The Serpent Gate
About this ebook
Some doors were never meant to be opened.
Others were meant to be watched.
In the aftermath of a discovery that cost a man his life, historian Lucas Higgins is trying to do the one thing knowledge has never allowed him to do: stop.
Stop researching.
Stop looking upward.
Stop asking what ancient civilizations were really mapping in the stars.
But the past doesn’t stay buried.
When a surviving artefact begins to behave in ways modern science can’t explain, Lucas and archaeologist Susan Lucev are drawn to a place older than written history, Göbekli Tepe, a Neolithic site whose stones predate civilisation itself. Officially, access is restricted. Unofficially, something is already moving beneath the surface.
As data disappears, records quietly correct themselves, and unseen hands begin to manage what humanity is allowed to know, Lucas realises the truth is more dangerous than ignorance. The ancient builders didn’t leave monuments to guide the future, they left warnings.
At the heart of it all lies the Serpent Gate:
not a doorway to another world,
but a threshold into knowledge humanity may not be ready to face.
And this time, someone is watching who notices when the gate is crossed.
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About the author
JF Richards writes intelligent, atmospheric thrillers that explore the hidden patterns beneath history, science, and belief. His work blends slow-burn suspense with ancient mysteries, asking a simple question: what if the past was never truly lost, only hidden in plain sight?
He is the author of The Starless Cipher, the first instalment in The Starwatcher Chronicles, with subsequent titles expanding a series built on interconnected discoveries, shifting perspectives, and the consequences of uncovering knowledge that was never meant to be found.
Drawing inspiration from real-world enigmas, forgotten civilisations, and the fragile boundary between logic and belief, Richards crafts stories where meaning is rarely given outright—only revealed to those willing to look deeper.
He writes from the United Kingdom.
