Category Archives: The Isles
The Fortress of Glass
My friend Mark Van Name is, among other things, a business consultant. After I sold the final trilogy in the Isles Series to Tor but before I started work on the three books, he asked me if I would like … Continue reading
Proofreading the hardcover Servant of the Dragon?
Why is the hardcover edition of Servant of the Dragon so poorly proofread? This is a sore subject with me. I did three drafts of the novel (as usual). My friend Dan Breen read each section after I’d gone over … Continue reading
How did you come up with the magic in the Isles Series?
It surprises me to be asked this so frequently since I thought I’d covered it in the introductory notes to each volume. Classical peoples were heavily involved in magic (as opposed to religion). This seems to have been mostly Egyptian … Continue reading
Books in the Isles Series
There are nine novels in the complete Isles series. Each of the first six Isles novels is intended to be a self-standing work that can be read alone. (This is true of all my books; and, for that matter, my … Continue reading
French Edition of the Isles Series
The Gods Return
The religion of the Isles is based on the Sumerian triad of Inanna, Dumuzi, and Ereshkigal. The fact is of more significance here than it has been in the previous books of the series. The magic (which in the Isles … Continue reading
The Mirror of Worlds
I’ve based the religion of the Isles generally on that of Sumer: the sacred triad of Inanna, Dumuzi, and Ereshkigal. The words of power, however, are the voces mysticae of the documentary magic common in the Mediterranean Basin during classical … Continue reading
Master of the Cauldron
Those of you who’ve read previous books in the Isles series will note some repetition in these notes, but I go to a good deal of effort to make each book accessible to people who’ve never read anything of mine … Continue reading
Goddess of the Ice Realm
As is the case with most of my books, a good deal of the background to Goddess of the Ice Realm is real. The general religion of the Isles is Sumerian, though in some cases I’ve interpolated cult practice from … Continue reading
Queen of Demons
QUEEN OF DEMONS, my second Isles fantasy, uses the structure of Lord of the Isles, so it was simpler to write than if I’d had to construct an entire world. Nonetheless there was the challenge of how much of the … Continue reading
Mistress of the Catacombs
The common religion of the Isles is based on Sumerian cult and ritual. That is, the Lady equates with Inanna; her consort the Shepherd equates with Dumuzi; and the Sister fills the place of Ereshkigal, Queen of the Underworld. Religion … Continue reading
Lord of the Isles
LORD OF THE ISLES was my chance to get back to writing fantasy. It now seems an obvious thing to have done, but it sure took me a long time to come to that realization. Andrew Lang’s Color Fairy Books … Continue reading
Servant of the Dragon
The (common) religion of the Isles is based on Sumerian cult and ritual, but the magic itself comes from the Mediterranean and is mostly Egyptian in its original source. The voces mysticae which I’ve referred to as “words of power” … Continue reading