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    Xana-La
    Xana-La
    Xana-La
    Ebook34 pages26 minutes

    Xana-La

    By Stephen Palmer

    ()

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    About this ebook

    "The fate of all those who enter Moongolia is to die."

    Originally written for the 2012 anthology Where Are We Going?, edited by Allen Ashley and published by the Eibonvale Press, 'Xana-La' follows the surreal and highly improbable journey of Victorian explorers Pharaday Lemmington and Franclin Spar-Turney, as they investigate the truth of the secret Himalayan city of Xana-La.

    Members of the notorious Suicide Club, it is the duty of these brave men to explore every corner of the globe on behalf of Queen and country, and this the pair do, only to discover something entirely unexpected.

    A surreal and mysterious short story - and the originator of the full-length novel Hairy London.

    (approx 5,800 words)

    "An interesting and well written adventure story, which reminded me a bit of good old-fashioned adventure stories" (Rising Shadow)

    "This irreverent story is full of eccentric chaps, and gleaming with brass." (Warpcore)

    "... exuberantly off the wall... a glorious tale of adventure and derring do, as explorers set off to a mythical land simply to prove its existence, but in doing so must take on the laws of time and space, the whole thing gleefully over the top and informed by a pseudo steampunk sensibility." (Black Static)

    LanguageEnglish
    Publisherinfinity plus
    Release dateMar 6, 2014
    ISBN9781310896002
    Xana-La

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      Book preview

      Xana-La - Stephen Palmer

      Xana-La

      Stephen Palmer

      Published by infinity plus at Smashwords

      www.infinityplus.co.uk

      Follow @ipebooks on Twitter

      © Stephen Palmer 2014

      Cover © Stephen Palmer

      Smashwords Edition, Licence Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      No portion of this book may be reproduced by any means, mechanical, electronic, or otherwise, without first obtaining the permission of the copyright holder.

      The moral right of Stephen Palmer to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

      Xana-La is set in the same world as Stephen Palmer's full-length novel, Hairy London, available from infinity plus in print and e-formats:

      Hairy London by Stephen Palmer

      What is love?

      One evening at the Suicide Club three gentlemen discuss this age-old problem, and thus a wager is made. Dissolute fop Sheremy Pantomile, veteran philosopher Kornukope Wetherbee and down-on-his-luck Velvene Orchardtide all bet their fortunes on finding the answer amidst the dark alleys of a phantasmagorical Edwardian London.

      But then, overnight, London Town is covered in hair. How the trio of adventurers cope with this unusual plague, and what conclusions they come to regarding love is the subject of this surreal and fast-paced novel.

      And always the East End threatens revolution...

      Stephen Palmer is a find. Time Out

      Science fiction has gained a distinctive new voice. Ottakar's

      Stephen Palmer's imagination is fecund... Interzone

      For full details of infinity plus books see www.infinityplus.co.uk

      Contents

      Xana-La

      More from Stephen Palmer

      Xana-La

      The fate of all those who enter Moongolia is to die.

      Such assertions roam our world on the wings of song, passing from man to boy to man again; the curtailed lives of the Tuvan throat

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