Mordred and the King

I encountered John Michael Curlovich while I was in high school. My library had his books The Blood of Kings and Blood Prophet, and I devoured them, went out and bought them, and devoured them again. I bought them for friends as gifts. Those books made me obsessed with uncovering every hidden LGBT person in history. But sadly, aside from a small anthology in which one of his stories is published, I could not find any more from this author. Until now. This book is told from Mordred's point of view. After a chance encounter with King Arthur, he becomes obsessed with him. His mother, Morgan le Fay, wants him to betray the king and become the champion for the old ways, which are dying. After a journey that takes him through half of the world and helps him discover who he is, Mordred finally finds himself by Arthur's side. I've read a lot of books on King Arthur, his Knights, Merlin, the round table, Mordred, etc. I've seen movies about all of those things. Mordred is perhaps one of my favorite characters and I enjoyed this fresh perspective with him. While Guinevere (however you choose to spell it) is often portrayed sympathetically, and other times as a woman caught between her passions, in this book the author doesn't play around with the innocent, torn woman. No. Here she schemes and is just as ruthless as Morgan le Fay. I loved it. I loved the female knight, Britomart, and I loved Mordred's tutor Geoffrey. He was such a great companion to Mordred, helping him learn through books and experience. Their travels through Asia Minor were fascinating, too, because so often when reading Arthurian legend, the lands are strictly the United Kingdom. However so many other places and legends are mentioned. The Greek play a huge role, and Mordred even stands on the ancient land of Troy and mourns Achilles and Patroclus. This is yet another brilliant book by John Michael Curlovich. I just hope his next one doesn't take another ten years to be released!

In Mordred and the King John Michael Curlovich has written one of the best gay-themed novels ever -- certainly the best gay-themed fantasy. Mordred honors the Arthurian tradition and does complete justice to it, yet it’s a full-blooded fantasy in its own right. The way Curlovich balances all the plots, subplots and themes in a story told on such an epic scale is really a bit of a marvel. And yes, it has all the homo-eroticism a reader could want. I know it’s a corny thing to say, but I literally couldn’t put this novel down. Highly, highly recommended.

With the myriad of books, poems, films and even a musical based on the Arthurian legends do we have need of still one more interpretation of these characters and what they represent? If we’re talking of John Michael Curlovich’s epic romance, MORDRED AND THE KING, then yes, we most emphatically do! For what Curlovich has created here is a classic for our time. This is an Arthur for our age; every bit as alive and relevant as tomorrow’s news, proving indeed that there is no such thing as the passage of time when it comes to the human psyche. Almost all the major characters (and quite a few of the minor ones) will remind you (often disturbingly) of people who walk the earth today; whether they be part of our political landscape or realizing their fifteen minutes of fame as nothing more than celebrity mischief-makers.