In a world of two halves, a spy reaches the end of a sixty-year search to find a mineral vital to his civilisation’s survival. Far away to the South, a farmer’s son with a hidden gift is plagued by visions. Harp’s Tale is a convergence of the lives of the spy and the young man, and the quest to recover a kidnapped princess. From the rural tranquillity of his home, through the glittering capital Sogon and the religious centre of Lotus, the story takes Harp into the unending Great Sand Sea, where a strange religion masks an alien culture.
With intrigue, spies, assassins, religious schism, humour, romance, adventure and even a kitchen sink, this story does its best to defy its categorisation as fantasy/SF. At its core, it is a heart-warming tale of trust, comradeship and growing up. Envisaged as part of a trilogy, but a complete narrative in itself, Harp’s Tale introduces you to a world divided, where the outcome of reconciliation or war is in the balance. As poker players would say : Read it and weep, and laugh, and be introduced to a rich and broad environment, that will be further explored in the sequel, Thunderhead.
In a world of two halves, a spy reaches the end of a sixty-year search to find a mineral vital to his civilisation’s survival. Far away to the South, a farmer’s son with a hidden gift is plagued by visions. Harp’s Tale is a convergence of the lives of the spy and the young man, and the quest to recover a kidnapped princess. From the rural tranquillity of his home, through the glittering capital Sogon and the religious centre of Lotus, the story takes Harp into the unending Great Sand Sea, where a strange religion masks an alien culture.
With intrigue, spies, assassins, religious schism, humour, romance, adventure and even a kitchen sink, this story does its best to defy its categorisation as fantasy/SF. At its core, it is a heart-warming tale of trust, comradeship and growing up. Envisaged as part of a trilogy, but a complete narrative in itself, Harp’s Tale introduces you to a world divided, where the outcome of reconciliation or war is in the balance. As poker players would say : Read it and weep, and laugh, and be introduced to a rich and broad environment, that will be further explored in the sequel, Thunderhead.