Writing for Adults
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Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman, Bantam Books, 2002 Description: Theron Campion, an aristocratic student, is drawn into a controversy about the nature of the ancient kings and the northern wizards. Basil St. Cloud is at the center of this dispute and as his relationship with Campion deepens, he finds that his historical findings have modern, highly political implications. As all scholars know, the kings were corrupt and their wizards were simply charlatans, but St. Cloud has discovered an ancient source that promises something altogether different. However, the Council of Lords becomes aware that the northern-most parts of the country are murmuring for a return to monarchy and, suspecting the University as a source for the discontent, they send a spy to ferret out information. St. Cloud and his students become the focal point for an explosive denouement that is as tragic as it is inevitable. Reviews: From School Library Journal From Library Journal From Booklist “Immensely appealing, intelligent, and great fun.” “The authors tap into fantasy’s genuine source of drama, its ability to haunt, appall, transform.” “Embraces the age-old struggle between scholars and mystics… to bridge the gulf that separates history from mystery.” “One of the bawdiest and most intellectually stimulating novels of the year!” “Richly textured… authentic… A fantasy novel that won’t insult your intelligence.”
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“Gorgeous prose and a galloping story, with… a deep understanding of a true scholar’s passion for his subject.” “Stunning… If Oscar Wilde were writing high fantasy, he’d want to write The Fall of the Kings.” “Attractive characters, realistically enmeshed in social, political, and personal concerns… realized with a robust depth and realism.” “Kushner and Sherman don’t spin fables or knit fancies: they are world-forgers, working in a language of iron and air.” “The Fall of the Kings is, if possible, even better [than Swordspoint]— twistier and deeper.” “Splendid… one of my favorite books this year!” “This is how fantasy should be written!… sweeps you in and lets you live the story with the characters.” “A delicious read… dark, sexy, and wickedly funny by turns. I loved it. You’ll love it too.” |
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Dutton, 1993; Plume, 1994 Description: Eighteenth-century France is the setting—a time and place where age-old superstitions shadow an age of enlightenment, where the minuet of aristocratic life is deaf to the approaching drumbeats of revolution, where elegance masks depravity and licentiousness makes a mockery of love. Against this background, Berthe Duvet, maid to Adele du Fourchet, later mme la duchesse de Malvoeux, tells her tale of a doomed society and of a family seeking to break a terrible curse. Vivid in its re-creation of a vanished age and delightfully iconoclastic in its view of women and history, The Porcelain Dove is a triumph of the imagination. Reviews: From Publishers Weekly From Library Journal From Kirkus Reviews |
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Dutton, 1993; Plume, 1994 Description: In a medieval kingdom both like and unlike 13th C. England, a mysterious young man appears at the door of the palace kitchen, seeing to serve the king. In a lonely stone tower, a woman watches the world through her mirror of bronze. The young king mourns the death of his friend in battle and and puts off choosing a bride. A child abandoned on a farmer’s doorstep grows up to be a powerful witch. The lives of these characters intersect and intertwine in strange and fateful ways as the young man rises from cook to steward to chamberlain and the king becomes more dependent upon him as the sorceress turns his country upside-down in her attempts to defy the fate her mirror has shown her. Reviews: From Publishers Weekly |
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Stories in Anthologies “How the Pooka Came to New York City” (forthcoming) Poe: 19 New Tales Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, ed. Ellen Datlow, Solaris, 2009, “The Red Piano.” Salon Fantastique: Fifteen Original Tales of Fantasy, ed. Datlow & Windling, Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2006, “La Fée Verte.” |
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