...Here again, his natural figure crouched beside her in the dank darkness of the cave, watching her in silence as she slept, struggling with cravings which were new to him, both tender and violent, and which he could only really compare to hunger... (from ASMODEUS) On the cusp of the Great War, an even more pitched battle is waged in the furthest corner of the Nordic highlands, the final chapter of a centuries-old rivalry, pitting a troubled bloodline of thieves, journeyman, and politicians against the last and greatest dragon of the hemisphere, Asmodeus. Until now, the source of this antagonism has been a single gemstone, the fabled shamir, whose history traces to the coffers of King Solomon. The present clash, however, has been sparked by the emergence of an even more desirable, more defiant, and more powerful force than that. Inspired by the golden legend of St. Margaret, Brooks Hansen's Asmodeus is a masterfully woven tapestry of history, myth, and fantasy, in the tradition of J.R.R.Tolkien, Bram Stoker, and C.S. Lewis. By turns a romance, an adventure, and the darkest imaginable Gothic, his tale is also, as seen through the eyes of the maiden Margr t, an unflinching exploration of our divided nature - what makes us beasts, what makes us human, and what makes us divine. "Hansen writes with a poet's eye for image, building a novel as one might build a cathedral, stone by stone, sentence by sentence...comparisons to Nabokov and Calvino are doubtless in order - The New York Times Book Review "...the most imaginative and talented novelist of his generation." -Hugh Nissenson, author of The Days of Awe "Like Garcia Marquez, Borges, even Poe, Hansen creates a dangerous, enlightening new world...He is a true inventor of fiction, and a protean, generous one at that." -Village Voice Literary Supplement

Asmodeus: The Legend of Margret and the Dragon

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Hansen, Brooks

Fantasy

Star Pine Books

Star Pine Books celebrates the 20th anniversary of this most unusual, magical, and moving novel...
 In the fall of 1901, in the town of Dayton, Ohio, a series of mysterious letters begins arriving at the garden home of Dr. and Mrs. Uyterhoeven. All are written by the doctor, who left only months before to serve in the relief camps set up for the Boer in South Africa, yet the letters make no mention of refugees or the war. Instead, they tell of a fantastic land the doctor has discovered, a floating island populated entirely by games pieces – chess, checkers, marbles, dice, and more -- all living, congregating, and feuding, and all embroiled in the final stages of a secret revolution that is both deeply troubling, but also strangely hopeful...
 Dr. Uyterhoeven’s journey in that enchanted land, and the quiet ceremony with which his wife Sonja shares his tale with the neighborhood children, provide the main threads of this extraordinary work, weaving through a brilliant tapestry of dreams, histories, visions and meditations. What finally emerges, though, is the story of a man and a woman, born in the lowlands to two different worlds, joined by love, rent by loss, and reunited by the inspired life they would create together in their new American home.
 “an improbable, brilliant tale…a Bidlungsroman, a novel of ideas, a love story and...a spiritual guide. Comparisons toNabokov and Calvino are doubtless in order...But THE CHESS GARDEN stands by itself, a marvel of attention to the things of this world, and worlds beyond.
 - New York Times Book Review
 ”Like Garcia Marquez, Borges, even Poe, Hansen …is a true inventor of fiction, and a protean, generous one at that.”
 - Village Voice Literary Supplement
 “Everything in the stories is new, unexpected, strange, and mysterious…With a richness of invention that makes the world of Lewis Carroll, J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis seem impoverished.”
 - The Boston Sunday Globe
 “These tales form an allegory not only of the Doctor’s exemplary life but also of the wisdom he has gained in it – a quietude and a benevolence that in today’s world really do seem fabulous.”
 - The New Yorker
 “A masterpiece of surreal storytelling." 
 Library Journal

The Chess Garden

Literature & Fiction

Hansen, Mr. Brooks P

Literary

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