, indeed. Don't ask too many logical questions. Relax and let your critical faculties take a short nap.
Not for the squeamish or those whose fairytales must be politically correct.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short but sweet.

[Gregor Xane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, quick, entertaining read.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book.Very creative and unique. I really wished it would have been developed into a series. Once I started it I couldnt put it down.

[Heavenlypeachgarden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written spooky tale full of memorable weirdness and entertaining characters

[Miss Kim]

How 'bout that cover? It's nightmare-enducing even without reading this yet.

[Kevin Lucia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice, tidy little side-chapter in the Repairman Jack mythos....