during the late 1960s, it wakened a sudden
widespread interest in fantasy fiction that germi-
nated over the next few years and which began to
grow rapidly during the 1970s. By the end of the
1970s, publishers were actively looking for new
fantasy talent to promote, and Stephen R. Donald-
son burst onto the scene at precisely the right time
with the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, which
originally consisted of two trilogies and which has
recently been extended with the first of four new
titles. The titles in the first trilogy were Lord Foul’s
Bane, The Illearth War,and The Power that Pre-
serves,all published in 1977.
The trilogy was obviously heavily influenced
by Tolkien, but the hero in this case is a man from
our universe, Thomas Covenant, a leper who has
become deeply traumatized by his condition and
who believes the Land, the magical realm to which
he is transported, to be an extended psychotic
dream. In fact, even after he is convinced to help
the inhabitants of that land in their fight against
the mysterious and totally evil Lord Foul, he never
completely believes in the reality of his experience.
There was, in fact, some criticism because of an
early incident in which Covenant, believing this to
be an elaborate dream, commits rape.
The second trilogy, The Wounded Land(1980),
The One Tree (1982), and White Gold Wielder
(1983), is considerably more somber, and much of
the action focuses on characters other than
Covenant. The Land has been poisoned at the insti-
gation of Lord Foul, who can be free only when it
has been completely destroyed. He is finally de-
feated, again by Covenant, who this time is forced
to give his own life in the process. The new se-
quence opens with The Runes of the Earth(2004), in
which Covenant’s son, under the influence of Lord
Foul, kidnaps a child and his own mother, who is
mentally ill, and takes them to the once again horri-
bly transformed Land, pursued by Linden Avery, the
doctor who was introduced during the second tril-
ogy. Three more volumes are planned.
Donaldson, who has also written thrillers and
a series of space adventures, has published only
one additional book-length fantasy, a two-part
novel under the titles The Mirror of Her Dreams
(1986) and A Man Rides Through(1987). Known
collectively as Mordant’s Need,the story focuses on
a young woman caught up in an elaborate and
convincing series of intrigues and minor adven-
tures and is in large part a coming-of-age story.
The scale is considerably narrower than in his pre-
vious fantasies, but the tone is lighter and the
characterizations equally dense. Donaldson has
also written a number of short stories, almost all of
which are of very high quality, and his collections,
Daughter of Regals and Other Tales (1984) and
Reave the Just and Other Stories(1998), mix pre-
dominantly fantasy with material from other gen-
res. The latter collection won the World Fantasy
Award. Donaldson’s extended absence from fan-
tasy has only partially diminished his reputation,
and his recent return is likely to restore him to
prominence.Douglas, Carole Nelson(1944– )
Between 1982 and 1992 Carole Nelson Douglas
produced seven traditional fantasy novels of con-
siderable merit, arranged in one sequence of five
plus a separate duo. Her subsequent fiction has
been primarily in the mystery genre, although the
Irene Adler series flirts with fantastic elements
from time to time, and the Midnight Louie series is
told from the point of view of a cat. Her occasional
short fiction has been generally minor, although
“Dracula on the Rocks” (1995) is amusing.
Her first two novels, Six of Swords(1982) and
Exiles of the Rynth(1984), establish the setting and
introduce the main character, Irissi, along with
several companions including an intelligent cat.
Irissi is the last of her kind, and she seeks to escape
into another world where she will not be alone.
The gateway is discovered in the second book,
which sets the stage for the next three volumes,
the Sword & Circlet trilogy—Keepers of Edanvant
(1987), Heir of Rengarth (1988), and Seven of
Swords(1989). Irissi and her friends spend all three
books battling an evil wizard named Geronfrey, but
Douglas avoids most of the common clichés and
delivers a surprisingly mature story.
The Talisman duo includes Cup of Clay
(1991) and Seed upon the Wind(1992). These two
have a considerably darker tone and address issues
of gender prejudice and child abuse. The protago-
nist is a reporter from our world who falls throughDouglas, Carole Nelson 91