Asmodeus:
The Legend of Margrét and the Dragon
The Legend of Margrét and the Dragon
by Brooks
Hansen
GENRE: Romantic
Historical Fiction
BLURB:
…Here again, his
natural figure crouched beside her in the dank darkness of the cave, watching
her in silence as she slept, struggling with cravings which were new to him,
both tender and violent, and which he could only really compare to hunger…
(from ASMODEUS)
On the cusp of the
Great War, an even more pitched battle is waged in the furthest corner of the
Nordic highlands, the final chapter of a centuries-old rivalry, pitting a
troubled bloodline of thieves, journeyman, and politicians against the last and
greatest dragon of the hemisphere, Asmodeus.
Until now, the source
of this antagonism has been a single gemstone, the fabled shamir, whose history
traces to the coffers of King Solomon. The present clash, however, has been
sparked by the emergence of an even more desirable, more defiant, and more
powerful force than that.
Inspired by the
golden legend of St. Margaret, Brooks Hansen’s Asmodeus is a masterfully woven
tapestry of history, myth, and fantasy, in the tradition of J.R.R.Tolkien, Bram
Stoker, and C.S. Lewis. By turns a romance, an adventure, and the darkest
imaginable Gothic, his tale is also, as seen through the eyes of the maiden
Margrét, an unflinching exploration of our divided nature — what makes us
beasts, what makes us human, and what makes us divine.
Excerpt:
His golden eyes flicked open,
blinked, and narrowed to a squint as he finally lifted up his great, horned
head. He shrugged the veil of wings. He uncoiled from his most precious gem and
lumbered upward, following the airborne trail up through the high tunnel to the
opening just beside the cataract.
Only his muzzle appeared at first,
shining like tar in the slanting sunlight, but even that merest of appearances
stirred notice among the hovering hawks and vultures: Look. Be warned and wary.
The master had awakened.
His head slid further out, taking in
the day. The clouds had lifted. The sky was polished glass, but the familiar
whisper was still there, coming from below. Down on the near shore of the inlet
was a scuttled boat. Again his eyes narrowed, trying to figure from the tides
just how long ago the wreck had occurred, and whether its victims were still on
premise. He hoped not. Men had their place, but it wasn’t here.
…He crawled further out onto the
ledge and extended his neck toward the curtain of water, which was fuller today
than usual, gushing down from the mountains after all that rain. He helped
himself to several gulps. He let the bracing cold beat on his head a while,
then shook free with a glistening, majestic explosion, lifted his wings and
leapt. He glided most of the way down, turning three wide circles in the crux
of the fjord, his great spanned shadow dashing along the cliff-side, flicking
across the cataract, then across the blue surface below, around and up and
around again three times before finally re-meeting him, claw to claw, on the
strand beside the boat...
AUTHOR BIO:
BROOKS HANSEN is an author, screenwriter, essayist,
and teacher. His novels – THE MONSTERS OF ST. HELENA, PERLMAN’S ORDEAL, THE
CHESS GARDEN, and BOONE (co-authored with Nick Davis) were all New York Times
Notable Books. THE CHESS GARDEN was also selected as a PW Best Book of the Year
in 1995. He has written one book for Young Readers, CAESAR’S ANTLERS, which he
also illustrated. In 2009 he released his first memoir, THE BROTHERHOOD OF
JOSEPH, and in 2005 he received a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship for his most
recent book, JOHN THE BAPTIZER, which was published in 2009 by W.W. Norton.
More recently, his fiction appeared in CENTRAL PARK: AN ANTHOLOGY (Bloomsbury
USA, 2012), and he has an essay slated to appear in another upcoming anthology
THE GOOD BOOK (Simon & Schuster, 2015).
Brooks Hansen is the critically acclaimed author of
The Chess Garden and 7 other books, most recently Asmodeus: The Legend of
Margret and the Dragon. He has recently launched his own imprint, Star Pine
Books. He lives in Carpinteria, California with his wife and children.
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2 comments:
Author here, just stopping by early to thank you for hosting and welcome any questions or comments your fans and readers may have. Thanks again! Brooks
I do like this cover.
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