The Promethean Age
Cover art by Paul Youll
Cover art by Paul Youll
all stories are true....
Assuming that I am alive to write them, and that people like you keep buying enough of them to make it worthwhile for my publishers to keep printing more, my plans for the Promethean Age series are rather ambitious. The four novels listed at the top of the page are only the beginning of the vast mad edifice I hope someday to construct. Essentially, the idea is a cycle of some twelve or more books, each of them exploring an aspect of the five-hundred-year-long secret war between Faerie and the human magi of the Prometheus Club. A secret history of sorts, in other words. Oh, Gods, you groan, not another interminable fantasy series--
But no! Wait! Hear me out! Because the magic of this, you see, is that each book stands alone. Or, at the very worst, is part of a duology. (Ink and Steel and Hell and Earth are the two halves of a really long novel, which is collectively known as The Stratford Man.) In other words, you can read them in any order (almost) and get a complete story! In fact--and here's the genius part--they're not even being published in chronological order! So you don't have to let ten books pile up to read the complete story without waiting six years between books. You can, you know, read a book. And still have the joys of a continuing and building narrative to come home to.
The drawback is, if you wanted to read them in chronological order, you might be waiting a while. There is a proposed chronology at the bottom of the page, however. So you can have an idea of what you might have to look forward to.
Anyway, these have been described as Arthurian fantasy, which they're really not (though some of the characters from the Matter of Britain do show up. But then again, so do some characters who are parodies of characters from television and movies about forty years ago....) I'd call them secret histories, mostly. Except the ones that aren't. Which is to say, they take place in a world that is recognizably our world, mostly, and they use real historical details and people, and they propose a secret driving force behind much of the politics and industrial development of the last four hundred years.
Blood and Iron
In the meantime, here's some propaganda... er, I mean, this is the publisher's hyperbole for Blood and Iron:
After setting the science fiction world ablaze with her trilogy of groundbreaking novels- Hammered, Scardown, and Worldwired-John W. Campbell Award-winning author Elizabeth Bear crafts a tale of modern-day magic, chronicling an invisible war between factions of a most fantastical kind...
For centuries, the human mages of the Prometheus Club and the otherworldly creatures of Faerie have battled for control over Earth's destiny with neither side capable of achieving victory over the other.
Their impasse has come to an end...
She is known as the Seeker of the Daoine Sidhe. Spellbound by the Faerie Queen, she has abducted human children for her mistress's pleasure for what seems like an eternity, unable to free herself from her servitude and reclaim her own humanity.
Seeker's latest prey is a Merlin. Named after the legendary wizard of Camelot, Merlins are not simply those who wield magic, they are magic. Now, with the Prometheus Club's agents and rivals from Faerie also vying for the favor of this being of limitless magic to tip the balance of power, Seeker must persuade the Merlin to join her cause-or else risk losing something even more precious and more important to her than the fate of humanity.
Here's what Publishers Weekly had to say:
Ancient grudges and ruthless schemes are simply business as usual to the Faerie court in Bear's complex and involving contemporary fantasy. Seeker, formerly Elaine Andraste, is a changeling bound to the Mebd, the queen of the Daoine Sidhe, to find other changelings and bring them to the Faerie court. There, like legendary Tam Lin, and Seeker's own son, Ian, they entertain the queen until she tires of them. Now the queen needs Seeker to find—and win the heart of—the new Merlin, latest incarnation of a being who, in the hands of the Prometheans, could be used to destroy the Fae. Pragmatic college professor Carel Bierce, the first female Merlin, is not easily swayed by Fae—or Promethean—advances. Long-forgotten rivalries and unsuspected blood ties arise to tug at Seeker's loyalties, even as the queen promises to free Ian when she succeeds. Campbell-winner Bear (Worldwired) overturns the usual vision of Faerie, revealing the compelling beauty and darkness only glimpsed in old ballads and stories like "Tam Lin." (Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
You can read excerpts here:
Blood and Iron, Chapter OneWhiskey and Water
Predictably, the Whiskey and Water stuff is a little spoilery for Blood and Iron. Some of it is a lot spoilery. You have been warned!
Here's the back cover copy for Whiskey and Water:
Several years ago, Matthew the Magician ended an age-old war. It only cost him everything-and everyone-he knew and loved. Turning against his mentor, Jane Andraste, in the realm of Faerie left him physically crippled and his power shattered.
But Matthew remains the protector of New York City. So when he finds a young woman brutally murdered by a Fae creature, he must bring her killer to justice before Jane uses the crime to justify more war-and before he confronts an even larger threat in the greatest Adversary of all...
And a Publishers Weekly review, which I warn you is pretty spoilery, so you might want to skip down to the next one. All you probably need to know is that I lost them in the bushes in a couple of places.
Addressing such wide-ranging topics as absolution, kindness and cruelty, Bear mixes classic and modern supernatural archetypes to craft a beautiful tale whose reach exceeds its grasp. Seven years after the antifairy Promethean Society was nearly destroyed (as chronicled in Blood and Iron), Fae, devils and humans begin further duels for power and their immortal souls. Seeking vengeance, Christopher Marlowe leaves Lucifer's household and challenges the Promethean Mage Jane Andraste to a duel. Meanwhile, Lucifer enrages Satan by requesting an audience with God, and Àine, the queen of the Unseelie Court, tries to unseat Jane's granddaughter, Elaine, as Faerie Queen. These battles occur simultaneously, straining the reader's ability to keep track of each character's multiple machinations. In fact, so many fabulous characters appear (Morgan le Fey, Fionnghuala, the archangel Michael, etc.) that the book desperately needs a complete list of its dramatis personae and their multiple aliases to give the reader a fighting chance to fully enjoy this idiosyncratic fantasy. (Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
The Booklist review is totally full of love, though, and mostly unspoilery even:
Seven years after Matthew ended the age-old war between the Prometheans and Faerie, matters are heating up again. Promethean archmage Jane Andraste is trying to rebuild her power, starting with some new apprentices. The Faerie queen rests uneasily on her throne, with both her son and the Cat Anna, queen of the unseelie fae, plotting to take her place. The devils of Hell grow tired of damnation, and play their own mysterious roles in the whole matter. A certain poet, lately of Hell, has left to seek personal revenge. As protector of New York, Matthew no longer controls his own power yet does what he can. After he's first on the scene at a murder that looks like a fae matter, he tangles with Jane again, trying to prevent her from using the killing as pretext for renewed war with Faerie. A byzantine plot, in which politics become ever more complex, and fascinating, occasionally infuriating, never-dull characters make this a worthy successor to Blood and Iron (2006). (Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved)
And the Library Journal review is a total win:
Matthew Szczegielniak, also known as Matthew Magus, lost his brother and the use of his right hand in a disastrous war against the Fae, spurred on by the treachery of fellow Promethean Mage Jane Andraste. Seven years later, Jane is building a new army of mages, and Matthew discovers the body of a young woman, apparently murdered by a Faerie agent. To fulfill his job as protector of New York City, Matthew must find the murderer, avert another war with the Fae, and contend with the very forces of hell and the New York legal system. Bear's sequel to Blood and Iron reaffirms her skill at creating memorable—and memorably flawed—characters as well as her sure hand at blending together the modern world with the world of the Fae. Her elegant storytelling should appeal to fans of Charles de Lint, Jim Butcher, and other cross world and urban fantasy authors. A strong addition to fantasy collections.
Ink and Steel
The Stratford Man novels, as you might have guessed from the titles, concern certain doings in Elizabethan and Jacobean England between the years of 1593 and 1605. You're shocked, I'm sure.
The prologue and first three scenes are available here:
Ink and Steel, Act I, scene ii
Ink and Steel, Act I, scene iii
Library Journal review of Ink and Steel:Elizabeth I rules England in the "iron world" of humanity; the other realm, of Faerie, claims Queen Mab as monarch. Both worlds exist in symbiosis, but each world is threatened by treachery from within. When Elizabeth's personal spy, poet and playwright Christopher Marlowe, is murdered, his ability to weave sustaining magics into his plays is lost. His replacement, rival William Shakespeare, possesses talent but lacks magic. In order to save England, Faerie intervenes, raising Marlowe as Mab's servantÑand Shakespeare's teacher. The latest installment in Bear's historical fantasy series (Blood and Iron; Whiskey and Water) featuring an Earth infused with magic as well as machinery both explores the fertile literary movements of the Elizabethan era and reveals the origins of the Promethean age. The author's mastery of period detail and her ability to interweave literature and politics while bringing to life some of history's most beloved and problematic characters make this a welcome addition to any library.Publishers Weekly review of Ink and Steel (spoilery!):
(Starred review)
Campbell-winner Bear reveals the secret war between fae and the Elizabethan court in this dramatic prequel to Blood and Iron and Whiskey and Water. Framed with the intrigues of queens and courtiers, the story focuses on the mutual respect and growing love of Kit Marley (aka Christopher Marlowe) and Will Shakespeare. As Morgan le Fey rescues Kit from assassins, various factions recruit Will to bolster their political machinations with the magic of poetry. Kit pulls Will into Faerie and both are forced to face their own deepest desires and fears, which cannot be resolved until they deal with a power even higher than mortal Queen Elizabeth or fae Queen Mab. Copious quotes and intelligent speculation about their lives and works mark this sensitive and sensual look at the two supreme playwrights of the English Renaissance. The story's second half, Hell and Earth, is due out in August. (July)
Hell and Earth
Publishers Weekly review of Hell and Earth:Completing the story of Will Shakespeare and Kit Marley (Christopher Marlowe) begun in 2008's Ink and Steel, Campbell-winner Bear proves again that she can fill a stage as well as any Elizabethan playwright, entwining tragedies of betrayal and blood-soaked revenge with country pastoral and domestic comedy. [Spoilers redacted!] Navigating the tangled intrigues of backstabbing courtiers and malicious magicians, the poets strive to thwart a plot to reshape the world through the power of story. Released on the heels of Ink and Steel, this complex and character-driven tale is best read with the other Promethean Age novels close at hand, not least because it lacks the all-important dramatis personae. (Aug.)
A Promethean Age chonology (subject to change, of course.)....
(Setting) Title or working title (Publication date)
*(Hungary, 15th century) Dog and Crow (not yet written: this is the Stephen Bathory and Matthias Corvinus book.)
*(England, 16th century) Ink and Steel (2008)
*(England, 17th century) Hell and Earth (2008)
*(England, 17th century) Posthumous Jonson (not yet written)
*(England, 19th century) Rag and Bone (not yet written)
*(Africa, 19th century) Balm and Oil (not yet written)
*(USA, early 20th century) Corinna, Corinna (not yet written)
*(Soviet Union, 1940s) Unsuitable Metal (not yet written)
*(Northeastern USA, Fall 1997) Blood and Iron (2006)
*(Las Vegas, 1964 and 2002) One-Eyed Jack and the Suicide King (not yet scheduled)
*(Northeastern USA, Fall 2004) Whiskey and Water (2007)
*(Northeastern USA, Winter 2004) Patience and Fortitude (not yet written)
*(Bangalore, early 21st century) no working title yet (not yet written)
I also have some vague idea of doing a modern-day East Africa book. Probably set in Tanzania.