Out Now – London Tales by Tim Walker

London Tales offers dramatic peeps into the rich tapestry of London, a city with two thousand years of history. Glimpses of imagined lives at key moments, start with a prologue in verse from the point of view of a native Briton tribeswoman absorbing the shock of Roman invasion. The first story is a tense historical adventure set in Roman Londinium in 60 CE from the perspective of terrified legionaries and townsfolk facing the vengeful Iceni queen, Boudica, whose army burnt the fledgling city to the ground.
Further historical dramas take place in 1381 during the Peasant’s Revolt, the Great Fire of London in 1666 and the last ice fair on the frozen Thames in 1814. These are followed by a romance set during the Blitz in 1941, then the swinging Sixties and wide-flared seventies are remembered in the life story of fictional policeman, Brian Smith. Moving on, an East End family get a fright from copycat killings that are a throwback to the 1888 Jack the Ripper murders.
There’s a series of contemporary stories that reference recent events, including the London terrorist bombings of 2005, a literary pub crawl and a daring prison break, building to the imagined death throes of London in a chilling, dystopian vision. These stories are loosely inspired by the author’s personal experiences and reflections on his time living and working in London in the 1980’s and 90’s. Adaptability, resilience, conformity and resolve are recurring themes.
This collection of eleven short stories evokes the city’s rich history and the qualities that were needed by Londoners at various times to survive and prosper – from the base and brutal, devious and inspired, to the refined and civilized...

Marcellus searched the crowd again for Julia and Cato but couldn’t see them amongst the multitude of milling townsfolk and soldiers. He did see Procurator Decianus and Centurion Maximius standing on the prow of a galley, the latter bellowing out orders for a defensive square. Legionaries with shields and weapons intact started to move towards the outer edges of the square and stand side by side, awaiting the barbarian onslaught.
Septimus grabbed Marcellus by the arm and pointed to a small boat that was already bobbing freely in the river. On it, Julia and Cato were shouting and waving to them, their words snatched away by the breeze and hubbub. A broad smile cracked Marcellus’ cheeks as he waved back, relief etched on his blood-spattered face.
“Now we can fight barbarians,” he said, grinning at his friend. Septimus called his unit into a huddle and left them to go in search of a friendly sea captain. But no sooner was he gone than a boisterous optio commanded them to form up in the defensive wall. Marcellus duly complied with the rest of the unit, and they found themselves with members of the first cohort who hadn’t yet faced the enemy as they’d been guarding the docks and both ends of the bridge.
“What’s it like?” one of them asked the cut, bleeding, and battered unit.
Marcellus replied, “Imagine thousands of blue-painted screaming devils being chased through the Gates of Hades by the three-headed hound Cerberus. Look – here they come…!” He pointed with the tip of his gladius as the first group of warriors raced from the streets that fed into the open space before the docks, screaming and waving their bloody weapons. They stopped short of the wall of Roman shields and seemed to wait for one of their leaders to come. They shouted obscenities and banged their swords, spears, and axes against their round shields, and some threw the severed heads of soldiers and townsfolk at the Romans. The evacuation of non-combatants was swiftly completed and Maximius, from the safety of his galley, urged them to hold the line at all costs.
“General Paulinius is on his way!” Maximius shrieked, his lie barely carrying above the racket to a doubtful Marcellus. No one was coming to save them.
The warriors then quietened and parted to allow three chariots to enter from a side street. The lead chariot held Boudica, a tall, proud woman with long, flowing red hair and blue swirls on her cheeks, wearing a shining metal breastplate and silver torque around her neck, and clutching a spear. She glared over the heads of the soldiers, pointing her spear at the hated procurator on the galley deck. She urged her driver to ride between the two lines of opposing soldiers, periodically throwing severed heads over the line of Roman shields as she went.
Marcellus gazed at her in awe, her authority over the seemingly wild rabble was undisputed. Some even bowed as she rode by. She lifted her spear again and screamed a command as her chariot reached the end of the line, and her faithful followers fell on the Roman shield wall with maddening ferocity.

From Londinium Falling one of the stories in London Tales, a companion volume to Thames Valley Tales. Available from Amazon in e-book, paperback, Kindle Unlimited and audiobook formats.

Tim Walker is an independent author living near Windsor in the UK. Although born in Hong Kong in the sixties, he grew up in Liverpool where he began his working life as a trainee reporter on a local newspaper. After attaining a degree in Communication Studies he moved to London where he worked in the newspaper publishing industry for ten years before relocating to Zambia where, following a period of voluntary work with VSO, he set up his own marketing and publishing business. He returned to the UK in 2009.
His creative writing journey began in earnest in 2013, as a therapeutic activity whilst recovering from cancer treatment. He began writing an historical fiction series, A Light in the Dark Ages, in 2014, inspired by a visit to the part-excavated site of former Roman town Calleva Atrebatum at Silchester in Hampshire. The series connects the end of Roman Britain to elements of the Arthurian legend and is inspired by historical source material, presenting an imagined historical fiction of Britain in the fifth and early sixth centuries.
Tim took early retirement on medical grounds and now divides his time between writing and helping out at a Berkshire-based charity, Men’s Matters. You can find him on Goodreads, Facebook, Instagram Twitter/X and his Website.