Swans Over the Moon

by Forrest Aguirre

Judicar Parmour Pelevin rules the ancient kingdom of Procellarium on an environmentally decimated desert moon of a blue world. His stubborn insistence on establishing order, in the name of upholding ancient tradition, sets his own family’s swords against him. But is tradition strong enough to contain the chaos that erupts all around him and throughout his kingdom?

The Judicar was pensive. “Who say men that I am, Heterodymus?” Heterodymus' shriveled, lich-like left head answered first: “Men say that you are mad, that you should vacate the throne and let the people rule over their own interests,” it croaked in a high, scratchy voice.

He nodded, thinking for a moment, then turned to the other head. “Dexter?” he asked, seemingly unaffected by the brashness of the left-head's comment.

The right head responded in a cool, reassuring voice whose cheerful tone contradicted the left head's as much as the godlike, innocent beauty of his own baby face opposed the other's extreme ugliness. “Sinistrum is mistaken. Men say that you are the greatest ruler Procellarium has ever known. A genius in trade and tactics, my lord.”

The Judicar weighed their words for a moment. “Madman or genius,” the noble spoke in a dignified manner, without a hint of boasting or over-confidence, “I am their leader. Judicar Parmour Pelevin. And I will uphold the traditions of my people.”

An epic fantasy tragedy by World Fantasy Award winning editor and author Forrest Aguirre.

Genres: Fantasy, Weird Fiction

120 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2007

About the author

Forrest's short fiction has appeared in over fifty venues, including Asimov's, Gargoyle, Apex, and Vasterien. He is a World Fantasy Award winner for his editorial work, with Jeff VanderMeer, on the Leviathan 3 anthology. His novel, Heraclix & Pomp was published October, 2014 by the Underland Press imprint of Resurrection House press. His shorter work has been collected in Fugue XXIX (Raw Dog Screaming Press), and is also available at the Kindle store or on Smashwords at:

https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...

Reviews

[S.E. Lindberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Swans Over the Moon.” By Forrest Aguirre. Available on Smashwords

Intellectual, weird fiction for Fantasy readers; 5 stars

Summary (from Smashwords): “Judicar Parmour Pelevin rules the ancient kingdom of Procellarium on an environmentally decimated desert moon of a blue world. His stubborn insistence on establishing order, in the name of upholding ancient tradition, sets his own family’s swords against him. But is tradition strong enough to contain the chaos that erupts all around him and throughout his kingdom?”

“Tradition demands, the Doom of Change be spoken, Else that stands shall fall…” – from The Doom of Change rite (from Swans Over the Moon)

Conflict and Design: Initially the ruler Judicar is embroiled in a “man vs alien conflict”, being pitted against a rebellious daughter and the aliens that she sympathizes with and leads. But the conflict is much deeper than simple “us vs. them.” The deadly struggle between “old-world vs. new-age” dominates since it permeates throughout the character design (i.e. the two-headed counselor Heterodymus sporting one baby-faced head and one lich-like), the lunar milieu (the vividly different cultures of the chaotic Euler district vs. the lawful Procellarium), and the haunts of our protagonist Judicar (the “Doom of Change” rite and the laws of Procellarium are intimately connected to the deaths in his family).

Style: Aguirre writes with an entertaining, heavy narrative that reads like Shakespeare. Aguirre is a World Fantasy Award winner for his editorial work, with Jeff VanderMeer, on the Leviathan 3 anthology; with “Swans” he demonstrates his command for storytelling in addition to his command over language. Expect: (1) haunting descriptions, (2) brutal action, and (3) a touch of dark humor. His prose is best represented with excerpts:

1)Haunting Descriptions: “She entered the room, gliding over the floor as if the ground itself retreated from her touch in recognition of her standing as the Judicar's daughter. Her waist-length ghost-white hair flowed only slightly behind her crimson robes. Above her floated two apparitions – Tarans, those wispy souls of un-baptized infants that are often seen flitting about in cemeteries or dark woods, bewailing in mewing voices their terrible fates. But these two were quite contented, continually re-arranging a series of red silk scarves around the maiden's head, shoulders, waist, and arms. She simultaneously swelled and retreated, like a beating heart, as she approached.”

2) Brutal Action: “His blunderbuss pistol discharged point blank into the Scaramouche's face, spattering mask, bone, and flesh in a mist of gore that coated his lap and right leg. He drew his rapier, slowly circling his horse to get a clear view of his surroundings above the fray, but the tourbillon was too great. He soon found himself in the midst of the enemy, completely surrounded.. His horse buckled beneath him, its armor punctured by dozens of enemy bayonets.”

3) Dark Humor: “Their ignominious departure from Euler was the antithesis of their stately arrival. The Judicar and Heterodymus left without an escort to find their carriage besotted with feces, rotting eggs, and vegetables. They gathered their drunken pygmies, some by the nape of the neck, and hitched them to their posts. When the Judicar opened the door to the carriage, the severed head of his deputy rolled out.”

Highly recommended:“Swans” will appeal directly with fans of contemporary weird authors: Phillip K. Dick, M. John Harrison, and Jeff VanderMeer. Also, fans of weird pulp/fantasy fiction Clark Ashton Smith, Darrell Schweitzer will devour this. However, ANY reader looking for intellectual escapism should read this.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short Shakespearian sci-fi/tragedy pitting father against daughter, old versus new, and stability versus change. The prose is extremely flourished (I almost compare it to "The Moon Patrol" though it stops short of being overdone) and the story gets slightly tangled within it at the onset but it picks up speed as it moves along. My first Aguirre work, which is from 2007, so I don't yet know if this represents his present evolution, however his mastery of language is evident. 3.5 stars, tending to 4.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forrest Aguirre is a writer who has been on my radar for a while, and I'm glad I finally got a chance to read his work. Swans Over the Moon is a short novel, built with vivid language and an alternately comic and tragic plot that has some echoes of King Lear. When your primary protagonist is an incompetent monarch who takes his counsel from a two-headed advisor, it's clear that there is a rich strain of the absurd woven into these pages, and Aguirre works that vein with skill.

The author has an expansive vocabulary, and his diction is worth paying attention to. Like Clark Ashton Smith or Gene Wolfe (and perhaps Jack Vance as well), Aguirre picks his words carefully, and the humble reader shouldn't hesitate to grab a dictionary when necessary to get the full flavor of the author's fertile imagination.

At the end of the day, it's hard not to love a story that involves battles between moon knights, and in the hands of a writer as talented as Forrest Aguirre, Swans Over the Moon is something more than a typical work of science fantasy. I'm eagerly looking forward to reading more of his work.