The terrifying legacy of ‘the English Leonardo’
Hooke’s Prism
by Paul Ashford
When two brothers stumble upon a gun and a crumbling notebook in the English countryside, they set in motion a chain of events that leads back to the dying embers of the Second World War — and the final, desperate days of Winston Churchill’s premiership. The cryptic jottings belong to a forgotten veteran: a man broken by conflict, haunted by secrets, and once entangled in an invisible war fought by the brightest minds of the age.
At the heart of it all lies a mystery buried since 1945 — a missing message penned by Churchill himself, whispered across a conference table in Potsdam, and never delivered. As the narrator pieces together a puzzle that spans generations, he uncovers the terrifying legacy of the Invisible College, a secretive fellowship founded by the ‘English Leonardo’, Robert Hooke. But what did Hooke discover — and why has it been hidden for over 300 years?
Hooke’s Prism is a gripping literary thriller that peers into the shadowy spaces between science, power, and history.
“Darkly comic, fiercely intelligent, and rich with historical intrigue, Hooke’s Prism asks one urgent question: When truth is refracted through power, can we ever see the world as it truly is?”
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Some secrets should never be uttered
The Book of Names
by Paul Ashford
When Adam wrote down the names he allocated to the earth’s creatures, he never expected the manuscript would one day be fought over by a disgraced French Count, two Russian oligarchs, and a rogue’s gallery of misfits—as the fate of the world hangs in the balance.
When a dishevelled ex-con collides with a bankrupt aristocrat on a rain-soaked Parisian street, they unwittingly set off a chain of events that unearths a conspiracy older than the French Republic—and possibly the universe itself. At the centre lies a decaying château, a stolen fortune, and a leather-bound artefact whispered about in obscure footnotes and forbidden histories: The Book of Names.
Said to contain the true name of every living thing, the Book bestows immense power upon those who understand its secrets. Pursued by oligarchs, occultists, and a witch who once ruled the steppes, the unlikely duo are joined by a master thief, a philosophising chef, and three daughters of an extinct warrior order—each drawn into a caper that blurs the line between myth and memory.
The Book of Names is a razor-sharp literary thriller about identity, secrecy, and the dangerous magic of language.
“Richly imagined, slyly satirical, and eerily relevant, The Book of Names explores the terrifying possibility that words don’t just describe the world—they control it.”
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Some questions were never meant to be answered
The Big Quiz Night
by Paul Ashford
When the Childhood Chums signed up for the village quiz league, they didn’t expect it to involve radioactive slugs, international espionage, or the philosophy of pain—let alone gunfire in the snug bar of The Three Wise Fishes.
When their star player is hospitalised by carnivorous molluscs, Rosie Dawn, bookshop owner and reluctant team coach, is forced to enlist a mysterious stranger with an uncertain past. As the quiz descends into chaos—and the Quizmaster is fatally interrupted mid-question—the team finds themselves on the run, accused of murder, and entangled in a shadowy competition with stakes far beyond bragging rights.
At the heart of it lies an eccentric billionaire, a decaying Silk Road ruin, and the whispered promise of a final question capable of answering all others. As enemies close in and the scoreboard ticks up, Rosie and her ragtag squad must navigate hidden loyalties, ancient grudges, and the terrifying prospect of losing what they value most—whether that’s truth, home, or the winning point.
The Big Quiz Night is a knife-edged comic adventure about knowledge, loyalty, and the absurd lengths we’ll go to avoid the answers we fear most.
“Wickedly clever, darkly funny, and unnervingly plausible, The Big Quiz Night asks what happens when the world’s biggest questions fall into the hands of the least qualified people to answer them.”
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About the Author
Paul Ashford has walked this earth for a good few decades although at the start he mostly crawled. He was brought up under idyllic conditions in the Surrey Hills and failed to undergo any of the suffering now obligatory for a modern novelist. He began producing fiction at an early age, mostly in the form of excuses for not doing his homework.
He received a degree in Philosophy from a university which kept Philip Larkin stashed in its library, and then changed his mind and got his doctorate in Psychology from another one.
All this learning was insufficient to prevent Paul from becoming employed in the media, and he was embroiled in innumerable titles including being a director of Channel 5 and the Express Group. Since making up fairy tales was incompatible with the rigorously factual approach of the British press, his first novel, Caryddwen’s Cauldron, appeared under the name of Paul Hilton.
Paul continues to work on new stories. When not doing this he plays a number of instruments, most of them badly, and has a small boat which he sails extensively and largely alone due to the fear of drowning that his past exploits elicit in passengers.
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