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Grail of the Summer Stars (Aetherial Tales)

Page 53

by Freda Warrington


  As a writer, I like to get on with a story, rather than creating reams of history and myth for my other-race before I can even start. As a result, my Aetherial “mythos” is developing organically along with the novels. My plan is to catalogue my mythos-so-far and develop it further on my website, www.fredawarrington.com.

  Each of the Aetherial Tales series—Elfland, Midsummer Night, Grail of the Summer Stars—tells a self-contained, stand-alone story that you can follow without having to read the others. However, as they’re set in the same “universe,” there is an overspill of characters and plotlines from one book to the next. Elfland tells the story of Rosie, Sam, Lawrence Wilder and others. Midsummer Night explores the conflicts of Dame Juliana Flagg, Gill, Peta, Rufus and company. Grail of the Summer Stars, rather to my surprise, completes a plot arc over the three books that I hadn’t planned or expected until it happened! There are also hints of events and characters from my earlier novels. For example, my Aelyr race—or let’s say their distant cousins—first appeared in my epic fantasy The Amber Citadel. And when Fin tells Stevie about her friend August, she’s referring to events in my alternative history novel about King Richard III, The Court of the Midnight King.

  It means a lot to me to make these connections, because I’m realizing that, while each of my novels is different, they’re all part of a bigger whole. After all, the stories are taking place in the internal landscape of my imagination, my own personal Otherworld, so it’s natural to me that characters from different books will sometimes cross paths and say, “There’s something you ought to know…”

  Also, it’s fun. If readers don’t pick up on these moments, nothing is lost, but if you do happen to spot them, I hope you enjoy them too.

  Books by Freda Warrington

  AETHERIAL TALES

  Elfland*

  Midsummer Night*

  Grail of the Summer Stars*

  THE BLACKBIRD SERIES

  Book 1: A Blackbird in Silver

  Book 2: A Blackbird in Darkness

  Book 3: A Blackbird in Amber

  Book 4: A Blackbird in Twilight

  THE BLOOD WINE SEQUENCE

  Book 1: A Taste of Blood Wine

  Book 2: A Dance in Blood Velvet

  Book 3: The Dark Blood of Poppies

  SORROW’S LIGHT

  Dark Cathedral

  Pagan Moon

  Dracula the Undead

  The Rainbow Gate

  Darker Than the Storm

  The Court of the Midnight King

  THE JEWELFIRE TRILOGY

  Book 1: The Amber Citadel

  Book 2: The Sapphire Throne

  Book 3: The Obsidian Tower

  * A Tor Book

  About the Author

  Freda Warrington grew up Leicestershire, England. She spent her first years out of school as a graphic designer and illustrator and eventually became a full-time writer. She began writing short stories at a very early age, and by nineteen she had her first novel well under way. She has written twenty novels, including the Jewelfire trilogy and the Blood Wine sequence, all of which have been published in the United Kingdom.

  Grail of the Summer Stars is the third of her Aetherial Tales novels, and her third book to be published in the United States, after the first two books of the Aetherial Tales, Elfland and Midsummer Night.

  Learn more at www.fredawarrington.com.

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  GRAIL OF THE SUMMER STARS

  Copyright © 2013 by Freda Warrington

  All rights reserved.

  Cover art by Kinuko Y. Craft

  Edited by James Frenkel

  A Tor Book

  Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

  175 Fifth Avenue

  New York, NY 10010

  www.tor-forge.com

  Tor® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

  The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:

  Warrington, Freda, 1956–

  Grail of the summer stars / Freda Warrington.—First edition.

  p. cm. — (Aetherial tales; 3)

  “A Tom Doherty Associates book.”

  ISBN 978-0-7653-1871-8 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-1-4299-8651-9 (e-book)

  1. Painting—Fiction. 2. Magic—Fiction. I. Title.

  PR6073.A75G73 2013

  823'.914—dc23

  2012042626

  eISBN 9781429986519

  First Edition: April 2013

 

 

 


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