Bold As Love [Paperback]

Bold As Love is technically a science fiction novel, set as it is in a near future of political collapse and technological development, and yet it sprawls over the border between SF and fantasy. Ax is a rock musician conscripted by the government of post-Union England to consider the future and co-opt the counter-culture. He stays on to run things when the disgusting character, Pigsty, massacres his way to power, and Ax gradually becomes the much-loved centre of power and policy. Part of what keeps him ahead of events is a brain implant with all the information a benevolent despot might need; part is his fey lover Fiorinda and his best friend Sage, who is in love with Fiorinda and not sure of his exact feelings for Ax. These three are almost a latter-day Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot... a fact that does not bode well for the second volume.

Jones' picture of a world falling apart at the seams--with its worryingly coherent portrayal of a competent dictator--is one of the more impressive things she has done; and Fiorinda with her conscience and angst-ridden past is a passionately lovable heroine. --Roz Kaveney

Imagine John L:ennon met Mick Jagger around 1968, really hit it off, went through the collapse of modern civilisation together, and changed from rockstars into genuine heroes. And came out on the other side ruling England. And imagine they were both in love with the same girl, and this gorgeous babe they both adored turned out to be . . . But this story isn't actually set in 1968, it's an alternate Now, and Fiorinda is no hapless sixties rock chick, but a formidable power in her own right: a child of our times and a timeless heroine. Bold As Love is an evocative Arthurian fantasy in which cultural icons (rock and roll stars) are cast as man of destiny, peerless warrior companion at his side, with a band of faithful companions, a princess in jeopardy, battle scenes, fancy dress, Celtic mythology, true romance, a wicked magician, the Holy Grail . . . More magical than the classic Divine Endurance, more exciting and moving than the award-winning White Queen: Bold As Love is a shamelessly romantic fantasy about England that asks what would happen to the rock nobility if all those protest songs and idealist opinions were put to the test . . .

Gwyneth Jones writes fiction for adults and children (the latter under the name Ann Halam), as well as reviewing and writing criticism for magazines such as The New York Review of Science Fiction and Interzone