Watchers: Culloden! [Paperback]

William Meikle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2004

Book III: Culloden!


The conclusion of the critically-acclaimed Watchers series!

A great victory has been won, but the war is far from over. The Boy-King now needs his bride…and his heir.

Only the young officers of the Watch can stop him. But they have their own battles to face and their own demons to fight. And those inner demons are not proving so easy to control as they are lured to the blood-soaked moors of Culloden for the final confrontation.

The dead are rising. A new darkness is fast approaching. Victory is close…but will the hands of Martin and Sean be too bloodied for them to grasp it?

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

I'm always impressed when anyone can add a new twist to the venerable vampire canon. Hugely enjoyable fun to read --Joe Gordon, The Alien Online

...superb story. Thoroughly enjoyable from the first word to the last. William Meikle has a wonderfully unique style --The Eternal Night Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror --This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

From the Author

I grew up with the sixties explosion of popular culture embracing the supernatural and the weird. Hammer horror movies got me young. And the one that hooked me was Dracula.

I first saw this in about 1970, on BBC2, on an old black and white TV which was about 10 inches square and made everybody look like short fat cubes. But even that didn't detract from the power of this film.

This Hammer horror version sticks fairly closely to Stoker's original novel, and as such is a purist's dream.

Lee plays the Count as no one before or since. His flat demonic stare sems to ooze pure evil. The count has become a cultural icon in the past forty years, and has even been parodied and made fun of (Count Duckula anybody?) but I challenge anybody to look Lee in the eye when he's on the hunt and not feel a frisson of cold terror.

Vampires have been humanised recently (and have even got a soul in Angel's case), but it shouldn't be forgotten that they are bloodsucking bas*ards - that's what they are, that's what they do. The high cheekbones, sex-appeal and good clothes sense are just nice-to-have after thoughts. And in Lee's case you can believe that the bloodsucking is the important part, judging by the relish he shows for the deed.

And just because Buffy can stake a dozen or so without breaking sweat, it shouldn't be forgotten that the vampire is traditionally a great evil force of destruction. Lee never lets you forget it.

Which brings me round to The Watchers trilogy, my retelling of the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion in Britain. Bonnie Prince Charlie, and all his highland army, are Vampires and are heading south to claim the British throne. The "Watchers" of the title are the guards of the old Roman wall built by Hadrian, now reinforced to keep the vamps out. It is constantly patrolled by officers of the Watch, two of whom become the main protagonists of the series. I got the idea on a walk along what is left of the wall, and by the time I'd had finished my walk and had a few beers the first part of the trilogy was fully formed in my head. Think "ZULU" or "Last of the Mohicans" with vamps and you'll get a feel of what I was trying to do.

I was dealing with a retelling of the Bonnie Prince Charlie story, where romantic myths have subsumed the harsh reality of a coup gone badly wrong. I needed to strip all the romance out of the Highlanders and build them up from the bottom. Making them a shambling army of vamps and mindless drones seemed an obvious place to start. The Watchers series is a swashbuckler, but there is little lace and finery. What I do have is blood and thunder, death and glory in big scale battles and small scale heartbreak. I love it.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: KHP Publisher (December 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974768081
• ISBN-13: 978-0974768083
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,983,235 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm Willie, a Scottish writer, now living in Canada, with ten novels published in the genre press and over 200 short story credits in thirteen countries, the author of the ongoing Midnight Eye series among others. My work has appeared in a number of professional anthologies.

My current best seller is THE INVASION, a sci-fi alien invasion tale with mass carnage, plucky survivors, and last minute rescues. It has been as high as #2 in the Kindle > science fiction charts. (and #4 in Kindle > horror ). Please check it out.

I've been asked many times why I write what I do. I choose to write mainly at the pulpy end of the market, populating my stories with monsters, myths, men who like a drink and a smoke, and more monsters. People who like this sort of thing like it.

I've also been criticised for it by people who don't get it. Willie Meikle is..."the author of the most cliched, derivative drivel imaginable...the critical acclaim he receives from his peers is virtually non-existent." is only one of the responses I've had.

Now, I don't write for the critical acclaim of my peers. I couldn't give a toss what other writers think of me. I'm writing for two reasons... myself and a readership. Posterity, if there is one, can decide on whether it's any good or not. Besides, the harder I work at it making my writing accessible, the more readers I get, so I'm doing something right.

But that's still not why I do it. My pat answer has always been the same. "I like monsters."

But it goes deeper than that.

I write to escape.

I grew up on a West of Scotland council estate in a town where you were either unemployed or working in the steelworks, and sometimes both. Many of the townspeople led hard, miserable lifes of quiet, and sometimes not so quiet desperation. I was relatively lucky in that both my parents worked, but I spent a lot of time alone or at my grandparent's house.

My Granddad was housebound, and a voracious reader. I got the habit from him, and through him I discovered the Pan Books of Horror and Lovecraft, but I also discovered westerns, science fiction, war novels and the likes of Mickey Spillane, Ed McBain, Alistair MacLean, Dennis Wheatley, Nigel Tranter, Arthur C Clarke and Isaac Asimov. When you mix all that together with DC Comics, Tarzan, Gerry Anderson and Dr Who then, later on, Hammer and Universal movies on the BBC, you can see how the pulp became embedded in my psyche.

When I was at school these books and my guitar were all that kept me sane in a town that was going downhill fast. The steelworks shut and employment got worse. I -could- have started writing about that, but why bother? All I had to do was walk outside and I'd get it slapped in my face. That horror was all too real.

So I took up my pen and wrote. At first it was song lyrics, designed (mostly unsuccessfully) to get me closer to girls.

I tried my hand at a few short stories but had no confidence in them and hid them away. And that was that for many years.

I didn't get the urge again until I was past thirty and trapped in a very boring job. My home town had continued to stagnate and, unless I wanted to spend my whole life drinking (something I was actively considering at the time), returning there wasn't an option.

As I said before, I write to escape.

My brain needed something, and writing gave it what was required. That point, back nearly twenty years ago, was like switching on an engine, one that has been running steadily ever since.

And most of the time, the things that engine chooses to give me to write are very pulpy.

I think you have to have grown up with pulp to -get- it. A lot of writers have been told that pulp=bad plotting and that you have to have deep psychological insight in your work for it to be valid. They've also been told that pulp=bad writing, and they believe it. Whereas I remember the joy I got from early Moorcock, from Mickey Spillane and further back, A E Merritt and H Rider Haggard. I'd love to have a chance to write a Tarzan, John Carter, Allan Quartermain, Mike Hammer or Conan novel, whereas a lot of writers I know would sniff and turn their noses up at the very thought of it.

I write to escape.

I haven't managed it yet, but I'm working on it

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Journey's End, December 6, 2004

By 

J. C. Swanson (Hertfordshire, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Watchers: Culloden! (Paperback)

Come and step back into the tortured world of Martin, Thane of Milecastle as he battles alongside his faithful companions and towns people to save lives and homes against the Black Horde and that of Sean Grant as he and Duncan Campbell battle in their immutable quest to save the soul of Mary Campbell from becoming the eternal property of the Boy King.

This is it, the one we've been waiting for - the third instalment of Meikle's Watchers series and it's got it all. The superb characters we've come to know and love since the opening lines of The Coming of the King, when Black Horde first rises against Milecastle, through The Battle for the Throne, that left us with the haunting image of Edinburgh Castle in flames, are back with a vengeance in this latest and final chapter that brings an all new meaning to the legendary name of Culloden.

As before, fresh new characters (such as the ever resourceful young Master Hillman) unite with the usual beloved cast of favourites (Fitz, Megan, and Gord Rollo) to conspire with Meikle to conjure up this thrilling conclusion to his unorthodox historical adventure. And you know, in many ways it's a shame history didn't happen this way.

Has Edinburgh truly fallen? Will Stirling continue to stand? Can Mary Campbell possibly still breathe? Is this the end of men and only men? Will the Boy King triumph?

Why not go and join them all in the Great Hall and find out?

(Oh, and beware the Douglas...)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent - Meikle doesn't disappoint., December 6, 2004

By 

Gary Nicklin (Kent, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Watchers: Culloden! (Paperback)

This, the last in the Watchers trilogy from William Meikle, follows Sean and Martin as they continue their quest to defeat the Blood King. Martin leads the army as they desperately hold off the Others while waiting for reinforcements to arrive, while Sean continues to search for Mary Campbell, the girl impregnated by the Blood King in the first novel.
Meikle handles the action effortlessly as the action switches backwards and forward between the two, mixing history and myth as the story winds its way towards its bloody conclusion.

I waited for, what seemed, ages to read this final part of the story and I wasn't disappointed either with the story or the writing. With each book in this series, Meikle has developed and rounded his characters. Martin, Sean and the rest of the principal players are well written and fully developed characters that I, as a reader, really cared about.

I thoroughly recommend the whole Watchers Trilogy and look forward to reading more from Mr Meikle in the future.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The final confrontation, January 24, 2005

By 

CreepyT "CreepyTendencies" (Colorado, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Watchers: Culloden! (Paperback)

The long awaited end to the trilogy is finally here, and with it the final battle between the Others and their Black Horde, and men-and-only-men.

Martin, the young Thane of Milecastle is still coming to terms with his "gift" from the grey beast and the woodsman, while Sean is still battling with his own transformation as well. Both have unending perseverance. Both want to reclaim their homeland from the greedy clutches of the Boy-King. Sean is still following his quest to save Mary Campbell from the grasp of the Boy-King, while Martin pushes onward and Northward, via many a battle, towards the culmination of all their trials and tribulations, the epic battle at Culloden. Can the Boy-King and his vast army be defeated? Will Mary Campbell give birth to the abomination growing inside her thus continuing the heinous bloodline?

Meikle once again seamlessly blends history and fantasy, and this makes for a rather enticing read. His characters are vibrant and extremely well-rounded, including and encompassing such beings as mind-slaves, blood-drinkers, lycanthropes, and mystical forest-dwelling woodsmen. In addition, the plot is never dull. Various twists and turns throughout the trilogy assure that the reader is never bored, and is always kept on their toes.

My only complaint with this particular installation is that there are fewer plot twists than are present in the previous two books. That is not to say, by any means, that this is a boring read, it is just slightly more predictable than the previous two novels. Martin and Sean spend much of their time battling and traveling, and battling and travelling, with little going on in between. However, one cannot say that this tale is lacking in action.

If you loved the previous two books, then this is without question a must. If you are not yet familiar with Meikle and his Watchers trilogy, then I highly recommend picking up The Coming of the King and the Battle for the Throne, and immersing yourself in this unforgettable dark historic fantasy trilogy. This is a writer who demands to be heard, and I look forward to future publications.