Archive
I have been asked many times since the launch of Furniture Sliders when the next book is due given that Furniture Sliders is Book 1 of a trilogy. It will not be too long! The next book is Angus Sliders and is targeted to publish mid-December this year. The story continues. Max Calder is back as are more of his missing memories. Alicia is back too when a secret called Project Oracle at a black site called ANGUS appears in both London and Scotland. Was the Mirror really destroyed in the Rosyth Incident? It actually has all of the hallmarks of an espionage related theft of Mirror technology perpetrated by MI6 “off the books”. Some familiar figures appear to be entangled in it including the Soviet double agent Kim Philby! Russian connections! Do not want to give all of the storyline away - so no more until later! But the back page blurb draft is as follows! Lisbon, London, Rosyth, Inversheil 1948. Max Calder thought he left the shadows behind with his service record, but when an unexpected encrypted radio message from MI6 surfaces in Lisbon, he knows the past isn’t done with him. What was destroyed wasn't - it was stolen. Project Oracle. A secret so deep it was stitched into silence at a black site called ANGUS. Time warps, missing hours, faces that shouldn't exist—all of it tied to the Mirror. A technology that it was apparent both the Bureau and rogue elements of MI6 were chasing. Now it’s back. And so is Alicia Rayes. Sharp as broken glass and just as dangerous. Once a loyal intelligence agent, now something else entirely. She knows what the Mirror did. What it still does. And she’s not the only one. Everyone’s hunting something. Calder’s just trying to stay one step ahead of ghosts and men who don't cast shadows. In this game, memory can’t be trusted. Neither can time. And Calder’s running out of both. In this haunting continuation of the saga, noir meets espionage meets speculative science fiction in a tale of recursion, betrayal, and the illusions of self.
Furniture Sliders and Alexander Bentley are getting more attention on social media! My own Facebook and Instagram accounts are attracting interest and followers…. All good news! Some of those posts have been boosted on Facebook and there are now posts on some of the book and author groups. There are also some adverts starting to appear. If people do not know the book exists then they can’t buy it! So far the reviews are pretty good! Fingers crossed it keeps up as we head towards Book 2 in the trilogy!
You can see some of the comments about the book on this web site home page. But here is one from Amazon that was an excellent review and summary. A good grade too! Angela A 5.0 out of 5 stars A refreshing mix of noir and sci-fi!! Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2025 Verified Purchase Haven't read a spy - or should I say, spy-fi - thriller like this in years. I've read Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie's Poirot (and countless others), but a lot of the more recent books I've picked up have felt stale in what they offer. Not to discount modern writers, but I feel as if the spark that fiction used to have is just gone.Not here! Honestly, Furniture Sliders gives a lot more than just the same-old stuff I was expecting. Bentley has crafted something genuinely thrilling here, because it's not just "spy" or detective, it's a mix of noir and sci-fi...with a shockingly unique plot.The premise is that a post-war operative (Max Calder) for an agency called the Bureau is pulled back into the game after WWII, only to find that there's more going on than he initially realized. It's a conspiracy weaving time travel, government agencies, and, of course, a healthy dose of espionage. Not only that, but Bentley ties in real-world characters and events, showing he's done his research while writing this. He mixes in quantum science and real-world spy tactics, Alan Turing, and cutting-edge tech in a way that makes it believable, while also keeping it mysterious.Max Calder himself, the main character of the series, is a fun read. He's not showy, but he's one of the best at what he does - and this is constantly at odds with the recurring theme of missing and faltering memory throughout the book.How do you know what's real, and how can you succeed if your memories might be false?From what I can tell, this is Bentley's first novel, but he's nailed it. I'm looking forward to what comes next in the series! KK 4.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable read. Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2025 Verified Purchase The kind of sci-fi you can cruise through, enjoying the author's obvious talent for developing a plot and fleshing out characters and scenes. You'll feel as though you've been to some of the locations, stepping back into the last century. You'll also gain some insight into the world of quantum mechanics where many strange things are regularly observed to happen, and observation itself appears to be capable of causing change - Schrodinger's cat notwithstanding.
A select group of over 30 people attended the Furniture Sliders book launch on Wednesday 23rd July! This included other authors as well as avid book readers, some of whom had seen an advance copy and some had read it, and they were suitably impressed with both the book and the event and especially the launch video (see Video Trailer) which was shown on the big screen at full 4K resolution! The book is dedicated to Lucinda who can be seen in the photo standing next to one of the display banners. Now to get the book out in to the big wide reader world!
Yes! Today 23rd July is the day that Furniture Sliders launches. It will be available on Amazon and Apple Books and distributed through Ingram globally. There is a Kindle and eBook version, a paperback, a hardback and a hardback with dust jacket. All available today. Check it out! Check out the first reviews! Enjoy! Then look forward to the next book in the trilogy - Angus Sliders - due before Christmas 2025.
We are almost there! The launch of the first book in the Bureau Archives Trilogy is almost upon us. Furniture Sliders launches on Wednesday 23rd July - my wife Lucinda's birthday! It will be available through Amazon in Kindle format along with paperback and hardback print versions. It will be on Apple Books as an ebook available in over 50 countries. And it will be available for distribution globally through IngramSpark as a paperback, hardback and dust-jacketed hardback version. We are looking forward to it hitting the market! We will be kicking off adverts online and on social media to get the message out.
It is an often asked question! Where did that title come from? In the case of Furniture Sliders, from replacing floors in our house! Yes - sounds weird.... The storyline was there but the title of the book was not final. Then we decided to install new wood floors in two rooms in the house. That meant moving all of the furniture out - some of which was heavy. And so we bought some sliders to help. One of the boxes was on the table - as you can see in the photo - and it had Furniture Sliders written down the edge of the box. It looked just like a book lying on the table and Furniture Sliders looked like the book title 0n the spine! I thought... now there's an idea! Of course, the title has to work for the book and it did. Sliders are the book's characters that can slide through time and space using the principles of quantum mechanics such as entanglement and superposition but applied at a human rather than atomic level. The furniture connection comes from the device at the center of the science fiction element of the story which looks like a mirror. And also a story element that involves moving furniture. The next question was why a mirror? That to some degree was a little random. I wanted something that was identifiable but could be bent to a different use. The inspiration for that was hanging in a corridor in the house. I had always noticed and was fascinated by how what you see in a mirror is constantly changing. What if you could pass through it? Where would you end up? Some other time? Some other place? It worked. And the design of the Mirror in the book, even though it is not a mirror, took on the same baroque design feel albeit bigger than the one on my wall. Inspiration is a wonderful thing. Sometimes it needs a trigger and sometimes the trigger is odd! I am sure that Shakespeare and John LeCarre had the same thing happen!
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