Ben Peek is the Sydney based author of the Children Trilogy, the short story collection Dead Americans and Other Stories, Black Sheep, Twenty-Six Lies/One Truth, and Above/Below with Stephani Campisi. In his native country, Peek is considered critically acclaimed and controversial, and has been nominated for a number of awards that, thankfully, he has not won. He has written criticism, published a psychogeography pamphlet called the Urban Sprawl Project, and an autobiographical comic called Nowehere Near Savannah. The latter was illustrated by Anna Brown, who also provided illustrations for Twenty-Six Lies/One Truth. In addition, he has published a wide range of short fiction, some of which has appeared in Polyphony, Leviathan, Clarkesworld, Fantasy Magazine, Nightmare Magazine, Aurealis, Overland, and various editions of Year’s Best books. He has a doctorate in creative writing, and has worked as a cook, a projectionist, a teacher, and a lecturer, all of which he is happy to have given up or will be happy to give up. He lives with his partner, the photographer Nikilyn Nevins, in a house of books.
The Godless by Ben Peek
The Godless is not Ben Peek’s first published work but, as his fantasy debut, it is a new step in the Australian author’s career. The Godless is set in a fantasy world where a calamitous war between the gods has left them for dead, or dying. In the aftermath of that world-changing event, the gods’ bodies have begun leaking remnants of their powers into the world, creating new Immortals — humans with powers, feared by many.
It is on the literal back of one of these gods that the city of Mireaa, a huge trade city, was built. Much like a cairn, Mireea finds itself in the midst of a siege by a warring neighboring nation which the city may not be able to stop. It is in this setup that The Godless introduces us to its three main characters. Ayae, a cartographer’s apprentice, discovers early on in the book that she cannot be hu... Read More
