The central theme of the Legend of Arthur is that the king and the land are one. He is the doorway through the wall that separates us from our holy source.
That source is not just physical nature but also psychic nature, the spontaneous power of fantasy. The wall of reason and reasonable words has shut us off from the nature of fantasy even as that wall established social order.
The law defines right from wrong, real from imaginary, and establishes boundaries. The Legend of Arthur is about violating all those boundaries, about breaking right through the wall. It is about sin and punishment.
The fact that this is the West’s central myth attracts me, because its transgressive power penetrates the reality-principle vigorously—so vigorously that everyone in the West knows what lies on the far side: the lost Grail, mad Merlin, the wounded Fisher King, Arthur’s sister pregnant with his son, Guinevere and Lancelot’s adultery, and the flawed knights of the Perilous Order.
The greatest violation of law in the 21st century—the most outrageous defiance of the reality-principle and common sense—is quantum mechanics. At high speeds, time slows down. At very small sizes, particles can be in two places at once. The Perilous Order of Camelot imagines the legends of northern Europe from the magical perspective of modern physics: Yggdrasil the Storm Tree fills the heavens as the magnetic field of the planet—the gods exist as electrostatic beings—and Merlin uses his humanity to disguise his true identity as a 'demon,' a hyperspatial mind created spontaneously out of chaos and known among thermodynamic theorists as a Boltzmann Brain.
The idea for this series began with one of quantum mechanics' most flamboyant ideas: the Many Worlds Interpretation. This postulates that there are parallel universes, among which anything that can happen does. There are many possible planet Earths, and The Perilous Order of Camelot imagines an Earth where the strange laws of quantum physics create a wizard named Merlin whose magic still shines as a light at the frontier of good and evil—and whose humanity illuminates many worlds.
http://www.aaattanasio.com
eBooks Available from A. A. Attanasio
(newly revised by the author)
The Radix Tetrad
The volumes of this series can each be read independently of the others. The feature that unifies them is their individual adaptation of science fiction’s sub-genre: “space opera,” which the editors David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer define as "colorful, dramatic, large-scale science fiction adventure, competently and sometimes beautifully written, usually focused on a sympathetic, heroic central character and plot action, and usually set in the relatively distant future, and in space or on other worlds, characteristically optimistic in tone. It often deals with war, piracy, military virtues, and very large-scale action, large stakes."
Radix
A saga of a young man's odyssey of self-discovery on an eerily alien Earth thirteen centuries in the future.
Rich in detail and filled with beings brought to life with intense energy, this strange and beautiful world reveals its secrets as Sumner Kagan changes from an adolescent outcast to a warrior with god-like powers. In the process, we accompany Sumner on an epic and transcendent journey.
Nebula Award Nominee
https://goo.gl/61XHRu
The audiobook edition of Radix narrated by Sergei Burbank available at Audible.com
http://goo.gl/ojf3qX
In Other Worlds
One star-chained evening in a Manhattan bathroom, Carl Schirmer, a sweet, slightly defeated bar manager, spontaneously transforms into energy and finds himself transported to the farthest extreme of the universe, 130 billion years in the future. Turned loose in time's last world, the strangest of all – the Werld – Carl discovers a domain of indescribably beautiful islands floating in a sky contoured by gravity lanes. These skyles are inhabited by the Foke, nomadic humans, who struggle for survival against the zōtl, a spidery intelligence that eats the pain of sentient beings. Among the Foke, Carl meets and wins the lovely Evoë, and their life together offers a blissful future in this kingdom that knows no aging or disease – until Evoë is captured by the zōtl. In order to save her life, Carl must return to Earth – 130 billion years earlier – where he is shocked to discover that the world he has come back to is not the one he left...
http://goo.gl/FN37o9
The audiobook edition of In Other Worlds narrated by David Gilmore available at Audible.com
http://goo.gl/Ds6CPw
Arc of the Dream
An alien from a higher dimension has fallen to Earth, trapped within a continuum too small to contain it. In its quest for freedom, this hyperspatial being touches a handful of lives: Filling a frail Asian man with unimaginable energy. Freeing a middle-aged American from the chains of time. Wrenching a lonely French girl out of the depths of madness. Opening a bitter young Hawaiian punk to hope and love. Together, they join in a visionary quest to save the Earth from destruction.
"A kaleidoscopic adventure, a potent piece of storytelling pulsing with menace, yet thoughtfully and gracefully rendered." -- Roger Zelazny
"Arc of the Dream melds physics and metaphysics, adventure and speculation, intellectual entertainment and deeply felt emotion ... A step forward for a major writer." -- Norman Spinrad
"A lovely book, full of poetry and wonder." -- New York Daily News
https://goo.gl/BS7Soe
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The Last Legends of Earth
Seven billion years from now, long after the Sun has died and human life has become extinct, alien beings reconstruct homo sapiens from our fossilized DNA drifting as debris in deep space. We are reborn to serve as bait in a battle to the death between the Rimstalker, humankind's re-animator, and the zōtl, horrific creatures who feed vampire-like on the suffering of intelligent lifeforms.
The resurrected children of Earth are told: "You owe no debt to the being that roused you to this second life. Neither must you expect it to guide you or benefit you in any way." Yet, humans choose sides, as humans will, participating in the titanic struggle between Rimstalker and zōtl in ways strange and momentous.
Set in the artificial planetary system of Chalco-Doror, which is no more and no less than an enormous cosmic machine, The Last Legends of Earth is a love story, a gripping saga of struggle against alien control, and an examination of the machinery of creation and destruction.
Above all, it is world-building of the highest and grandest order, on a scale rarely seen in science fiction since the great works of Olaf Stapledon.
“A wondrously complex novel.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Few novels have ever had a broader scope.”—The Denver Post
“A wonderfully realized, richly-detailed and cohesive novel.” —People
The Last Legends of Earth is a magnificent, visionary epic of the far future.
https://goo.gl/wHU0Jt
The audiobook edition of The Last Legends of Earth narrated by David Gilmore available at Audible.com
http://goo.gl/akxddK
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The Perilous Order of Camelot
Across this four book series, young King Arthur grows up with the help of Merlin in a world of supernatural powers set against him.
The Dragon and the Unicorn
A dragon’s dreamsong, a hunt for the unicorn’s horn, and the ceaseless wars of angels and demons begin this bold retelling of the Arthurian cycle. Here is magic. And dark romance. Here is Merlin’s most dangerous sorcery: the supernatural love story of Uther Pendragon and Ygrane queen of the Celts.
Old as the Big Bang, the demon Lailoken assumes human form in Roman Britain as Celts battle Saxons for mastery. The druid-queen he serves calls him Myrddin and sends him to find her true love—to fulfill for her people an ancient prophecy at the frontier of life and death.
Led by a unicorn and hunted by a dragon huge as the planet, Myrddin becomes Merlinus on his quest for the queen’s mate among her remorseless enemies, the Romans.
And finally as Merlin, he match
es wits with gods and elves to unite Celtic queen and Roman warlord and weave the destiny of the most famous king.
http://goo.gl/1aoqTq
The Eagle and the Sword
The story of young Arthor on his journey to Camelot. When Merlin discovers that Arthor's only joy is killing, he vows to turn the youth around with a magical sword.
Merlinus has fostered the future king of Britain with Kyner, a Celtic chieftain, protected by obscurity from the jealous hatred of the sorceress Morgeu. As Arthor grows to manhood, though, he becomes a twisted creature, loving violence and hating himself. What kind of king will he be? A chance journey leading to woodland encounters shapes his character and settles his destiny.
Arthor's story is a single thread in an immense, complex web of gods, demons, angels, a sorceress, a unicorn, a carpenter with a wish, a dragon, Saxons, an impoverished Aquitanian lady with a secret weapon, battle-hardened Celtic chieftains and treacherous Roman nobles, knights, warring religions—and fairies.
http://goo.gl/zMwP3t
The audiobook edition of The Eagle and the Sword narrated by Thomas B. Hackett available at Audible.com
http://goo.gl/q0mNjs
The Wolf and the Crown
Adolescent King Arthur's first year on the throne portrayed in chapters composed as 'flash fiction:' short, swift, emotionally percussive episodes, reflect the intensity of the boy king's struggle to consolidate power against brigands and invading pagan tribes.
Though he possesses the legendary sword Excalibur, the boy-king "Arthor" discovers that he must earn the respect of the warring lords of Britain before he can truly claim his place as their leader.
Gods old and new, ghosts, witches, demons, angels, vampires, dwarves, a monkey, elves, stolen and misplaced souls, the hell that is our present day, the fabulous world tree that is the magnetic field surrounding the Earth, the hollow hills above the dragon at the heart of the planet, heroic adventure, and selfless sacrifice, weave a tapestry of magic and enchanted historical realism.
http://goo.gl/m4ZtL2
The audiobook edition of The Wolf and the Crown narrated by Erin Jones available at Audible.com
http://goo.gl/AfO6gW
The Serpent and the Grail
The narrator is Rna, a clan woman 90,000-years-old. She is eldest of the Nine Queens of Avalon. The place is Roman Britain, A.D. 491 on an alternate Earth, where Camelot is a monumental quantum gate to other worlds—
The boy-king Arthor has beaten back the berserker wolf warriors of the Saxon god, uniting his island kingdom—but at a terrible cost. The Grail, the chalice of the Last Supper and the magical shield of Britain, has been stolen.
Without the Grail's protection, Britain lies parched and barren, a demon-haunted landscape. To find the Grail, Arthor's mother, Ygrane, must strike a dark bargain with Bright Night, elf-prince of the "pale people," in the hollow hills.
Merlin alone can show the way. But it is Arthor who must confront the Serpent, sword in hand, to fulfill the ancient blood rite of kings—and transform himself to King Arthur.
http://goo.gl/Yg1aPs
The audiobook edition of The Serpent and the Grail narrated by Bushra Laskar available at Audible.com
http://goo.gl/JRRXcz
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The Dominions of Irth
Three epic fantasy novels explore Irth, a realm of wizards, witch queens, and magical amulets threatened by black magic from a mysterious world—Earth.
The Dark Shore
Here is an epic fantasy from the dawn of Creation, from the first worlds, the Bright Worlds. Among them is Irth. And upon Irth, in a realm of wizards, witch queens, and magic, destiny casts shadows into the Gulf and onto the Dark Shore, a universe of blacker magic and deeper mysteries — the greatest of which is Earth.
Irth is a world where magic rules — magic that radiates from the Abiding Star. The nobility, possessors of most of this mystic energy, dwell in floating cities that drift above their realms, plotting against each other for domination.
The nobility cast off the Edge into the abyss beyond the reach of the Abiding Star those who fail in their attempts to hold or usurp power. There, the outcasts fall into the cold world of the Dark Shore — onto Earth — whence no one has ever returned. Until now.
Hu’dre Vra, formerly an abject scavenger who found a magical sword but failed to use it wisely, plummeted into the abyss, only to return from the Dark Shore with an awesome new power: black magic. At the head of an army of cacodemons impervious to Irth’s enchantments, Hu’dre Vra the Dark Lord wreaks a terrible vengeance upon the world that exiled him.
But there is resistance to the Dark Lord’s rule of terror. The mysterious, inventive thief Ripcat and his crafty partner Dogbrick form an uneasy and dangerous alliance with the brave young noblewoman Jyoti and her small band of comrades, among whom is her family’s ancient sorcerer, Caval. Together, they all must pit their courage, their wits and their lives against the brutal minions of the Dark Shore.
http://goo.gl/rQlCu7
The audiobook edition of The Dark Shore narrated by Wendy Anne Darling available at Audible.com
http://goo.gl/HmjpBl
The Shadow Eater
A gnome wanders among strange worlds of immeasurable beauty and terror on a quest for magic to restore the health of a goddess. If he fails, all creation will dissolve. And so he must dare anything to succeed, even trespass a realm of terrible darkness, pain and dread sorcery — Earth.
The Lady of the Garden, one of the godlike Nameless Ones, has used her magic to dream into existence the worlds of the Bright Shore. But now her unborn child lies motionless in her womb. An intruder from the Dark Shore, the malevolent shadow of her dream, threatens the life of her unborn. If she cannot locate and expel this shadow thing, she will waken the child's stern father, and he will dissolve the dream — and the Bright Shore will vanish.
In order to save the Lady of the Garden's baby, an old gnome travels through the many worlds in search of the creature of darkness whose presence threatens the dream of creation.
http://goo.gl/NONtHg
Octoberland
A Manhattan coven, Octoberland, weaves ancient black magic to preserve the life of its 7,000-year-old leader, Nox. The sorcerer staves off death by leaching years from his followers’ blood. But Nox’s reckless search for eternal youth has opened the gate to—Irth. From this alien world of wizards, witch queens, and blacker magic yet, goblins invade Earth!
Darkness lurks at the heart of a city rebuilt from ashes — as a weak-minded ruler and his renegade witch wife hoard technological trinkets from the Dark Shore … from Earth.
Automatic weapons challenge talismanic magic and the amulet power of Charm. Evil threatens two worlds — Irth and Earth — in the stunning climax of The Dominions of Irth.
“One of the most inventive imaginary world settings.” —Orlando Sentinel
http://goo.gl/zljoEr
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Wyvern
A bold escapade with a young soul-catcher from Borneo kidnapped by pirates in 1609.
Headhunters, sorcerers, pirates and Indian princes thrive in this adventurous, poetic tale of a young outcast in Borneo. Born in 1609, son of a native woman and a Dutch sea captain he never knew, Jaki Gefjon grows up in the jungle as a sorcerer's apprentice. Later kidnapped by pirates, he befriends his captor, Trevor Pym, notorious for his dreaded man-of-war, Wyvern. The scientific marvels on the European privateer become the young soul-catcher’s passion—until he falls for Lucinda, the headstrong daughter of Pym's sworn enemy. Propelled by intrigue, pirates' battles, curses and visions, this seafaring saga takes Lucinda and Jaki from the South Seas to India—and to a bold, unforeseen destiny in the New World.
http://goo.gl/QZBxHo
The audiobook edition of Wyvern narrated by D. W. Draffin is available at Audible.com.
http://goo.gl/DbBSND
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The Moon’s Wife: A Hystery
In one of the most memorable opening scenes in
literature, twenty-three-year-old Siggy Lindo’s lonely, mundane life as a bookkeeper explodes into a weird and wondrous odyssey through modern-day witchcraft – when the Moon interrupts her grocery shopping to ask her to marry him. With each moonrise, her mystical awareness grows. But her mother, her best friend, and the world-at-large think she’s lost her mind. Two elderly witches – Glendil and Drusille – come to her aid and teach her the spellcraft she needs to stay out of the psychiatric ward. They introduce her to the charming, enigmatic, and vividly attractive Ethan, the “moon-in-the-man,” who grounds her erotic flights of lunar sorcery in a passionate and enchanting affair of the heart. Together, they embark on an exploratory journey of Wicca – and each other. Guided by Glendil and Drusille and their Coven of the Shining Face, Siggy learns the mysteries of moon magic. And in an emotionally soaring romance with Ethan, she opens herself to the secrets of love – and her supernatural responsibilities as the moon’s wife.
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