Angels of Vengeance: The Disappearance Novel 3 (56 page)

So, the end of a story. Time not just to look back and say thank-you to everyone who contributed to this book, but also to the other two that came before it. Some have been with me all the way. Betsy Mitchell, Cate Paterson, Joel Naoum, Jon Gibbs and Nicola O’Shea at Random and Pan Macmillan. Russ Galen, my agent. You don’t know them, but without them you would not be holding this book in your hands.

Others popped in and out during the long journey, editing here, publishing there, sprinkling fairy dust on the marketing and publicity machine. Yes, that black engine. They all need to be given a hearty slap on the back and bought a drink as well, because the Disappearance series was mostly published in the darkest days of the Great Recession and the tireless efforts of the sales and marketing teams from both houses need a particularly loud ‘Huzzah!’ Most of you, I never even meet. But you have my deep thanks for what is largely a thankless job.

And hell, while we’re on it, how about a shout out to the frontline troops. The guys and gals in bookstores, actual real world bookstores, with shelves and everything, who’ve sold so many copies of these babies for me. Some of you I do know personally. Most I don’t. Again, thank you.

On a personal note, as ever, props to my blog buddies. They know who they are and how much they contribute to the creation of each book. One of the really lovely things about the modern world is the way that authors don’t have to hide themselves in the garret all the time now. If you want to reach out and spend time with your readers, even make some of them your friends, you can do so. My readers and friends hang out my blog, Cheeseburger Gothic.

Many more hang out at the digital cocktail party known as Twitter. Hugely distracting, but enormous fun, this social not-working service has become a very important part of my work. The cloud is the greatest instant feedback service ever cobbled together from electrons and rubber bands. I can’t possibly even begin to name everyone who’s helped me out with a research question or a bit of encouragement there. They know who they are.

And last, but most importantly. Jane, Anna and Thomas. The rest of you get the best of me. My public face. All shiny and smiley and scrubbed till my belly button shines.

They get the real me. The deadline me. The scruffy, smelly, grumpy where’s-my-goddamned-cup-of-coffee me. Feel for them.

I do.

John Birmingham is the author of the cult classic
He Died With a Felafel in His Hand
, the award-winning history
Leviathan
and the trilogy comprising
Weapons of Choice
,
Designated Targets
and
Final Impact
as well as
Without Warning
and
After America
.

Between writing books he contributes to a wide range of newspapers and magazines on topics as diverse as the future of media and national security. Before becoming a writer he began his working life as a research officer with the Defence

Department’s Office of Special Clearances and Records.

John Birmingham refuses to build a website, but you can find him online at his blog,
http://cheeseburgergothic.com
and on Twitter @johnbirmingham.

Also by John Birmingham

Weapons of Choice: World War 2.1

Designated Targets: World War 2.2

Final Impact: World War 2.3

Without Warning

After America

John Birmingham

Without Warning

A wave of inexplicable energy has slammed into America. And destroyed it.

What will the world do without its last superpower?

For the jihadists, Allah has performed a miracle. For the US and its allies, Armageddon has arrived. Australasia, far from the noxious waste darkening Europe’s skies, beckons as a possible oasis.

Who and what will fill the void?

John Birmingham

After America

‘Our world went to hell on March 14, 2003.’

Four years after an inexplicable wave of energy decimated the American mainland, and then just as inexplicably disappeared a year later, US President James Kipper is no closer to explaining the catastrophe to the traumatised survivors.

In a decaying New York City, an assassination attempt on the President prompts the suspicion that the looters overrunning Manhattan may be more organised and sinister than previously thought.

Working on a farm in Texas to earn his citizenship, Miguel Pieraro believes in the promise of the New America. That is until tragedy cuts through his family.

In the English countryside, Echelon agent Caitlin Monroe must once again fight for her life, a sharp reminder that her nemesis is active again.

Then out of the smoking ruin of the Middle East comes an enemy that will be Kipper’s toughest challenge yet. The battle for the Wild East is just beginning, but does this New America, and its gun-shy President, have the strength of will to destroy the past in order to save the future?

John Birmingham

Weapons of Choice: World War 2.1

A near-future military experiment thrusts a multinational armada back to 1942, right into the middle of the U.S. naval task force speeding toward Midway Atoll – and what was to be the most spectacular Allied triumph of World War II.

The 21st-century sailors are a shocking spectre for these veterans of Pearl Harbor – men who have never seen a helicopter or a nuclear weapon, and who have never encountered an African-American colonel or a female Australian submarine commander. But they respect the armada’s awesome firepower, and what it may mean to the war.

Initial jubilation is quickly doused by a shocking realisation – other ships may have made the trip – and may be in the hands of the Japanese. What happens next is anybody’s guess . . . and everybody’s nightmare.

John Birmingham

Designated Targets: World War 2.2

The nightmare of the Transition has pitched a whole world into chaos, as the great powers of 1942 scramble to build the weapons of tomorrow.

But the military crisis is only one part of a ruptured history.

Awareness of the future is sweeping the globe, and many of the people of 1942 are split between desire for the freedoms their descendants enjoy, and fear of the society which awaits them. Then Japan invades Australia, foreign agents begin a campaign of terror in the USA, and Germany prepares for an all-out attack on Britain.

The 21st-century forces must resort to the most extreme measures yet and face a future rife with possibilities – all of them apocalyptic.

John Birmingham

Final Impact: World War 2.3

As history reaches a tipping point, the forces unleashed by the Transition threaten to destroy the world. Hitler and Tojo race towards an atom bomb. Stalin plots to tear down the future and rebuild it in his image. And the Allies begin their Great Crusade with weapons and knowledge from the next century. What price will Kolhammer and his people pay for disrupting their past?

First published 2011 in Macmillan

These electronic editions published in 2011 by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd

1 Market Street, Sydney 2000

Copyright © John Birmingham 2011

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. This publication (or any part of it) may not be reproduced or transmitted, copied, stored, distributed or otherwise made available by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical) or by any means (photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise) without prior written permission from the publisher.

This ebook may not include illustrations and/or photographs that may have been in the print edition.

National Library of Australia

Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Birmingham, John, 1964–

Angels of vengeance / John Birmingham.

9781742610368 (pbk.)

A823.4

Adobe eReader format: 9781742628721

ePub format: 9781742628745

Online format: 9781742628721

The characters and events in this book are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Typeset by Post Pre-Press Australia

Cover design by blandmine.com

Macmillan Digital Australia:
www.macmillandigital.com.au

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www.panmacmillan.com.au
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