Pyr Books Editorial Director Lou Anders tells us “I’ve just acquired not one but six books from Mark Chadbourn,” including Age of Misrule, “his brilliant urban/Arthurian fantasy trilogy of a modern Britain plugged back into darkness and magic and the heroes who arise to defend her,” and The Swords of Albion, “his new Elizabethan spy-fantasy trilogy.”
The Age of Misrule trilogy—including World’s End, Darkest Hour, and Always Forever—was originally published by Gollancz in the UK, and the deal was handled by Gollancz’s Susan Howe. Pyr expects to start publishing this series next Spring.
The Swords of Albion trilogy—The Silver Skull, The Scar-Crow Men, and The Devil’s Looking-Glass—was agented by Ian Drury of Sheil Land Associates.
Anders calls Chadbourn “a brilliant writer, who not only has a tremendous imagination but manages to marry his vision to a very readable, accessible and fast-paced style. It’s amazing to me it’s taken this long to get him to America, but between these six books and the epic fantasy trilogy that Solaris recently acquired, that egregious oversight is about to be resoundingly corrected.”
Two-time British Fantasy Award-winner Chadbourn says “I’m very excited to be working withh Pyr on the launch of The Swords of Albion and the US debut of Age of Misrule. Pyr has a dynamic, cool, and smart approach to the genre, which, of course, is an excellent fit for my writing.”
Anders says of The Swords of Albion: “I first encountered Elizabethan Superspy Will Swyfte in the short story ‘Who Slays the Gyant, Wounds the Beast’, originally published in The Solaris Book of New Fantasy (and subsequently selected for Hartwell and Cramer’s Year’s Best Fantasy), and fell in love at first read. I was weaned on Ian Fleming and Fritz Leiber, and this wonderfully fun character seemed to marry both these loves into one. I wrote Mark to ask if there were any more planned outings for Swyfte, and was thrilled to hear back within minutes that a proposal for a trilogy was going out the very next day. Naturally, I couldn’t wait for the next day. Now, I can’t wait for him to finish writing the first novel. And the second. And the third.”
Anders also provided us with that proposal:
“Spies are men of doubtful credit, who make a show of one thing and speak another.” —Mary, Queen of Scots
A devilish plot to assassinate the Queen, a Cold War enemy hell-bent on destroying the nation, incredible gadgets, a race against time around the world to stop the ultimate doomsday device… and Elizabethan England’s greatest spy!
Meet Will Swyfte—adventurer, swordsman, rake, swashbuckler, wit, scholar and the greatest of Walsingham’s new band of spies. His exploits against the forces of Philip of Spain have made him a national hero, lauded from Carlisle to Kent. Yet his associates can barely disguise their incredulity—what is the point of a spy whose face and name is known across Europe?
But Swyfte’s public image is a carefully-crafted façade to give the people of England something to believe in, and to allow them to sleep peacefully at night. It deflects attention from his real work—and the true reason why Walsingham’s spy network was established.
A Cold War seethes, and England remains under a state of threat. The forces of Faerie have been preying on humanity for millennia. Responsible for our myths and legends, of gods and fairies, dragons, griffins, devils, imps and every other supernatural menace that has haunted our dreams, this power in the darkness has seen humans as playthings to be tormented, hunted or eradicated.
But now England is fighting back!
Magical defenses have been put in place by the Queen’s sorcerer Dr. John Dee, who is also a senior member of Walsingham’s secret service and provides many of the bizarre gadgets utilized by the spies. Finally there is a balance of power. But the Cold War is threatening to turn hot at any moment…
Will now plays a constant game of deceit and death, holding back the Enemy’s repeated incursions, dealing in a shadowy world of plots and counter-plots, deceptions, secrets, murder, where no one… and no thing… is quite what it seems.
The entire world is the battleground—from Russia, across Europe, to the Caribbean and the New World. And while great events play out in the public eye, the true struggle takes place behind the scenes: the Spanish Armada, the Throckmorton Plot, the colonization of the Americas, the Court intrigues, the battles in Ireland and against Spain, the death of Marlowe, the plagues, the art, the music, the piracy, the great discoveries… all are simply window-dressing as the great sweep of recorded history is peeled back to show the truth behind.