C.C. Humphreys Author of Absolute Honour Born in Toronto, C. C. (Chris) Humphreys grew up in Los Angeles and London. A third-generator actor and writer on both sides of his family, Humphreys appeared in numerous plays and television roles on both sides of the Atlantic. Starting his writing career in Vancouver, Humphreys won the New Play Centre's first playwriting competition for his first play, "A Cage Without Bars", which was subsequently produced in both Vancouver and London. A fencing champion in his youth, and fight choreographer, Humphreys turned his love of swashbuckling to historical fiction. His first novel, The French Executioner, was runner up for the CWA Steel Dagger for Thrillers in 2002. Its sequel, Blood Ties, was a bestseller in Canada. Having portrayed Jack Absolute in Richard Sheridan's play "The Rivals", Humphreys fell in love with the character and made him the swashbuckling hero of three novels: Jack Absolute, The Blooding of Jack Absolute and Absolute Honour. Humphreys has been commissioned by Knopf to produce a trilogy for young adults. The Fetch, first book of the Norse horror-fantasy series The Runestone Saga was published in July 2006. Humphreys lives in Kitsilano, British Columbia with his wife and son. Related Links: Author's Web site: http://www.cchumphreys.com/ Author's blog: http://chrishumphreys.blogspot.com/ Video of Humphrey talking about the first Jack Absolute novel and the main character: http://www.meettheauthor.com/bookbites/233.html Author interviews: http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/interview.aspx?ID=9642 http://www.cchumphreys.com/interviews.htm Reviews • Globe and Mail Review In Absolute Honour, Canadian novelist C. C. Humphryes reprises the character Jack Absolute, a young redcoat of upright nature and rash temper who gets himself into and out of the most unlikely and colourful scrapes. Although Jack is only 18 as the action begins in 1761, his various adventures have already involved shedding blood on the Plains of Abraham, being captured and enslaved by the Abenaki, spending a winter in the frozen Canadian north with a Mohawk "blood brother," Ate, and causing a duel that leads to the exile of his father. Jack Absolute, the first entry in the series, explains how Jack will one day provide a certain Richard Brinsley Sheridan with both a name and certain plot details for his 1775 play, The Rivals. For now, Absolute Honour, the third in the series, plunges the reader into a recognizably Sheridanesque world of domestic intrigue, disgraced or impecunious noblemen, dominating fathers, interfering aunts and men who woo in disguise. Like Sheridan's character, Lydia Languish, Jack's beloved Letty has a romantic notion that she must marry a poor man of low rank. So young Lieutenant Absolute conceals his true identity for love. This, as it happens, is only the first in a convoluted series of deceptions that will lead to various intrigues, most notably Jack's recruitment by the British government to spy upon a former friend in Rome. In the Papal States, a cluster of Jacobites, loyal to the exiled Old Pretender, James III, plots the overthrow of the Hanoverian dynasty of King George III. Again mirroring Sheridan, the various twists and turns of the plot come at a frenetic pace. Foreshadowing details -- the crack of dry twigs between trees to denote that our hero is being watched; the "Judas Tree" providing a meeting point for a love scene about to turn into a betrayal -- give us an opportunity to guess at unfolding events about which the hapless Jack is unaware. While the action in The Rivals is domestic in nature and centred in Bath, Humphreys's plot involves swords, pistols, lengthy skirmishes both at sea and on land, and dramatic escapes from prison. His canvas sweeps from Rhode Island, to Bath, to the Papal States, to Portugal, where Jack rejoins his former regiment to fight the Spanish. Updating our hero from the 18th-century milieu in which he operates, Humphreys gives him a distaste for slavery and a healthy sexual appetite, which provides many bawdy adventures along the way. Some of these provide a frisson of the unexpected, as when the apparently innocent Letty seduces Jack in broad daylight in a Bath park. Only the public distraction of a royal visit from King George himself saves them both from making the most shocking of public spectacles. There are instances when such modernizing twists threaten to become merely anachronistic (at least in language), such as when Jack first sees Jacobite rebel Red Hugh McClune fleeing from a crowd "stark-bollock naked." But the occasionally rough-and-ready prose style is somewhat justified by the period, scarcely one of delicacy, and there is impressive period detail throughout. Red Hugh, for instance, is an expert in explosives, knowing the various grades and functions of grenades. The dubious hygiene of Bath's famous waters, with the "scrofulous bodies" disporting themselves, is vividly described, along with the neck-to-ankle costumes used for bathing. Humphreys knows the currency, architecture, dress and manners of every place Jack inhabits. Locations such as the subscription library in Bath and the Jacobite palace in Rome, for which Jack needs a token to gain admittance, carry the flavour of authenticity. Jack himself -- rash, naive yet noble, with an inflated notion of family honour -- is the perfect medium through which the central conflict emerges. Jack must balance private desires for love and revenge with service to his country. "Hearken, Lieutenant Absolute, to the first law of espionage," Jack is told as he is assigned to spy on the Jacobites. "No one engages in it for a pure and simple reason. . . . Some rejoice in the game of it, the codes, the disguises, the sudden betrayals, the unexpected triumphs. Some want power . . . or gold. . . . And if another is motivated by love . . . well . . . God help that man, I say . . ." Naturally, our hero is in the final category. Like the racing -- and racy -- prose style, the thematic backdrop to the story is both modern and antique. And like The Rivals, Absolute Honour is a fun-filled ride. • The (KW) Record review DO WE LIKE JACK? ABSOLUTELY! The Rivals, a play by Dublin-born Richard Brinsley Sheridan, was first produced in London's Covent Garden in January 1775. Two hundred years later, Canadian-born actor Chris Humphreys joined a cast staging the comedy in central England. He had the role of Captain Jack Absolute, a baronet's son who leads his loved one to believe he's only a poor soldier, knowing her weakness for the notion of romantic love. When the play closed, Humphreys could not bid his character farewell. So he sat down and wrote an historical novel about a British captain named Jack Absolute who comes home to London in 1777 to find his old friend, Sheridan, has mischievously created a stage character bearing his name. Absolute Honour is the third book about Jack Absolute, a hero one reviewer has dubbed the 007 of the 1700s. And let's hope there are many more to come because our Jack is so absolutely likable and Humphreys has an absolute knack for creating laugh-out-loud episodes involving his hero and events and people from the past. The first two books -- the first is called Jack Absolute and the second, a prequel, is The Blooding of Jack Absolute -- are largely set in North America where Jack, who has fled England to escape the consequences of an unfortunate duel, gets wrapped up in the American Revolution and a hair-raising intrigue, the Illuminati. He also spends a Canadian winter in the wilderness with Atedawenete, a Mohawk, who teaches him survival skills and, in turn, is schooled in Hamlet. Jack's officially a member of the 16th Light Dragoons, a British cavalry regiment, but never finds much time for his military mates. Things just keep happening. This third book, Absolute Honour, another prequel, opens with Jack sailing home from Newport, R.I., leaving the warm arms of a wealthy Quaker widow. Unfortunately, she's a slave trader and for the always honourable Jack, that simply will not do. Long before the voyage ends, Jack finds himself engaged in battle on the high seas and befriended by the wily Red Hugh McClune, who is covertly working for an independent Ireland. Back in England, he bumbles into a romantic pursuit in the spa town of Bath and then, just as suddenly, is sent to work as a British spy in Rome. He finally rejoins his regiment in Portugal. Good news. Humphreys has more Jack Absolute titles in the works. And Knopf is about to publish The Fetch, the first in a fantasy/horror trilogy he is writing for young adults. Jon Fear is a Record copy editor and editor of this books page. • Shotsmag (UK) review by Sarah Abel Jack Absolute is a young Redcoat making his way home from Canada via Newport where he partnered a widow in business and in her bed. His voyage back to England has an unexpected beginning and Jack discovers a solid friend in Red Hugh McClune. Caught in the doldrums, their vessel is attacked by a French ship and a fierce battle ensues ending with victory for JackÕs side. However, celebrations are short-lived as fever spreads like wildfire from the French crew and Jack succumbs to the killer infection. His life is saved by Red Hugh and they travel on to Bath together with the lure of prize money for the captured vessel. In the gracious city Jack falls in love with a beautiful young girl and wholeheartedly plays the part of suitor to win her hand. Unknown to him there is another far more deadly play being enacted in Bath and too late Jack discovers he has been drawn into a plot to assassinate King George. He becomes involved in the world of espionage, travelling to the Jacobite Court in Rome where the stakes are raised and his life is again in danger from the Inquisition. Tracking his prey across the Mediterranean, Jack puts on his red coat once more as the dragoons and grenadiers storm a Spanish city. He is led inexorably to the man who has betrayed him and Jack finally realises that honour is a complex prize. This is a bold, dashing adventure of mutiny and betrayal with gallant Jack Absolute. Humphreys has imbued his tale with well-researched detail and technical background. It is a grand action read, rolling along with passion and drama; thoroughly enjoyable.