Colleen Avelli, author

                         The Pendragon...

     In The Pendragon, Avelli has created a new tier in Arthurian geneology by placing two characters from her first novel into the Pendragon lineage, thus offering a new twist for the rightful heir of England.  Inspired by the different viewpoints of such authors as Marion Zimmer Bradley, John Whyte, Mary Stewart and Stephen Lawhead,  Avelli has woven an elaborate version to describe the coming of the true High King.  

   A sneak preview into The Pendragon:

And so it happened that a priestess of Avalon caught  the eye of Merlin.  Her hair was brilliant gold as if spun by the sun herself.  She was a daughter of the old ways, bearing the power of sight.  She played the harp as if her fingers were touched from above.  Gwyn’s music intoxicated Merlin and thus he pursued her, he wooed her and on the eve of Beltane, he loved her.  Even through the mask of the White Hart did he see into his chosen Virgin Huntress and knew it to be her.  Something in her eyes, like a flowing river their blueness enveloped him. He welcomed the drowning ecstasy he felt as he joined with her.  She touched his face, through the mask it seemed, and with fingers accustomed to commanding the harp strings did she command his body.  Their coupling went beyond the ceremony of The Great Marriage, beyond the conception to bring forth the High King; it went beyond all earthly bounds.   

    Gwyn caresses her swollen abdomen lovingly, proudly.  Inheriting the lineage of the Merlin and a priestess of Avalon, she would carry a great power and a great burden.  This child, their daughter, would be the bearer of the High King; the one who would bring The Lady’s message into the world of men outside of Avalon; the one who world wear the sign to unite all men in a time when division and strife would be at its height.  This child would someday carry the Redeemer, the one who would bring Her word to those who had before been deaf to its meaning.