A fantasy-novel by Frederick Dunstan
Welcome to the world of Midyard -
a world of innocence and beauty, terror and corruption, sex and spirituality, timeless legend and contemporary politics -
a world of humans and gods and magical transformations, of erotic passion and heroic
adventure, of light and darkness, of new insights into the agelong struggle between
good and evil -
a post-Tolkienian world, one that carries on from where The Lord of the Rings leaves
off -
the world of Yabeth, the Goddess.
Author's introduction:
This novel was first imagined as a sequel to The Lord of the Rings, but developed in the writing to encompass a landscape that is quite different from Middle-Earth. Instead, I like to think of it as a counterpart to J.R.R.Tolkien's magnificent fantasy. It makes use of some of his ideas, but it also draws (as he did) on the general background of North-European mythology. The story is set in an era six centuries later than events analogous to the War of the Ring; but from this Tolkienian base the story soon takes flight into new realms. I believe that everyone who loved Tolkien as a teenager, or indeed still loves him, will enjoy The Goddess.
We begin with a Prologue, a historical outline that sketches some of the events of the 613-year interval. 'Sorgrim' is evidently similar to Sauron, and 'Kedral' pretty much the same as Aragorn, while 'Fortinbras the dyer' is a composite of Bilbo and Frodo; but these are all characters from the distant past. The 'Annals of Punchkinland' is meant to carry the reader quickly over the interval, so that the story proper can begin. Readers who want to make responses or ask questions can e-mail me on dunstan@yabeth.co.uk.
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Read on, and enjoy!