Different Kingdoms

3 total works

The Way to Babylon

by Paul Kearney

Published 23 July 1992

Michael Riven has fallen off a mountain. The author is broken in both body and mind, as the fall also claimed his wife and climbing partner Jenny. Readers are desperate to know what will happen next in the fantasy world Minginish, but neither writing, nor living, are of interest to the author as he lies in traction. But there are others seeking the scribe out. Men - and someone who is not all human - have begun a quest to rescue their blighted homeland, and their road will take them between worlds. Michael Riven will return to his home in Scotland, and accompany a stranger into a place altogether more familiar and terrifying: Minginish itself, a real place stranger even than the world of his novels. Michael must take up the companions of his stories - Bicker, Ratagan and Murtach - and find a way to mend the sundered world. He may even find that Jenny's existence did not end that day on the mountain.

A Different Kingdom

by Paul Kearney

Published 1 July 1993

A different kingdom of wolves, woods and stranger, darker, creatures lies in wait for Michael Fay in the woods at the bottom of his family's farm.

Michael Fay is a normal boy, living with his grandparents on their family farm in rural Ireland. In the woods there are wolves; and other things, dangerous things. He doesn't tell his family, not even his Aunt Rose, his closest friend. And then, as Michael wanders through the trees, he finds himself in the Other Place. There are strange people, and monsters, and a girl called Cat. When the wolves follow him from the Other Place to his family s doorstep, Michael must choose between locking the doors and looking away or following Cat on an adventure that may take an entire lifetime in the Other Place.

A Riding the Unicorn

by Paul Kearney

Published 8 September 1994

John Willoughby is being pulled between worlds. Or he is going mad, 'riding the unicorn' as his prison officer colleagues would say. It's clear to Willoughby it must be the latter. Disappearing in the middle of his prison shift from among convicts, appearing in a makeshift medieval encampment for minutes before tumbling back to the real world, Willoughby believes his mind is simply breaking apart. He finds no solace at home, with a wife who has grown to dislike him and a daughter who can barely hide her disgust. He's realised he isn't worth anyone's time, barely even his own, and falls into drinking and violence guaranteed to bring about his downfall. Except in this other world, in this winter land of first-settlers he is a man with a purpose, a man upon whom others must rely. Persuaded to kill a King so as to save a people, Willoughby finds that in another world, with a second chance he may be the kind of man he had always wanted to be after all.