“Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty”
Thomas Jefferson, 1796.
Violet Thistle, the first book in the trilogy, is a dystopian adaptation by Coll MacLaren of Baroness Emmuska Orczy’s ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel’.
Three bolts of electricity … the next batch of Liberals ‘dance’, ‘writhe’, then fatally ‘clinch’ on the executioner’s ghastly Electroline. The right-wing Partisan mob roars as the Retributions are delivered. It is a scene from the French Revolution with slaughter on the grisly guillotine, yet this is the Apostolic States of America, in 2092.
Meggie Fergusson, a young actress from Beverly Hills, has a fearful problem. How can she save her brother without sacrificing her husband, the love of her life? She has the perception of an intelligent thespian and the exquisite majesty of a beautiful Nubian woman; will those qualities be enough? Her Scottish husband is a wealthy dandy and Atlantic schooner fleet owner, but he seems detached.
A secretive League of Hebridean buccaneers enrages the brutal regime of the Apostolic States by rescuing fugitive Liberals and sailing them across the Atlantic to safe Scottish havens. Will their leader be discovered and captured? How will Meggie solve her terrible dilemma?
“I love where Coll MacLaren has taken this classic!”
Violet Thistle
Violet Thistle
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants”
Thomas Jefferson, 1787.
Elusive Thistle, the second book in the trilogy, is a dystopian adaptation by Coll MacLaren of Baroness Emmuska Orczy’s ‘The Elusive Pimpernel’.
This second adventure in the Violet Thistle trilogy, set during 2093, is a tale of deviousness and daring. Torquil Fergusson, the Violet Thistle, our dandy hero with the secret identity, is drawn into a duel of blades with the revengeful and twisted right-wing agent of the Retributions, Hein Hansen. Meanwhile, the Electroline relentlessly zaps the life from persecuted Liberal Americans.
From the idyllic sanctuary of the Scottish Hebrides, Meggie, our hero’s beautiful African American wife, covertly follows the Violet Thistle to the treacherous Apostolic States of America, only to be seized at the border and imprisoned. Her life is bartered in a deal which would see the Violet Thistle disgraced, if not killed.
Can the Violet Thistle rescue her and possibly even liberate the town in which she is held? What clandestine technologies has he got up his sleeve? How will Torquil’s cunning outwit his coyote-eyed adversary?
“Engaging and accomplished, Coll MacLaren vividly updates this well-known character.”
Elusive Thistle
Elusive Thistle
“What country before ever existed a century and half without a rebellion?”
Thomas Jefferson, 1787.
Triumphant Thistle, the third book in the trilogy, is a dystopian adaptation by Coll MacLaren of Baroness Emmuska Orczy’s ‘The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel’.
This third and concluding adventure in the Violet Thistle trilogy is set in 2094 during the climax of the brutal insurgency that brought about the Apostolic States of America. A beautiful Mexican woman, Marcela Esquivel, is a catalyst for intrigue, seduction, and upheaval. Is she also destined to gain a highly prestigious role in the regime? Her unwanted suitor Bart Moncrieff risks thwarting her ambitions as his bravado, publicly renouncing the tyrant Rummelhoff, makes him a target of the brutal regime.
Our hero, donning wearable robotics, a biomechatronic exoskeleton, and disguised as a bulky heaver of coal sacks, is gallantly bound to rescue those Liberal Americans who are most at peril of electrocution on the Electroline. Amongst them, his treacherously kidnapped wife Meggie Fergusson faces summary execution as the clock counts down in the regime’s capital city, Fort Triumph.
Can Torquil rescue her in time and how on earth can he pull that off this time? Will Marcela fulfil her high destiny? What will become of the despotic regime?
“Bringing a modern angle to the story works really well, I very much enjoyed this fantastic read.”
Triumphant Thistle
Triumphant Thistle
End note
From social, geographic and constitutional perspectives, this provocative trilogy appeals to readers interested in the future political structure, climate change, energy transition and technological outlook for the United States of America (with illustrations from Massachusetts, Cape Cod, Nantucket, Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard, Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Manhattan, New York, Chicago, Kentucky, St. Louis, Chattanooga, Nashville, Tennessee, Connecticut, Memphis, Milwaukee, Mississippi, Arkansas, the Everglades, and San Diego); Scotland (especially the island of Tiree in the Hebrides, the west coast town of Oban and the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow; Norway (Oslo); Canada (Ottawa); Mexico (Baja California); Ireland; England; France; Sweden; The Netherlands and the Pacific Region (China Sea). The threats to personal and societal freedom lost through underlying and emerging authoritarianism, racism, oppression, fascism, nationalism, and ultranationalism are explored through this scientific political fantasy fiction. The romance between the Hebridean gentleman with the superhero alter ego (the elusive Violet Thistle) and his beautiful Black African American wife is a charming tale of interracial love, old-fashioned chivalry, trust, and honour – that transcends a brutal dystopia. The hero’s humorous manner and colourful penchant for stylish masquerade, secret disguises, cosplay, haute couture, and setting fashions and fads make this comical foppish dandy highly alluring – outshining the cruel new world in which he covertly operates.
Copyright © Coll MacLaren 2020