Queen’s Gambit

Queen’s Gambit is the fourth in a series of Queen of Gondal books and is a quasi-historical AU of the BBC Sherlock series set (more or less) in three fantasy kingdoms devised by the Bronte children. You might like to refer to their suggested reading order, family trees & series information.

In a remote country residence Master Ripley, a physician famed for his knowledge of frenzy and melancholia, tends a distraught woman broken by the ruthless dynastic politics of her House. The unexpected arrival of her kinsman the Crown Prince is a catalyst which forces Ridley to recognise the brooding evil at the root of his patient’s malady, a curse which has poisoned the lives of four generations and which sits so close to the Crown that treason itself ceases to be a relevant consideration. Meanwhile, death, fire and destruction creep inland from the sea and the wind is changing.

Warnings: The author chooses not to warn.

Advisory: The time period is the late seventeenth century and readers should bear in mind that this saga contains the doings of a set of supremely dysfunctional more-or-less European Royal families steeped in the “divine right of kings” ideology of monarchy, filtered through an early nineteenth century Romantic/Gothick sensibility and then depicted using the freedom of expression afforded by the early twenty-first century internet.

Furthermore, if the Greek myths contemplated it, some member of the Royal houses of Gondal, Angria or Gaaldine has probably put it into practice somewhere.

Gentle reader, consider yourself advised accordingly.

Acknowledgements:
As ever, thanks to caulkhead for betaing.

The original central cover photograph is from a painting of the Battle of Buda (1686) by F.Geffels (1625-1694), Hungarian National Museum (Budapest), photographed by Yelkrokoyade. The fonts used in this book are from the Source Serif Pro font family by Frank Grießhammer.

The images and fonts were used under license detailed on their respective website pages at the date of this book publication.

As usual, Russ from shoes for industry designed the book cover, produced the books and compiled the on-line work.

The opinions, prejudices, faults and spelling herein are all my own work, and I apologise in advance for them.

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This novel is rated Teen (15). You might also like to consider other books set in the Sherlock fandom or read more books in the Queen of Gondal series.

- First Edition: 5th Jan 2012
- 2nd Edition: 3rd May 2012
- 3rd Edition: 11th Apr 2021

This work is created as a transformative work on a not-for-profit basis. All rights in the underlying properties are those of their respective holders.