Instrumentalities of the Night
Instrumentalities of the Night — (2005-2010) Publisher: Welcome to the world of the Instrumentalities of the Night, where imps, demons, and dark gods rule in the spaces surrounding upstart humanity. At the edges of the world stand walls of ice which push slowly forward to reclaim the land for the night. And at the world’s center, in the Holy Land where two great religions were born, are the Wells of Ihrain, the source of the greatest magics. Over the last century the Patriarchs of the West have demanded crusades to claim the Wells from the Pramans, the followers of the Written. Now an uneasy truce extends between the Pramans and the West, waiting for a spark to start the conflict anew. Then, on a mission in the Holy Land, the young Praman warrior Else is attacked by a creature of the Dark — in effect, a minor god. Too ignorant to know that he can never prevail over such a thing, he fights it and wins, and in so doing, sets the terrors of the night against him. As a reward for his success, Else is sent as a spy to the heart of the Patriarchy to direct their attention away from further ventures into the Holy Lands. Dogged by hidden enemies and faithless allies, Else witnesses senseless butchery and surprising acts of faith as he penetrates to the very heart of the Patriarchy and rides alongside their armies in a new crusade against his own people. But the Night rides with him, too, sending two of its once-human agents from the far north to assassinate him. Submerged in his role, he begins to doubt his faith, his country, even his family. As his mission careens out of control, he faces unanswerable questions about his future. It is said that God will know his own, but can one who has slain gods ever know forgiveness?
Surrender to the Will of the Night by Glen Cook
PLOT SUMMARY: Piper Hecht’s first and greatest secret is that he knows how to kill gods. It is knowledge that makes him dangerous, but also puts him in danger — from his enemies, who fear what he might do, or who want revenge for what he has already done; and from his friends, who want to use his knowledge for their own purposes.
For example, Piper’s sister Heris and his living ancestor Cloven Februaren, the Ninth Unknown, have made Hecht part of their fight against the return of the dark god, Kharoulke the Windwalker. At the same time, the half-mad Empress Katrin wants him to lead the armies of the Grail Empire eastward on a crusade into the Holy Lands against his fellow Pramans.
Meanwhile, all around them, the world is changing. The winters are growing longer and harder every year, and the seas are getting shallower. The far north and the high mountain rang... Read More
The Swordbearer by Glen Cook
The Swordbearer is an early standalone novel by Glen Cook, originally published in 1982 and re-released by Nightshade Books in 2009. If you're a fan of Glen Cook, whose CHRONICLES OF THE BLACK COMPANY are classics of the genre, this would probably be an interesting read, as you'll be able to see some of the author's themes and quirks taking shape. However, taken on its own, The Swordbearer isn't anywhere near as good as some of Glen Cook's other works.
Gathrid, the main character, is the youngest son of a noble family who lives on the border with a growing empire. He wants to become a warrior like his older brothers, but isn't allowed because of his relative weakness which was caused by a childhood illness. When his childhood home becomes the latest front in the war with the east, he flees and stumbles upon the magic sword Daubendiek. The sword is, in a nutshell, a direct descendant of Michael Moorcock... Read More
Other books by Glen Cook
Dread Empire — (1979-2012) These have been reissued as omnibus editions. A Cruel Wind: A Chronicle Of The Dread Empire contains the main trilogy: A Shadow of All Night Falling, October’s Baby, All Darkness Met. A Fortress in Shadow: A Chronicle of the Dread Empire, contains the two prequel novels, The Fire in His Hands, With Mercy Toward None. An Empire Unacquainted with Defeat contains all of the short stories set in the DREAD EMPIRE world. Publisher: THE WAR THAT WIZARDS DREAD Across the mountains called Dragon’s Teeth, beyond the chill reach of the Werewind and the fires of the world’s beginning, above the walls of the castle Fangdred, stands Windtower. From this lonely keep the Star Rider calls forth the war that even wizards dread, fought for a woman’s hundred-lifetime love. A woman called Nepanthe, princess to the Stormkings…
Starfishers — (1982-1985) Publisher: The vendetta in space had started centuries before “Mouse” Storm was born with his grandfather’s raid on the planet Prefactlas, the blood bath that freed the human slaves from their Sangaree masters. But one Sangaree survived — the young Norborn heir, the man who swore vengeance on the Storm family and their soldiers, in a carefully mapped plot that would take generations to fulfill. Now Mouse’s father Gneaus must fight for an El Dorado of wealth on the burning half of the planet Blackworld. As the great private armies of all space clash on the narrow Shadowline that divides inferno from life-sheltering shade, Gneaus’ half-brother Michael plays his traitorous games, and a man called Death pulls the deadly strings that threaten to entrap them all — as the Starfishers Trilogy begins.
Dark War — (1985-1986) Publisher: The world grows colder with each passing year, the longer winters and ever-deepening snows awaking ancient fears within the Dengan Packstead, fears of invasion by armed and desperate nomads, attacks by the witchlike and mysterious Silth, able to kill with their minds alone, and of the Grauken, that desperate time when intellect gives way to buried cannibalistic instinct, when meth feeds upon meth. For Marika, a young pup of the Packstead, loyal to pack and family, times are dark indeed, for against these foes, the Packstead cannot prevail. But awakening within Marika is a power unmatched in all the world, a legendary power that may not just save her world, but allow her to grasp the stars themselves…
Garrett, P.I. — (1987-2010) Omnibus editions are available. Publisher: It should have been a simple job. But for Garrett, a human detective in a world of gnomes, tracking down the woman to whom his dead pal Danny left a fortune in silver is no slight task. Even with the aid of Morley, the toughest half-elf around, Garrett isn’t sure he’ll make it out alive from a land where magic can be murder, the dead still talk, and vampires are always hungry for human blood.
Stand-alones:
The Heirs of Babylon — (1972) Publisher: It is the time of the gathering and all nations must pay tribute–Why Must They? Kurt wondered, as the decrepid destroyer JAGER wallowed through uncharted waters on its way to Gibralter, the Gathering of the fleet, and the final meeting with the Enemy. It was sad to think how man fad fallen from the days when such vessels as the JAGER had been built. Now the last men struggled on in isolated communities, maintaining machines they could no longer build, ruled wner by the distant Pllitical Office in the person of the much despised and universally feared Political Officers. These black phantoms ruled manking, telling one how to think, how to act, and when to obey the call to the Gathering. And now the call had come for Kurt to sail off to Gibraltar to the Gathering — the ritual massing of the fleet for the War, the Gathering from which no one had ever returned.
A Matter of Time — (1985) Publisher: May 1975. St. Louis. In a snow-swept street, a cop finds the body of a man who died fifty years ago. It’s still warm. July 1866, Lidice, Bohemia: A teenage girl calmly watches her parents die as another being takes control of her body. August 2058, Prague: Three political rebels flee in to the past, taking with them a terrible secret. As past, present, and future collide, one man holds the key to the puzzle. And if he doesn’t fit it together, the world he knows will fall to pieces. It’s just A Matter of Time!
The Dragon Never Sleeps — (1988) Publisher: Glen Cook (The Black Company, The Dread Empire) delivers a masterpiece of galaxy spanning space opera! For four thousand years, the Guardships ruled Canon Space with an iron fist. Immortal ships with an immortal crew roaming the galaxy, dealing swiftly and harshly with any mercantile houses or alien races that threatened the status quo. But now the House Tregesser believes they have an edge; a force from outside Canon Space offers them the resources to throw off Guardship rule. Their initial gambits precipitate an avalanche of unexpected outcomes, the most unpredicted of which is the emergence of Kez Maefele, one of the few remaining generals of the Ku Warrior race – the only race to ever seriously threaten Guardship hegemony. Kez Maefele and a motley group of mysterious aliens, biological constructs, and scheming aristocrats find themselves at the center of the conflict. Maefele must choose which side he will support; the Guardships, who defeated and destroyed his race, or the unknown forces from outside Canon Space that promise more death and destruction.
The Tower of Fear — (1989) Publisher: The City of Qushmarrah is uneasy under the rule of the Herodians -short, balding men whose armies would never have conquered the city had not the great and evil wizard Narkar been killed and sealed in his citadel; had not the savage nomad Datars turned coat and sided with the invaders; had not some traitor opened the fortress to them.Not many would welcome the return of the old religion, the bloody return of wizardry… but there are some patriots who would accept the return of the devil they know, if it meant the return of independence.
Sung in Blood — (1990) Publisher: Protector Jerhke has kept Shasessrre peaceful for hundreds of years. After his brutal murder, his son Rider tries to discover his father’s murderer. Rider is helped in his search by his companions, as they battle against the agents of the mysterious Kralj Odehnal. But the murderous dwarf turns out to be an introduction to greater terror, as they match wits with Shai Khe, the powerful sorcerer who wants to rule Shaess
Winter’s Dreams — (2012) Publisher: Glen Cook is, of course, best known for his enormously popular series fiction, which includes the Garrett P.I. and Dread Empire sequences, as well as the internationally acclaimed Chronicles of the Black Company. Readers familiar only with this aspect of Cook’s career will find a great many pleasures — and an equal number of surprises — in his vibrant new collection, Winter’s Dreams. The fourteen standalone stories in Winter’s Dreams range in length from vignettes (‘Appointment in Samarkand’) to novellas (‘In the Wind’). Together, they encompass an astonishing variety of themes, tones, styles, and settings. Not one of these stories bears the slightest resemblance to the others. Each one manages to enchant, illuminate, and entertain in its own distinctive fashion. In the near future America of ‘Song from a Forgotten Hill,’ the nations’ tragic racial history replays itself in an all too familiar form. ‘The Seventh Fool’ recounts the comic misadventures of a charming con man who outsmarts both his gullible target–and himself. ‘The Waiting Sea’ encapsulates the entire life history of a navy veteran haunted by the sea — and by the faceless voices only he can hear. In ‘Ponce,’ a poverty stricken St. Louis family encounters a mysterious blue-eyed dog — a dog that serves as a conduit to the undisclosed secrets of the universe. ‘The Recruiter’ presents a powerfully disturbing portrait of an ultra-violent future and asks the question: How far will a man go in order to survive? Equally suitable both for newcomers and for long-time Glen Cook fans, Winter’s Dreams is something special, a consistently enthralling volume that claims new imaginative territory at every turn.
(1944- )
The Black Company by Glen Cook
The Black Company by Glen Cook
The Black Company by Glen Cook
Lord of the Silent Kingdom by Glen Cook
Swords & Dark Magic: The New Sword & Sorcery edited by Jonathan Strahan & Lou Anders
Dragon Champion
The Sword of the Lictor: Captures the essence of excellent speculative fiction
A Canticle for Leibowitz: A must-read for any true SF fan
