Suaine and the Crow-God

What connected the Crow-God, the Bad Year, and himself? Why did he feel that the Isle of Leodhas, so long his home, was not his home? Suaine was not very old when he learned that the people of the Children of Lug — the God of All Arts — feared his green eyes, and kept a secret from him. A secret involving his unknown and never-mentioned mother as well as Tadhg the king, his father, the arch-druid Bennbo, and the painted men whose formless god ruled time and the alder tree. And it was the alder tree that affected him so strangely. It seemed at the root of the mystery of his origins, hinted at so tantalisingly by the Watchers in his premonitory dreams. This mystery, Bennbo had hoped, might explain the new age of the Fish they were experiencing. This mystery was the only thing Tadhg, known as the Boar, feared as much as his memories. This mystery changed the lives of all the peoples of Leodhas. Many believed Suaine was sent by the dark Crow-God to free and give power to the savage painted men who were driven from their Winged Temple and all but exterminated by the noble invaders from across the sea, the Children of Lug. But Suaine could also be the Hero, a leader — the new Odysseus of his people. Suaine didn’t know who or what he was. The mystery was hateful, his dreams were troubled, they intruded other worlds upon him, they demanded he learn to tread them more deeply. For he was sure that he had to solve the riddle of his mother and his existence … or die. And in time he found a way out of time, through the moon and Beyond. To Balor’s depths. To the Gate in Emhain. To the Shaking World. While Bennbo’s bull vision of the Flaming Birdman led the Children of Lug into a peace more murderous than their wars had ever been. Finally the breaking-point came … Stuart Gordon has written several highly original science-fantasy, although such labels can be dangerous, novels. These have been published in both England and America and include ONE-EYE, the first of a trilogy, and TIME STORY. At present he is in his mid-twenties, is living in Wales, and is writing.