May 2023 - epub format revised and verified by zardox (no changes to book content).
Genre: Fantasy
ebook, 381 pages
Paperback, 496 pages
Published: 1978
Edition: eBook Edition (2004)
Fantasy Masterwork
John W. Campbell Memorial for Best SF (1979) Winner
World Fantasy Award for Best Novel (1979)
Locus Award Nominee for Best SF Novel (1979), British Fantasy Award Nominee for Best Novel (August Derlith Fantasy Award) (1979)
Queen Elizabeth I of England (ruled in late 1500's), also known as Gloriana and Good Queen Bess, has been a source of endless fascination for centuries. There are many movies (Elizabeth made Cate Blanchett's career) and dozens of books, not to mention Web sites devoted to her. While there was great strife during her reign, Elizabeth I was one of the most beloved monarchs of all time, and her period is known as the Golden Age of English history. Some of the world's greatest luminaries came from her country in that period, including William Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser, Christopher Marlowe, and Sir Walter Raleigh.
A fable satirizing Spenser's The Faerie Queene and reflecting the real life of Elizabeth I. GLORIANA, OR THE UNFULFILL'D QUEEN tells of a woman who ascends to the throne upon the death of her debauched and corrupted father, King Hern. Gloriana's reign brings the Empire of Albion into a Golden Age, but her oppressive responsibilities choke her, prohibiting any form of sexual satisfaction no matter what fetish she tries. Her problem is in fact symbolic of the hypocrisy of her entire court. While her life is meant to mirror that of her nationΒΏan image of purity, virtue, enlightenment, and prosperity the truth is that her peaceful empire is kept secure by her wicked chancellor Montfallcon and his corrupt network of spies and murderers, the most sinister of whom Captain Quire, is commissioned to seduce Gloriana and thus bring down Albion and the entire empire.
Award- John W. Campbell Memorial for Best SF (), Award- World Fantasy Award for Best Novel (), Fantasy Masterwork
Award- John W. Campbell Memorial for Best SF (), Award- World Fantasy Award for Best Novel (), Fantasy Masterwork
Award- John W. Campbell Memorial for Best SF (), Award- World Fantasy Award for Best Novel (), Fantasy Masterwork