Age of Voodoo

Praise for the
Pantheon
series:

“Mr. Lovegrove is one of the best writers out there... Highly, highly recommended.”

–
The Fantasy Book Critic
on
The Age of Ra

“Lovegrove’s bluntness about the gods’ Jerry Springer-like repugnance refreshingly reflects the myths as they must appear to modern eyes.”

–
Strange Horizons Magazine
on
The Age of Ra

“One of the UK SF scene’s most interesting, challenging and adventurous authors.”

– Saxon Bullock,
SFX
on
The Age of Ra

“A compulsive, breakneck read by a master of the craft, with stunning action sequences and acute character observations. This is the kind of complex, action-oriented SF Dan Brown would write if Dan Brown could write.”

– Eric Brown,
The Guardian
on
The Age of Zeus

“The action is just unbelievably good.”

–
The Fantasy Book Critic
on
The Age of Zeus

“The reader feels as if they are right there accomplishing something along with our heroes... You definitely feel like you got your money’s worth.”

–
Sci-Fi & Fantasy Review
on
The Age of Zeus

“I can totally see why
The Age of Odin
made it onto the New York Times Bestseller’s List; in terms of entertainment value alone it certainly deserves to be up there and I wouldn’t be surprised if you saw it on the big screen in a few years from now.”

–
Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review
on
The Age of Odin

“The action, along with some finely observed satire, keeps the pages turning until the end.”

–
Total Sci-Fi Online
on
The Age of Odin

“Lovegrove is vigorously carving out a godpunk subgenre – rebellious underdog humans battling an outmoded belief system. Guns help a bit, but the real weapon is free will.”

–
Pornokitsch
on
The Age of Odin

“5 out of 5. I finished it in less than three hours, yet have pondered the revelations found within for days afterwards and plan to reread it soon.”

–
Geek Syndicate
on
Age of Aztec

“Higher on action and violence than Lovegrove’s previous books, the novel still manages to portray convincingly the psychology of its two antiheroes, and paint a vivid picture of Aztec lore.”

–
The Guardian
on
Age of Aztec

“A thoroughly engrossing novel, with well-written chase sequences and some epic battle scenes. If you enjoy techno-thrillers with a twist, you’ll like this”

–
SciFi Bulletin
on
Age of Aztec

Also by James Lovegrove

N
OVELS

The Hope
•
Days

The Foreigners
•
Untied Kingdom

Worldstorm
•
Provender Gleed

Co-writing with Peter Crowther

Escardy Gap

T
HE
P
ANTHEON
S
ERIES

The Age Of Ra
•
The Age Of Zeus

The Age Of Odin
•
Age Of Aztec

Age Of Voodoo

T
HE
R
EDLAW
S
ERIES

Redlaw
•
Redlaw: Red Eye

N
OVELLAS

How The Other Half Lives

Gig
•
Age Of Anansi

C
OLLECTIONS OF
S
HORT
F
ICTION

Imagined Slights
•
Diversifications

F
OR
Y
OUNGER
R
EADERS

The Web: Computopia
•
Warsuit 1.0

The Black Phone

F
OR
R
ELUCTANT
R
EADERS

Wings
•
The House of Lazarus

Ant God
•
Cold Keep
•
Dead Brigade

Kill Swap
•
Free Runner

The 5 Lords Of Pain Series

The Lord Of The Mountain
•
The Lord Of The Void

The Lord Of Tears
•
The Lord Of The Typhoon

The Lord Of Fire

W
RITING AS
J
AY
A
MORY

The
Clouded World
series

The Fledging Of Az Gabrielson

Pirates Of The Relentless Desert

Darkening For A Fall
•
Empire Of Chaos

AGE OF VOODOO

JAMES LOVEGROVE

First published 2013 by Solaris

an imprint of Rebellion Publishing Ltd,

Riverside House, Osney Mead,

Oxford, OX2 0ES, UK

www.solarisbooks.com

ISBN: (epub) 978-1-84997-484-4

ISBN: (mobi) 978-1-84997-485-1

Copyright © James Lovegrove 2013

Cover Art by Marek Okon

The right of the author to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of he copyright owners.

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

PROLOGUE

“H
OLY.
F
UCKING.
C
HRIST
.”

The Secretary of Defence rubbed his eyes, as though he might be able to wipe them clean. On the monitor in front of him was an image, paused, blurred, a pale figure in motion like a phantom in mid-flight. He had just finished watching the harrowing footage for a fourth time.

His office in the outermost of the Pentagon’s concentric layers, the E-ring, had a view looking across the river and the greenery of West Potomac Park all the way to the Washington Monument, which lanced upward, a white dagger stabbing the heavens. It was a beautiful summer’s afternoon in DC. Out there, on the other side of the tempered blast-resistant glass, the world was sunlit, bright, normal. In here, not so much.

Grimly, the Secretary of Defence reached for the phone and pressed for an internal extension.

“Sir.”

“General.”

“Let me take a wild guess what this is about.” The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had a grizzled voice, as raspy as the bristles of his razored haircut. “Anger Reef.”

“Precisely.”

“What a goddamn fiasco. Those were good men. What happened to them... Well, I’m not sure what happened to them. But I think we can safely assume the worst.”

“Agreed,” said the Secretary of Defence.

“That damn Seidelmann creep. I’ll say it now, for the record. I never did trust him. What the hell was he up to anyway?”

“You read the same briefings I did.”

“Yes, but what I meant was, how did we let it get so far? So out of control? Why wasn’t there greater oversight?”

“We gave him free rein. We trusted him.”

“And look where it’s got us. Those poor bastards killed. The whole project FUBAR. Someone’s head should roll over this.”

“Now’s not the time for the blame game. We need to consider options. Airstrike?”