Rudolf Hess, the infamous Nazi and deputy to Adolf Hitler, really was a member of the secretive esoteric society known as The Watchmen (Les Veilleurs), which used to congregate in 1920s Paris-at just the same time that the alchemist Fulcanelli himself is said to have lived there. Born in Alexandria, Hess was indeed fascinated by the occult, and by alchemy. This may have been partly responsible for Adolf Hitler’s own interest in the subject, and the historical possibility that the Nazis were really experimenting with ways of creating alchemical gold to fund their war effort and the Thousand-year Reich they were planning to establish.
Gladius Domini is fictitious. However, the last fifteen years have seen a sudden worldwide rise of militant fundamentalist religious organizations, primarily Christian, preaching intolerance and hard-line dogma. The world stage is set for a new era of holy wars that could far eclipse the horror of the medieval crusades.
I hope you enjoyed reading The Alchemist’s Secret as much as I enjoyed researching and writing it. Ben Hope will be back.
Scott Mariani
Many people have been involved in the process of developing this project from a tiny idea into the book that it is now. You are too many to name, but you know who you are–and sincerest thanks to all of you.
Special thanks to Maxine Hitchcock, Keshini Naidoo and all the super-dynamic team at Avon UK.
SCOTT MARIANI
The Mozart Conspiracy
To Mary, Lana and Richard
‘I know I must die.
Someone has given me aqua toffana and has calculated the precise time of my death -for which they have ordered a Requiem. It is for myself that I am writing this’
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1791
Table of Contents