Fantasy Masterworks
4 total works
The hard years on the Amber Road had changed Photinus the Greek. He had won a fortune and lost an eye and married various wives and become a God. His cousin Philebus had played the game of the pea and the three cups; now, reluctantly, Photinus - Votan - set off to retrieve the Deed of Monopoly to all the Gold of Ireland.
Sequel to the remarkable VOTAN, NOT FOR ALL THE GOLD IN IRELAND continues the adventures of John James' reluctant hero Photinus. One of the forgotten classics of fantasy, the duology is ripe for rediscovery. Fans include Neil Gaiman, who has provided a new introduction to the Fantasy Masterwork collection.
In the second century AD, a Greek nobleman is travelling and living abroad in Germany while carrying on an affair with a military man's wife. When discovered, he takes an emergency business trip to save his life and packs amongst his belongings certain items that lead the people he encounters to think him a Norse God, a fortuitous point of view which he does little to dispel. Forced to keep up the pretence of being a god while staying one step ahead of his lover's jealous husband, Photinus must juggle the severity of his situation with the enjoyment of being a god.
Published here with its sequel, NOT FOR ALL THE GOLD IN IRELAND and companion volume MEN WENT TO CATTREATH, VOTAN is one of the highpoints of modern fantasy.
The Battle of Cattreath is one of the great unknowns of early British history. A small band of men from the 'Old North' of Britain, the Gododdin, mount an audacious assault on the Angle stronghold of Cattreath.
Most of the information we have comes from a single poem, the Y GODODDIN, and it is this that inspires John James' dark, powerful and original retelling of the attack. With stark prose and powerful description, James takes an almost-forgotten story and makes it real.