Marc Laidlaw – författare

The ocean is rising … Straight up!

“On a bluff above the sea lived a gargoyle, a tree, two bards, and their various children.”

Gorlen and Plenth, the wandering bards in question, have quit a life of rambling to raise their daughter Aiku in peace at the edge of a curious sea. Aiku’s other father is the gargoyle Spar, who is also husband to a songwood tree and father to a young grove. It’s no more unusual than most families, and their life no less ordinary … until one extraordinary day, when the messenger birds Aiku loves begin to deliver ominous notes and soon flap away in a frenzy, like a storm fleeing before an even greater storm.

Their warning, meant only for birds, becomes clear to all when the ocean abandons its bed and sails into the sky, carrying off all its denizens (not to mention every ship), while revealing an eerie land of murk and mystery below.

While some might hesitate to plunge into that vaporous realm, for our heroic parents, waiting is not an option. For even as the ocean rose, Aiku was carried off to the lands beneath it, caught in a conflict between elder guardians and illicit sorceries. With no idea what they’re getting themselves into, our bards and gargoyle head straight into the dim new world.

Will the levitating sea crash down again and drown them? Or might it float away to the stars, taking Aiku with it?

Only in the depths beneath the Oversea, at a place of power where ancient forces forgotten and forbidden converge, will all the pieces and the players come together. The stakes, and the tides, have never been higher.

From the writer of the blockbuster videogame Half-Life, ten stories of the bard with a gargoyle’s hand

For over a quarter of a century, Gorlen Vizenfirthe has entertained fans of wandering bards. Famous for playing his silver-strung eduldamer with one hand of flesh and one of stone, he has traveled from the dankest dens of Dankden to the desiccated domiciles of Wumnal Wells, first in search of a gargoyle with a hand of flesh, and then, partnered with said goyle, on the trail of the elusive wizard who swapped their hands in the first place.

The Gargoyle’s Handbook collects for the first time all the Gorlen tales that take place before the events of the novel, Underneath the Oversea. Herein are short stories about sinister cats and singing ships, novelettes of musical curses and trap-setting birds, novellas of transmogrified pilgrims and metaphysical moths—well over a hundred thousand weird and wonderful words, which is barely enough to describe Gorlen’s world.

For fans of Jack Vance, Fritz Leiber, or sword and sorcery with more stringed instruments. For listeners of Underneath the Oversea curious to learn how Gorlen found his family. Or for those who simply want a pocket guide to strange new lands. The Gargoyle’s Handbook might be just the handy manual you’ve been looking for.