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A FANTASY MASTERPIECE FROM
A SCIENCE-FICTION STAR
LOIS McMASTER BUJOLD
THE CURSE OF CHALION

"Lois McMaster Bujold has the remarkable ability to create living, breathing characters who inhabit unusual, yet believable worlds. She has done it again in The Curse of Chalion. Though Cazaril is not a typical hero -- but when has Bujold ever written something typical -- his powerful story swept me up on the first page, carried me through exciting spins and unexpected turns, and didn't let me down until the end. Read it! You'll be glad you did."

-- Jean Auel, author of Clan of the Cave Bear

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The incomparable Lois McMaster Bujold, three-time winner of the Hugo Award for best novel and creator of the immensely popular "Miles Vorkosigan" science-fiction series -- an author whose insight into character has been compared to Jane Austen's -- has written a new epic, an eagerly-awaited tour de force that is sure to appeal to her crossover audience of romance readers (Bujold has also won the Sapphire Award) even as it lifts her into the pantheon of premier contemporary fantasists.

Cazaril was a soldier, a slave, a courtier -- and carries the scars to prove it. Now, broken in body and spirit, he seeks menial work in the household where he once served as page. To his surprise, he is offered the position of secretary-tutor to the granddaughter of his former liege-lady -- young Royesse Iselle, strong-willed sister of the heir to Chalion's throne. But his new post takes Cazaril to the place he fears most: the royal court at Cardegoss, where powerful adversaries who once consigned him to chains now hold power over the realm. Even as he confronts enemies who have neither forgotten nor forgiven his past, he falls in love with the beautiful, courageous Lady Betriz. When he discovers that an uncanny ill-fortune hangs over the royal family -- and that the curse of Chalion hangs over him, as well -- he comes to realize he is the only one who can prevent this insidious evil from slowly conquering the kingdom and its people.

With THE CURSE OF CHALION, a dazzling display of storytelling, Bujold gives us a riveting tale rich in atmosphere, magic, character, adventure, and a touch of the numinous.

"Fresh, intriguing and, as always from Lois McMaster Bujold, superb."

-- Robert Jordan

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
One of the most respected writers in the field of speculative fiction, Lois McMaster Bujold burst upon the science fiction world in 1986 with the first of the Vorkosigan Saga novels, Shards of Honor, closely followed by The Warrior's Apprentice. She has won the Nebula Award for Best Novel for Falling Free, and she has won the Hugo award for Best Novel three times (for The Vor Game, Barrayar, and Mirror Dance) as well as the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novella with "The Mountains of Mourning". Recently she visited St. Petersburg Russia, where she was a guest speaker at the Congress of Russian Science Fiction Writers and a winner of their "Strannik" Award. The mother of two, Bujold lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Check out www.dendarii.com, an extremely complete and passionate fan-owned and -- run site for news about Bujold, her work, and her articulate and enthusiastic world-wide readership.

THE CURSE OF CHALION
By Lois McMaster Bujold
Eos/An imprint of HarperCollinsPublisher
Publication Date: August 3, 2001
$25.00/$37.95 (Canada)
ISBN: 0-380-81983-X

THE CURSE OF CHALION
By Lois McMaster Bujold
PerfectBound/e-books from HarperCollins
Publication Date: August 14, 2001
$19.95/$30.95 (Canada)
ISBNs: 0-06-001074-6    ADOBE EBR
     0-06-0010738        MS READER
     0-06-001072-X    GEMSTAR