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Scenes From the Secret History (The Secret History of the World)

Page 32

by F. Paul Wilson


  Jack started to unbutton his shirt, thinking he might be able to use it as a rope. But before he was halfway done, a huge clump of earth gave way beneath the kid’s hands and he was gone, leaving behind only a fading high-pitched wail.

  More earth sloughed off and fell away, narrowing the distance between Jack and the edge. The damn hole was getting bigger.

  He looked around. The few people who had been scattered around the perimeter of the Sheep Meadow were now fleeing for the streets. Good idea, Jack thought. A fine idea. He broke into a headlong run and followed them.

  And as he ran it occurred to him that a big chunk of Central Park was missing. What was it Glaeken had said last night?

  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 (see 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 mo 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 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)

  Year Zero Minus Three

  Sibs (February)

  The Tomb (summer)

  “The Barrens”* (ends in September)

  “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 or Soft & Others

  + available in Quick Fixes – Tales of Repairman Jack

  ++ available in Face Off

  Complete Bibliography

  All fiction by F. Paul Wilson (Secret History and otherwise)

  The Adversary Cycle

  The Keep

  The Tomb

  The Touch

  Reborn

  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

  Healer

  Wheels Within Wheels

  An Enemy of the State

  Dydeetown World

  The Tery

  Other Novels

  Black Wind

  Sibs

  The Select

  Virgin

  Implant

  Deep as the Marrow

  Mirage (with Matthew J. Costello)

  Nightkill (with Steven Spruill)

  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)

  Short Fiction

  Soft & Others

  The Barrens & Others

  The Christmas Thingy

  Aftershock & Others

  The Peabody-Ozymandias Traveling Circus & Oddity Emporium

  Quick Fixes – Tales of Repairman Jack

  Sex Slaves of the Dragon Tong

  Editor

  Freak Show

  Diagnosis: Terminal

  The Hogben Chronicles (with Pierce Watters)

  Omnibus Editions

  The Complete LaNague

  Calling Dr. Death (3 medical thrillers)

 

 

 


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