Fantasy 2002

File Updated: 13/09/2004

Tangled Web UK: New Fantasy Titles 2002

Sarah Ash Lord of Snow and Shadows Pbk published January 2004 by Bantam at Ł6.99 ISBN: 0-593-04983 7

Three kingdoms. One man. A destiny written in blood. An epic new fantasy series begins...
Book One of The Tears of Artamon Richly imagined, full of intrigue and dark romance and boasting a cast of superbly drawn players, Lord of Snow and Shadows is the first book in a thrilling new trilogy and marks the return of one of fantasy’s most original and exciting voices.

All Gavril Andar has ever known of life is the sunny clime of his southern home, his beautiful mother, and his love of painting. Until his peace is shattered - and his destiny decreed - by the arrival of a group of fierce clan warriors from the north. The father he has never known is dead. The man who ruled the wintry kingdom of Azhkendir, a man in whose veins ran the burning blood of the Drakhaoul, has been murdered by his enemies. Blood. The liquid that will seal Gavril’s fate. For becoming Drakhaon means not only ascending to the throne of Azhkendir, but also changing - changing, in subtle ways at first, into a being of extraordinary power and might. Becoming a dragon-warrior. One that must be replenished with the blood of innocents in order to survive.
Kidnapped by the warriors, Gavril is incarcerated in Kastel Drakhaon, with no means of escape from the isolated, ice-bound kingdom. Expected to avenge his father’s death, and carefully watched by neighbouring rulers waiting for their chance to move against him, the untested Gavril must fight to retain his human heart and soul in the face of impending war - and the dark instincts that threaten to overpower him ...
Combining the best of fantasy traditions with her own unique vision, Sarah Ash brings to dazzling life a new saga filled with epic adventure and unforgettable characters. Far-reaching in scope and imagination, Lord of Snow and Shadows marks the first step on a journey like no other - into a world teeming with political intrigue, astonishing magic, and passions both dark and light ...
`Ash does it in style ... she has given us a superb interweaving of character - and context, seamless enough to carry us past the threshold of disbelief into a world both magical and firmly, unwaveringly human’ Tom Holt
`Overflowing with page-turning surprises and plot twists... a promising start to a clearly ambitious series’ SFX

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by Sarah Ash at Amazon.co.uk

Sarah Ash Prisoner of Ironsea Tower Pbk published May 2004 by Bantam at Ł10.99 ISBN: 0-593-04984 5

A shattered empire reunited. A victory exacted at a terrible price. The Tears of Artamon continues…
Gavril Nagarian has finally cast out the dragon-daemon. The Drakhaoul is gone - and with it all Gavril’s fearsome powers. But now rid of the daemon’s unnatural lusts and desires, he understands how he has betrayed his birthright and his people - put the ice-bound kingdom of Azhkendir at risk and lost ...
Emerging from his battle with the Lord Drakhaon scarred but victorious, Eugene of Tielen exacts a terrible revenge upon the vanquished. For crimes against the Rossiyan Empire, renegade warlord Gavril Nagarian is condemned to spend the rest of his days in an asylum for the insane - for the absence of the Drakhaoul is indeed slowly driving him mad. But Eugene is motivated by something altogether more sinister: he longs to possess the Drakhaoul - whatever the cost to his kingdom and his humanity.
With Gavril imprisoned in Ironsea Tower, it is left to three women to keep his memory alive. His mother - having returned to her homeland - sows the seeds of rebellion, while a young scullery maid whose heart is broken by Gavril’s incarceration sends her spirit out to quest the Ways Beyond. And even the emperor’s new wife is haunted by the memory of the handsome young painter who once captured her soul.
As the five realms of a shattered empire are reunited and the last of Artamon’s ruby tears adorns Eugene’s crown, peace comes to Rossiya. But peace can be as fragile as a rebel’s whisper. Or a captive’s desire to be free ...
In an enthralling sequel to the acclaimed Lord of Snow and Shadows, Sarah Ash returns to this realm of spirits and singers, daemons and kings to tell a tale flowing with power and light, where courtly intrigue collides with wild magic, and good and evil are as nebulous as the memory of a dream ...
‘Ash does it in style ... she has given us a superb interweaving of characters and context, seamless enough to carry us through the threshold of disbelief into a world both magical and firmly, unwaveringly human’ Tom Holt, about Lord of Snow and Shadows

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by Sarah Ash at Amazon.co.uk

Steve Aylett Karloff's Circus Pbk published February 2004 by Gollancz at Ł9.99 ISBN: 0 575 07089 7

Damnation - it takes as long as it takes
As an episode of Accomplice history comes to a close, the Circus of the Heart’s Shell transforms the town square into a venue for hellish clowning. Sweeney’s forces are closing in upon Barny from several directions ...
But is Dietrich right that humanity is more routinely evil than any mythical fright?
Will Fang be re-united with his zombie family?
What does doomed Eddie Gallo find outside Accomplice?
Will Gregor survive a boxing match with a slob demon?
Violaine’s prophecy comes to pass. The troops do something useful. Two living Steinway Spiders attack. Rudloe confronts the Conglomerate with his cowardice.
This may well be the Rosetta Stone of the four Accomplice books.
Reviews for the Accomplice novels:
‘A hugely impressive example of outrageous literary wit and uncommon good sense demonstrating that Aylett is the coolest writer alive today’ Starburst
‘A non-stop assault of gags, outright sick moments and sharp observations on human foibles. Bizarre and brilliant’ Dreamwatch
‘Endlessly entertaining bizarre pulp’ The Scotsman
About The Author
Steve Aylett was born in Bromley in the late sixties. He left school at 17, worked in a book warehouse, and later in trade and law publishing - here he invented the concept of `fractal litigation’, whereby the flapping of a butterfly’s wings on one side of the world results in a massive compensation claim on the other.
His first book The Crime Studio, published in 1994, was generally regarded as a `cry for help’. This was followed by Bigot Hall, Slaughtermatic, The Inflatable Volunteer and Atom.
Steve Aylett has built up a massive cult following on both sides of the Atlantic and in 1998 was nominated for a Philip K Dick award.
His toured `Shroud’ show, during which he silently impersonated the Shroud of Turin, caused rage and impatience in clubland. His books and stories, including those appearing in the Disco Biscuits anthologies, have been translated into Spanish, Czech, Italian, French, Japanese, German, Russian and Greek.
Presently he lives in Brighton with his skeleton. If he were any more English he'd be dead.

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by Steve Aylett at Amazon.co.uk

R.Scott Bakker The Darkness that Comes Before Pbk published March 2004 by Simon & Schuster at Ł10.99 ISBN: 0 7432 5668 9

The Prince of Nothing Book One
One cannot raise walls against what has been forgotten.
A score of centuries has passed since the First Apocalypse. The No-God has been vanquished and the thoughts of men have turned, inevitably, to more worldly concerns ...
Drusas Achamian, tormented by 2,000 year old nightmares, is a sorcerer and a spy, constantly seeking news of an ancient enemy that few believe still exists. Ikurei Conphas, nephew to the Nansur Emperor, is the Exalt-General of the Imperial Army and a military genius. He plots to conquer the known world for his Emperor and dreams of the throne for himself. Maithanet, mysterious and charismatic, is spiritual leader of the Thousand Temples. He seeks a Holy War to cleanse the land of the infidel. Cnaiiir, Chieftain of the Utemot, is a Scylvendi barbarian. Rejected by his people, he seeks vengeance against the former slave who slew his father, and disgraced him in the eyes of his tribe.
Into this world steps Anasurimbor Kellhus, the product of two thousand years of breeding and a lifetime of training in the ways of thought, limb, and face. Steering souls through the subtleties of word and expression, he slowly binds all - man and woman, emperor and slave - to his own mysterious ends.
But the fate of men - even great men - means little when the world itself may soon be torn asunder. Behind the politics, beneath the imperialist expansion, amongst the religious fervour, a dark and ancient evil is reawakening. After two thousand years, the No-God is returning. The Second Apocalypse is nigh. And one cannot raise walls against what has been forgotten ...
'Take note, one and all, something remarkable has begun' Steven Erikson

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by R.Scott Bakker at Amazon.co.uk

Ashok K. Banker Demons of Chitrakut Pbk published June 2004 by Orbit at Ł6.99 ISBN: 1-84149-178 0

The original Ramayana was written three thousand years ago by a reformed thief-turned-sage named Valmiki. Now, with breathtaking imagination and brilliant storytelling, Indian writer Ashok K. Banker has recreated this epic tale for modern readers everywhere.
Rama has quelled the demon invasion. He has thwarted the demonlord Ravana. And he is wedded to the enchanting Sita. But the young princes problems are far from over. For Rama has been challenged by the fabled axe-wielding brahmin Parshurama - a warrior of such power he has never been defeated.
And should he survive the confrontation, a greater crisis awaits him. Accompanied by his beloved Sita and loyal brother Lakshman, the prince must travel deep into the heart of the dread forest of Dandaka-van. There he will be pitted against the vengeful survivors of Ravana’s rakshasa hordes. And in the tiny outlaw settlement of Chitrakut, surrounded by blood-thirsty demons, he must prepare to face fourteen years of exile.
Praise For Ashok K. Banker’s Ramayana
‘Its epic scale is as globally relevant as Gilgamesh, Cuchullain and Beowulf’ Historical Novels Review
‘A milestone. Banker brings a magnificent sense of predestination to his task’ India Today
‘Stunning’ Enigma
A refreshing change from generic fantasyland’ Starburst
‘In a word, Wow! The Alien Online
A marvellous landscape of princes, demons, mages, and lovers’ Kate Elliott
‘Banker spins a good yarn, full of colour and atmosphere and authentic touches’ Starburst
‘I’m deeply impressed!… Spectacular in scope and vision’ Enigma
'Sophisticated and absorbing' Dreamwatch
About The Author
Ashok K. Banker is a well-known Indian writer. For the past few years, he has been working full-time to realise his childhood dream of retelling the great tales of Indian myth and legend. He has completed the third and fourth books of the Ramayana, Demons of Chitrakut and Armies of Hanuman, and is currently finishing the last three books, Lair of Rakshasas, Lord of Lanka and King of Ayodhya.
Ashok lives in Bombay, India.

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by Ashok K. Banker at Amazon.co.uk

Iain Banks The Algebraist Published October 2004 by Orbit at Ł17.99 ISBN: 1-84149-155 1
It is 4034 AD. Humanity has made it to the stars. Fassin Taak. A slow seer at the court of the Nasqueron Dwellers. Will be fortunate if he makes it to the end of the year.
The Nasqueron Dwellers inhabit a gas giant on the outskirts of the galaxy, in a system awaiting its wormhole connection to the rest of civilisation. In the meantime, they are dismissed as decadents living in a state of highly developed barbarism, hoarding data without order, hunting their own young and fighting pointless formal wars.
Seconded to a military-religious order he’s barely heard of - part of the baroque hierarchy of the Mercatoria, the latest galactic hegemony - Fassin Taak has to travel again amongst the Dwellers. He is in search of a secret hidden for half a billion years. But with each day that passes a war draws closer - a war that threatens to overwhelm everything and everyone he’s ever known.
As complex, turbulent, flamboyant and spectacular as the gas giant on which it is set the new science fiction novel from lain M Banks is space opera on a truly epic scale.
Praise for Iain M. Banks
‘The standard by which the rest of SF is judged’ The Guardian
‘Poetic, humorous, baffling, terrifying, sexy’ NME
‘Explosive’ Sunday Times
‘Spectacular’ The Scotsman
‘Banks is a phenomenon’ William Gibson

About The Author
lain Banks was born in Fife in 1954. An only child, his father was an Admiralty officer and his mother a professional ice skater. At Stirling University, he read English Literature with Philosophy and Psychology and he now holds honorary doctorates from that university and St. Andrews. During vacations, he took odd jobs as a hospital porter, estate worker, pier porter (on Clydeside docks), road worker, dustman and gardener. He now lives with his wife in Fife, in a house overlooking the Forth Bridge.
lain Banks had written several novels (mostly science fiction), before submitting The Wasp Factory to Macmillan Publishers. It was picked out of the publisher’s ‘slush pile’ as an unsolicited manuscript and published in 1984 (on lain’s 30th birthday).
The critical reaction varied widely from the Daily Telegraph ‘one of the most brilliant first novels I have come across for some time’ and the Financial Times, ‘A Gothic horror story of quite exceptional quality ...an outstandingly good read,’ to the Irish Times ‘It is a sick, sick world when the confidence and investment of an astute firm of publishers is justified by a work of unparalleled depravity’. The Mail on Sunday concluded ‘If a nastier, more vicious or distasteful novel appears this spring, I shall be surprised. But there is unlikely to be a better one either.’
After the publication of two further mainstream novels, Walking on Glass and The Bridge, Banks’ published his first science fiction novel, Consider Phlebas. In this novel, he introduced his socialist utopia, The Culture, which has featured in many of his SF novels in various guises. Banks took the opportunity of crossing genres to put back into his name the middle initial ‘M’ for Menzies, his family name.
A regular fixture on the bestseller lists, lain Banks’ novels have also been adapted variously: The Wasp Factory for theatre, Complicity for film and The Crow Road for television in a successful four-part BBC television series (now video), starring Joseph McFadden, Bill Paterson and Peter Capaldi. Espedair Street was serialised on BBC Radio Four early in 1998, with John Gordon Sinclair as Weird, Paul Gambuccini narrating and the songs and music written by Banks himself. In 1997, composer Gary Lloyd released a CD of music based around The Bridge that included passages from the book read by lain Banks. In 1993, Granta chose lain Banks as one of the Best of Young British Novelists.
A compilation of lain’s favourite records was released by EMI on CD in March 1999 as part of the Emi Songbook Series. Called Personal Effects, the songs range from Bowie to The Sex Pistols and from Radiohead to Neneh Cherry.
The Times has acclaimed lain Banks `the most imaginative British novelist of his generation’.
lain Banks lives in fife, Scotland.

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by Iain Banks at Amazon.co.uk

James Barclay Demonstorm Published August 2004 by Gollancz at Ł10.99 ISBN: 0 575 07332 2
This is the end . . .
The dragons have gone home, the elves are safe. The Raven have kept their promises. But fate has not finished with them.
As the war between the colleges rages on, an old enemy senses that his chance to avenge a bitter defeat has come. Tessaya, Lord of the Paleon Tribes, has waited patiently for his moment and now, with Balaia in flames, he makes his move and unleashes the Wesmen hordes.
In Xctesk, his forces scattered, Dystran, Lord of the Mount, faces certain defeat by the Wesmen unless he unleashes the horrifying power of dimensional magics. And Dystran has not come this far to be beaten at the last by a rabble of ignorant tribesmen. And so the veil between dimensions is torn . . .
And beyond, a predatory evil stirs. Demons catch the scent of countless souls in Balaia.
Can even the Raven prevail when the world is coming to an end?
Reviews for James Barclay
Seven. A good fast read perfect for the legendary train journey, but more thoughtful than many novels in this area' SFX
'Truly excellent heroic fantasy' SF Site.com
'Barclay writes with power, pace and a wonderful sense of humour. Better than that, he created novels you want to read again and again.' David Gemmell
‘Quite simply spectacular storytelling’ Amazon.co.uk
‘Action fantasy at its best’ SFX
‘The best modern pulp fantasy of the last few years’ Waterstones Enigma Magazine
'Brings a genuine aesthetic to the fantasy action novel' Time Out

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by James Barclay at Amazon.co.uk

James Barclay Shadowheart Pbk published July 2004 by Gollancz at Ł6.99 ISBN: 0 575 07544 9

Legends of the Raven
War Has Come...
It has been smouldering for years but now the conflict between Balaia’s four colleges of magic has finally blazed into furious life.
Xetesk, the Dark College, determined to impose its rule, now faces an alliance of Lystern and Dordova. Julatsa is crippled, still struggling to find Elven mages to raise its Heart and remake its link to Balaia’s constant flow of Mana.
And so the armies mass, the people flee and the barons play the lethal game of promise and betrayal.
Caught in the flames of the war are The Raven. Three of the legendary mercenary band are dead. One of them struggles with a burgeoning power that could herald a new world and destroy the old. But the survivors will keep their promises to lost friends, to the enslaved Protectors and to the dragon, Sha-Kaan. To Balaia.
The Raven will keep the faith. They will triumph. It’s what they do ...

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by James Barclay at Amazon.co.uk

Alice Borchardt The Raven Warrior Pbk published June 2004 by Bantam at Ł6.99 ISBN: 0-553 81513 X

The Second Tale of Guinevere
Born of the Highlands, along shores washed by northern seas, Guinevere has accepted the power offered to her by the Dragon Throne and been crowned queen.
Her first task is to protect her people from the reviled Saxon raiders. And she must strike quickly or surrender control of the seas. But her warlords refuse to accept that this young queen can know anything of the art of war and offer her an army of misfits and outcasts.. Guinevere knows she cannot - must not fail. Sailing to confront the hated enemy, she summons the spirits of the dead knowing there is a terrible price to pay for their help.
As Guinevere faces her first great challenge as queen, so Black Leg, her childhood companion, begins’ his own quest to become a man and warrior. He will endure trials both mental’ and physical, discover inner strengths and primal passions, each experience more perilous than the last, but these will be as nothing compared to the anguish and desire unleashed when he and Guinevere are reunited. For he is the Raven Warrior, the one who will be called Lancelot ...
Set in that dark age when history and myth collide, The Raven Warrior continues Alice Borchardt’s bold re-imagining of the story of a king called Arthur and, of course, his mercurial queen, Guinevere.

About The Author
Alice Borchardt shared a childhood of storytelling wither sister, Anne Rice, in New Orleans. A professional nurse, she has also nurtured a profound interest in little-known periods of history. She lives in Houston, Texas

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by Alice Borchardt at Amazon.co.uk

Terry Brooks Tanequil Published September 2004 by Simon & Schuster at Ł17.99 ISBN: 0 7432 5674 3

Pen Ohmsford is the only one who can rescue the rightful High Druid of Shannara from her exile. But what even he doesn’t know is that a long banished evil has returned – an evil that my threaten everyone in the Four Lands.

Events that began in Jarka Runs come swiftly to a head in this second thrilling volume of High Druid of Shannara, by master myth-maker Terry Brooks.
Grianne Ohmsford, rightful High Druid of Shannara, has been banished to the harsh mirror-world of the Forbidding. Her only hope for rescue is her nephew Penderrin - but Pen is under siege as well. Both he and his parents are sought by the treacherous druid who took Grianne’s place and who wants to make sure their magic will never help her return.
Eluding death is only half the battle for Pen. To breach the Forbidding and bring Grianne back to the natural world means finding the fabled Tanequil, and the talisman it alone can provide. That means journeying into the Inkrim - a dreaded region thick with shadows and haunted by harrowing legends. It also means striking a bargain more severe than Pen could ever imagine.
And there is a third threat. No one but Grianne is aware that her entry into the Forbidding allowed something dark to escape. A fearsome force long ago exiled has been let back into Grianne’s world. She knows that this creature - which can bend itself to any shape, and can kill at will - may be only the vanguard of a much greater, devastating invasion.

About The Author
A writer since high school, Terry Brooks published his first novel, The Sword of Shannara, in 1977. It became the first work of fiction ever to appear on The New York Times Trade Paperback bestseller list, where it remained for more than five months. He has published twenty consecutive bestselling novels since.
A practising attorney for many years, Terry Brooks now writes full time and lives with his wife, Judine, in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii.

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by Terry Brooks at Amazon.co.uk

Terry Brooks The Sword of Shannara Trilogy Pbk published January 2004 by Orbit at Ł14.99 ISBN: 1-84149-

About The Author
A writer since high school, Terry Brooks published his first novel, The Sword of Shannara, in 1977. It became the first work of fiction ever to appear on The New York Times Trade Paperback bestseller list, where it remained for more than five months. He has published twenty consecutive bestselling novels since.
A practising attorney for many years, Terry Brooks now writes full time and lives with his wife, Judine, in the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii.

at ABE

by Terry Brooks at Amazon.co.uk