The Bard of Sorcery

by Gerard Houarner

Itinerant bard Tralane avoids capture by the Sorcerer King by stealing a powerful amulet, the Eye of Wyden, that allows him to escape to a variant world, stalked by the Jade Warrior and his own destiny

Genres: Fantasy

288 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 12, 1986

About the author

“Houarner is a smart, intelligent talent who has a gift for writing with serene beauty about the most atrocious things.” Ed Bryant, Locus

He is also the author of 5 novels and over 300 short stories and novellas, some gathered in 6 collections.

He fell to Earth in the fifties and is a product of the NYC school system and the City College of New York, where he studied writing under Joseph Heller and Joel Oppenheimer and crashed hallucinogenic William Burroughs seminars back in the day.

The mental health field has provided a living as well as inspiration for the past 34 years. His current position might be described as Director of Recovery and Recreation at Arkham Asylum.

Since 1998, he has served as Fiction Editor for Space and Time magazine.

He continues to write whenever he can, mostly at night, about the dark.

Reviews

[Matt Cote · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pure fantasy novel, with an interesting perspective, since the protagonist had a very unique journey of self discovery and growth. There was little of the standard: "Here is quest. Go on quest. Success!" Formula, but more of an evolving journey of shifting allies and companions of varying strengths and interests. It's hard to explain, but the book is well written and entertaining throughout and I came to appreciate the protagonist more as he learned and developed. Also didn't have a standard love interest, but rather several different partners along the way. Different, but in a good way. (Found out after completion that the author is French, but spent his childhood in New York City. Some of both cultures can be seen in the story and make for a rich tapestry, I think).

[James]

Mass market paperback.