by Andy Conway
Agent Baynard Calder. Though this Pinkerton agent is entirely a fictional creation, his name pays tribute to Calder Baynard Willingham Jr, the American novelist and screenwriter of Little Big Man (1970).
The Pinkerton National Detective Agency is a private security guard and detective agency established in the United States by Allan Pinkerton in 1850.
Council House Square. Now Victoria Square, and very different in character in 1887. While the Council House and the Town Hall remain, the old square was dominated by Christ Church. There are tantalizing glimpses of what this square looked like in several photographs of from the late 1800s. There is also an illustration from 1886 by H. W. Brewer, taken from The Graphic which gives a bird’s eye view of the city centre. I have posted these images on the Touchstone Pinterest site.
Corbett’s Temperance Hotel was demolished in 1889 to make the new Birmingham post office building, which, amazingly, with the city’s penchant for destroying any building made before the war, still stands.
I doubt any squaw killed Custer. In 2005, Cheyenne storytellers broke more than 100 years of silence, crediting Buffalo Calf Road Woman with killing General George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
Wasicu. [New Lakota Dictionary Online.] White person.
Moseley Dovecote. Part of the Moseley Hall estate, the dovecote is an 18th century octagonal brick dovecote and adjoining cowhouse, now housing a permanent exhibition about dovecotes and temporary exhibitions of local interest.
Herbert Powell. This budding young criminal is the grandfather of Bernie Powell, the fictitious gangster who haunts the pages of Touchstone 3: All the Time in the World, set in 1966.
White ghost. A medicine bundle containing the lock of hair of a dead person. This lock of hair would be carried for a year, and then buried or burned. Thomas Powers, The Killing of Crazy Horse (2010).
Llewellyn ‘Welly’ Davies. An entirely fictitious character designed to personify the many ‘sloggers’ and ‘peakies’ operating in Birmingham during this period, long preceding the 1920s setting of the brilliant TV series Peaky Blinders. I hint here that Llewellyn Davies might be the grandfather of Constable (later Detective Inspector) Davies, the corrupt cop who features throughout Touchstone Season 1.
London Museum Concert Hall. This distinctive grey building was demolished in December 2017 as the author was writing this book. The London Museum Concert Hall opened in 1863. In 1890 it became the Canterbury Music Hall, which was when the famous murder associated with the ‘Peaky Blinders’ took place (see below). In 1896 it became Coutt's Theatre, and from 1912-1931 flourished as a silent picture house called the Bull Ring Cinema. Throughout its life as theatre and cinema it was a known ‘rough’ house, with the nickname of ‘The Mucker’ (Ian Grundy in cinematreasures.org/theaters/30349).
William ‘Bowey’ Beard and Agnes Cullis. While Welly Davies is a fictional character, these two are real historical figures and perhaps the first two names associated with the Peaky Blinders. In April 1890 (just over two years after the events of this book), when the London Museum Concert Hall was under new management and had changed its name to the Canterbury Music Hall, William Beard, Alfred Rutter and Agnes Cullis attacked a barman called Harry (Henry Schenoick) whilst trying to get into the Hall without paying. As the fight spilled out onto the street, they murdered the music hall's stage manager, Arthur Hyde. (See the entry on Coutts Music Hall at www.arthurlloyd.co.uk) In Bright Star Rising I have imagined a prequel to this event, with Beard and Cullis jostling for power of the Peakies and the Park Street music hall base, which could only happen once Welly Davies was no longer king of the hill.
Calthorpe Park. A public park in Birmingham, England, created in 1857. The area around the park gained notoriety around 1887 as the site of many brothels, and child prostitution was rife, often under cover of match selling. Philip Gooderson, The Gangs of Birmingham, Milo Books Ltd (2011).
Hoppo! [New Lakota Dictionary Online.] Let’s go!
She was walking along this same stretch of road... This flashback is to Touchstone 3: All the Time in the World, set in 1966.
12, Alcester Road features heavily in Touchstone Season 1 where it is the home of Amy Parker and her father, Richard, in 1912. I have hinted here that Richard Parker is the young boy. 12 Alcester Road has its own peculiar real life history, with a different Parker family, which I cover in The Touchstone Files: a Guide to Touchstone Season 1.
Danny’s too deeply buried in time... This of course refers to the events of Buried in Time, which are set nine months after the events of this book.
We’ve got someone else on that. It’s a long term project... This being time traveller Tom Conway. See Buried in Time.
Something bad had happened here... This is the opening scene of Touchstone 6: Fade to Grey.
Archie Rose. My father in law, Richard Rose, once told me his great-grandfather worked for Buffalo Bill when he came to town, so that’s as good a reason as any to name the stable boy after him.
Nimitawa Ktelo! You will be mine.
M’acushla. Irish Gaelic. My darling.
A girl lying on this same grass... This is the climax of Touchstone 6: Fade to Grey.
Oh, Great Spirit, whose voice I hear in the winds... The origin of this prayer, shared widely across the internet, is uncertain, although it is possibly the work of Mi’kmaq elder, Noel Knockwood.
A red Indian man dressed up like a squaw. This is, of course, Little Star, finally fulfilling the vision he had in Bright Star Falling of saving Katherine. See the chapter, The Battle Where the Winkte Saved his Sister.
An eagle feather. A red spot painted on. In Lakota custom, this is worn by a brave to denote that he has killed an enemy.
Tatanka Iyotanke. Sitting Bull’s Lakota name. Lit. “Buffalo Bull Who Sits Down’.
Thank you
... for buying and reading this Touchstone collection.
If you enjoyed it, please do spend a minute to give it a review. You won’t be seeing adverts for Touchstone books on billboards or station platforms, but a simple review can be just as effective to an independent author like me.
Next in the Touchstone saga
The Ghosts of Paradise Place
A Touchstone Origins tale.
Taking up a new job at the Birmingham Central Library, Kath Bright is haunted by sinister occurrences in the brutalist concrete complex.
It's 2008 and Britain slides into its first credit crunch Christmas. But money troubles are not Kath's only concern as she uncovers a chilling tale of witch hunts and a Victorian murder mystery from the archives. But this past becomes very real and there's a killer on her trail.
The dark anti-heroine of the bestselling time travel saga gets her own personal origin story in this novella that reveals how she first found her touchstone.
Coming July 2019
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About the Author
Andy Conway is the novelist, screenwriter and time traveller behind the Touchstone series. He wrote the feature films Arjun & Alison, An American Exorcism and The Courier and runs a publishing empire from a loft in Birmingham. Read more at andyconway.net
Photography: Ian Davies iandaviesphoto.com
Copyright Notice
This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
This Kindle edition 2019
1
First published in Great Britain by
Wallbank Books 2019
Copyright © Andy Conway 2011
The right of Andy Conway to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act, 1988 © Andy Conway 2011.
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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 written permission of the publishers.
This book may not be lent, hired out, resold or otherwise disposed of by any way of trade in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published, without the prior consent of the publishers.
Cover design by Simon Moody at Wallbank Art
From original artwork by Sean Strong www.seanstrong.com