The Albino's Dancer (novel)

April 1938, and a shadowy figure attends an impromptu burial in Shoreditch, London. His name is Honoré Lechasseur. After a chance encounter with the mysterious Catherine Howkins, he's had advance warning that his friend Emily Blandish is going to die. But is forewarned necessarily forearmed? And just how far is he willing to go to save Emily's life?

Because Honoré isn't the only person taking an interest in Emily Blandish — she's come to the attention of the Albino, one of the new breed of gangsters surfacing in post-rationing London. And the only life he cares about is his own.

Part mystery, part detective story, part dark fantasy, part science fiction ... original adventures in time and space.

Plot[[edit] | [edit source]]

In June of 1951, Schreck introduces a "foreign" woman named Kate to "service" in the Albino's club. During this introduction, Schrek reveals a massive cybernetically augmented lackey named Leiter. The sight of Leiter shocks and saddens Kate.

In November of 1951, Honoré is eating breakfast when a mysterious woman named Catherine Howkins walks up to him, Catherine tells him that he saved her life a few months earlier and that she watched Emily die in the same event (a building destroyed by Catherine's employer, the Albino). Before Honoré can learn anything else, Catherine leaves - fearing that her employer might find them. Wishing to discover if Catherine's story is true, Honoré visits the "human catalogue of the British Library", one Mr. Li Po - a Chinese man with a Cockney accent whose lower body is merged with a mysterious machine. From the depths of this machine, Mr. Li pulls data on the location and discovers a report of an explosion on February 23rd which was supposedly committed by the Albino. After reading this information, Honoré briefly sees Emily and the Albino flitting through time. After the sighting of Emily and the Albino, Honoré visits Emily at her apartment. He tells her about Catherine's story and wishes to use his and Emily's powers to undo the events and stop Emily's death. Emily is able to convince Honoré not to do this. After this discussion, Honoré has a vision of Emily running for her life.

Leiter brings Catherine into an audience with Schreck and the Albino. She discovers that they found Honoré and Emily trespassing into the club and tries to lie about not knowing them. The two trespassers claim that they are journalists trying to find the whereabouts of a witness to the explosion named Knight. The Albino has Leiter throw Catherine and Honoré out of the room.

After being thrown out of the Albino's office, Honoré escapes Leiter's grasp and runs onto the stage of the club. Before Leiter can catch up with him, a patron of the club offers one hundred pounds to the first girl that can kiss Honoré. Honoré escapes Leiter in the chaos and catches up with Catherine. She reveals that she intends on travelling back in time to the bunker using the damaged belt that the Albino keeps hidden. She also reveals that Leiter was formerly her lover. Honoré rushes to the Albino's office and arrives just in time to watch the Albino taking Emily away. Schrek sics his goons on Honoré once they are alone in the room. While Honoré fights with Schrek's goons, Catherine finds the broken belt and begins to repair it. While doing so, she discovers that a few vital components are missing. Soon, Leiter enters into the room and threatens to kill Catherine if she does not drop the belt. Catherine is forced to use a psi-gun that was also hidden in the room to kill Leiter. While examining Leiter's body, she finds a valve attached to it that she steals and uses to finish repairing the belt.

Having repaired the belt, Catherine returns to Honoré and finds him beating up Schreck's goons. Though Schreck pulls a gun on him, Honoré is able to beat the lawyer and ties him up with his goons. Catherine and Honoré then begin plotting their trip to the past. According to Catherine, the belts cannot travel to a point where another version of themself is active. Though Catherine claims that Leiter turned off his belt immediately after arriving, Catherine is unsure if he did during his final trip. Before travelling to the time of this trip, Catherine and Honoré flit backwards a few minutes in time to when their own past selves were captured by Leiter. They help their own past selves to escape then catch up with the past Honoré just in time for "present" Honoré to yell out the bet that saves his past self from the clutches of Leiter. Before leaving, Catherine promises her past self that she will be saved.

Once alone with Emily, the Albino demands that the young woman use her "services" for him. At first, Emily thinks that the Albino intends on forcing her into prostitution but he soon reveals that he wants to use her time channeling abilities to return to the past. To let Emily travel backwards in time, the Albino equips her with a special belt (which she dubs "Little Honoré") that mimics the time sensitive ability of Honoré. The Albino reveals that the belt was originally part of a set but that the "Little Emily" belt was destroyed. He intends on returning back in time with Emily to retrieve the belt. After this explanation, the real Honoré breaks into the room but the Albino forces Emily to jump before Honoré can do anything. While jumping through time, Emily and the Albino briefly flit into the British Library before travelling back through time. After this brief detour, Emily and the Albino arrive within the Albino's secret bunker in February of 1951. They soon notice the Albino native to this time period meeting with Leiter and Catherine and watch as Leiter sells his own companion and former lover to Burgess (the past Albino) before interrupting the sale to introduce themselves. Though Burgess refuses to believe that the Albino is a version of himself from his own future, the Albino pulls a concealed pistol from Burgess' pocket. This angers Leiter (who demanded that Burgess bring no weapons) and in the ensuing chaos, Kate escapes. The Albino sends his own past self chasing after her.

Honoré and Catherine arrive within the bunker fourteen minutes before it is destroyed. Shortly after arriving, Honoré gives Catherine the Little Emily belt and tells Honoré to find Emily (along with her own past self and Leiter) while she stays and waits for him. While Honoré splits from Catherine, Leiter and the Albino begin fighting. The Albino pulls a gun on the time traveller and (with Emily speaking for him) demands that he hands over one of his belts. Though Leiter pretends to comply, he dives at the Albino and grabs him by the throat. The Albino is able to shoot Leiter in the side before Leiter throws him so hard against a nearby wall that the "Little Honoré" belt around his waist is completely destroyed.

While walking through the bunker, Honoré finds Leiter's dead body. He takes the belt from around Leiter's waist before having a knife pulled on him by Burgess. Honoré tries to claim that he is an insurance assessor but this fails. Honoré then reveals that the bunker will explode in ten minutes. Burgess begins to agree but is pushed off balance by Kate - right into the Little Emily belt that Honoré is wearing. As Emily runs through the basement with the Albino, she follows the trail of blood presumably left behind by Leiter. She soon finds the body of Catherine's lover. They are found by Catherine. She is nearly shot by the Albino but is saved by Emily. While examining Leiter's body, Catherine finds that his belt is missing. The Albino begins to silently laugh after realizing that they are all trapped in the basement and are soon to die. After realizing that there is no way to save her former lover, Catherine lashes out at Emily when she tries to tell her how to get out of the bunker. The two talk about Leiter before the despondent Catherine tells Emily to run before she overloads her belt. While overloading the belt, Catherine thinks about her dying wish - for her family to not know what happened for her. While running from the overloading belt, Emily catches up with the Albino due to him accidentally breaking his collarbone while trying to run. Emily admonishes the Albino before revealing another belt hidden within her coat. Using it, she escapes the bunker with the Albino.

Little Emily sends Honoré, Kate, and Burgess forwards by around ten minutes and then stops working. Burgess reveals that the belt needs to be reset and that they have been "bounced" by the presence of another belt. While Honoré tries to reset the belt, Kate hears something within the bunker. Honoré realizes it is the cause of the explosion right before the three are caught in the explosion. As Burgess' body burns, the three fall through time again. Having survived the explosion, Honoré and his new "companions" are found outside of the ruins of the bunker by police. Honoré is attended to by a navvie while Burgess (who is now effectively the Albino) is attended to by medics. Once the navvie leaves, Honoré tells one of the cops that the explosion was "nothing more than an insurance job" and gives his name as "Night" (which the cop presumably mishears as Knight) then watches with Kate as the medics bring out an immensely charred body. Kate gives Honoré her version of the Little Emily belt - which Honoré uses to travel backwards in time. Honoré travels back to shortly before Leiter's death and leaves behind a wallet as a sign to his past self. He then travels forwards and presents Emily with a "Little Honoré" belt before flitting through time once again.

As her immensely-charred body is pulled from the wreckage, Catherine sees Schreck standing over the body of the Albino. While Schreck is looking over his boss, Emily and the Albino arrive and talk with Schreck. Before Catherine can figure out what they are talking about, she dies due to her immense injuries.

Shortly after arriving outside of the bunker, Emily leaves the Albino behind while she talks to Schreck. She presents him with "her" Little Honoré belt and gives him the name "the Albino". Schreck tries to pull a gun on her but is beaten by Honoré (who has just arrived after giving Emily the Little Honoré belt she gave Schreck). The two time travellers then return to "their" Albino and tell him that they will use their powers to send him back through time - either back to November or "some time after the last ice age". Presumably after dropping the Albino off in either of these time zones, Emily and Honoré flash back to 1938 and bury the Little Emily belt near where the bunker is being built.

Characters[[edit] | [edit source]]

Worldbuilding[[edit] | [edit source]]

to be added

Notes[[edit] | [edit source]]

Audiobook cover.

The story was released as an audiobook read by Terry Molloy.
Uniquely, the story is written with a non-linear style allowing readers to view it in any order. Included in the back of the book is a guide allowing readers to find the order of the various scenes by character.

Continuity[[edit] | [edit source]]

Emily recalls being found in the fog. (PROSE: The Cabinet of Light)
Charles Dickens also thought the Ninth Doctor was a "navvie" due to his choice of clothes. (TV: The Unquiet Dead)
Honore compares his current situation to the other time he dealt with Emily's death and their trip to another version of 1985. (PROSE: The Winning Side)
While meeting with Honoré, Li Po reads from Erik Clevedon's The Peculiar. This work previously appeared in PROSE: Peculiar Lives.
Catherine saved Leiter from the clutches of The Sodality. The symbol of the mysterious cult is seen on the Little Honoré and Emily belts.

External links[[edit] | [edit source]]

Official The Albino's Dancer page at Telos Publishing
Official The Albino's Dancer audiobook page at Fantom Publishing
The Albino's Dancer at the Doctor Who Reference Guide