Bøger af Edwin Ahearn

Created in ancient times and Renewed every five hundred years, it molds mankind's dreams. The desires of the one who has control of the Bronze Rod at the moment of Renewal will set mankind's goal for the new era. The time of Renewal is here.

The ARBHAL Sequence The tug of history, often very ancient history, is felt throughout these works. A large amount of information about the past is disclosed in the narrative (and a chronological tabulation is an appendix to ARBHAL), but for the purposes of these extracts a reader needs to know that long before the land was Arbhal it was Owan, and the Owanil, a gifted, energetic, but often arrogant people conquered and then lost a vast empire on both sides of Arnan, the inland sea. After some centuries of obscurity, during which their island-based priesthood, the Atarlum, was essential to the preservation of the Owani culture and language, the Owanil, through a series of opportune events, were able to regain control of their old realm, imposing themselves as an aristocracy on a numerically superior mixed population of Other Races (their own slighting term for all those without a pure Owani pedigree). Their old speech, however (the Owanilú), has become a scholar's language, surviving mainly for ceremonial and religious purposes, and in titles and proper names. Until relatively recently knowledge of the Owanilú was part of the elaborate system, Preference, by which the Owanil maintained control, practically excluding the Other Races from high office, and from many crafts and professions. For half an age these exclusions were a source of unrest and rebelliousness among the Other Races, while many Owanil came to view the system as incompatible with their people's historic love of justice. At the time when Dolvid begins, Preference has been abolished for the best part of a century; the exclusive Owani grasp of the realm's rewards has been loosened if not broken. With the extinction of the former reigning house even the rabhsai (the supreme, though by no means absolute ruler) has a Mixed strand in his ancestry, and a conciliatory Patriarch has moderated the Atarlum's dogmatic insistence on the natural superiority and special fitness to rule of the Owanil. Nevertheless, the old conflict is muted rather than permanently silenced. The much-intermarried provincial aristocracy still preserves the purity of its bloodlines, and the same is largely true with the landowning class of the Heartland ("the Families"). While, as mentioned elsewhere, Dolvid is essentially a novel about the childhood and early manhood of its title character, and Arbhal an epic adventure, the theme which runs right through the entire sequence is the desire (often the schemes) of this stubborn Owani minority, with the support (often the covert assistance) of reactionary elements within the Atarlum, to reestablish their former unchallenged dominance, and beyond that to somehow bring back the supposed glories of a legendary Owani past.

It started harmlessly. A new holiday brochure for a client needed approval from it's parent company, Orbis International. Before long one thing led to another, exposing intrigue, corruption, blackmail and murder.

At the start of Book V and VI, the empire of Kargusai is seven years old. In search of lands to conquer, Kamin-Tolagh acquires the rich lands of the Hrin. Here he learns the source of gold. A campaign immediately follows which leads to unexpected consequences, and possibly war with Arbhal.

Kaman-Tolagh continues the Arbhal Sequence. The Jinzal War has been fought and wonThe victorious Rodlakh has been made Rabsahi. Kamin-Tolagh has won honor and recognition. He is now the trusted Captain of the Household. Yet, there are important confidences that are kept from him. He grows restless and yearns for adventure. The military expedition headed by Shumat, Captain of the Armies, and Kamin Tolagh set out to the Farther West on a mission to destroy the last of the jinzal. What he discovers changes the course of history.

The tug of history, often very ancient history, is felt throughout these works. A large amount of information about the past is disclosed in the narrative, but for the purposes of these extracts a reader needs to know that long before the land was Arbhal it was Owan, and the Owanil, a gifted, energetic, but often arrogant people conquered and then lost a vast empire on both sides of Arnan, the inland sea. After some centuries of obscurity, during which their island-based priesthood, the Atarlum, was essential to the preservation of the Owani culture and language, the Owanil, through a series of opportune events, were able to regain control of their old realm, imposing themselves as an aristocracy on a numerically superior mixed population of Other Races (their own slighting term for all those without a pure Owani pedigree). Their old speech, however (the Owanilú), has become a scholar's language, surviving mainly for ceremonial and religious purposes, and in titles and proper names. Kargul has been the strongest ally for the Atarlum, Preference, and the restoration of exclusive Owani privilege and power. Kamin Tolagh is the heir of one of the oldest and most powerful of all the Great Families. Books I and II begin shortly after the end of the Jinzal War and the investiture of the Rodlakh as Rabsahi. Kamin-Tolagh has won honor and recognition. He is now the trusted Captain of the Household. Yet, there are important confidences that are kept from him. He grows restless and yearns for adventure. The military expedition headed by Shumat, Captain of the Armies, and Kamin Tolagh set out to the Farther West on a mission to destroy the last of the jinzal. What he discovers changes the course of history

Long before the land was Arbhal it was Owan, and the Owanil, a gifted, energetic, but often arrogant people conquered and then lost a vast empire on both sides of Arnan, the inland sea. This is final book of the long, complex, but in the end organic yarn, replete with desperate deeds set in varied landscape and townscape, and encounters with a rich cast of characters, including (besides those already met) the half-mad and wholly sadistic Rheduban, Aëlu, Sebhal's serene wife, the entire ruling house of Kargul; the bearlike Tovakh and his formidable wife, the strategist Petakoi, their dashing but unexpectedly complicated son Kamin-Tolagh, a compulsive womanizer, and his equally-promiscuous younger sister, Kamin-Taru... Dolvid travels with Kamin-Taru, in search of her brother, who's still in the field as an enemy.

The king has been murdered. The same fate as her father's was plainly intended for the eleven-year-old princess, Idomela, but friends contrived to rescue and deftly vanish her. The usurper, Corvan is on the point of establishing as legal fact, the extinction of the proper ruling house, hence his own lawful succession. If Idolema, has indeed lived on - the ever more distasteful rule of Corvan would persuade her allies that her reappearance offers the last chance for restoration of the less onerous government of her father's day.

In the newly created east-central European republic of Dusatia, with the mix of fourteen recognized political parties, student protesters, anarchists, crooks and and every sort of leftist, making sense of what is going on is difficult enough. Chaos and mayhem ensue when the election ballots are accidentally printed on cream colored paper instead of the official white.

The ARBHAL Sequence The tug of history, often very ancient history, is felt throughout these works. A large amount of information about the past is disclosed in the narrative (and a chronological tabulation is an appendix to ARBHAL), but for the purposes of these extracts a reader needs to know that long before the land was Arbhal it was Owan, and the Owanil, a gifted, energetic, but often arrogant people conquered and then lost a vast empire on both sides of Arnan, the inland sea. After some centuries of obscurity, during which their island-based priesthood, the Atarlum, was essential to the preservation of the Owani culture and language, the Owanil, through a series of opportune events, were able to regain control of their old realm, imposing themselves as an aristocracy on a numerically superior mixed population of Other Races (their own slighting term for all those without a pure Owani pedigree). Their old speech, however (the Owanilú), has become a scholar's language, surviving mainly for ceremonial and religious purposes, and in titles and proper names. Until relatively recently knowledge of the Owanilú was part of the elaborate system, Preference, by which the Owanil maintained control, practically excluding the Other Races from high office, and from many crafts and professions. For half an age these exclusions were a source of unrest and rebelliousness among the Other Races, while many Owanil came to view the system as incompatible with their people's historic love of justice. At the time when Dolvid begins, Preference has been abolished for the best part of a century; the exclusive Owani grasp of the realm's rewards has been loosened if not broken. With the extinction of the former reigning house even the rabhsai (the supreme, though by no means absolute ruler) has a Mixed strand in his ancestry, and a conciliatory Patriarch has moderated the Atarlum's dogmatic insistence on the natural superiority and special fitness to rule of the Owanil. Nevertheless, the old conflict is muted rather than permanently silenced. The much-intermarried provincial aristocracy still preserves the purity of its bloodlines, and the same is largely true with the landowning class of the Heartland ("the Families"). While, as mentioned elsewhere, Dolvid is essentially a novel about the childhood and early manhood of its title character, and Arbhal an epic adventure, the theme which runs right through the entire sequence is the desire (often the schemes) of this stubborn Owani minority, with the support (often the covert assistance) of reactionary elements within the Atarlum, to reestablish their former unchallenged dominance, and beyond that to somehow bring back the supposed glories of a legendary Owani past.

The tug of history, often very ancient history, is felt throughout these works. A large amount of information about the past is disclosed in the narrative (and a chronological tabulation is an appendix to ARBHAL), but for the purposes of these extracts a reader needs to know that long before the land was Arbhal it was Owan, and the Owanil, a gifted, energetic, but often arrogant people conquered and then lost a vast empire on both sides of Arnan, the inland sea. After some centuries of obscurity, during which their island-based priesthood, the Atarlum, was essential to the preservation of the Owani culture and language, the Owanil, through a series of opportune events, were able to regain control of their old realm, imposing themselves as an aristocracy on a numerically superior mixed population of Other Races (their own slighting term for all those without a pure Owani pedigree). Their old speech, however (the Owanilú), has become a scholar's language, surviving mainly for ceremonial and religious purposes, and in titles and proper names. Until relatively recently knowledge of the Owanilú was part of the elaborate system, Preference, by which the Owanil maintained control, practically excluding the Other Races from high office, and from many crafts and professions. For half an age these exclusions were a source of unrest and rebelliousness among the Other Races, while many Owanil came to view the system as incompatible with their people's historic love of justice. At the time when Dolvid begins, Preference has been abolished for the best part of a century; the exclusive Owani grasp of the realm's rewards has been loosened if not broken. With the extinction of the former reigning house even the rabhsai (the supreme, though by no means absolute ruler) has a mixed strand in his ancestry, and a conciliatory Patriarch has moderated the Atarlum's dogmatic insistence on the natural superiority and special fitness to rule of the Owanil.

In a small east-central European nation, a scientist theorizes a new and extremely deadly weapon, the protein bomb. The pressure to develop and build the bomb drives him to commit suicide, but his wife, who may also share the knowledge has been taken to a new laboratory in remote location. Mark Kearns, a journalist intimately familiar with the region, is persuaded to attempt reach her and help her escape.