Tom Arden

Page Updated: 15/12/01

Tom Arden

Empress of the Endless Dream

15 Nov 01

Sisterhood of the Blue Storm

pbk 08 Nov 01

Sultan of the Moon and Stars

The King and Queen of Swords

The Harlequin's Dance

WebPage: http://www.tomarden.com

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Books By Tom Arden

About the Author

Bibliography

First British Edition Gollancz (2001)

Empress of the Endless Dream
Long ago, the mysterious bearers of a golden, magical jewel retreated to the Lamasery of the Winds, high in the mountains, seeking transcendence into another dimension. Then came the avalanche, just in the moment when transcendence was nigh. Many think the lamasery has been destroyed. Others know the truth is stranger by far. Caught between dimensions, its powers persist and grow. But are they powers of good - or welling, insidious evil?
Returning at last to his rightful kingdom, Prince Jemany faces the final conflict in his desperate battle to reunite the sacred Crystals of Orok and defeat his evil rival, the anti-god Toth-Vexrah, whose campaign of conquest is now almost complete. In an icy, midwinter city, ravaged by terrorism, brutal murder and impending war, Jem struggles for clues to his last, most mysterious and most powerful prize, the searing, sun-like crystal of the sky god Agonis.
Meanwhile, Cata, Jem’s lost beloved, is embroiled with the rebels and their sinister mastermind Bob Scarlet, whose increasingly wild and dangerous plans threaten their lives almost as much as the machinations of their enemies.
Only after a terrifying escape from near-death can Jem reunite himself with Cata and, together with their loyal companions Rajal, Littler and Myla, ready themselves for a last-ditch race against time - and Toth - to seize the final crystal and save the world from doom.
From its mysterious opening scenes to its devastating climax, Empress of the Endless Dream, the fifth and final volume of Tom Arden’s apocalyptic fantasy epic, is a helter-skelter, heart-stopping rush of black humour and horror, murder and mysticism, the divine and the depraved. Nothing is what it appears to be and heroes and villains alike must confront deception, treachery and catastrophic loss before their destiny - and that of the entire world - is revealed at last.
‘It’s grim. It’s witty… the story is so cleverly written, the characters are so engaging/enraging… vastly entertaining on several levels’ The SF Site
‘Arden is a very stylish writer’ Interzone
‘A sprawling baroque tapestry, with wit, style and action . . . a triumph of which Arden should be justly proud’ SFX
‘Some unexpected and spectacular developments as a reward’ Locus

First British Edition Gollancz (2000)

Paperback - Gollancz Millenium (2001)

Sisterhood of the Blue Storm
The Fourth Book Of The Orokon

In a time lost in legend, the many Isles of Wenaya were united in worship of Javander, goddess of the seas. From her vast, fantastical palace beneath the waves, Javander presided over a caste of priestesses, linked in a thrumming psychic web. Then the web was broken, Javander’s people turned to false gods and the priestesses who once served her so well became the evil Sisterhood of the Blue Storm.

Ten boys on the cusp of adulthood arrive on the empty tropical island of Xaro to undergo their Manhood Trial, an age-old ritual meant to build character as they leave childhood behind. They thought they could survive alone. But that was before the killing began. That was before the Blue Storm.
To this island of dark magic come Jem and his companions, pursuing their mystic quest for the long-lost crystals of the Orokon, desperate to find Javander’s blue jewel before Jem’s evil rival, the anti-god Toth-Vexrah, gets there. Never has the quest been so perilous.
Meanwhile the beautiful young Triarch’s daughter, Selinda, determined to escape ritual murder, begins a strange odyssey of her own that soon entangles her in Jem’s quest.
And so begins a bizarre and phantasmagorical tale, where slave galleys, ghost ships, shipwrecks and sea monsters are only preludes to Jem’s confrontation with the evil Sisterhood. Bursting with marvels and strange magic, Sisterhood of the Blue Storm, the fourth volume in Tom Arden’s enthralling fantasy epic, is a whirling fantasia of swashbuckling adventure, tragedy and triumph, of comedy and romance, of heart-stopping action and unforgettable, larger-than-life characters, caught up in a quest on which hangs the fate of the world.
‘Witty, stylish and gloriously convoluted’ Dave Langford, Amazon.co.uk
‘Altogether, great fun’ Interzone

Paperback - Gollancz Millenium (2000)

First British Edition Gollancz (1999)

Sultan of the Moon and Stars
The Third Book Of The Orokon
The vision came in the wilderness long ago, commanding the Sultan’s ancestor to lead his peoples to the place that would be called the Sacred City. There, deep within a rocky cavern, there burns an immense, roaring column of fire: the Sacred Flame. Worshipped by millions, it is the source of the Sultan's power. But the Flame harbours a terrible secret - and so does the Sultan.
For generations, the Sultans of Kal-Theron have held their desert realm in a cruel, implacable grip, but now, as a ruthless invader threatens, not even the Sacred Flame may save the ancient empire.
Into this seething hotbed of political machinations and rebellion stumbles Prince Jemany, son of Ejland's deposed king and true heir to the throne, as he plunges into the next stage of his perilous quest, seeking the long-lost crystals of the Orokon. Already the anti-god, Toth-Vexrah, has burst free from the Realm of Unbeing and is working his evil upon the susceptible and easily swayed. Only Jem stands in his way, but now he faces dangers closer at hand.
In an Arabian Nights world of eunuchs and genies, magic carpets and mysterious veiled women, dark magic is stirring. Cut off from his companions, Jem is trapped in the bizarre, horrifying dreamworld of the enchanter Almoran. Meanwhile, his lost love Cata becomes embroiled with the Shimmering Princess, the idol of millions, whose fate holds the key to the Sultan's empire - and to the whereabouts of the pulsing red crystal of the fire god Theron.
Rich in horror and high adventure, outrageous comedy and aching romance, Sultan of the Moon and Stars, the third volume in Tom Arden's compelling fantasy epic, is a lush and startling tapestry of dreams and danger, marvels and mystery, treason and tyranny, where luxury meets squalor, innocence meets depravity, and gods descend into the human world.

First British Edition Gollancz (1998)

Paperback - Gollancz Millenium (1999)

The King and Queen of Swords
The Second Book Of The Orokon
Once there was a land with five evil kings, and each king had an evil queen. These were the King and Queen of Quills, of Wheels, of Spires, of Rings. Each of these rulers wielded great power, but most powerful of all, most wicked of all and, above all, most feared, were the King and Queen of Swords.
That was long ago and now the King and Queen of Swords are only painted faces on playing cards, flicking across the green baize of gaming tables. Or are they?
For many Vexing, true prince of Ejland and Key to the Orokon, keeps hearing their names, in song and in story, as he sets out on the second stage of his quest, seeking the long-lost mystic crystals of the gods.
On the run and lying low, Jem is disguised as a wandering Vaga-player, making for the great southern city of Agondon. There he hopes his mysterious new guardian - promised to him by the enigmatic harlequin - will guide him to the green Crystal of Viana. But Lord Empster is not all he appears to be, and Jem must wonder if his guardian is really good or evil - until adventure overtakes him and there is no time to wonder any more.
Meanwhile Cata, Jem's lost love, is caught in the machinations of the evil, ambitious Aunt Umbecca. Robbed of her memory, scrubbed and civilized, the wild girl has been turned into a lady. Cata recalls nothing of her powers - or of]em. But her memory is beginning to stir, and soon she discovers a destiny that leads her from a mysterious meeting in a midnight wood to a bloody battlefield in a distant land.
Rich in magic, mystery, horror and humour, The King and Queen of Swords, the second volume of Tom Arden's sweeping fantasy epic, vividly depicts an eighteenth-century world of armies and assassins, brothels and bandits, love and longing, ransom and rape - and looming over it all, the ancient riddle of the King and Queen of Swords.

Paperback - Vista (1998)

First British Edition Gollancz (1997)

The Harlequin's Dance
The First Book Of The Orokon
A sweeping epic set, unusually, in an eighteenth century world of muskets, highwaymen and high-society balls.
The God Orok gave his five children crystals of surpassing beauty, to be embedded in a circle on the Rock of Being and Unbeing, whence had sprung the gods, the earth and all its peoples. This circle, known as The Orokon, ensured the harmony of life until the dark God Koros plucked his crystal from the Rock and plunged the world into chaos and despair.
Ejland, northernmost kingdom of El-Orok, has been torn apart by civil war. The benevolent Ejard Red has been betrayed by the Archduke of Irion: after a long siege, the king has been captured and his throne seized by his twin brother, Ejard Blue.
In the village of Irion, a crippled boy, Jeremy Vexing, lives in the dilapidated castle with his dying mother and his frustrated and fanatical aunt.
Unable to walk, Jem is condemned to wretched half-life, until he meets a mysterious dwarf... and with his new strength comes a new friendship with the wild girl, Catayane. And Jem becomes aware of his destiny, to find and reunite the five crystals of The Orokon.
The Harlequin's Dance is the first book in an intriguing saga of evil and enchantment, rivalry and romance, betrayal and battles. Tom Arden is wonderful new fantasy writer.
'Arden develops his tale skilfully… He has a fine eye for the grotesque, and he wit to expose it; together they contribute an edge of hysteria to the sense of mounting foreboding' Interzone
'…builds to a stunning climax while putting a new twist to some well-trodden ground' SFX
'The stunningly conceived eighteen-century backing… acts as a very complex backdrop for a thronging cast of characters' Publishing News
'Such is the vigour of Arden's imagination that his tale of war and puritan oppression of minorities never feels slow-moving or cliched' Good Book Guide

About The Author
Tom Arden was born and grew up in Australia. His love of science ficiton and fantasy began in childhood with Dan Dare and Doctor Who. As a student, and later as a university lecturer, he studied eighteenth-century literature, writing a Ph.D. thesis on Clarissa, Samuel Richardson's epic tale of rape and betrayal.
The idea for The Orokon came to him after meeting a stranger on a train in the Czech Republic, who drew The Orokon symbol on a frosted window. The stranger explained that the are-sword, which symbolized the unity of all things, had been found in an abandoned monastery in Eastern Slovakia, where a pagan cult had worshipped until suppressed by the communists.
Among his other interests, Tom cites old comic-books, the theatre and visiting strange cities.

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

Empress of the Endless Dream (Gollancz, 2001) Nov 01

Sisterhood of the Blue Storm (Gollancz, 2000) Gollancz Millenium Pbk Nov 01

Sultan of the Moon and Stars (Gollancz, 1999) Gollancz Millenium Pbk Nov 00

The King and Queen of Swords (Gollancz, 1998) Gollancz Millenium Pbk Nov 99

The Harlequin's Dance (Gollancz, 1997) Vista Pbk 1998