The Nostradamus Prophecies

Nostradamus wrote 1000 prophecies. Only 942 have survived. What happened to the missing verses? This mystery drives two very different men.

Adam Sabir is a writer desperate to revive his flagging career  Achor Bale is a member of an ancient secret society dedicated to the "Three Antichrists" foretold by Nostrodamus: Napoleon, Adolf Hitler - and "one still to come".

As Sabir is drawn into the hidden world of France's gypsies, Bale is on his trail. A terrifying hunt begins...

The book

An ancient secret...A deadly conspiracy...A potential international bestseller. With translation rights sold in 27 countries, this high-octane commercial thriller tells of a hunt for the lost prophecies of Nostradamus and the two men who will do anything to discover their secrets. It is an entirely compulsive page-turner for readers of Raymond Khoum's "The Last Templar". Nostradamus wrote a thousand prophecies. Only 942 have survived. What happened to the missing quatrains? And what secrets did they contain to make it necessary for them to remain hidden? And why did Nostradamus leave his daughter a sealed container in his will? This mystery drives two men with very different desires. Adam Sabir is a writer desperate to revive his flagging career  Achor Bale is a member of an ancient secret society that has dedicated itself to the protection and support of the 'Three Antichrists' foretold in Nostradamus's verses - Napoleon, Adolf Hitler, and the 'one still to come'...The pair embark on a terrifying chase through the ancient Romany encampments of France in a quest to locate the missing verses.


The author

Mario Reading was born in Dorset, and brought up in England, Germany, and the South of France. He was educated at Gorse Cliff Preparatory School, followed by Rugby School, and then went on to study Comparative Literature under Malcolm Bradbury and Angus Wilson at the University of East Anglia, where he specialized in French and German Literature and translation before absconding, after two years, on a cargo boat to Africa.

During a nomadic youth he sold rare books, taught riding in Cape Town, studied dressage in Vienna, played polo in India, France, Spain, and Dubai, ran a seventy horse polo stables in Gloucestershire, and helped manage his Mexican wife's coffee plantation.

He is the author of four novels - the internationally bestselling Antichrist Trilogy (more than a million copies sold in 38 countries), which comprises The Nostradamus Prophecies, The Mayan Codex, and The Third Antichrist, and also The Music-Makers, a stand alone love story set in contemporary Cornwall and France and also touching on the May 1968 riots in Paris.

Mario Reading was the recipient of an Arts Council Writing Award in 2004 for his as yet unpublished Second World War novel, After Barbarossa.

He is also the author of eight non-fiction titles including the Dictionary Of Cinema, the Movie Companion, the Watkins Dictionary Of Dreams, Nostradamus: The Complete Prophecies For The Future, Nostradamus: The Good News, Nostradamus: The Top 100 Prophecies and Nostradamus & The Third Antichrist: Napoleon, Hitler & The One Still To Come. His groundbreaking The Complete Prophecies Of Nostradamus was published in 2009.

He writes occasional magazine features, including, in February 2000, a major Sunday Times Magazine expose of the CIA, entitled An American Hero, and has also made a number of national and international appearances on radio and television, including documentaries for Discovery Channel, History Channel, and National Geographic. For four years he was the Chairman and chief coordinator of the Fonthill Writing Awards. He is also a member of Mensa and the ultra high IQ society, the ISPE [The International Society for Philosophical Inquiry].


The reader

Gareth Armstrong was born on 28 September 1948 in Swansea, the son of a Presbyterian minister. He began his career by acting in school plays at the Bishop Gore School, Swansea. At the age of 16 he joined the National Youth Theatre  and went on from there to study drama at Hull University.

His television credits include: Z-Cars, Doctor Who (in the serial The Masque of Mandragora), Blake's 7, The Professionals, Terry and June, One Foot in the Grave, Casualty and EastEnders.

On stage he has appeared in many productions of Shakespeare, including the role of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. He has also toured internationally in his own one-man show Shylock, in which Shakespeare's principal Jewish character is seen from the viewpoint of Tubal, the Bard's only other Jewish character and Shylock's only friend in the original play. In 2004 he published his account of presenting this character, in A Case for Shylock - Around the World with Shakespeare's Jew.

Armstrong did the voice acting for the Japanese television series Journey to the West, released in English-speaking countries as Monkey.

On radio Armstrong has played three recurring roles in The Archers on Radio 4, including Sean Myerson, the publican of the Cat and Fiddle and the serial's first regular gay character.