Future Treasures: The Brotherhood of the Wheel by R. S. Belcher
R. S. Belcher’s previous novels include two acclaimed weird westerns set in the town of Golgotha, The Six-Gun Tarot and The Shotgun Arcana, and an urban fantasy that explores a gritty occult underworld, Nightwise.
His latest is the opening volume in a new urban fantasy about a mysterious society of truckers known only as The Brotherhood of The Wheel. It’s available in hardcover from Tor Books next week.
In 1119 A.D., a group of nine crusaders became known as the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon–a militant monastic order charged with protecting pilgrims and caravans traveling on the roads to and from the Holy Land. In time, the Knights Templar would grow in power and, ultimately, be laid low. But a small offshoot of the Templars endure and have returned to the order’s original mission: to defend the roads of the world and guard those who travel on them.
Theirs is a secret line of knights: truckers, bikers, taxi hacks, state troopers, bus drivers, RV gypsies — any of the folks who live and work on the asphalt arteries of America. They call themselves the Brotherhood of the Wheel.
Jimmy Aussapile is one such knight. He’s driving a big rig down South when a promise to a ghostly hitchhiker sets him on a quest to find out the terrible truth behind a string of children gone missing all across the country. The road leads him to Lovina Hewitt, a skeptical Louisiana State Police investigator working the same case and, eventually, to a forgotten town that’s not on any map — and to the secret behind the eerie Black-Eyed Kids said to prowl the highways.
The Brotherhood of the Wheel will be published by Tor Books on March 1, 2016. It is 384 pages, priced at $27.99 in hardcover and $14.99 for the digital edition. See all of our coverage of the best upcoming fantasy here.
God damn it! Another book on the pile!
I know! I can barely climb into bed!
I thought, after the glorious high point of Umberto Eco’s Foucault’s Pendulum, that nobody could ever again write a novel with Templars that would really work for me. Maybe I was wrong. This is different enough and far enough out there for me to turn off my Eco-did-it-better subroutine. (Just tell me there’s no reference to Dan Brown in the jacket copy!)
Sarah,
I can say with reasonable confidence that there is no Dan Brown reference in the jacket copy.
If we get a review copy, I’ll let you know. You can add it to the pile. 🙂
It wasn’t the Templars that piqued my interest. It was the mysterious society of truckers. The description isn’t clear, but what would make it even more interesting is if there are Mad Max style road battles!
NOLAbert,
I know, right? Truckers and Templars! There’s gotta be epic road battles in there somewhere.
John, only if it’s on the Series Fantasy beat. As much as I’m looking forward to the six books I’ve signed on for, I don’t want to commit to more reviews right now unless they’re in my usual purview.
The Leicht/Neal trilogy has arrived. Stavely hasn’t yet.