fantasy fans, because the manner in which Bradley
described her imaginary planetary society and the
mental powers of the local inhabitants had much
the feel of epic fantasy. Although she had written a
few straightforward fantasy novels as well, it was
not until The Mists of Avalonappeared in 1982
that she achieved best-seller status. The novel,
which is quite lengthy, is an intricate and thought-
ful reimagining of the legend of King Arthur and
Camelot. Bradley employed a decidedly feminist
perspective and chose Morgan Le Fay as her pri-
mary character in order to examine Arthur’s rise
and fall in very different terms from the traditional
ones. She also avoided the usual subplots, turning
instead to Celtic fantasy to create a brilliantly
imagined world where druid priestesses reside in a
magical realm hidden from the rest of us, interact-
ing with those outside only when they so choose.
The advent of Roman and Christian influences
and their clashes with the native religion are a
major subplot. The novel, in very condensed form,
appeared as a television miniseries.
Although the novel stands by itself, Bradley
decided to enhance the story by adding a prequel,
The Forest House(1993). This gave her the oppor-
tunity to further explore the clash of cultures as
Rome became a dominant power, this time focus-
ing on the controversial love affair between a druid
woman and a half-breed Roman soldier. Each must
deal with divided loyalties in a society that tries to
force them to make a clear-cut decision. Diana L.
PAXSONwas an uncredited collaborator and may
also have worked on another prequel, Lady of
Avalon(1997). Similar issues arise in this volume
as well, but now the druids have acknowledged
their inability to physically resist the Roman inva-
sion, so instead they choose to retreat to magically
protected islands and wait for the tide of foreign
intervention to recede.
Paxson was acknowledged as a collaborator on
the next in the series, Priestess of Avalon(2001).
Bradley, who had become terminally ill, had dis-
cussed future volumes with her in great detail but
probably contributed little if any of the actual prose.
The plot is very similar to that of The Forest House,
although the druid culture is explored in much
more detail this time. Paxson has written a further
installment on her own based on her conversations
with Bradley, and additional volumes may follow.
Ancestors of Avalon(2004) is chronologically the
earliest of all the titles, describing the arrival of the
first druids in the British Isles following the destruc-
tion of their former home, Atlantis. Although none
of the added volumes have achieved anything ap-
proximating the stature of The Mists of Avalon,they
have all been well above average historical fantasies,
particularly The Forest House.Aycliffe, Jonathan(1949– )
Jonathan Aycliffe is the primary pseudonym of
Dennis MacEion, who also writes in other genres
as Daniel Easterman. The Aycliffe name was first
used for Naomi’s Room(1991), a powerful psycho-
logical ghost story in which a man struggles to rec-
oncile the loss of his young daughter with the clear
evidence that her spirit is still active in the world.
The residual spirit of Jack the Ripper complicates
matters and initially seems to intrude too much on
the core story, but Aycliffe eventually resolves
things quite neatly. Whispers in the Dark(1992) was
also a ghost story, this time set in Victorian Eng-
land. As with his first novel, Aycliffe suggests that
ghosts vary from good to evil just as they did in
life, but that these attributes might be pushed to
their extremes following the transition.
Vanishment(1994) is the story of a haunted
house on the Cornish coast. A writer and his wife
begin to experience unusual emotional swings, ap-
parently reliving tragic events that took place
there years earlier. Although the story is a familiar
one, Aycliffe does a superior job of letting his read-
ers peer inside the minds of his characters and is
equally skilled at evoking a quietly menacing at-
mosphere. There are no ghosts in The Matrix
(1995), although in a sense its protagonist is
haunted by his dead wife, driven by grief following
her death to delve into obscure occult lore that
nearly costs him his life. The Lost(1996) is a kind
of vampire novel whose protagonist discovers that
he is descended from the “strigoi,” a race of eastern
Europeans who have decidedly vampirelike habits.
Although relatively short, the novel is filled with
surprising revelations and develops its horrific
theme systematically and effectively. It is Aycliffe’s
most impressive title to date.12 Aycliffe, Jonathan