Scimitar Edge Books

Published & Coming Soon

Paperback, Kindle, and Epub ebooks


Scimitar Edge is a registered publishing imprint of Purple Unicorn Media. We focus upon:-
- History
- Biography
- Alternate History
- Science Fiction
- Fantasy
- Historical Fiction


Below is a full list of books currently published by Scimitar Edge, or in development to be published by us for the first time.



Scimitar Edge

A Dream of Empire by Grey Wolf

A Dream of Empire
by Grey Wolf

Alternate History
Based upon Constantinople, the Roman Empire has endured for millennia, and now in the modern age of airships and steam trains stretches across Central Asia as far as the exarchates of Persia and Afghanistan, bringing it into conflict with the globe-spanning British Empire. Set in 1895, this alternate history book is written from the perspective of the officers and administrators of the Greek-speaking Roman Empire. We follow such characters as the commander of an airship, a courtesan in the capiral, and the retinue of the Exarchos, or governor, of the Eastern territories of the empire.

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A Few Wild Beasts to be Dreaded

A Few Wild Beasts to be Dreaded
by Ralph Greco Jr.

Short Story Collection
From good old Jonathan Swift having Gulliver put out the fire at the Lilliputian royal castle by urinating over it, to the many fantastic satirical sci-fi moments of Robert Sheckley, to the Grand Guignol naughtiness Anne Rice was sometimes known for, the 'smushing' - for want of a better word - of genres in fantastic fiction has been going on for quite some time. This mixing of the fantastic with the satirical, the sexy, and just the downright odd (or even all 3 in one story) is at the heart of this fiction collection, A Few Wild Beasts To Be Dreaded.


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Agamemnon - The Play by Aeschylus

Agamemnon - The Play by Aeschylus
by Gary Beck

Classics & Theatre
Clytemnestra and Aegisthus ruled Argos while Agamemnon was at Troy, where the war went on for ten years. The Greeks captured and looted the city, divided the treasure and sailed for home. Agamemnon got Cassandra who foretold his death, but no one believed her. Clytemnestra murdered Agamemnon with an axe and she and Aegisthus ruled Argos until Orestes returned from exile and murdered them.


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A Gough Compendium 2nd Edition

A Gough Compendium (2nd Edition)
by Jon N. Davies

Welsh, Local & Georgian History
In 1717 William Gough of Willsbury, Saint Briavels, Gloucestershire married Catherine Portrey, daughter of Christopher Portrey of Ynyscedwyn, Ystradgynlais, Breconshire. In December 1752 the last of the male Portreys, Christopher junior, died. William and Catherine's son, Richard, inherited Ynyscedwyn, taking the name Richard Gough Aubrey as part of the family compact. For the next 190 years, the Gough family would be squires of Ynyscedwyn, across four generations. This collection covers the first four Gough squires, up to 1835.

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A Robot, A Ghost, and An Alien Walk Into A Bar

A Robot, A Ghost, and An Alien Walk Into A Bar
by Mark Thomas

Short Story Collection
In this collection, robots are art collectors, blues musicians and philosophical cats. Aliens are bumbling interlopers who get eviscerated by urban coyotes, or bogged down in human administrivia. The Ghost-characters should be powerful but they are pathologically self-conscious, and constrained in their movements by fifth-century Pelagianism. In each story, a robot, ghost, alien (or a human who might as well be a robot, ghost or alien) struggle to find happiness with only modest success.

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Back On Track

Back On Track
by John Kennedy

Biography
Back On Track is a story about an Irish Catholic family arriving in Youngstown Ohio from County Tipperary in 1845 who met both Triumph and Tragedy. Resuscitation arrived five decades later when third generation great grandson John Kennedy embarked upon self employment founding a Railroad Construction Co in the state Capitol in nearby Pennsylvania.



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Better Men by L.G. Parker

Better Men
by L. G. Parker

Science Fiction
It is the best of times. The Imperium Romanum Sacrum spans the galaxy. The wealth of a thousand worlds fills its coffers daily. It is the worst of times. The enemies of the Imperium are legion - aliens, heretics, mutants and worse. The burdens of Empire are staggering. The price of relative peace and safety is perpetual war. The most insidious threat to the Empire of Man however is apathy, complacency, greed, indifference - the eternal vices of mankind that despite millions of years of evolution remain unchanged. For every man of faith there are far more who doubt. For every man who serves the Empire far more serve only themselves. Darkness is kept at bay only through the selfless service and frequent sacrifice of that rare breed of warriors who still believe in Duty, Honor, Empire. These are the stories of better men.

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Broth Again For Dinner

Broth Again For Dinner
by Florence Coombe

Biography & Local History (Wales)
Set in the aftermath of the First World War, Broth Again For Dinner introduces us to a young girl, Florence, from Whitland, Carmarthenshire, whose resilience and humour carried her through a life of hardship and one where comfort was scarce. Florence's words, which vividly describe her life up to the age of 16, have now tumbled into life, leaving the reader moved and warmed by the picture which she has so vividly painted.

A significant contribution to the social narrative of rural South Wales in the 1920s and 1930s, Broth Again For Dinner offers us a poignant insight into the life of a girl on the brink of womanhood and the changes that lie ahead.


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Childhood Home: 2 Juniper

Childhood Home
2 Juniper - A One-Place Study

Local History & One-Place Study
2 Juniper was built in 1976 as part of the expansion of a new estate. A detached house, it sat in a good plot of land, with garden almost on 4 sides of it. Over the years, this allowed for substantial Changes occurred to the garden walls, trees, pond, and patio, as well as to garden use. Inside the house, other changes included sliding doors, and a new loft entrance. In 1995, the original buyers of the property sold up upon retirement and moved, one of the last of the families who had bought these properties so to do.

This 3-book series, sees Books 1 and 2 published in January and February 2024, and Book 3 to be published later in the year.

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Crashed by Brad Bass

Crashed
by Brad Bass

Science Fiction
Crashed is a sci-fi adventure based in the future, about five space travelers on a mission to mine and retrieve fuels from distant locations. Their hibernation is interrupted when their ship malfunctions and they crash on a nearby planet. On the planet they explore the ancient dilapidated civilization, struggling to survive. What lurks in the darkness watching them? And what secrets did they bring with them?

Inside the ship it was silent. Flashing across a small viewing screen were the words: program initiated, emergency protocol, t-minus 5-4-3...



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Earworms

Earworms
by Jonathan Doering

Science Fiction & Dystopia
Philip Fry, an idealistic and clever music scholar, has recently finished at university. Desperate to find a career that will 'make a difference', he becomes involved with a group of shadowy government officials working on a sinister research project codenamed 'Earworms'.Fry leaves his young wife in Manchester in order to work on the project. He soon realises that all is not as it appears. The project which he believed would produce music and sounds to create happier social relations is actually a cover for a maverick government department trying to create the ultimate sonic weapon, where sound can be used to manipulate and control or even kill victims. Meanwhile, his wife is becoming increasingly worried about him. Fry is accused of spying, and his bosses then try to kill him. Their sonic weapon backfires on them, and they die in an explosion. Fry is investigated by MI5 who finally accept the truth of his claims, and he is allowed to return home. The story ends with Fry and his wife working together in the community.

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How To Write Alternate History

How To Write Alternate History
by Grey Wolf

Counterfactual Essays & Creative Writing Advice
How To Write Alternate History is a book looking at how to write within the genre. It is illustrated throughout with examples, designed to inspire and open the writer up to exploring similar ideas for their own stories.

Grey Wolf's articles on how to write alternate history include what to look out for, considerations to bear in mind, and ideas for progression. The articles cover a wide range of related subjects, such as creating small but noticeable changes in things like the brand names which are popular, the activities which are to be found at the local pub, or the names of sports teams.

Developing Points of Departure (Divergence) and realistic alternatives in areas such as music, sport and dynastic marriages are also covered.



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Never The Dawn

Never The Dawn
by Grey Wolf

Alternate History & Steampunk
Never The Dawn takes place in an alternate world where the Earth is divided up between several competing empires. Within one of these, Albion, strange events are beginning to manifest themselves, not least on the battlefront in West Africa.

The story begins in Timbuktu, capital of Albion's vice-royalty of West Africa, and centre of the ongoing war against the native Fulani. Only now it appears that they have gained the aid of much more formidable allies, allies that the Viceroy and his staff cannot begin to understand.



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Rhymes and Remembrance

Rhymes and Remembrance
by Gillian Mawson

History & Poetry
Throughout the course of the Second World War, around 3 million British people were evacuated. Gillian Mawson has interviewed 600 evacuees, including mothers and teachers who travelled with the children to take them to safety. During the war, some evacuees wrote poems which described their experiences of leaving home, the evacuation journey and what it was like to be 'chosen' by local families at journey's end. When the war ended, they described meeting their parents once again, whilst some described their sadness at leaving behind the 'foster families' they had come to love. Brought together for the very first time, these poems are emotional and moving and share an overlooked aspect of wartime evacuation.

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Shadows of the Future

Shadows of the Future
by Jay Wolfe

Alternate History
Shadows of The Future is an alternate history rollercoaster ride through a world where the Mongols conquered Germany, and history of the last several hundred years has taken a divergent course. Europe, 2010, and the Angevin Empire is swaying badly under repeated assault by the Lombard Empire. Added to its woes are a worsening political scene at home, exacerbated by military setbacks, and a growing extremism that seeks to impose a puritanical vision by way of a reaction to the crisis. General James Wolfe is a veteran of many a campaign, and now finds himself dealing with one of the greatest decisions of his life.

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Slender Threads

Slender Threads
by L. G. Parker

Counterfactual Essays
History is an intricately woven tapestry hanging in space and time. Remove one thread, replace it with another, and the entire picture changes. What if Winston Churchill had died at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898, or after being knocked down in the street in New York in 1931? Slender Threads looks in detail at subjects such as the Battle of Shiloh in the American Civil War, or the Leyte Gulf plans of the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War Two.



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Sophocles - Three Plays

Sophocles - Three Plays
Translated by Dr Carl Caravana & Gary Beck

Classical & Theatre
Dr. Carl Caravana, an excellent Greek scholar, worked with me in a process that functioned well for us. Dr. Caravana started with a literal translation of Electra. We examined the nature of the characters, the poetic elements of the text and we did another version. Once we were satisfied that we sufficiently maintained the integrity of the original I concentrated on finalizing the text for stage production. We followed the same process with Antigone, with a little more focus on the characters who were the victims of fate, the main theme of the play.
The Searching Satyrs, The Ichneutae, only existed as a fragmentary satyr play, with less than half surviving in bigger or smaller sections. We used the same work process as in the other plays, except I wrote all the missing lines, trying my best to keep them consistent with the original lines. Any mistakes are mine, not Dr. Caravana's.
- Gary Beck

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Stepping Out Into Showbusiness

Stepping Out Into Showbusiness
by Simone Lloyd-Davies

Biography
Simone - born Joan Grew - living and growing up in the thirties and early forties, in Southall, known as bomb alley, dreamed of becoming a showbusiness star during her nights in the air raid shelter in the garden. After joining the A.T.S. in the war, she became part of the concert party entertaining the troops, eventually joining the Windmill Theatre, rubbing shoulders with aspiring stars who became big names in showbusiness. A tempestuous marriage to an eccentric but charming man 24 years her senior saw her try to play the role of 'Lady of the Manor' at a large and haunted mansion in Westr Wales. Thrown out by her husband and disinherited, she remained undaunted,and her strong determination resulted in her re-entering the world of showbusiness, where she succeeded in acquiring several roles in film and television. Now 95 years of age, she tells her story - a fascinating tale of her life in a bygone era.

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Ten Naval Battles

Ten Naval Battles
by Grey Wolf

Alternate History
Ten Naval Battles tells the story of an alternate history from the mid 18th century to the mid 19th century through the eyes of a historian of that world writing about the ten most decisive naval battles of this period. Read about the Egyptians defeating the French, events in the North American colonies, and the formation of a federal Germany. Also includes the start of Ten Great Leaders with the Duc d'Andorra.


Presented as in a textbook from an alternate world, Ten Naval Battles narrates the ten battles of the title in sequence, and the reader can see how the world is being shaped and how it is evolving due to their repercussions.



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The Falklands: My Experience

The Falklands: My Experience
by J.R. Massey

History & Photography
The 5000-plus British Troops would only have seen snow, rain, gale force winds very little daylight and extreme cold.The Island is bleak in the winter but being lucky to return in a Spring and again in an Autumn I saw the island in a different light.I hope that those who fought in the war there in 82 and have not been lucky enough to return in peace time can enjoy my pictures.

The Falklands has changed and will never be the same as before 1982.The population has more than doubled and the way of life changed with it.The one thing that the Island will always have, is the memory that in 1982 the whole life of the Island was defended by so many worthy men and women and remains British.



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The Goldstones and the Way

The Goldstones and the Way
by Sue Woolley

Fantasy
During a terrific storm, the pilgrims are translated to the Commonweal of Veylindré. When the rest are murdered by pirates, Abigail, a girl from 17th century England, vows to make a new life for herself in this strange world, with her boyfriend, Jacob. Some Dagâran people befriend them, and Abigail and Jacob soon realise that Veylindré is quite different to the England they left behind. All Veylindréans worship the Six, and are able to do magic by accessing the mysterious Way through their Goldstones. But they have an enemy, the Prophet of the One, who rules in Talamdor.
The quest begins... during their journey to Ranusheim, while Abigail is open to learning, and grows into her new role as an initiate of Ranu, Jacob struggles with accepting the Six. The choices they make in response to the changes they experience will have huge consequences for both their lives.

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The Library

The Library
by Grey Wolf

Science Fiction & Alt Hist
Luke is an ordinary university student from a poor background, shown up in one of his papers by a fellow student. One day he witnesses someone come out of a room on the main stairway of the largest university building, seeing behind him a library. Eventually he manages to sneak in, thinking this some postgraduate secret, where he might be able to rewrite his paper with the sources he was looking for - or better. But as he begins to read the books within this library, he becomes more and more confused - wars he did not know about, kings that never existed. At dinner time, he leaves by the opposite door, thinking it nearer to the canteen. He begins to find himself in a world where people dress for dinner, pay in crowns, and where the car park outside, smaller than it should be, is full of vintage cars of makes he has never heard of. Wandering down the road, he comes upon a pub, The King Frederick II, and heads inside...

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The Mailed Fist

The Mailed Fist
by Grey Wolf

Alternate History & Science Fiction
An alien artefact appears, drifting across the surface of the Moon, destroying the Moonbases one by one, and heading inexorably towards the Earth. How do the people of the Earth react to an unknown situation?


Jay works within a publishing house, together with the large but inscrutable Mark. What impact does the artefact have on everyday life, on his work, his socialisation, and the love of his life, the fast and loose Sophie?


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The Shifting Sands

The Shifting Sands
by Grey Wolf

Alternate History
Featuring a cover by Robin Stacey, The Shifting Sands is a globe-covering alternate history novel set in the aftermath of a world war. How will Lord Wolfe navigate the varied twists and turns of fate? Once the darling of the old British emperor in his role as Governor of the vast South African dominions, he finds himself shunned by the new monarch in London, relying on his Spanish connections for attendance at the peace conference. Together with his daughter Carlotta, Wolfe must adapt to a new reality, one that takes him home to Britain where his wealth might buy him land and house, but can it ever work to restore his lost influence in the affairs of men?

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The Steel Heart by Grey Wolf

The Steel Heart
by Grey Wolf

Alternate History
In this sequel to 'The Shifting Sands' we start with Lord Wolfe's arrival in Korea to oversee the implementation of the Treaty of Tsingtao in this newly-independent kingdom. From there, he and Carlotta complete a circumnavigation of the world, to return to Harcourt Hall, in the Cotswolds. But their renewed domesticity is threatened by global events that the powers that be want Lord Wolfe's involvement in. Will he be able to indulge his new investments in automobile companies, or will the force of world politics drag him away again?

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The Wooden Box

The Wooden Box
by Michael J. Lowis

Short Stories
A collection of short stories of varying lengths and genre, totalling approximately 65,000 words. There is something here for all tastes including mystery, sci-fi, fantasy, crime, memoir, anecdote, romance, and factual discussion. This is the eleventh book by the author, whose publications include historical novels, non-fiction investigations, memoir, and short stories. He draws on his extensive experience of writing and studies to compile this varied selection of some of his best yarns.

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Time of The Darkness

Time of The Darkness
by Grey Wolf

Alternate History & Science Fiction
In an alternate history, decolonisation of the Americas follows a vastly different timeline, and the British royal family remains pre-eminent in world affairs. Competing with a Bonaparte Byzantium and a French Empire under the Murats, the Saxe-Coburg British fight on an equal footing for recognition and influence. Follow 1400 years of history, from an alternate 1900 to the galactic empire of 3300AD where humanity inadvertently reawakens a terror that the elder races believed long dead.

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To Deliver The Future

To Deliver The Future
by Grey Wolf

Alternate History & Science Fiction
With the Second World War having ended in a draw, a Nazi-American Cold War has set in, but now both sides believe they have the ultimate secret weapon, only it requires one of them to strike first! From the frozen fjords of Norway to the very banks of the Potomac, from the docks of New York City to Hitler's mountain fastness, the action sees Nazi Germany take the ultimate gamble.



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Touching Paradise

Touching Paradise
by Jon N Davies

One Place Study & Biography
This little book is intended to be an introduction to the villa and bungalow that my grandparents built in the mountains above Fuengirola in the 1960s, and where they lived until coming back to the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. Mar-y-Sierra was the main house, and was constructed in 1963, though as initial photographs will show it stood in a largely barren area of hillside. Over the next couple of years my grandparents would complete the landscaping until photographs will show that the setting has been transformed into one where the residence nestles within a plethora of trees.

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To Deliver The Future

Wreaths of Empire
by Grey Wolf

Alternate History & Naval Fiction
From the 1890s to the 2010s, we follow the story of the world, seen largely through the eyes of the British royal family, & the machinations of power within the country. Ship launches, royal reviews, & the constant development of warships set alongside this viewpoint. From ironclads to dreadnoughts, to super battleships mounting 21" guns, and through the development of aircraft carriers, cruisers and submarines we see how naval technology, & technical advances in general, drive foreign affairs. From mad kings to sad kings Wreaths of Empire paints a picture of a very different age of modernity.

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