Ahira's Hangar

The late Marion Zimmer Bradley is a favorite fantasy/science fiction writer of many readers.
She is probably best known for her Arthurian novel, Mists of Avalon, which retells the Arthurian legends from the point of view of the women surrounding the King.
She is also well known for a series of science fiction/fantasy books that she worked on for decades, set on a world called Darkover. An earth colony ship crashed there, on a wintery planet orbiting a huge red sun. Her books cover many many centuries of the resulting history of humans upon that world, their interactions with the intelligent native species, with each other and their struggles for dominance, and with their interactions with the Terran Empire when the world is "rediscovered". Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
****Tavern Wench of DOGMA, the Defenders of George Martin's Art****<i></i>

I started reading Firebrand tonight, the story of Cassandra,a priestess and prophetess of ancient Troy. She is a figure in the myths of the Trojan War and its aftermath in Greece. I'm only a couple of chapters into the book, but so far its a good read! Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
****Tavern Wench of DOGMA, the Defenders of George Martin's Art****<i>Edited by: Duchess of Malfi  at: 5/22/03 9:12:14 am
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I finished Firebrand today, and found it to be a very good read. Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
****Tavern Wench of DOGMA, the Defenders of George Martin's Art****<i></i>

I recently read Priestess of Avalon, and really enjoyed it. I haven't read any of the Darkover series, but Foamy and I have really gotten into the books related to Mists of Avalon, which I read years and years ago (and have re-read several times since. ).

Have you ever read The Fall of Atlantis, Duchess (or anyone else)?

~MsMary~ "Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?"<i></i>

I read that many, many years ago. I'm wondering if the book I just read, Firebrand, is also loosely linked to it, as Atlantis is mentioned a few times in it.
I've wondered if some of the characters in Mists of Avalon are reincarnated versions of some of the Atlantis characters due to visions the characters have. But it's been so long sice I read Atlantis that I would never be able to guess who is who!! Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
****Tavern Wench of DOGMA, the Defenders of George Martin's Art****<i></i>

Quote:I've wondered if some of the characters in Mists of Avalon are reincarnated versions of some of the Atlantis characters due to visions the characters have.

Definitely, Duchess. Foamy and I have figured out some of the relationships, but some are hard to ascertain. We have our guesses, though.

~MsMary~ "Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?"<i></i>

Yup...I actually made up a chart showing who I think is reincarnated as whom, if anyone's interested...

~Foamy~ <i></i>

That's really obsessed!!

(Admission: I helped her. )

~MsMary~ "Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?"<i></i>

I found an anthology today of short stories based on Avalon, featuring one by Marion Zimmer Bradley. When I find the time to read it, I will post about that story here. Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell
****Tavern Wench of DOGMA, the Defenders of George Martin's Art****<i></i>

Cool! I would love to see that MZB story, and see how it relates to her other writing along those lines.

~MsMary~ "Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?"<i></i>

The book is called Out of Avalon, An Anthology of Old Magic and New Myths and is edited by Jennifer Roberson. The stories are:
The Heart of the Hill by Marion Zimmer bradley and Diana Paxson

The Fourth Concealment of the Island of Britain by Katherine Kerr

Prince of Exiles by Rosemay Edghill

The Secret Leaves by Tricia Sullivan

The Castellan by Diana Gabaldon and Samuel Watkins

Lady of the Lake by Michelle Sagara West

The Mooncalfe by David Farland

Avalonia by Kristen Britain

Finding the Grail by Judith Tarr

Me and Galahad by Mike Resnick and Adrienne Gormley

A Lesser Working by Jennifer Roberson

Grievous Wounds by Laura Resnick

Black Dogs ny Lorelei Shannon

Marwygafn (Deathbed Song) by Eric Van Lustbader

The Mouse's Soul by Nina Kiriki Hoffman


The story by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Diana Paxson is called The Heart of the Hill and is told by a very elderly Morgaine. She looks back and remembers a girl whom she trained with to become priestesses,and an incident that heppened to them that involved visions of the fall of Atlantis...

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Our lives are the songs that sing the universe into existence.~David Zindell

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Perhaps I'll come for you myself some night. You ought to see me...my fur is white now, pale as snow,but the stature, the majesty, the power, those have not left me...We are the direwolves, the nightmares who haunt your racial memories, the dark shapes circling endlessly beyond the light of your fires.~George R.R. Martin<i></i>

Livejournal has an intriguing discussion of the Darkover series www.livejournal.com/users...27282.html Discussion ranges over how this series and MZB introduced readers of fandom, the community of fen and writing. Also deals with how many elements of the Darkover verse are dated and read very silly now. However, one gets the overall feeling that most of the commentors consider themselves fans of Darkover and MZB and how the two made big influences on their lifes. taraswizard
Allan Rosewarne N9SQT/WDX6HQV
Chicago area
W/T forever, always
Plan C - http://planc.bravepages.com/main.html<i></i>

I re-read Ancestors of Avalon by Diana Paxson (based on her work with MZB) over the weekend. I can't believe we never discussed that book here (unless that was lost in the EZBoard crash/hack/mess).

Ancestors of Avalon is about the people of Atlantis who came over to Britain and founded the Avalon community. It comes between The Fall of Atlantis (previously published as Web of Light/Web of Darkness, if I recall correctly) and the whole Avalon series: The Forest House, Lady of Avalon, Priestess of Avalon, and The Mists of Avalon.

Ms. Paxson also reveals some of MZB's thinking about who was the reincarnation of which character from the original The Fall of Atlantis book (turns out Foamy and I were slightly off on one or two, but Ms. Paxson doesn't go into great detail about it; she also mentions that MZB wasn't that big on internal consistency between her stories. ).

After I finished re-reading Ancestors of Avalon, I couldn't resist dipping into The Fall of Atlantis, though I don't really have time to read the whole thing.

I'm supposed to be studying.

So, when I was stranded in an airport for 5 hours two weeks ago, I discovered two more books in the Avalon series, written by Diana Paxson: Ravens of Avalon and Sword of Avalon.

Anyone ever read either of these?

I'm debating whether to check them out or not.

How do the Paxson books compare with MZB? Do their writing styles mesh well, or do they jar with each other? I have not read any of the Paxson books...