The Cult of the Grinning Man (short story)

was a free short story released by Candy Jar Books in 2015 for those who pre-ordered Beast of Fang Rock, and later for free online. It explains what happens to Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart between the end of The Schizoid Earth and leads into the prologue of Beast of Fang Rock.
== Plot ==
Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart is recommended to be put back on duty after a training session: specifically after tricking the overseer Mr Quebec into putting himself in danger.
Around Llandudno, various people have spotted an alien that schoolchildren have named the Grinning Man. The town has turned it into their Loch Ness Monster and sells T-shirts, while a hippie cult has started up around it. This comes to the attention of Lethbridge-Stewart and HAVOC when a Larry Greene documentary is broadcast about it, showing the Soviet ambassador's youngest daughter Alyona is part of it (who wasn't reported missing). Lethbridge-Stewart wants to go and retrieve her to keep the embassy doing so, in large part being tired sitting around.
Meanwhile, Llandudno teenagers Dai - who claims to have seen the Grinning Man - and his sceptical girlfriend Clare are accosted by the cult, and to Dai's shock Clare leaves to join them willingly. Local man Gregory Trefusis spots the Grinning Man on his land and swiftly calls all the tabloids.
Lethbridge-Stewart arrives in town to talk to Daniel Woodward, who had made contact about the Grinning Man and has been monitoring the cult, and is peturbed to learn Daniel's the teenage son of the local barman. Daniel guides him to the cult's meeting place at Grinnach Mire and the Grinning Man is found to be among his worshippers, but Daniel Woodward reveals himself to be a cult member and betrays Lethbridge-Stewart.
However, Dai arrives with a shotgun demanding they return Clare and ends up shooting Daniel. After Lethbridge-Stewart disarms him, the Grinning Man is revealed to just be Mr Woodward in a mask and the whole thing a strange hoax. Lethbridge-Stewart arrests the man and has the cult rounded up (with Alyona quietly sent back to London). However, the colonel is now unsure if he's truly fit for duty, as he'd been sure the Grinning Man was a real alien and now wonders if his judgement is impaired.
== Characters ==
* Colonel Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart
* General Oliver Hamilton
* Mr Quebec
* Daniel Woodward
* Larry Greene
== Worldbuilding ==
* The Brigadier 'borrows' an Aston Martin DB5 that "a chap from the British External Intelligence Agency" has left behind while in Budapest, a reference to James Bond.
* Larry Greene's documentary is a scaremongering affair about the growing hippie movement.
* Part of the Grinning Man's physical description, his appearance to schoolchildren, and youth worshippers all reference .
== Notes ==
* The Soviet Ambassador has the surname Levovitch.
* The Queen and Prince Philip are visiting this area of Wales in the near future, giving Lethbridge-Stewart a deadline.
== Continuity ==
* Greene recorded his documentary in February 1969 but it's not broadcast until May[https://lethbridgestewartnovels.wordpress.com/reading-order/ Candy Jar's Reading Order: "set early May 1969". As the cult is already established, it implicitly started before the London Event.
* The Brigadier refers to having been drugged by the Eastern Bloc (his perception of the events of The Schizoid Earth); he also mentions "Wembley Stadium", a reference to Revolution Man, a case he was put onto in The Schizoid Earth but found the Vault had covered stuff up in Beast of Fang Rock.
* The Brigadier had started investigating the Grinning Man cult in Beast of Fang Rock.
== Footnotes ==
== External links ==
* Full text of The Cult of the Grinning Man
Category:The HAVOC Files short stories
Category:2015 short stories
Category:E-books
Category:Stories set in 1969