C J Maloney

The Marquis C J Maloney

"I am a fraud. My title, my power, my very name are not my own. How I came to be the most damned of men is set down here as my final confession. In these pages I will tell how I broke bread with Vampires and shared their friendship. In my confession I hope to explain the Great London Fire of 1666, the proliferation of plague deaths in the city, and how I came to murder an Archduke." An excerpt of the manuscript discovered in 1967 within the false bottom of a rotten sea chest belonging to a Captain C. Johnson. In The Marquis, we learn of our author's adventures, battles, victories and death, and what he does afterward. Tom Hawkins survives earthquakes, zombie attacks, a Loogaroo vampire's soul draining, and becomes the unwitting pawn in a plot by his wife. In the year of our lord 1658, the Albatross was lost with all hands during a hurricane. Stories from merchant sailors describing a shadowy pirate vessel that preyed upon the ill-advised and unlucky have never been confirmed. But in this extraordinary manuscript we have the first proof of its existence, if we are to believe the adventures written by a Tom Hawkins, known to the world as the Marquis de Maintenon. The Marquis details the exploits of a young man who finds himself enmeshed in the politics of 17th-century French society still troubled by creatures we now relegate to fantasy. While he considers himself a failure, he does enlighten us as to the true nature of a number of assassinations and troubling events in the court of the Sun King. Through it all, Tom maintains his dedication to his own possible salvation even after he has been involved in more villainy than most men dream of. We learn of his despair, terror, and determination in the face of the vampires, pirates, and fellow mortals. As we conclude the story, the events detailed are supported by existing historical accounts, though through Tom's eyes the reasons for the battles and fires turns what we know of the world upside down. But Tom's explanations do bring new light to otherwise odd or strange occurrences in the court of Louis XIV. If true, the world owes Tom a debt of gratitude.