The Barren Author: Series 2

In this second series, the Brigadier returns for more extraordinary adventures with Smith, his kind but sceptical publisher. Fresh from having shot himself out of a cannon, the Brigadier suddenly discovers he has the rather annoying ability to travel through time...but this rather unusual power comes at a high cost. Whether it will be enough to save himself, save the planet and save his only friend though is another matter altogether. The fateful clock is ticking, and time is surely running out....

The charismatic and reclusive Brigadier Munchausen is visited, online, by the mysterious Smith. Has he written his pages? Munchausen obliges and reveals some extraordinary incidents from his early life: a boy on the run, a fight with a seven-foot sailor and a romantic affair involving a whale. These extraordinary events all serve to propel our hero into the realisation that he is destined to save the world. But who is Smith, and why has he been sent? Why does the brigadier fear email? And, most of all, what really happened to him in Raqqa?

Smith’s gentle interrogations continue, and the young brigadier reveals his contribution to the fall of communism through a series of Elton John impersonations. His astonishing achievements don’t stop there. When his accidental discoveries aboard a Swedish science research ship lead to the invention of a secret formula, the world is at his feet. The world kicks back, however, and after a desperate climb up Notre Dame, he finds himself pursued by the police, an old friend and two well-known figures of darkness.

The brigadier escapes from peril in an ancient Russian forest with the help of an obliging bison. Eurasian mobsters, intent on human sacrifice using the world’s oldest tree, are in pursuit. As his enemies ride after him full-throttle, and with guns blazing, he relays a dizzying array of stories focused on astounding encounters with the animal kingdom. These unlikely anecdotes result in the firm conclusion that the brigadier’s luck is finally about to run out.

The Brigadier is deliberately vague on the circumstances of his recent death and the particular bargain he struck with a certain deity and instead focuses on his time in Canada which, as it turns out, is very much like heaven or hell depending on how you look at it. He brings down the notorious biker gang, Hell’s Loggers, with the help of some wolves but soon finds himself on much more dangerous ground at the hands of the last remaining branch of the Knights Templar who are intent on using Munchausen’s marvelous formula to revive the Master Race.

Things look bleak for the Brigadier as he is sent to the bottom of Davy Jones’ Locker by the merciless hands of Knight Supremacist, St. John Lawrence-Malcaster. He makes bold his escape with the help of some surprising sailors, an old flame and a couple of antique cannon balls. His revenge is swift and he takes on the might of the Fourth Reich with a combination of pluck, will and a new found love of artillery.

Smith makes her final call and hears two final adventures involving the East Finchley Satanic League and an incredible portrait heist from the National Gallery. These sensational stories are interrupted by an unexpected visitor. Smith tries to persuade the Brigadier she is simply a publisher after his tall stories and has innocently sent a courier. Munchausen is instead convinced it his mortal enemy come for the formula once more.