Vellum and Ink: The Book of All Hours

VELLUM: The Book of All Hours 1

It's 2017 and the end days are coming, beings that were once human gathering to fight in one last great war for control of the Vellum - the vast realm of eternity on which our world is just a scratch. But to a draft-dodging Irish angel and a trailer-trash tomboy called Phreedom, it's about to become brutally clear that there's no great divine or diabolic plan at play here, just a vicious battle between the hawks of Heaven and Hell, with humanity stuck in the middle, and where the easy rhetoric of Good and Evil, Order versus Chaos just doesn't apply. Here there are no heroes, no darlings of destiny struggling to save the day, and there are no villains, no dark lords of evil out to destroy the world. Or at least if there are, it's not quite clear which is which. Here, the most ancient gods and the most modern humans are equally fate's fools, victims of their own hubris, struggling to save their own skins, their own souls, but sometimes...just sometimes...sacrificing everything in the name of humanity.

 INK: The Book of All Hours 2

Once, in the depths of prehistory, they were human. But in a moment of brutal transfiguration, they became unkin, beings who possessed the power to alter reality by accessing the Vellum: a realm of eternity containing every possibility, every paradox, every heaven . . . and every hell. The Vellum became a battleground where forces of order and chaos fought across time and space. The ultimate weapon in that bloody war spanning through history and myth, dreams and memory, was The Book of All Hours, a legendary tome within which the blueprint for all reality is inscribed, a volume long lost amid the infinite folds of the Vellum.

Until, in 2017, it was found by Reynard Carter, a young man with the blood of unkin in his veins.

Until Phreedom Messenger and her brother, Thomas, were swept up in an archetypal dance of death and rebirth.

Until a hermit named Seamus Finnan found the courage to re-forge his broken soul, and a self-proclaimed angel called Metatron unleashed a plague of AI bitmites.

Now, in the aftermath of the apocalypse, several survivors search desperately for the remnants of themselves scattered across the Vellum like torn pages, determined to use the blood of the unkin to rewrite The Book of All Hours, and to forge a new destiny for themselves and all humanity. Reality will never be the same.

What the Reviews Say

"It's one of the most assured first novels of the decade, and it's a novel many writers beginning their tenth novel would kill to have written"
-- Vanderworld

*

If you are willing to do a little grad school homework, “Vellum” is a staggeringly rich story that heralds great promise for Duncan’s literary future... a must-read for its expansive recasting of modern life into transcendent legend.
-- Washington Blade

*

It's the words of the characters, their strength against perils, their loathing of the war of the angels, that will occasionally stop the reader in his tracks. Witness, for instance, Finnan's bitter, profane (not just linguistically) monologue on the gods of old; it's a piece of work I had to share with friends instants after reading it. Very impressive, very moving book.

-- San Diego Union-Tribune

*

If you like your novels to proceed in a linear fashion - something happens, which leads to another situation and so on - this heavy tome is not for you. On the other hand, if you're looking for convoluted plots and frequent time, place and narrator shifts; if your definition of a good read is an enigma within an enigma wrapped in a conundrum, then Hal Duncan's first novel should be just your cup of tea......Unlike many novels with planned sequels, Vellum has a satisfying conclusion. Duncan's talent and research abilities are immense, and reading his first book is a challenge, but finishing it is an accomplishment.

-- Rocky Mountain News

*

Vellum: The Book of All Hours, at its core is a wonderfully complex book layered in history, mythology, and an awareness of contemporary social ills. Layered, but not hidden; which allows Duncan’s non-didactic approach to the novel’s political undercurrents to flow freely and naturally... Readers looking for a quick, mindless read or something in the vein of a dumbed-down, Da Vinci Codeish literary frolic should leave this book on the shelf. Juxtaposed with Brown’s, Da Vinci Code, Vellum will feel like taking a graduate level course – without satisfying any of its pre-requisites. In short, you simply cannot skim this one and not come away with something that resembles Milton’s, Paradise Lost set to underground Irish hip-hop.

-- New York Literary Society

*

"Overwhelming in its complexity, sumptuous in its recitation, this is a truly monumental work."

-- The Good Book Guide

*

"An uncanny ability to present a connection between religion, mythology, and philosophy, Duncan takes us on an epic journey through time and space with characters that any reader will truly care for…and a future that just might exist."

-- Front Street Reviews

*

"Readers who enjoy the likes of Jeff VanderMeer, Theodore Sturgeon and Neil Gaiman will appreciate the burning energy and imaginative prose of Vellum and find themselves already anticipating Duncan's next novel."

-- Gavin Grant, Bookpage

*

"The world of Vellum is a world composed of other worlds, and every action taken by every character evokes another self in another place and time. As glimpses of all of these different worlds, places, and people begin to echo each other in the reader's mind, the effect is symphonic and exhilarating."

-- Matt Cheney, Locus Magazine (Best of 2005)

*

"While favorable comparison have been made to other works and writers in the genre earlier in this review, Duncan manages to take the hints of those pieces and storytellers to craft a truly original work, wholly his own. While the War in Heaven is perhaps the oldest conflict of recorded human story, Duncan presents something here, which is deeper and more resonant than much of what has come before. "

-- Rob Bedford, SFFWorld

*

"... a mind-blowing read that's genuinely like nothing you've ever read before... expanded fantasy's limits like nothing published in years."

-- SFX

*

"...go ahead and buckle up, because you are in for one helluva ride."
-- Sci-Fi Horizons
*

"... a novel of incredible ambition, a head-on collision between Borges and, say, Neil Gaiman, with a breathtaking metaphysical conceit..."

-- The Glasgow Herald

*

"Not only pure literary pleasure, Vellum is opinionated and resonates strongly with today's world events... It's a thrill ride for the imagination and never fails to challenge the reader."

-- Cape Times

*
"A confident debut... a compelling alternative look at the world and its history."

-- Dreamwatch

*
"Hal Duncan's extraordinary debut... stands as one of the most important releases of the year."
-- SFRevu

*
"Vellum is the most audaciously ambitious book that I have read in a long time."
-- Emerald City

*
"Thus far, one of the best novels I have read this year..."
-- Fantasy Book Spot

*
"It’s clever, it’s beautifully written, it’s utterly absorbing and it will make you think."
-- Forbidden Planet International

*
"... it's not often that someone arrives on the scene with such a massive and assured novel."
-- Waterstones Online

*
"Vellum is an extraordinary feat that combines a rush of ideas with a style that produces gems of language and scene on every other page..."
-- Outland (Ottakar's)

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