Will you reconsider if Central Park shrinks?
Sure, he’d said.
Jack didn’t remember his high school geometry, so he couldn’t even guess the surface area of that hole, but a helluva lot of the Sheep Meadow was missing. Which meant the park was smaller by that many square feet.
…if Central Park shrinks…
Jack picked up his pace. How had Glaeken known?
He shook his head. Stupid question.
More holes ahead – and they don’t stay empty for long… Nightworld
TIMELINE
A chronology of births and deaths and major events in the Secret History
THE PAST
Prehistory – "Demonsong" – Rasalom’s first death
Srem assembles her Compendium
The Great Cataclysm ends the First Age
1476 – Rasalom trapped in the Keep;
1498 – Torquemada encounters the Compendium of Srem
1563 – on one of his inspection trips to the keep,
Glaeken seals the Compedium and other “forbidden” books there
1890 – Ernst Drexler Sr born
1923-24 – “Aryans and Absinthe”
1926-45 – Black Wind – the Gaijin Masamune is damaged at Hiroshima
1927 – Jonah Stevens loses left eye in Great Lower Mississippi Valley Flood
1930 – Jack’s father born
1931 – Jack’s mother born
1941 – early April – Jasmine "Jazzy" Cordeau impregnated with a human clone
1941 – May 3 - The Keep – Rasalom killed – invades the clone in Jazzy
1941 – (June) Alexandru sells Compendium & other books to a Bucharest dealer
1941 – Jonah Stevens has visions instructing him to care for the Vessel
1942 – (Jan 6) the Vessel (a human clone) born to Jazzy
1942 – Compendium sold to American collector
(Feb) Jonah and Emma Stevens adopt the Vessel from St. F's – name him James
1946 – Walter Erskine born in Chillicothe, MO
1949 – Ernst Drexler II born
1950 – Jack’s father trained as US Army sniper by Sgt. Nacht
1959 – Tom Jr born
1961 – Kate born
1962 – Jack's father gets vasectomy
1968 – Feb. 10 Reborn: Rasalom conceived in Monroe,
causing a cluster of freaks (Conspiracies and "Faces")
Feb. 11 - Dr. Hanley crashes
Mar – Dat Tay Vao enters Walt Erskine
April – Jack conceived
Sept – Weezy Connell born
Nov 7 – Rasalom reborn in Hickory Hill, AK
1969 – Jan – Jack born
Feb – Mrs. Clevenger moves into Johnson, NJ
April – Walter Erskine’s sister’s (Adelle) husband
Kurt Bainbridge transferred from Kansas, City, MO to his company’s Trenton office; knew Jack’s Dad in Korea (calls him “Killer”); moves to Johnson for the trout and bass fishing; provides home for his brother-in-law but not crazy about idea.
Oct – Eddie Connell born
SOMETIME IN THE EARLY 1970s – Jonah Stevens’s kids: Hank born in January; Jeremy 11 months later in Dec; Moonglow / Christy born following Dec.
1970 – 24-yr-old Walt Eskine gets medical discharge from Army after treated for a mental condition at Northport V.A. Hospital. Diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic. Thinks he can heal people.
1972 – Walt joins a faith-healing tent show in the South but is kicked off the tour because he is never sober.
1974 – Walt comes to live with sister in Johnson, NJ
1975 – American collector killed and robbed of Compendium (Jonah Stevens)
1975 – Luther Brady receives Compendium after graduation from college
1979 – Jonah Stevens killed in elevator accident.
1981 – Tom starts Seton Hall Law
1982 – Kate spends Junior Year abroad in France.
1982 – Walt Erskine in DC for march to Vietnam Veterans Memorial dedication
1983 – Aug: Jack: Secret Histories
Sept: Kate starts UMDNJ (Jack: Secret Circles)
Oct: Jack: Secret Vengeance
YEAR ZERO MINUS SIX:
Walt Erskine moves briefly to New York; meets Martin Spano
YEAR ZERO MINUS FIVE:
The THEN sections of Reprisal end with Danny Gordon buried (late December)
YEAR ZERO MINUS FOUR:
Bill Ryan ends up on West End in Bahamas (January)
YEAR ZERO MINUS THREE:
SIBS (February)
"Faces" (early summer)
THE TOMB (summer)
"The Barrens" (ends in September)
"A Day in the Life" (October)
"The Long Way Home"
LEGACIES (December)
YEAR ZERO MINUS TWO:
Bill Ryan becomes Will Ryerson and returns to US
CONSPIRACIES (April) (includes "Home Repairs")
ALL THE RAGE (May) (includes "The Last Rakosh")
HOSTS (June)
THE HAUNTED AIR (August)
GATEWAYS (September)
CRISSCROSS (November)
INFERNAL (December)
YEAR ZERO MINUS ONE
JANUARY
Harbingers
APRIL
early – Dawn Pickering conceives (Bloodline)
Alan gets Dat-Tay-Vao / Walter Erskine dies (The Touch)
MAY
(late) By the Sword
Dawn escapes Mr Osala; Jack meets Glaeken and they retrieve the Gaijin Masamune
JULY
Alan’s house burns on a Monday
(later) 2 Kickers (“Sammy”) found dead in Manhattan of a host of diseases and avulsed intestines (Touch)
Jack reconnects with Weezy, the Lady dies a 2nd time (Ground Zero)
AUGUST
The Touch ends
Rasalom settles in Pendleton, NC as Rafe
SEPTEMBER
“The Peabody-Ozymandias Traveling Circus & Oddity Emporium” ends
OCTOBER / NOVEMBER / DECEMBER
The Order develops the Jihad virus
Rafe/Rasalom begins at seducing Lisl
YEAR ZERO
JANUARY
Dawn's baby boy is late
Rasalom – in Pendleton, NC
FEBRUARY
Rasalom – in NC setting up Ev and Lisl
Renny Augustino – in NC tracking Bill Ryan; then in NYC with Bill to dig up grave in St. Ann’s Cemetery; meets Glaeken and they burn remains
Glaeken goes to NC where Rasalom kills Renny and discovers Glaeken is mortal (Reprisal ends)
Fatal Error end with the Lady terribly wounded but still alive
MARCH
The Dark at the End: Jack goes back to Johnson to find the old sigil w. Rasalom’s Other name (first seen in Jack: Secret Circles)
Rasalom steals the Gaijin Masamune and uses it to kill the Lady for the 3rd and final time, thus paving the way for the Otherness.
MAY
Nightworld begins
SUMMARY
The Secret History of the World at a glance
The Past
“Demonsong” (prehistory)
“The Compendium of Srem” (1498)
“Aryans and Absinthe”** (1923-1924)
Black Wind (1926-1945)
The Keep (1941)
Reborn (February-March 1968)
“Dat Tay Vao”*** (March 1968)
Jack: Secret Histories (1983)
Jack: Secret Circles (1983)
Jack: Secret Vengeance (1983)
“Faces”* (1988)
Cold City (1990)
Dark City (1991)
Fear City (1993)
“Fix” (2006) (with J.A. Konrath & Ann Voss Peterson)
Year Zero Minus Three
Sibs (February)
The Tomb (summer)
“The Barrens”* (ends in Se
ptember)
“A Day in the Life”* (October)
“The Long Way Home”+
Legacies (December)
Year Zero Minus Two
“Interlude at Duane’s” (April) ** / +
Conspiracies (April) (includes “Home Repairs”+)
All the Rage (May) (includes “The Last Rakosh”+)
Hosts (June)
The Haunted Air (August)
Gateways (September)
Crisscross (November)
Infernal (December)
Year Zero Minus One
Harbingers (January)
“Infernal Night” (with Heather Graham)
Bloodline (April)
By the Sword (May)
Ground Zero (July)
The Touch (ends in August)
The Peabody-Ozymandias Traveling Circus & Oddity Emporium (ends in
September)
“Tenants”*
Year Zero
“Pelts”*
Reprisal (ends in February)
Fatal Error (February) (includes “The Wringer”+)
The Dark at the End (March)
Nightworld (May)
* available in The Barrens and Others
** available in Aftershock and Others
*** available in the 2009 reissue of The Touch
+ available in Quick Fixes – Tales of Repairman Jack
Complete Bibliography
All fiction by F. Paul Wilson (Secret History and otherwise)
The Adversary Cycle
The Keep
Reborn
The Tomb
The Touch
Reprisal
Nightworld
Repairman Jack
The Tomb
Legacies
Conspiracies
All the Rage
Hosts
The Haunted Air
Gateways
Crisscross
Infernal
Harbingers
Bloodline
By the Sword
Ground Zero
Fatal Error
The Dark at the End
Nightworld
Quick Fixes – Tales of Repairman Jack
The Teen Trilogy
Jack: Secret Histories
Jack: Secret Circles
Jack: Secret Vengeance
The Early Years Trilogy
Cold City
Dark City
Fear City
The LaNague Federation Series
An Enemy of the State
Healer
Wheels Within Wheels
Dydeetown World
The Tery
Other Novels
Black Wind
Sibs
The Select
Virgin
Implant
Deep as the Marrow
Nightkill (with Steven Spruill)
Mirage (with Matthew J. Costello)
DNA Wars (formerly Masque with Matthew J. Costello)
Sims
The Fifth Harmonic
Midnight Mass
The Proteus Cure (with Tracy L. Carbone)
A Necessary End (with Sarah Pinborough)
Definitely Not Kansas (with Tom Monteleone)
Draculas (with Crouch, Kilborn, Strand)
Short Fiction
Soft & Others
The Barrens & Others
Aftershock & Others
The Peabody-Ozymandias Traveling Circus & Oddity Emporium
Quick Fixes – Tales of Repairman Jack
Sex Slaves of the Dragon Tong
The Christmas Thingy
Editor
Freak Show
Diagnosis: Terminal
The Hogben Chronicles (with Pierce Watters)
Omnibus Editions
The Complete LaNague
Calling Dr. Death (3 medical thrillers)
(back to contents)
Scenes from the Secret History Page 32
