London Tales
is a collection of sixteen tales that offer dramatic pinpricks in the rich
tapestry of London’s timeline, a city with two thousand years of history. They
are glimpses of imagined lives at key moments, starting with a prologue in
verse from the point of view of a native Briton tribeswoman absorbing the shock
of Roman invasion. Then there’s a tale set in Roman Londinium in 60 CE, from
the perspective of terrified legionaries and townsfolk facing the vengeful
Iceni queen, Boudica, whose army burnt the fledgling city to the ground.
From Roman Londinium there’s a jump to
Saxon Lundenwic in the late eighth century, then onward to the medieval city in
1381 at the time of the Peasant’s Revolt. Then a jump to the second significant
conflagration, the Great Fire of London, in 1666. From there the reader is
transported to 1814 and the last ice fair on the frozen River Thames in the
year before the battle of Waterloo, then onto an unnerving tale of copycat
killings based on the 1888 Jack the Ripper murders. This is followed by a
fraught romance set during the Blitz in 1941; then the swinging Sixties and
wide-flared seventies are remembered in the life story of fictional policeman,
Brian Smith. There’s a series of contemporary stories that reference recent
history and current affairs, including the London terrorist bombings of 2005; a
literary pub crawl and a daring prison break, building to the imagined death
throes of London in a dystopian vision.
These stories are inspired by the author’s
love of history, personal experiences and reflections on his time living and
working in London in the 1980’s and 90’s. Adaptability, resilience, conformity
and resolve are recurring themes in these stories.
For ten years the author was one of
thousands of commuters who’d pour in daily from outlying suburbs to feed the
insatiable economic appetite of the city. London’s a busy and at times
unfriendly place, driven by the productivity of its inhabitants and set against
an incredible landscape of history, art, architectural and cultural development.
It both inspires and tires in equal measure.
London Tales
is a companion volume to Thames Valley Tales.
Buy Link:
Universal Buy Link: http://mybook.to/LondonTales
This title is available to read on
#KindleUnlimited.
Tim Walker is an independent
author living near Windsor in the UK.
Born in Hong Kong in the
Sixties, Tim grew up in Liverpool where he began his working life as a trainee
reporter on a local newspaper. He went on to attain an honours degree in
Communication Studies at the University of Glamorgan in South Wales before moving
to London where he worked in the newspaper publishing industry for ten years.
In the mid-90s he opted to
spend a few years doing voluntary work in Zambia through VSO, running an
educational book publishing development programme. After this, he set up his
own marketing and publishing company in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital. He returned
to the UK in 2009.
His creative writing journey
began in earnest in 2014, as a therapeutic activity whilst recovering from
cancer treatment. Thames Valley Tales and London Tales were collections
of short stories written between 2014 and 2026. They are both audiobooks
available on Amazon Audible, narrated and produced by actor/author, Richard
James.
In addition to short stories,
he researched and wrote a five-book history-meets-legend fiction series, A
Light in the Dark Ages. This series connects the end of Roman Britain to the
story of a possible historical King Arthur based on scant research material.
There’s also a dystopian novel, Devil Gate Dawn, a book of poems and
flash fiction, Perverse, and a dual timeline historical novel set at
Hadrian’s Wall, Guardians at the Wall. In 2025 he published a novella, The
Trials of Arthur Whitty, that took inspiration from a group he runs that
supports old men in Windsor. Somewhere along the way, he and his daughter,
Cathy, wrote a three-book children’s series, The Adventures of Charly Holmes.
Author Links:
Website: www.timwalker1666.wixsite.com/website
Twitter / X: www.twitter.com/timwalker1666
Facebook: https://facebook.com/TimWalkerWrites
Instagram: https://instagram.com/timwalker1666
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/timwalker1666.bsky.social
Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/timwalker1666
Book Bub: can’t find it! I know I set one
up…
Threads: https://www.threads.com/@timwalker1666
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/timwalker804
Amazon Author Page: http://author.to/TimWalkerWrites
Goodreads: https://goodreads.com/author/show/678710.Tim_Walker
If you enjoy discovering new stories,
you may also like The AnaRose Chronicles—a trilogy of award‑winning
adventure novellas. https://books2read.com/u/4jzKAY
