Fantasy Masterwork of the Week: The Phoenix and the Mirror

The compelling historical fantasy of Virgil: poet, adventurer, alchemist . . . magus.

 

Legend has it that Virgil, author of The Aeneid, was more than a mere poet. Legend has it that he was an adventurer, an alchemist – a magus.

Driven to do the bidding of Queen Cornelia of Carsus, who has taken hostage part of his soul, Virgil embarks upon an attempt to create a virgin speculum – a magic mirror – so that Cornelia can locate her kidnapped daughter.

Virgil’s quest to assemble this artefact takes him across the ancient world to encounter powers and prophecies, gods and monsters – all the myths and legends of a time that never was.

The time of Virgil Magus.

 

The Phoenix and the Mirror is available as a Fantasy Masterworks paperback and an SF Gateway eBook. You can find more of Avram Davidson’s work via his author page on the SF Gateway website and read more about him in his entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.