City of Masks is a swashbuckling adventure in a setting reminiscent of Shakespeare’s Italy (complete with twins).
In the city-state of Bonvidaeo, by custom and law everyone must wear a mask and act in character with it, or face civil, social and religious penalties.
Gregorius Bass is sent to Bonvidaeo as the Envoy of Calaria, primarily to get him out from underfoot. Masked as the Innocent Man, and in the company of his radical young Bonvidaoan servant, Bass stumbles into mystery, intrigue, heresy and murder.
It’s speculative fiction (though it’s neither science fiction nor fantasy). It’s a mystery (with a serial killer) and an adventure (with a sword fight after a rooftop chase). There’s intrigue, some humour and a little romance. Beneath it all, though, is a serious reflective point about identity and social convention. Besides Shakespeare, the strongest influence is probably G.K. Chesterton, though there’s also a little Dumas.
It’s available in print from Lulu, CreateSpace and Amazon
You can download a sample containing the front matter and the first five pages of the novel or download the entire ebook for free (both in .pdf format). If you want other ebook formats they are available at Smashwords.
I’ve recorded the book, in my own voice, and serialized it here as a podcast. You can subscribe here, on iTunes or on podiobooks.com.
The beautiful cover illustration is by Donia.
Mike Reeves-McMillan lives in Auckland, New Zealand, the setting of his Auckland Allies contemporary urban fantasy series; and also in his head, where the weather is more reliable, and there are a lot more wizards. He also writes the Gryphon Clerks series (steampunk/magepunk), the Hand of the Trickster series (sword-and-sorcery heist capers), and short stories which have appeared in venues such as Compelling Science Fiction and Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores.
