Synopses & Reviews
An immortal Muse whose very survival depends on the creativity she nurtures within her lovers
Another immortal who feeds not on artistry but on pain and torment...
A chase through time, with two people bound together in enmity and fury
Magic and science melded together into one, and an array of the famous and infamous, caught up unawares in an ages-long battle
Immortal Muse is a tale that takes the reader on a fascinating journey from Paris of the late 1300s with the alchemists Perenelle and Nicolas Flamel, to contemporary New York City. Along the way, there are interludes with Bernini in Rome in 1635; with Vivaldi in Venice of 1737; with Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier and Robespierre in the Paris of the French Revolution; with William Blake and John Polidori in 1814; with Gustav Klimt in fin de siècle Vienna; with Charlotte Salomon in WWII France. And in modern-day New York, a complicated dance of love and violence finally brings a resolution to the centuries-old deadly feud.
Review
"Action, adventure, character, humor and a strong philosophical base: Stephen Leigh does it all!"
Review
"A strong story about basic issues, about making choices..." Tanya Huff, author of THE SILVERED
Review
"The setting of a senescent world gripped by antiquated politics and religious beliefs, with technology serving as an uneasy accessory to relations with a distant, unsympathetic Federation, readily calls to mind the novels of Jack Vance. This is not a bad thing. Leigh writes with an ornate, but very readable, style...in this regard [Slow Fall to Dawn] offers a better read than many contemporary SF novels twice its length." The PorPor Books Blog
Review
"Mythology, alchemy and fantasy all coalesce in Leigh's
Immortal Muse, creating the perfect combination for readers looking for their next stellar read. Leigh has masterfully created a fantastical adventure for his audience...The alternating chapters of past and present will whet readers' appetites for more adventure and intrigue, and will leave them wanting more. The author weaves mythic history with a bit of action, murder and, of course, spice--and has this reader wondering why I'm only discovering him now. This is definitely a Top Pick! perfect for those craving a bit of intirgue and history." --
RT Reviews (Top Pick)
"Leigh seamlessly inserts his two immortals into history, playing with actual people and events to deliver beautifully-rendered glimpses of different eras. Leigh strikes the perfect balance between past and present, real and imagined." -- Publishers Weekly
“Immortal Muse is an unforgettable tale that sweeps readers from 1300s Paris to modern-day New York.” - Risingshadow
Synopsis
Stephen Leigh's epic trilogy of vast empires and dangerous politics, compiled in one thrilling volume
Neweden is a world whose gods are death and fate, and it's here that the Hoorka have arisen: a guild of assassins, whose single law is that the victim must always retain a tiny but finite chance of escape. If the victim can survive until dawn, they may go free.
But the rich and powerful don't care to have their will thwarted, and so the Hoorka must deal with the consequences of their own ethics. Gyll, the leader of the Hoorka, also has dreams of taking the guild offworld into the growing society of the Alliance, which is trying to reconstruct a shattered, worlds-spanning empire. Is that dream a genuine possibility, or will exposure to other cultures doom the Hoorka entirely?
Gyll must confront internal struggles within his own people, the dangerous politics of Neweden, and the twinned threat and promise of the Alliance. The Hag of Death dances around them, mockingly. Can the Hoorka survive to see the dawn of their own success, an Assassins' Dawn?
Synopsis
Neweden is a world whose gods are death and fate, and its here that the Hoorka have arisen: a guild of assassins, whose single law is that the victim must always retain a tiny but finite chance of escape. If the victim can survive until dawn, they may go free. But the rich and powerful dont care to have their will thwarted, and so the Hoorka must deal with the consequences of their own ethics. Gyll, the leader of the Hoorka, also has dreams of taking the guild offworld into the growing society of the Alliance, which is trying to reconstruct a shattered, worlds-spanning empire. Is that dream a genuine possibility, or will exposure to other cultures doom the Hoorka entirely? Gyll must confront internal struggles within his own people, the dangerous politics of Neweden, and the twinned threat and promise of the Alliance. The Hag of Death dances around them, mockingly. Can the Hoorka survive to see the dawn of their own success, an Assassins Dawn?
About the Author
Stephen Leigh is a Cincinnati-based, award-winning author with nineteen science fiction novels and over forty short stories published. He has been a frequent contributor to the Hugo-nominated shared world series Wild Cards, edited by George R. R. Martin. He teaches creative writing at Northern Kentucky University. Stephen Leigh has written the fantasy trilogy Assassin's Dawn, Immortal Muse, and The Crow of Connemara. He can be found at farrelworlds.com.