Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack | 2010 | Mark Hodder | Buy |
| 2 | The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man | 2011 | Mark Hodder | Buy |
| 3 | Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon | 2012 | Mark Hodder | Buy |
| 4 | The Secret of Abdu El-Yezdi | 2013 | Mark Hodder | Buy |
| 5 | The Return of the Discontinued Man | 2014 | Mark Hodder | Buy |
| 6 | The Rise of the Automated Aristocrats | 2015 | Mark Hodder | Buy |
The Burton and Swinburne series consists of six novels by Mark Hodder published between 2010 and 2015. The series begins with The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack, which won the Philip K. Dick Award in 2011. It introduces an alternate Victorian England where history has been disrupted by time travelers arriving from the future, causing a cascade of changes that saw radical technologies developed decades ahead of schedule. Sir Richard Francis Burton, the historical explorer and linguist, is appointed the King’s Agent and tasked with investigating the strange occurrences.
The historical poet Algernon Charles Swinburne serves as Burton’s companion throughout the series, providing comic contrast to Burton’s more intense, driven personality. The series introduces a cast of reimagined historical figures in altered roles, including Oscar Wilde as a politician, Charles Babbage as an engineer whose work has been massively accelerated, and Florence Nightingale in a far more martial capacity than history records.
The six books form a continuous narrative with a time-travel plot that grows increasingly complex as the series progresses. The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack establishes the premise and characters; The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man, Expedition to the Mountains of the Moon, The Secret of Abdu El-Yezdi, The Return of the Discontinued Man, and The Rise of the Automated Aristocrats build toward a conclusion that addresses the root cause of history’s disruption.