Website=https://edwardwillett.com/science-fiction/
I’m a freelance writer and performer in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. I’m the award-winning author of more than 60 books of science fiction, fantasy, and nonfiction for readers of all ages. I also host The Worldshapers podcast, featuring interviews with science fiction and fantasy authors about their creative process. On the science fiction and fantasy side, for DAW Books in New York, I’ve written four science fiction novels under my own name (Lost in Translation, Marseguro, and Terra Insegura–the latter two reissued in an omnibus edition called The Helix War–and The Cityborn. My latest DAW novel, Worldshaper, starts a new fantasy/science fiction series called Worldshapers; Book 2, Master of the World, comes out in September 2019.As Lee Arthur Chane, I’m the author of the epic steampunkish fantasy novel Magebane, and as E.C. Blake, I’m the author of the Masks of Aygrima trilogy: Masks, Shadows, and Faces. Marseguro won the 2009 Aurora Award, honouring Canadian science fiction and fantasy, for Best Long-Form Work in English. Terra Insegura was a finalist for the same award the following year. Although not published as YA, the Masks of Aygrima books have YA appeal: Masks was shortlisted for the Saskatchewan Book Award for Best Young Adult Novel as well as the Regina Book Award for best novel by a Regina author. Young adult fiction is actually my first love. I recently completed a five-book YA fantasy series, The Shards of Excalibur, for Coteau Books: Song of the Sword, Twist of the Blade, Lake in the Clouds, Cave Beneath the Sea, and Door into Faerie. (Both Twist of the Blade and Door into Faerie were finalists for the Aurora Award for Best Young Adult Novel.) My most recent YA novel is Flames of Nevyana, a “voltpunk” fantasy from Rebelight Publishing. My first published novel was YA, in fact: Soulworm, which was shortlisted for the Best First Novel Award at the Saskatchewan Book Awards. My second novel, The Dark Unicorn, was shortlisted for best children’s book. Andy Nebula: Interstellar Rock Star won an Our Choice Award from the Canadian Children’s Book Centre, and Spirit Singer, later reissued by Tyche Books in Edmonton, won the 2002 Regina Book Award for best book by a Regina author. Other YA books include Andy Nebula: Double Trouble, The Haunted Horn, and The Chosen. In 2013 Bundoran Press published my science fiction novel Right to Know; a sequel, Falcon’s Egg, came out in 2015. In 2018, I started my own small publishing company, Shadowpaw Press: the first book was Paths to the Stars: Twenty-Two Fantastical Tales of Imagination, a collection of my short fiction. It’s been shortlisted in two categories of the Saskatchewan Book Awards. I also write non-fiction, with dozens of titles on diverse topics: the history of engineering and geoscience in Saskatchewan, the Mutiny on the Bounty, the Iran-Iraq War, genetics, Ebola, Jimi Hendrix, J.R.R. Tolkien, and many more. In addition, I occasionally write plays: Circle the Crops, a science fiction comedy, was performed by Crocus 80 Theatre in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, for that city’s centennial celebrations, and As Time Goes By: A Love Story with Music and Ghosts was staged by Regina Lyric Musical Theatre. (I also directed that one.) April 2019 will see a production of a new play-with-music, The Music Shoppe, also being produced by Lyric. Playwriting comes naturally, since in addition to being a writer, I’m a professional actor and singer who has performed in dozens of plays, musicals and operas in and around Saskatchewan, hosted local television programs, and emceed numerous public events. I wrote a weekly newspaper science column for almost twenty years, and was also a weekly guest on CBC Radio’s Afternoon Edition talking about science for 17 of those years. Currently I write a bimonthly column on science fiction and fantasy, “The Space-Time Continuum,” for Freelance, the magazine of the Saskatchewan Writers Guild. At various times I’ve written other columns. Most are archived on this site. I’m married to Margaret Anne Hodges, a telecommunications engineer and a past president of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan. We have one daughter, Alice, and a black Siberian cat, Shadowpaw, who happens to be the nephew of the Siberian owned by Betsy Wollheim, co-owner-and-publisher of DAW books. My literary agent is Ethan Ellenberg.
Book Review
The Shards of Excalibur
The Shards of Excalibur is a five-book series telling the story of Ariane Forsythe, a teen from Regina, Saskatchewan, who discovers she is the heir of the Lady of the Lake of Arthurian legend. With the help of her unexpected sidekick, Wally Knight, she must discover all five pieces of King Arthur’s legendary sword Excalibur before Merlin, in his present-day guise as Rex Major, wealthy computer magnate, can do so…and launch a war to seize control of both Earth and his own world of Faerie.
Song of the Sword | Twist of the Blade | Lake in the Clouds | Cave Beneath the Sea | Door into Faerie
Song of the Sword
Everyone knows the legends of King Arthur, the Round Table, and the powerful and noble wizard Merlin. But what if those so-called legends were real historical facts? And what if someone has carefully rewritten that history?
Ariane’s life is already pretty difficult when she starts to hear the singing – her mother’s disappeared, she’s trying to get used to living with her aunt after several foster homes, and she’s taking grief from the “in” girls at school. She’s dealing with strange dreams involving swords and knights and battles, and things seem to get weird whenever she touches water. And now an invisible someone, somewhere, is singing to her.
Before long, Ariane’s met the famed Lady of the Lake (in a journey UNDER the local lake), has acquired a nerdy sidekick, and is sent on a dangerous mission that pits her against otherworldly forces. Can she figure out what it all means, much less survive the challenge?
Reviewers liked the original version:
“Every so often … a writer is skilled enough to utilize the stories of King Arthur and Camelot to significant effect. Guy Gavriel Kay’s Fionavar Tapestry Trilogy is definitely on the list. So, too, is Song of the Sword, the impressive new YA novel from Regina writer Edward Willett … a taut, compelling narrative, well-drawn characters, and a keen sense of genuine peril and true wonder. It’s a powerful, fun, engaging read, and it’s the first of a series, so readers have much to look forward to.” – Quill & Quire, Sept. 2010
Now available in audiobook format, narrated by Elizabeth Klett!
Twist of the Blade
Twist of the Blade is Book 2 in the five-book Shards of Excalibur series, published by Coteau Books, which began with Song of the Sword in spring 2014.
Having saved the first shard of the sword Excalibur from internet mogul Rex Major (aka Merlin), Ariane and Wally are on the lookout for the second. Wally’s worried that the power of the first Shard is already changing Ariane, giving her the strength to do both good and evil…and when she seriously hurts his bullying sister Flish, it seems he might be right.
Reviews of Twist of the Blade:
“The sequel to Song of the Sword (2014) improves on its foundation….Willett realistically explores the difficulties Ariane and Wally face and paints Rex Major in such a light that readers may be unsure as to whether he is a master manipulator or misunderstood hero…Engrossing and more nuanced than its predecessor.” – Kirkus Reviews
“A satisfying second instalment…Twist of the Blade offers an enticing sense of danger and excitement as Ariane pursues her mission, but the narrative doesn’t shy away from the story’s human elements…It’s refreshing to read a story in which the heroes and villains are not cut-and-dried, and readers can look forward to three more instalments in this genuinely entertaining myth-based series.” – Quill & Quire
Lake in the Clouds
The third Shard of the sword Excalibur is calling Ariane.
Ariane is on her own and on the run. Rex Major has swayed her erstwhile best friend Wally to his side. And when she finally hears the faint call of the third Shard of Excalibur, it’s on the other side of the world, in New Zealand! Wally, meanwhile, is discovering that life as Major’s “guest” isn’t all it promised, especially when he finds out Major’s plans for Ariane’s aunt. With Aunt Phyllis under threat, Ariane has no choice but to walk directly into Rex’s trap—and hope she can find a way to protect both the Shard and those she loves.
Cave Beneath the Sea
The fourth shard of Excalibur might come with a price Ariane doesn’t want to pay: her mother.
Seeking to recover the shards of King Arthur’s sword Excalibur before Rex Major (the ancient sorcerer Merlin in a modern-day guise), Ariane and Wally have traveled around the world, and their quest is not yet over.
Ariane’s magical powers as heir to the Lady of the Lake, combined with Wally’s clever thinking, have enabled them to hang on to two of the three shards they’ve located so far – but Rex Major still has one shard of his own, and will stop at nothing to claim all the pieces for himself, and use its power to rule Earth and invade the magical realm of Faerie. And now Major has his eyes on a big prize: Ariane’s mother, who went missing after she refused the power of the Lady of the Lake.
Thanks to Wally, Ariane knows her mother is alive – and that Rex Major is trying to find her. If he succeeds, Ariane fears she’ll have no choice but to surrender the two shards she and Wally possess, because she’ll do anything – and give up everything – to have her mother back with her again.
In Cave Beneath the Sea, Ariane and Wally race to the Caribbean as they try to find Ariane’s mother and the fourth shard of Excalibur before Major. As they struggle to stop Major, Ariane and Wally face desperate danger…and must make the most difficult decisions of their lives.
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Door into Faerie (The Shards of Excalibur, Book 5)
In the climactic fifth book of The Shards of Excalibur, Ariane, Wally, Flish, and Rex Major are on a collision course, converging on the resting place of the final piece of the sword: the hilt, long ago removed from its original hiding place by the descendants of King Arthur. When Wally uncovers its surprising location, far closer to hand than they’d ever guessed, it seems all Ariane and Wally have to do is claim it and reforge the sword to defeat Merlin forever.
Except…how, exactly, do you reforge a magical sword? Especially, how do you do it when the richest man in the world is on your trail and pouring all of his enormous resources into stopping you?
When the pieces of the sword are at last reunited, the results aren’t at all what Ariane and Wally imagined. With Excalibur whole again, the long-closed door into Faerie swings open wide. Who—and what—emerges from it may destroy everything and everyone Wally and Ariane have fought so hard to save—and allow Rex Major to snatch victory from the very jaws of defeat.
Fighting side by side, Ariane and Wally must draw on all their strength, courage, magic, and love to save the world…and there’s no guarantee it will be enough.
Click here to read the first two chapters of Door into Faerie!
Order the book on Amazon, at Chapters Indigo, or directly from the publisher, Coteau Books.
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