Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter

There were many staff at Kensington Palace, fulfilling many roles; a man who was employed to catch rats, another whose job it was to sweep the chimneys. That there was someone expected to hunt demons did not shock the new Queen; that it was to be her was something of a surprise.

London, 1838. Queen Victoria is crowned; she receives the orb, the scepter, and an arsenal of bloodstained weaponry. If Britain is about to become the greatest power of the age, there’s the small matter of the undead to take care of first. Demons stalk the crown, and political ambitions have unleashed ravening hordes of zombies even within the nobility itself.

But rather than dreams of demon hunting, Queen Victoria’s thoughts are occupied by Prince Albert. Can she dedicate her life to saving her country when her heart belongs elsewhere? With lashings of glistening entrails, decapitations, zombies, and foul demons, this masterly new portrait will give a fresh understanding of a remarkable woman, a legendary monarch, and quite possibly the best demon hunter the world has ever seen.

In another incarnation as a more serious (though still satirical) author, A. E. MOORAT has won critical acclaim and been shortlisted for awards. Here, however, he was chained in the dungeon, fed tea and ghost stories, and kept busy writing the adventures of Queen Victoria, Demon Hunter.

There were many staff at Kensington Palace, fulfilling many roles; a man who was employed to catch rats, another whose job it was to sweep the chimneys. That there was someone expected to hunt demons did not shock the new Queen; that it was to be her was something of a surprise.

London, 1838. Queen Victoria is crowned; she receives the orb, the scepter, and an arsenal of bloodstained weaponry. If Britain is about to become the greatest power of the age, there s the small matter of the undead to take care of first. Demons stalk the crown, and political ambitions have unleashed ravening hordes of zombies even within the nobility itself.

But rather than dreams of demon hunting, Queen Victoria s thoughts are occupied by Prince Albert. Can she dedicate her life to saving her country when her heart belongs elsewhere? With lashings of glistening entrails, decapitations, zombies, and foul demons, this masterly new portrait will give a fresh understanding of a remarkable woman, a legendary monarch, and quite possibly the best demon hunter the world has ever seen.

In another incarnation as a more serious (though still satirical) author, A. E. MOORAT has won critical acclaim and been shortlisted for awards. Here, however, he was chained in the dungeon, fed tea and ghost stories, and kept busy writing the adventures of Queen Victoria, Demon Hunter.

The Washington Post - Elizabeth Hand

…fun. It's a freewheeling account of Great Britain under siege by succubi, zombies and various other of Lucifer's minions, all nicely turned out in frock coats and crinolines. Moorat…crowds so many characters—historical, fictional, supernatural—onto his Victorian stage that the effect is that of a lost Gilbert and Sullivan operetta written under the influence of opium, absinthe and black pudding.

A. E. Moorat is the pseudonym of author Andrew Holmes whose first novel, Sleb, was shortlisted for the 2002 WHSmith New Talent Award in the UK. His other novels are All Fur Coat, 64 Clarke, and Rain Dogs and Love Cats, all of them dark, funny thrillers which were critically well received in the UK, earning him comparisons with Martin Amis and Elmore Leonard, among others. His nonfiction work has been of a collaborative nature and most recently he has worked with New Order and Joy Division bassist Peter Hook on Peter's book The Hacienda: How Not to Run a Club.

Queen Victoria, Demon Hunter marks his return to fiction and his debut in a genre he loves: horror, and currently he is working on a follow-up, provisionally titled Henry VIII, Wolfman, a companion piece insofar as it is set in the same world and features the same mythology. He lives in the English countryside with his wife and two children.