I’m excited to announce that my novel The Unicorn, The Mystery was recently published by Adelaide Books (New York/Lisbon).
In The Unicorn, The Mystery, we meet a unicorn who tells us the story of the seven tapestries, called “The Hunt of the Unicorn” from the 1500s on display in “the unicorn room” in the Cloisters (at the westernmost tip of Manhattan), now part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The tapestries tell the story of what is still called an “unsolved mystery.” The story is set in an abbey in France not far from the barn in the countryside where the tapestries were discovered. Pursued by a band of hunters, the unicorn is led along by observing birds (some of them chirp in a language that the unicorn understands), smelling and eating the abbey flowers and fruits (including imbibing in fermented pomegranates), pursuing chaste maidens (there is one in the tapestry) and at times speaks to other animals such as the majestic stag.
In The Unicorn, The Mystery, we also meet a young monk named Apolo who tells us his story. Once he was pure of heart, so much so that he saw the unicorn several times (most notably as a lad and then as a young monk). But when he comes to live in the abbey, he gets swept up in the politics going on around him. His betrayal starts when he tells the Priest he meets with regularly that he saw the unicorn. The priest scoffs and says that the unicorn is both a mythical and pagan animal. But then he suggests that if Apolo can prove the unicorn does indeed exists, that it would be worth his while. Apolo subsequently plots with the sundial wrist-band wearing Bishop who is eager to trap the unicorn to please the King. Realizing his error in betraying the unicorn, Apolo leads us through a labyrinth of the Middle Ages, including story, myth, philosophy, numerology and alchemy. Can he regain his purity and at the same time get ahead?
Three short fiction excerpts of the The Unicorn, The Mystery were shortlisted for the Adelaide Literary Award 2018 (short stories, Vol. One).
I also included some excerpts of The Unicorn, The Mystery in my talks at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Restoration in Philadelphia. You can watch the YouTube videos or read the text of these talks by clicking on the links below.
By the way. unicorns did exist according to the bestiaries passed down from ancient Greece and unicorns are mentioned by name in The Hebrew Bible. They can be seen depicted in images of collections from the Middle Ages when people commonly believed in the existence of unicorns. As my monk narrator says to a skeptical priest, also his Latin teacher,
God believed in the unicorn.
Click here to find about more about the excerpts from The Unicorn, The Mystery that were shortlisted in The Adelaide Literary Award.
The #Unicorn, The Mystery shortlisted for The Adelaide Literary Award — #amreading #literaryawards
The following excerpts were part of my talks at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Restoration:
A recent UU talk on origins of The Unicorn, The Mystery:
You are the hero of your own story — #UU #amreading #magic
Here is my debut of The Unicorn, The Mystery:
The Unicorn, The Mystery, a novel debut by Janet Mason — #UU #amreading
This excerpt is from Poetry Sunday:
“Love can lead to goodness” — reading from Sappho and The Unicorn, The Mystery — #Poetry Sunday, a #UU tradition
This excerpt features the Egyptian cat goddess, Goddess Bastet:
Gardening and the Egyptian #cat goddess Bastet — a #novel preview
The Unicorn, The Mystery is sold where ever books are sold online and through your local bookstore. You can also order it through your library.
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