My muse had been silent for a couple of years. Then in May I was visiting Oxford, England with a group of terrific students. I spent the last day largely alone visiting the Pitts Rivers Museum and then sitting with my notebook in the Lamb and Flag--a favorite pub of both J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. There I forced the muse to come out and play and help me draft the first scene of a new novel. That scene takes place on a dark and rainy night (I know! I know!) at the Eagle and Child where Tolkien and Lewis are sharing a pint and discussing something important. A man on the verge of death stumbles in, dripping on their table and urging them to care for a document he pushes into Lewis' hand.
The book shares the same legendarium as my first two novels (The Sporran and The Iona Conspiracy) though this one takes place during World War II. The basic plot finds the Blitz over London to be a diversion for an attempt by the Nazis to find and retrieve the Spear of Longinus--the spear that pierced the side of Christ.
It turns out that the spear was not really "of this world" at all, but connects in a deep way to the story of Isildane who brought the treasures into our world so long ago. The blade was never meant to be found, but has a way of bringing itself into the hands of those who do not suspect its power--and evil nature. So did it find the hands of Longinus 2,000 years ago at Calvary.
It must not be allowed to fall into the hands of Adolf Hitler!
Well, I should really get back to writing the book, instead of telling you about it!
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