They are coming Sixteen-year-old Gilbert Chesterton is orphaned and friendless, stuck working a menial job in grimy turn-of-the-century London. Then one night strange lights fill the sky, and a hail of giant meteors crashes into a field outside the city. The next day Gilbert is amazed to find himself hired by a newspaper and rushed out to investigate the scene. Is it a harmless natural phenomenon, or the first wave of a Martian invasion? Gilbert soon learns he s not the only one asking that question, and he's joined by three strangers with their own interest in the fantastic events: Herb Wells, journalist for a rival paper. Affable, streetwise, and selfconfident, Herb s only too happy to teach young Gilbert the ways of the world. But when it comes to getting the story (and the fame) he warns it s every man for himself. An enigmatic bearded man known only as the Doctor. He s suave, cultured, and friendly maybe too friendly. And he knows things about the cosmic visitors. . .things no ordinary man should know. How much he s hiding is anybody s guess. Father Brown, a short, mild, middle-aged priest with an extraordinary talent for solving mysteries. Gilbert doesn t know much about Christ or the Church, but Father Brown will teach him lessons of faith, love, and courage. The companions fly frantically from danger to danger, battling street thugs from London s underworld and mechanical creatures from another world. As Gilbert is drawn deeper into the threat of the mysterious tripods, he unveils a sinister conspiracy that may hold the key not only to the fate of mankind, but to the accident that took his parents life. And so with only his friends, his wits, and a tattered holy card to help him, Gilbert must race to save the world all the while struggling to reconcile his troubling past with his budding faith in God. The Tripods Attack! is the first volume of the Young Chesterton Chronicles, a delightfully inventive fiction series for teens to adults that re-imagines the famous Catholic author as a young man living in an alternative Edwardian age of steam-driven wonders.
John McNichol was born in Toronto, Canada at the dawn of the swinging 70s...which likely explains why he is such a fan of the Big 80s. He lived the first eighteen years of his life in Toronto, leaving to attend college at Franciscan University in Ohio. There he met his American wife, and has remained a resident of the United States since his graduation and wedding in 1992.
John now lives in Vancouver, Washington, where he and his wife Jeanna live with their seven children and The Dumbest Dog In The State Of Washington. John is a Middle School teacher by trade, and continues to pursue excellence in his vocation while writing steampunk-themed science fiction about his favorite authors and literary characters.
John's first book, "The Tripods Attack," was published by Sophia Press in March 2008. Part of a trilogy titled "The Young Chesterton Chronicles," the second volume, "The Emperor of North America," is now available from Bezalel Books. He is currently at work on the final volume, "Where the Red Sands Fly."
John loves loaded pizzas, meaty lasagnas, killing 3-5 hours at a stretch at his local Barnes & Noble on the weekend and seeing fan art based on his works. He hates broccoli. Hates it. Still.
