King Arthur in Various Media - Modern Literature

Modern Literature

• A. A. Attanasio: The Dragon and the Unicorn, The Eagle and the Sword, and The Wolf and the Crown.
• Derek Benz and J. S. Lewis: The Revenge of the Shadow King reveals an alternate history of Arthur who was betrayed and murdered by his half-sister Morgan le Fay, who is portrayed as an evil immortal being known as the Black Witch, for possession of a sacred book which had been passed down father-to-son for thousands of years. In this case, Arthur was betrayed when he refused to pass the book on to his illegitimate son. The book was passed to Arthur's true son, and from Arthur's son came the Knights Templar.
• Marion Zimmer Bradley: The Mists of Avalon is the classic of modern reinterpretations of the Arthurian legend through the points of view of powerful women behind Camelot, namely Morgaine, Gwenhwyfar, and Morgause.
• Gillian Bradshaw: The Down the Long Wind trilogy Hawk of May, Kingdom of Summer and In Winter's Shadow looks at the King Arthur legend through the eyes of a classical scholar.
• James Herbert Brennan: The Grail Quest gamebooks center on the kingdom of King Arthur.
• Bryher set her historical novel Ruan in Britain immediately after Arthur's death.
• Meg Cabot: Avalon High, a novel in which high school students find themselves to be reincarnations of characters from the Arthurian cycle.
• Mark Chadbourn: The Age of Misrule, The Dark Age and Kingdom of the Serpent trilogies take a modern twist of Arthurian legend and Celtic mythology, using them as a basis for a dark series of novels set in modern Britain, in which the Celtic gods return to take back the land.
• Catherine Christian: The Pendragon tells the story from a 5th century Sir Bedivere.
• Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy: The Forever King is a trilogy of books set in modern day about a boy who is King Arthur reincarnated and his protector Hal, a former police officer who is the reincarnation of Galahad.
• Susan Cooper: five volume saga, The Dark is Rising.
• Bernard Cornwell: The Warlord Chronicles consist of three novels, Winter King, Enemy of God, and Excalibur, and reintroduce many old characters into the tale.
• Kevin Crossley-Holland: The Seeing-Stone, At the Crossing-Places, and King of the Middle-March.
• Peter David's Knight trilogy depicts Arthur reappearing in the modern-day world. In the first novel, Knight Life, Arthur emerges from his thousand-year convalescence that followed the wound he sustained from Mordred to run for mayor of New York City. In One Knight Only, he faces another epic hero for possession of the Holy Grail. In Fall of Knight, the villain Arthur encounters is a person from actual history, who possesses the Spear of Destiny, and wants to use it to destroy the Earth.
• Bryan Davis: Dragons in Our Midst series
• David Drake: The Dragon Lord, a somewhat unconventional story involving a "King Arthur" who is more great military general than quasi-enchanted king; it takes place shortly after the fall of the Roman Empire and long before the Age of Chivalry.
• Janice Elliot: The King Awakes, a post-apocalyptic science fiction novel for young teens. Arthur awakens and maintains a presence as a sub-plot, leading to a fantastic finale complete with reborn Knights of the Round Table.
• Alan Fenton: The Return of Arthur, a two part series which reinterprets the Arthurian legend in modern day, with a backdrop of global terrorism and war.
• David Gemmell: Ghost King (1988), Last Sword of Power (1988), The entire series deals with the Stones of Power, also known as the Sipstrassi. The first two books contain a re-imaging of the Arthurian legend.
• Christopher Gidlow: The Reign of Arthur: From History to Legend
• Parke Godwin: Firelord and Beloved Exile
• The several books by Norma Lorre Goodrich are very popular, but are based on a poorly received analysis of Arthurian legend and medieval history. She asserts he was a borderlands king whose activity centred around the Roman walls and wall forts.
• Fred Heiser: Things Fall Apart... tells a variation of the story set in a post nuclear war southern California.
• Helen Hollick: Pendragon's Banner trilogy.
• Phyllis Ann Karr: The Idylls of the Queen.
• Guy Gavriel Kay: The Fionavar Tapestry is the continuation of the Camelot story in the framework of a wider epic.
• Stephen King: The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah reveals that the hero of King's spaghetti-western/fantasy/sci-fi magnum opus adventure series, Roland, is one of only two of King Arthur's surviving descendants. The version of Arthur in Roland's world is known as Arthur Eld, and was the founder of the order of Gunslingers, knightly warriors who wield revolver pistols in the name of justice; Eld's own guns were reportedly forged from the metal of Excalibur itself.
• Robert King: Mad Merlin, Lancelot Du Lethe, A retelling of the Arthurian legend from the perspectives of Merlin and Lancelot rather than on the usual Arthur, King weaves his tale by combining bits of folklore and mythology with both sheer invention and historical fact. Merlin is actually the god Jupiter.
• James Knowles, The Legends of King Arthur and his Knights
• Sidney Lanier: The Boy's King Arthur is a work based on Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, written in such a way to appeal to the boys of the 19th century.
• Stephen R. Lawhead: The Pendragon Cycle, a more thorough examination of the myths, especially concerning Taliesin, Merlin, Arthur, Pendragon, and the Grail.
• C.S. Lewis makes reference to Arthur and aspects of Arthurian legend, albeit with his own twist, in the final installment of his Space Trilogy, That Hideous Strength.
• Andrew Massie: Arthur The King, a darker version of the classic tale.
• John Masefield cycle of poetry concerning the Arthurian legend.
• Nancy McKenzie: Queen of Camelot, where Guinevere gives a first-hand account of her life, and Grail Prince, set directly after Arthur's death at Camlann.
• Rosalind Miles Guenevere Trilogy is a fictional trilogy that follows Guenevere and King Arthur through their reign as High King and Queen.
• Garth Nix: Contained in Nix's collection Across the Wall are two stories that present a different take on the Arthurian legends: "Under the Lake", a short story that portrays the Lady of the Lake as a parasitic, monstrous creature, and "Heart's Desire", which tells of Merlin and his apprentice Nimue, and the ultimately doomed relationship between them.
• Tim Powers' The Drawing of the Dark depicts an eternal King Arthur reincarnated to participate in the Siege of Vienna.
• Howard Pyle, King Arthur and His Knights of The Round Table
• Kurtis Reid: Percival (part of the Descendant Series), a novel about King Arthur's son in the modern world. Set release in 2010.
• Philip Reeve: Here Lies Arthur tells of a more tyrannical Arthur in the time of the Dark Ages.
• Lisa Ann Sandell: Song of the Sparrow, a retelling of the story of Elaine of Ascolat, the Lady of Shalott.
• Nancy Springer: I am Mordred and I am Morgan le Fay are two young adult novels about the two often misunderstood characters of Camelot.
• John Steinbeck: The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights is a traditional take in modern language. Steinbeck also compared the adventures of the paisanos in his early novel Tortilla Flat to the exploits of Arthur's knights.
• Mary Stewart's Merlin books: The Crystal Cave sets up the background for the Arthurian legend. The Hollow Hills encompasses most of Arthur's lifespan, including his childhood with Merlin as his tutor. The Last Enchantment deals with Merlin's later life, against the continued background of Arthur's rule. A later book, The Wicked Day, was written from the point of view of Mordred in the latter period of Arthur's rule, and provides an interesting counterpoint to the original three novels.
• Alfred, Lord Tennyson: Idylls of the King
• Mark Twain: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
• Jacob Wenzel: Le Morte d'Arthur, an Epic Limerick is a retelling of Malory in limerick verse.
• T. H. White: The Once and Future King cycle
• Jack Whyte: The Camulod Chronicles, a series of books containing more historical fiction than fantasy beginning with Roman Britain and leading through Arthur's reign.
• Persia Woolley: Child of the Northern Spring, Queen of the Summer Stars, and Guinevere: The Legend in Autumn.