Childe Rolande by Samantha Lee - now published as a paperback and kindle e-book

Parallel Universe Publications is proud to announce that we have published Samantha Lee's groundbreaking post-apocalyptic dark fantasy novel Childe Rolande as a paperback and kindle e-book.

amazon.co.uk

amazon.com

Originally published by Futura Books in 1989, our new version includes an Introduction by the author and a brand-new cover by talented Scottish artist Paul Mudie, who will be familiar to many for the iconic covers he created for the Black Books of Horror. There is also the added bonus of interior chapter headings by award-winning artist Jim Pitts.

Childe Rolande has been optioned by Forlan Films for a proposed TV series and is currently in pre-production development. 

Childe Rolande – The Myth and the Legend

Childe Rolande, Hermaphrodite and Freak, is born into the fiercely matriarchal society of Alba at a time when the fabric of the nation is crumbling.

Rolande fulfils all the technical requirements of an ancient Prophesy which promises that one day a ‘Redeemer’ will arise who will be ‘the one and the both’, and who will sweep away the age-old tyranny of Alba’s female rulers to ‘bind the nation together in peace’.

The hopes and dreams of Alba’s downtrodden males are centred on this mystical being, whose eyes hold the wisdom of the ages and who can reputedly change into an eagle at will.

Can Rolande live up to their expectations, wrest the antlered throne from the Warlord of the Clans, drive the evil Sorceress, Fergael from her stronghold in the Dark Tower, and unite the polarised Kingdom?

From a review written by John Gilbert for Fear magazine in 1989.

“The book is written cleverly in the first person so Lee doesn’t have to equate the principal player with his/her gender. This also allows Lee to step out of the book’s politics and, in the Land of Alba, show that a kingdom ruled by any one part of the population can condemn the other elements to slavery. Childe Rolande also draws on poetic influences, particularly on Byron’s poem ‘Childe Rolande to the dark tower came’... In this book, however, there are enough poetic parallels to play that wonderful game so beloved of Umberto Eco, hunt the allusion. It’s a game that, if well played, will pay off for any lover of the fantasy genres and those interested in the politics of humanity, as pressed through the freedom of fantasy.”