ODDITIES OF VIENNA

1814.  After decades of carnage, Napoleon has finally been defeated, and the aristocracy of Europe is heading to Vienna for a month-long peace conference.  Instead, it will become eight months of love-making and intrigue set against the backdrop of the greatest party of all time, ever, anywhere:  The Congress of Vienna.

Into this world steps peasant-born Stefan Tanzer.  Schooled by the witch in the local woods, he can divine the rune-bones, break codes, pick locks, and has already been a spy against Napoleon.  Now, he becomes the personal courier of the legendary diplomat Talleyrand. Increasingly indispensable, an unlikely friendship grows.

Away from the glamorous parties, Stefan explores Vienna’s underworld with Talleyrand’s rascal godson, including the risqué Salon for Libertines.  He befriends the Ditch-Nymphs, a guild of prostitutes, the Oddities, a club of eccentric scholars and scientists, and the Warm Brothers, who just may have the world’s first gay bar.

But the Congress, beneath its veneer of chivalry, is careening toward war.  When the secret police learn of an assassination plot, Stefan starts to investigate the one word that may hold the key: ‘Medusa’.  When he finally understands it, he must summon the aid of Vienna’s outcasts in a race to prevent a mass-murder  and save the one he loves.

COMING IN 2026