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The Sword and Spirit Novels

Leviathan CoverbvcoverwsThe first of these is Leviathan. Click on the image at left to go to the Lulu.com page, where you can purchase a print-on-demand copy, or buy the ebook (if you have iBooks, you can search on the app on your iPhone or  iPad and download the ebook to your device.  Just look for my name or the name of the book).

The second, pictured at right, is Broken Vessels.  You can obtain your copy the same way as with Leviathan, just click on the picture and you’ll be conveyed safely by the ‘system of tubes’ to a convenient place of purchase.

A Word on the Cycle:

“There are two powers in the world; the Sword, and the Spirit.  The Sword will always be conquered by the Spirit.”  -Napoleon Bonaparte

Some images, to illustrate the scope of the project:

edinbridgewsEdinbridge is the capital of Albion, and the principal setting of the first half of Leviathan and most of Broken Vessels.  It is loosely based on 18th Century London (as loosely as I wanted it to be, for the sake of the story, the progression of Tellus’s global events, and the characters).

This map is included in the books.

sudalbionwsThis image depicts South Albion, which is the broader region in which Edinbridge is situated.  This map, specifically, is an aid for the reader of Broken Vessels, in which a minor civil war erupts here.

The map indicates the locations of the major cities and trowns, as well as the locations of the estates of some of the major characters.

eurussmwsEurus is the continent of Tellus on which most of the action takes place.  Since the cycle is a product of my personal fascination with the history of the European Enlightenment (the so-called ‘Age of Reason’), the Revolutionary/ Napoleonic, and Regency periods, and the captivating potential to introduce fantasy elements into this setting, it should come as no surprise that the continent resembles a simplified, reversed Europe.  The world of Tellus is not only geographically flipped, but it also has two moons, and living Gods and Demigods.  Vanacia, for example, is something like a unified Italy which is ruled by a Catholic Church whose Holy See has been subverted by a coup, in which a Gnostic faction of Demiurge worshippers called the Cani della Guerra has taken over, while Alvergne has recently undergone a revolution (like a quicker, more violent version of the historical French Revolution, in which the King has successfully fled the country and now leads the emigres).  Since the largest threat to both is the Papacy, Alvergne and Albion find themselves forced into an uncomfortable alliance, so that instead of the actual, historical situation (in which England was the only country which was represented in every coalition against Revolutionary/Napoleonic France), we see one where the two great enemies are forced to co-operate in creative ways.

The total effect of Tellus is to thrust the reader into a world which is familiar, but at the same time subtly alien.  In this world, the progress of Enlightenment reason has not just our world’s faith-based religions to contend with, but rather Gods and Goddesses who involve themselves directly in human events, in Homeric fashion, and fantastic creatures, like the colossal sea monster, Leviathan, and the immortal horse, Areion.

This is the backdrop to the series, which will eventually span seven books.  The third, The Flown Arrow, is currently in progress, and promises to be even more exciting and engaging than the first two.   In The Flown Arrow, Fletcher , Lorraine, Jeavons, and Moreton find themselves at the head of an army of redcoats, battling the last pretender to the Albian throne in the miasmal Antiufais region of Alvergne.

 

All content © William Richardson, 2010.  All rights reserved.