 Cover of first edition | |
| Author | Darrell Schweitzer |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Stephen Fabian |
| Cover artist | Stephen Fabian |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publisher | Starblaze/The Donning Company |
Publication date | 1983 |
| Media type | Print (paperback) |
| Pages | 183 |
| ISBN | 0-89865-197-2 |
| OCLC | 08347021 |
| 813.54 | |
| LC Class | PS3569.C5684 S5 1982 |
| Preceded by | Echoes of the Goddess |
The Shattered Goddess is a fantasy novel by American writer Darrell Schweitzer, illustrated by Stephen Fabian.
It was first published in trade paperback by Starblaze/The Donning Company in March 1983, with later trade paperback editions following from Starmont House (1988), Borgo Press (1989) and Wildside Press (1999). The first hardcover edition was issued by Starmont House in 1988, followed by the Science Fiction Book Club in 2000. The first ebook edition was issued by Wildside Press in June 2015. The first British edition was published in paperback by New English Library in March 1996. It has been translated into Italian and French. [1]
The story explores the fate of a magic-ridden far future Earth at the end of an age of chaotic miracles between the death of the world's latest divinity, the Goddess, and the birth of a new one, chronicling the struggle over the nature the next deity will take and thus that of the world itself.
The immense corpse of the Goddess is preserved as a relic beneath the sacred city of Ai Hanlo, presided over by its saintly ruler Tharanodeth, guardian of the Goddess's bones. Unknown to him, a malevolent witch has designs on his city and the holiness it guards. Feigning death, she sacrifices her eyes to a demon for power in a complex scheme that allows her soul to possess Tharanodeth's infant son Kaemen. The soul is delivered by a similcrum child created around the eyes, which is then abandoned in the Kaemen's nursery as a foundling.
The court wizard Hadel, suspecting the foundling a threat, advises doing away with him, but Tharanodeth intervenes, protecting him and naming him Ginna. Kaemen and Ginna both grow up in the palace, the former, under the witch's spell, becoming willful, cruel and selfish, while the latter is a blank slate whose passive innocence leads Tharanodeth to prefer him to his own son.
When the boys are twelve, Tharanodeth dies, and Kaemen takes his place as ruler. Ginna continues to live a neglected existence in the palace, taught by Hadel and befriended by a young girl. After three years the boy and girl flee Ai Hanlo and Kaemen's increasingly capricious tyranny, which is ushering in an apocalypse of blood and darkness. They fall in with a merchant caravan and later a ship crewed by mystical warriors as the darkness spreading from the city taints and changes the world, engulfing humanity and awakening long-buried monsters and horrors.
Ginna gains knowledge and some power during his journey, but despairs of making a difference. He reaches the goal of his quest, an otherworldly grove of light watched over by the spirit of the Goddess's mother, and learns the secret of the horror overtaking the world and his own origin and purpose. His destiny brings him into direct conflict with the doomed Kaemen and the malign vision of his witch-creator, with the outcome of the struggle to decide the fate of the world and the nature of the deity that will preside over its next phase. Will it be one of death and decay, or is some kind of redemption possible?
Schweitzer subsequently explored the age prior to the events of the book in a cycle of short stories collected in Echoes of the Goddess (2013), which serve as a prequel to the novel.
Mary Gentle writing in Vector , assessed the book's quality as follows: "Few writers can genuinely touch the quality of nightmare. By that I don't mean the cataloguing of horror and gore that blurb-writers so often refer to as nightmare-like, but the fear that formless and almost banal stems from the sleeping mind. John Bellairs did it with The Face in the Frost ... James Blaylock can do it. And now there is also The Shattered Goddess. [2]
W. Paul Ganley in Fantasy Mongers: "Compelling, intriguing characters, moody, haunting, persuasive . . . fierce imagery containing equal parts legend and fantasy; distinctly different." [3]
The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997) noted that "[t]he novel has immense power in its climax and ... sustains the forlorn mood of loss." [4]
The novel was also reviewed by Neal Wilgus in Thrust no. 20, Summer 1984, and Janice M. Eisen in Aboriginal Science Fiction , May–June 1989. [1]
David Lindsay was a Scottish author best remembered for the philosophical science fiction novel A Voyage to Arcturus (1920).
George H. Scithers was an American science fiction fan, author and editor.
Dennis William Etchison was an American writer and editor of fantasy and horror fiction. Etchison referred to his own work as "rather dark, depressing, almost pathologically inward fiction about the individual in relation to the world". Stephen King has called Dennis Etchison "one hell of a fiction writer" and he has been called "the most original living horror writer in America".
John Gregory Betancourt is an American writer of science fiction, fantasy and mystery novels, as well as short stories. He is also known as the founder and publisher, with his wife Kim Betancourt, of Wildside Press in 1989. In 1998, they entered the print on demand (PoD) market and greatly expanded their production. In addition to publishing new novels and short stories, they have undertaken projects to publish new editions of collections of stories that appeared in historic magazines.
Darrell Charles Schweitzer is an American writer, editor, and critic in the field of speculative fiction. Much of his focus has been on dark fantasy and horror, although he does also work in science fiction and fantasy. Schweitzer is also a prolific writer of literary criticism and editor of collections of essays on various writers within his preferred genres.
Zothique is a collection of fantasy short stories by Clark Ashton Smith, edited by Lin Carter. It was first published in paperback by Ballantine Books as the sixteenth volume of its Ballantine Adult Fantasy series in June 1970. It was the first themed collection of Smith's works assembled by Carter for the series. The stories were originally published in various fantasy magazines in the 1930s, notably Weird Tales.
The Quest of Kadji is a fantasy novel by American writer Lin Carter, the first book of the Chronicles of Kylix series. It was first published in paperback by Belmont Books in July 1971, and was reprinted in December 1972. The first edition in the United Kingdom was published by Five Star Books in 1973. Wildside Press issued a trade paperback edition in December 1999 and an ebook edition in August 2014. The novel has been translated into Dutch, Portuguese and French.
The Thomas Ligotti Reader: Essays and Explorations is a collection of essays on American horror writer Thomas Ligotti and his works, edited by Darrell Schweitzer. It was first published in trade paperback in April 2003 by Wildside Press, with a hardcover edition from the same publisher following in July of the same year.
The Ginger Cat and Other Lost Plays is a collection of plays by Anglo-Irish fantasy writer Lord Dunsany, edited and with an introduction by Darrell Schweitzer. It was first published, in hardcover and paperback, by Wildside Press in 2005.
Sekenre: The Book of the Sorcerer is a collection of fantasy short stories by American writer Darrell Schweitzer featuring his dark fantasy protagonist, the child sorcerer Sekenre, a sequel to the novel The Mask of the Sorcerer (1995). The book was illustrated by Stephen Fabian. It was first published as a trade paperback by Wildside Press in 2004.
Echoes of the Goddess: Tales of Terror and Wonder From the End of Time is a collection of fantasy short stories by American writer Darrell Schweitzer, a prequel to his novel The Shattered Goddess (1983). The book is illustrated with a cover and frontispiece by Stephen Fabian. It was first published as a trade paperback by Wildside Press in February 2013.
Tom O'Bedlam's Night Out and Other Strange Excursions is a collection of dark fantasy short stories by American writer Darrell Schweitzer. It was first published in hardcover and trade paperback by W. Paul Ganley in November 1985. An electronic edition was published by Necon E-Books in December 2012 as no. 20 of its Necon Classic Horror series. The copyright statement of the Necon edition states that it "incorporates the author's final revisions and should be regarded as definitive."
Nightscapes: Tales of the Ominous and Magical is a collection of dark fantasy short stories by American writer Darrell Schweitzer. It was first published in hardcover and trade paperback by Wildside Press in April 2000.
Bibliography of dark fantasy, horror, science fiction and nonfiction writer Darrell Schweitzer:
The Dragon House is a contemporary fantasy novel by American writer Darrell Schweitzer. It was first published in hardcover and trade paperback by Wildside Press in April 2018, with an ebook edition following from the same publisher in January 2019.
The Mask of the Sorcerer is a fantasy novel by American writer Darrell Schweitzer.
The White Isle is a fantasy novel by American writer Darrell Schweitzer, illustrated by Stephen Fabian.
The Enchantress of World's End is a fantasy by American writer Lin Carter, set on a decadent far-future Earth in which all the world's land masses have supposedly drifted back together to form a last supercontinent called Gondwane. The book is chronologically the second in Carter's Gondwane Epic. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in May 1975, and reprinted in May 1977. A trade paperback edition was published by Wildside Press in January 2001 and an ebook edition by Thunderchild Publishing in January 2019. The book includes a map by the author of the portion of Gondwane in which its story is set and "A Glossary of Unfamiliar Names and Terms" by the author.
The Warrior Who Carried Life is a novel by Geoff Ryman published in 1985.
Zanthodon is a science fiction novel by American writer Lin Carter, the second in his series about the fictional "Hollow Earth" land of Zanthodon. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in June 1980, with an ebook edition following from Gateway/Orion in October 2018. It was also gathered together with the other volumes in the series into the omnibus ebook collection The Zanthodon Megapack.