Actor Armin Shimerman is well known to SCIFI.radio fans as Quark in Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Principal Snyder in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Pasqual in Beauty and the Beast. He is perhaps less well known as the author of a series of historical fantasy books set in Elizabethan times. He has just published a new trilogy: Betrayal of Angels. Book I of the trilogy, Illyria, features Dr. Dee, as did his Merchant Prince series. However, the two series do not appear to be related.
Of his previous books, The Merchant Prince was co-written with Irish author Michael Scott and was published in 2000. Outrageous Fortune was published in 2002; it was co-written by award-winning fantasy author Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. Capital Offense was published in 2003; he wrote that book solo. Mr. Shimerman also wrote The 34th Rule, a Star Trek: Deep Space 9 novel about his character Quark, with American SF writer David R. George III.
Illyria, which Shimerman wrote without a collaberator, is the first book in the Betrayal of Angels trilogy. It is officially being released November 5, 2020 from Jumpmaster Press.
Shimerman is a Shakespearean scholar in his private life and well familiar with Elizabethan society, including the enigmatic Dr, John Dee.
“The Queen’s conjurer, Doctor John Dee; Elizabethan mathematician, cryptographer, and mystic, is commissioned by her Majesty’s spymaster, Walsingham, to suss out the loyalty of a Catholic Duke who governs an island in the English Channel. His mission: discover any treason, religious terrorists and possible threats to The Crown. In preparation for his mission, Dee becomes acquainted with William, an unknown, teenaged playwright, who has just written a horrendous flop – “Prince Amleth”. On a blustery winter’s day, they set sail on their clandestine mission to find forbidden, seditious clues in the strangest of places. Dee must rely on his ingenuity, build trust with his young companion, and follow each slim lead to discover if recusants exist on the island or if there are yet some loyal to the Crown. His very life depends on it.”
The real John Dee was a fascinating historical figure. A philosopher who was believed by his peers to be a sorcerer, he was arrested for treason because he cast the horoscopes of Queen Mary and her half-sister Princess Elizabeth. He later served in the court of Queen Elizabeth, and was a noted mathematician and tutored the poet Sir Philip Sydney. He certainly knew Walsingham in real life and may well have been one of Walsingham’s agents.
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Susan Macdonald is the author of the children’s book “R is for Renaissance Faire”, as well as 26 short stories, mostly fantasy in “Alternative Truths”, “Swords and Sorceress #30”, Swords &Sorceries Vols. 1, 2, & 5, “Cat Tails” “Under Western Stars”, and “Knee-High Drummond and the Durango Kid”. Her articles have appeared on SCIFI.radio’s web site, in The Inquisitr, and in The Millington Star. She enjoys Renaissance Faires (see book above), science fiction conventions, Highland Games, and Native American pow-wows.
