I was born during the fires of Beltane. My mother was called the Witch-Queen and my father, Arthur, King of the Britons. From New York Times bestselling author Douglas Clegg comes a spellbinding novel of Arthurian historical fantasy. Conceived in violence, born of royalty, and raised in exile, Mordred grows to manhood torn between his powerful mother's desire for revenge, his own conflicted feelings towards the father who betrayed him, and his passionate coming of age into first love with one of the greatest knights of Camelot.
Reviews of Mordred, Bastard Son
*Starred Review* "Riveting...Clegg puts an inspired wrinkle in the hoary tale of Arthur and the grail by casting Arthur's kindred enemy, Mordred, as a gay man. An injured stranger in a cloak and odd, paganish mask, is captured and held in a monastery, igniting wild speculation among the locals, who believe him a notorious traitor. And so he is. He is Mordred, the bastard son of Arthur Pendragon and his half sister, the witch-queen Morgan Le Fay, and he now awaits trial for murder and treason...How excellent." - Booklist
"Douglas Clegg's stunning Mordred, Bastard Son will inspire and refresh..." - Michael Rowe, Advocate Magazine
"Clegg (The Priest of Blood) maintains a nice balance between the human and mythic dimensions of his characters, portraying the familiar elements of their story from refreshingly original angles." - Publishers Weekly
"Well-crafted. Written in lyrical prose with colorful characters and historical depth. Lovers of both history and fantasy will discover...an enchanting read." - Edge Boston
"Clegg beautifully skewers the Arthurian legends, weaving a compelling story, single-handedly reinventing Mordred's sexuality. He is no longer the betrayer of Arthur, the knight Lancelot, and Guinevere, Queen of the Britons; he is now the seductive and passionate hero, a lover of men given the almost insurmountable task of finding the cauldron of rebirth..." - Michael Leonard, Curled Up with a Good Book Blog
"...Magic-true magic that really works-takes center stage in...Mordred, Bastard Son...a refreshing return to the myth and magic of the legends...Clegg's approach recalls Sir Thomas Mallory, Chrétien de Troyes, and even Edmund Spenser at times; his setting is never made temporally explicit but rather melds Celtic, Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and high medieval British elements." - Strange Horizons
Discover Douglas Clegg's fiction
Lights Out Neverland The Children's Hour The Halloween Man You Come When I Call You The Hour Before Dark Nightmare House MischiefThe InfiniteThe AbandonedIsisThe NecromancerGoat Dance Breeder Afterlife Purity Dark of the Eye The Words Wild ThingsBad Karma Red Angel Night Cage Naomi The Nightmare Chronicles The Attraction Night Asylum The Priest of Blood The Lady of Serpents The Queen of Wolves Dinner with the Cannibal SistersMordred, Bastard Son
About the Author: Douglas Clegg is the New York Times bestselling author of more than 30 books including The Hour Before Dark, Neverland and Bad Karma. He lives near the coast of New England and is working on his next book.
