Thessaly

3 primary works

The Just City

by Jo Walton

Published 13 January 2015

'Here in the Just City you will become your best selves. You will learn and grow and strive to be excellent.'

One day, in a moment of philosophical puckishness, the time-travelling goddess Pallas Athene decides to put Plato to the test and create the Just City. She locates the City on a Mediterranean island and populates it with over ten thousand children and a few hundred adults from all eras of history . . . along with some handy robots from the far human future.

Meanwhile, Apollo - stunned by the realization that there are things that human beings understand better than he does - has decided to become a mortal child, head to Athene's City and see what all the fuss is about.

Then Socrates arrives, and starts asking troublesome questions.

What happens next is a tale only the brilliant Jo Walton could tell.

The Philosopher Kings

by Jo Walton

Published 30 June 2015

Twenty years have passed since the goddess Athene founded the Just City.

The god Apollo is still living there, albeit in human form. Now married and the father of several children, the man/god struggles to cope when tragedy befalls his family. On the surface he handles his feelings in his stride; but it's evident that deep down he is unhinged with raw, human grief.

Fuelled by a bloodthirsty desire for revenge, Pythias sets sail for the mysterious Eastern Mediterranean to find the man he believes may have caused him such great pain.

What his expedition actually discovers, however, will change everything.

Necessity

by Jo Walton

Published 12 July 2016

Sixty years ago, the Just City schismed into five cities, each devoted to a different version of the original vision. Forty years ago, the five cities managed to bring their squabbles to a close. But in consequence of their struggle, their existence finally came to the attention of Zeus, who can't allow them to remain in deep antiquity, changing the course of human history. Convinced by Apollo to spare the Cities, Zeus instead moved everything on the island to the planet Plato, circling its own distant sun. Now, more than a generation has passed. The Cities are flourishing on Plato, and even trading with multiple alien species. Then, on the same day, two things happen. Pytheas dies as a human, returning immediately as Apollo in his full glory. And there's suddenly a human ship in orbit around Plato...a ship from Earth.