Robert Holdstock at Tangled Web UK

Page Updated: 28/01/2008

Robert Holdstock

The Broken Kings

The Mythago Cycle - Volume 2

The Iron Grail

Celtika

Mythago Wood

WebPage: http://www.robertholdstock.com

About the Author (Photo (c) Sandy Auden)

Bibliography

First British Edition Gollancz (2007)

The Broken Kings
The Merlin Codex 3
The death of vengeance is the most beautiful death of all.
All the signs are that the hill below the fortress of Taurovinda, stronghold of Urtha, High King of the Cornovidi, is coming alive in a way that signals danger from the west, from the Otherworldly realm of the Shadows of Heroes. They claim the land as their own.
But this time their actions are driven by a force that is darker and older than even the oldest among the ghosts. Who or what is raising the Dead? Merlin must answer that question if this time of kings and lovers is to be saved; his quest for the truth will take him back in history, and to a fabled island of legend.
Jason’s wonderful ship, Argo, has returned, drawn back by her own guilty past, and a dreadful secret that she will reveal only to Merlin. Could Argo hold the key to the mystery?
And all the while, Niiv, the bewitching, beautiful Northlands enchantress, is working her way even deeper into Merlin’s charms. Love is in the air. But at a price.
In this third volume of the Merlin Codex, Robert Holdstock weaves myth and history into a fabulous tale of honour, vengeance and magic. At its centre, moving along his never-ending path, is Merlin himself, an enchanter in the prime of his life, feckless, curious, powerful, yet a stranger to his own past - and a man about find a true and honourable use for his talents.
'A new expression of the British genius for true fantasy' Alan Garner
‘One of Britain’s best fantasists… a myth-maker of originality’ The Times
'One of the finest living crafters of myth' Publishers Weekly

British Pbk Original - Gollancz (2007)

The Mythago Cycle - Volume 2
Ryhope Wood holds ancient secrets and memories from legend and history, both real and imagined, that take on physical form. Known as mythagos, they are unpredictable and dangerous. Ryhope Wood is ancient, sentient, and it has its own agenda: it calls to those who have an aptitude for creating mythagos to constantly refresh itself. And it has its own formidable defences, to keep out those who would bring its mysteries out into the light of day.
Alex Bradley is a damaged, visionary child, but he has no idea that the distorted creatures of his mind are alive inside nearby Ryhope Wood until he is summoned by the strange forest. Like so many others before him, he disappears into the green depths, but the frightened child’s vivid fantasies are so powerful that the forest itself starts changing.
As a young boy, Christian Huxley watched his father’s obsession with Ryhope Wood change to madness. He witnessed his mother’s suicide after a horde of questing warriors broke out of the wood and into their home. Now a young man back from the Second World War, he is drawn into the wood, where a series of dangerous quests, a heart-breaking love affair and the most difficult decision of his life lead him to the Gates of Ivory and Horn, the gates of truth and lie.
The Hollowing and Gate of Ivory, Gate of Horn continue the story of Mythago Wood one of the most magical and unforgettable fantasy landscapes ever imagined.
`A new expression of the British genius for true fantasy’ Alan Garner
`One of Britain’s best fantasists’ The Times
`The finest writer of metamorphic fantasy now working’ Washington Post Book World

Paperback - Gollancz (2007)

First British Edition Earthlight (2002)

Paperback
Earthlight (2003)

The Iron Grail
Book Two of the Merlin Codex

The first is a man who needs you and will use you. He will weaken you dangerously. The second is a man you betrayed, though you believe otherwise. He wishes to kill you and can do so easily. The third is a ship that is more than a ship. She grieves and broods. She will carry you to your grave.’

These three warnings greet Merlin on his return to Alba, the future England, to the deserted fortress of Taurovinda - the Hill of the White bull. He is not the only one making the journey: Urtha, High King of the Cornovidi, is coming home to reclaim his stronghold. And Jason is coming to seek his younger son Kinos, ‘the Little Dreamer’, hiding somewhere in the Celtic kingdom. He sails on Argo, resurrected after seven centuries.
But Urtha’s fortress has been taken by warriors from Ghostland; they claim it as their own. There will be war against the Otherworld.
In this sequel to Celtika, Robert Holdstock weaves myth and history into a fabulous tale of honour, death and magic. The characters take on a life of their own: the mythic champion Jason; Urtha and his vengeful children; the northern sorceress Niiv, hungry for Merlin’s wisdom; and Kinos, Jason’s son, whose appearance is both terrible and tragic. And at the centre, moving along his neverending path, is Merlin himself, an enchanter in the prime of his life, reckless, curious, powerful, yet a stranger to his own past - a past that is catching up with him.
'Robert Holdstock is a powerful mythmaker… [his] prose has a hauntingly powerful energy that leaves you feeling as though you're breathing in myth as if it were a physical substance' The Times
'Quite simply, one of the books of the year' Infinity Plus
‘State-of-the-art “pure fantasy”’ The Face
‘Sonorous, vivid, and utterly enthralling’ Times Literary Supplement
‘Magical’ The Independent
‘Classic yet original’ Guardian
‘Indescribably enchanting’ Spectator

First British Edition Simon & Schuster (2001)

Paperback - Gollancz (2007)

Paperback
Earthlight (2002)

Celtika
Book One of the Merlin Codex
Centuries before he meets Arthur, Merlin wanders the Earth, eternally young, a traveller on the path of magic and learning. During his journeys he encounters Jason, whose search for the Golden Fleece he joins. It is a decision that will cost him dear...
Hundreds of years later, Merlin hears of a screaming ship in a northern lake and divines that it is the Argo, and that Jason still screams out for his sons, stolen by the enchantress Medea, and thought dead. But death is not the end, and Merlin’s trek to the north leads to the revival of both man and ship, and a new quest, with new companions - to find Jason’s sons.
Celtika begins The Merlin Codex, a new series from Robert Holdstock, Britain’s premier author of the fantastical. Roving from the frozen north to the blighted and ghostly island which will become Arthur’s realm, from the deep forests familiar to Holdstock’s readers from his Award-winning Mythago Wood and Lavondyss to the ancient sanctuaries of Greece, Merlin’s journeying is rich with incident, character and history. Celtika mines a deep vein of epic tale, mystery and enchantment.
'He has taken a legend and made it his own' Enigma
‘Highly recommended’ Interzone
‘A complex, intelligent fantasy’ SFX
‘A fascinating start to a highly original series’ Starburst
‘Holdstock has a beautifully subtle imagination that conjures up worlds and events with enviable ease… a writer of both heart and fire’ Peter F. Hamilton
‘Our finest living mythmaker. His narratives – intense, exuberant, earthy, passionate, dense with metaphor – are new trails through the ancient forest of our imaginations. An essential writer’ Stephen Baxter
‘No other author has so successfully captured the magic of the wildwood’ Michael Moorcock
‘Rob Holdstock’s is one of the voices at the very heart of modern fantasy’ Guy Gavriel Kay

Hardback
Gollancz (2007)

Mythago Wood

Deep within the wildwood lies a place of myth and mystery, from which few return, and none remain unchanged ...

Ryhope Wood may look like a three-mile-square piece of woodland in rural Herefordshire ton the outside, but inside, it is a primeval, intricate labyrinth of trees, impossibly huge, unforgettable ... and stronger than time itself.
Stephen Huxley has already lost his father to the mysteries of Ryhope Wood. On his return from the Second World War, he finds that his brother Christopher is also in thrall Its this remnant of forest, wherein lies a realm where mythic archetypes grow flesh and blood, where love and beauty haunt your dreams, and in promises of freedom lies the sanctuary of insanity ...
Mythago Wood, winner of the World Fantasy Award and the Grand Prix de l.’Imaginaire, is a haunting masterpiece from one of the world’s finest living crafters of myth.

About The Author
Robert Holdstock shared his childhood years between the bleak Romney Marsh and the dense woods of the Kentish heartlands. After several years of research in the field of medical zoology, he became a full-time writer of science fiction and fantasy in 1975. He lives in London, but escapes to the forests whenever possible.
Mythago Wood won the World Fantasy Award and was heralded by Alan Garner as ‘A new expression of the British genius for true fantasy’, and by the New York Times as ’beautifully written and conceived ... hard to shake off’. Lavondyss won the BSFA Award and was described by the Independent as ’Magical ... it is rare to find a sequel which measures up to its original; but Lavondyss surpasses it.’ His most recent Mythago novel, Gate of Ivory, received this praise from John Clute in the Washington Post: ‘Holdstock is the finest writer of metamorphic fantasy now working. This is a tale out of his heartwood’. And in Locus as ‘At once comic, tragic, gory, astounding...’

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Bibliography
N.B. dates and publishers in dark red indicate British First Editions. Dates and publishers in black indicate recent reprints.

The Broken Kings (Gollancz, 2007)

The Mythago Cycle - Volume 2 (Gollancz Pbk, 2007)

The Iron Grail (Earthlight, 2002) Gollancz Pbk Jan 07

Celtika (Simon & Schuster, 2001) Gollancz Pbk Jan 07

Mythago Wood (Gollancz, 1984) Gollancz Feb 07 Earthlight Pbk Aug 02

Magician: The Lost Journals of the Magus, Geoffrey Carlyle ( 1982)

Gates of Ivory Gates of Horn Earthlight Pbk Aug 02