Adam returns from Geneva to England where Slievens Consultancy provides him with a luxury apartment in the Praesidium’s PCC (parallel coincident construct), set over Westminster.
For thousands of years, the Praesidium has secretly controlled the affairs of men. The Praesidium’s mission statement is benign enough – to enable man to be what he truly is; the subtext is that they oppose any effort by man to evolve or improve. John Noble, the Praesidium chairman, explains that the Praesidium directs mankind through the agency of the Monitaurs. The Monitaurs, evil entities capable of adopting human form, promote depravity, extremism, corruption, obfuscation and negativity. Adam is sent on excursions with each of the monitaurs to visit recent events that illustrate man’s true nature.
David Minofel, Adam’s mentor, is working for the Praesidium. Minofel’s brief is to ensure the questors can never again attempt to activate a beginning. To achieve this end, David Minofel sets about systematically deconstructing Adam’s moral sense. While fulfilling his brief, Minofel becomes aware that Kit, the blind man, could be an emergent, one of those rare individuals who can move man forward in the evolutionary process. The Praesidium fears emergents more than anything else so Minofel is commissioned to eradicate the blind man. Kit is lured to the Westminster PCC.
Eve and the other questors gather at the Smith’s home in Harrow. With the help of the Smith’s mentally-enhanced dog Luke, they seek the help of their old friend Prometheus. He sends them his daughter, Aletheia, the goddess of truth.
Aletheia accompanies Eve and the other questors to the Westminster PCC. When they arrive, they find themselves in the middle of an unsuccessful boardroom coup and the subsequent chaos caused by the murder of the chairman, John Noble, both of which are the work of the sadistic deputy chairman of the Praesidium, Simon Goodfellow.
On three occasions Eve warns Adam that the Praesidium is destroying his ability to empathise with others, that they are stripping him of his humanity. Adam can’t see it.
Kit is falsely blamed for John Noble’s murder. Adam, now promised a place on the Praesidium board, is tasked with prosecuting the defendant for capital murder in the Praesidium court. Minofel is confident that, if he can persuade Adam to prosecute his friend successfully, while knowing he is innocent, Adam’s corruption will be complete.
Minofel and Simon Goodfellow have reckoned without Aletheia. Aletheia defends Kit in the court and then demonstrates the power of the truth when represented by a goddess, skilled in swordsmanship. Eventually, Adam sides with Kit; Kit escapes execution. Aletheia uses the evil in Simon Goodfellow himself to punish him in a fittingly agonising manner. She then takes control of the Praesidium’s power source and destroys the Westminster PCC.
But for Eve, soon to give birth to her second daughter, and for Adam, the quest for the truth continues.
Table des matières
Adam returns from Geneva to England where Slievens Consultancy provides him with a luxury apartment in the Praesidium’s PCC (parallel coincident construct), set over Westminster.
For thousands of years, the Praesidium has secretly controlled the affairs of men. The Praesidium’s mission statement is benign enough – to enable man to be what he truly is; the subtext is that they oppose any effort by man to evolve or improve. John Noble, the Praesidium chairman, explains that the Praesidium directs mankind through the agency of the Monitaurs. The Monitaurs, evil entities capable of adopting human form, promote depravity, extremism, corruption, obfuscation and negativity. Adam is sent on excursions with each of the monitaurs to visit recent events that illustrate man’s true nature.
David Minofel, Adam’s mentor, is working for the Praesidium. Minofel’s brief is to ensure the questors can never again attempt to activate a beginning. To achieve this end, David Minofel sets about systematically deconstructing Adam’s moral sense. While fulfilling his brief, Minofel becomes aware that Kit, the blind man, could be an emergent, one of those rare individuals who can move man forward in the evolutionary process. The Praesidium fears emergents more than anything else so Minofel is commissioned to eradicate the blind man. Kit is lured to the Westminster PCC.
Eve and the other questors gather at the Smith’s home in Harrow. With the help of the Smith’s mentally-enhanced dog Luke, they seek the help of their old friend Prometheus. He sends them his daughter, Alitheia, the goddess of truth.
Alitheia accompanies Eve and the other questors to the Westminster PCC. When they arrive, they find themselves in the middle of an unsuccessful boardroom coup and the subsequent chaos caused by the murder of the chairman, John Noble, both of which are the work of the sadistic deputy chairman of the Praesidium, Simon Goodfellow.
On three occasions Eve warns Adam that the Praesidium is destroying his ability to empathise with others, that they are stripping him of his humanity. Adam can’t see it.
Kit is falsely blamed for John Noble’s murder. Adam, now promised a place on the Praesidium board, is tasked with prosecuting the defendant for capital murder in the Praesidium court. Minofel is confident that, if he can persuade Adam to prosecute his friend successfully, while knowing he is innocent, Adam’s corruption will be complete.
Minofel and Simon Goodfellow have reckoned without Alitheia. Alitheia defends Kit in the court and then demonstrates the power of the truth when represented by a goddess, skilled in swordsmanship. Eventually, Adam sides with Kit; Kit escapes execution. Alitheia uses the evil in Simon Goodfellow himself to punish him in a fittingly agonising manner. She then takes control of the Praesidium’s power source and destroys the Westminster PCC.
But for Eve, soon to give birth to her second daughter, and for Adam, the quest for the truth continues.
A propos de l’auteur
Paul was educated at St Marylebone Grammar School and New College, Oxford, where he read English for a B.A (hons) and then took an M. Phil. in Modern English Studies.
He has written poetry, fiction and non-fiction all his life.
Most of his poetry has been published in a hard cover book entitled ‘The Elements of Life’. This is a collection of poems, with illustrations by Daria Kisliouk, which is now in its second edition. He has also published an illustrated retelling in verse of ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’ fable, illustrated by Joan Steel.
In 2014, he published The Fourth Beginning, the first book in the Truth quartet. The second book in the series, The Devil’s Truth, was published in 2016. The third volume, The Praesidium, will be published later in 2018. The fourth and final volume, The Whole Truth, will be published towards the end of 2018.
In 2014 Paul also published Adventures in Grammarland, co-authored with Chris Prendergast, a fantasy of grammatical proportions and illustrated by Daria Mitchell.
In 2015, he published the Report Writer’s Handbook, designed to help anyone engaged in writing any kind of document to order their material and express their thoughts as clearly and succinctly as possible.
In 2016, Adventures in Numberland was published, a companion to Adventures in Grammarland. Adventures in Numberland is a fairy tale that illustrates the importance of numeracy in business and in life
All these books are available from Amazon.
Paul has also written several other, as yet unpublished, fictional works, with the following titles:
• The Earthlight
• The Diarist
• Sexual Crisis
Paul lives with his wife Janet just inside the New Forest, near Ringwood. They have two grown up children, Josh and Stephanie, and two boxer dogs, Cromwell and Tess.
Paul is also currently developing a computer programme, Docu Praxis, as a companion to the Report Writer’s Handbook, to assist users in composing reports and other types of document
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