Moonflower snares second instalment in James Alistair Henry’s Pagans series
We are delighted to announce the acquisition of Dead Gods, the second alt history novel from James Alistair Henry.
Moonflower published James Alistair Henry’s debut novel Pagans in Hardback in February 2025 and in Paperback in January 2026. The paperback was selected as a Waterstones SFF Book of the Month for February 2026 and spent two weeks in The Times Top Ten Bestseller Charts, entering at no.3 as well as two weeks at number one on The Booksellers’ Small Publishers Bestsellers Fiction Chart Top Ten, with nine weeks in the top five and thirteen weeks in the top 10. Pagans is currently Waterstones biggest selling SFF Book of the Month of 2026.
The second book in the Pagans series, Dead Gods will publish in hardback, eBook, and audiobook in August 2027 and in Paperback in 2028. It was acquired by Moonflower Editorial Director Emma Waring from James Spackman at The bks Agency and will be our lead commercial title for 2027, with Tory Lyne Pirkis handling all book PR.
Dead Gods presents an alternative contemporary Britain where the Norman conquest of 1066 never happened. In this modern Britain, political allegiances are demonstrated through tattoos, the ancient Gods are a part of everyday life and kids use runes instead of text speak. Amid a bid to unite a country divided into the Celtic West, Saxon East and an independent Nordic Kingdom of Scotland, two mismatched police officers – D.I. Drustan from the West and Captain Aedith from the East – find themselves thrown together.
When a body is found in the centre of a roundabout, Detective Captain Aedith Mercia soon discovers this is no ordinary murder. With the victim linked to a Tribal crime family, as well as a notorious religious cult, she knows she’s going to need the help of her erstwhile Celtic colleague, Detective Inspector Drustan, to crack this case.
But Drustan is busy with his own agenda, working deep undercover in increasingly dangerous circumstances. Meanwhile, the city’s Tribal population, chafing under the oppression of the new High King’s plans for Unification, is starting to rise under the banner of an ancient Horned God. As tensions grow, Aedith realises a Norse spree killer known as The Draugr might hold the key to peace – if only she and Drustan can beat him to his prize before the city burns to the ground…
About James Alistair Henry
Screenwriter James first started writing while working as a bookseller. He joined the writing team for Channel 4’s Smack the Pony and went on to write the BAFTA-award winning Green Wing, ITV comedy Delivery Man and cult hit Campus as well as episodes for smash-hit children’s television shows Bob The Builder and Hey Duggee. James lives in Cornwall with his wife, a writer and Medieval Historian, and their two children.
“Returning to the world of Pagans has been an absolute gift, and I am so excited to share the next instalment of Aedith and Drustan's adventures with the world. With James' signature blend of grit, wit and glorious world-building, Dead Gods takes everything that made Pagans so special and turns it up to eleven. Alt-history at its finest, it’s going to appeal to crime and fantasy readers alike – and they won’t be able to put it down.”
— Emma Waring, Moonflower Editorial Director
“I’m so happy to be releasing the second Pagans novel with Moonflower. They’ve been incredible with everything from editing to book design to somehow getting me into television studios to talk about my weird alt history / crime procedural with interviewers who seemed as startled about the whole thing as I was. Basically, everything authors are constantly being told publishers can no longer do for them. On top of that, they got it front of Waterstones who gave it their full support, meaning the first book did better than any of us had any right to expect. Thankfully, no real pressure for book two, so that’s good.”
— James Alistair Henry, author
“As a reader, I couldn’t have been happier to spend more time with Aedith and Drustan - a “buddy cop” pairing for the ages - in their sweary, sarky, violent, pagan world. As an agent, I felt the same about continuing James’ partnership with Moonflower, whose work on Pagans I literally, hand on heart, cannot fault. Emma Waring is simply the perfect editor and the creative commitment and commercial hustle she and the Moonflower team have applied to this series has been extraordinary. Hence the sales - not rune-science, is it?”
— James Spackman, the bks Agency
We are so excited to be bringing the second instalment of this Times Top Ten bestselling series to the world.
