Background of Study
Nebula and Hugo nominated author Phyllis Eisenstein died December 7 at the age of 74 after a year-long struggle with serious neurological problems. The family obituary, which will appear in the Chicago Tribune, is here.
Eisenstein was born in Chicago in 1946, grew up there, and for awhile attended the University of Chicago. She met her future husband Alex at the weekly gathering of Chicago science fiction fandom. They married in 1966.
Her first published sf story was “The Trouble with the Past”, written in collaboration with Alex, in New Dimensions 1 (1971) edited by Robert Silverberg. An acclaimed writer with six published novels and 50 short stories, she was twice nominated for the Hugo Award, for her novella “In the Western Tradition” (1982, also a Nebula nominee), and the novelette “Nightlife.” Two additional works were Nebula nominees, the short story “Attachment” (1976) and novelette “The Island in the Lake” (2000). Her short story “Subworld” was a Seiun Award nominee (1997). Eisenstein’s novels Born to Exile won a Balrog Award (1980) and Sorcerer’s Son was a British Fantasy Awards finalist (1980).
Her 1978 short story “Lost and Found” was adapted for television by George R.R. Martin and aired in 1986 on The New Twilight Zone.
She also wrote a nonfiction book, Overcoming the Pain of Inflammatory Arthritis, which she said “is about the use of pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) for arthritis, a disease I’ve had all of my adult life.”
After establishing herself as a professional writer, she returned to college and finished her education, earning a 1981 B.A. in anthropology from the University of Illinois.
For fifteen years she was the Managing Copy-editor at Leo Burnett Agency, and worked at the Publicis Agency for several years prior to joining Burnett.
Eisenstein was also a gifted teacher, beginning by assisting Roger Zelazny at the Indiana University Writers Conference in 1977, then teaching sff writing at the Clarion Science Fiction Writers Workshop, Oakton Community College, and the Writers Digest School. Ultimately she taught fiction writing for nearly twenty years at Columbia College Chicago where she received the Excellence in Teaching award.
One recommendation she made to improve a writer’s work even showed up as a Jeopardy! game show answer in 2016 —
- In A Storm of Swords, he acknowledged “Phyllis, who made me put the dragons in it.”
The correct question was “Who is George R.R. Martin?”
Martin dedicated the third book in his A Song of Ice and Fire series to her for reasons he explained on a panel at Chicon 7 in 2012:
“The dragons were one aspect that I did consider not including. Very early in the process, I was debating, should I do this just as like historical fiction about fake history, and have no actually overt magic or magical elements, but — my friend Phyllis Eisenstein, a wonderful fantasy writer who lives here in Chicago, I happened to be talking to her at very early stage in the process. Phyllis has written some great fantasies herself. She said, “Nah, you have to have dragons. It’s a fantasy, you know!” And I dedicated A Storm of Swords to Phyllis, who made me put the dragons in, and I think that was the right thing to do.”
She was an icon of Chicago sf fandom. At the Chicon 2000 Worldcon, the Fan Lounge was laid out as the reconstructed living room of a Chicago fan of the ‘80s. The space was furnished with an ill-assorted bunch of old couches, lamps and end tables. One couch was occupied by two crash-test dummies, the first dressed as Neil Rest in sandals, jeans and a Windycon 7 t-shirt, and the other as Phyllis Eisenstein, attired completely in black, a “goth” ahead of her time.
Literature Review
After the sorceress Delivev Ormoru rejects his marriage proposal, sorcerer Smada Rezhyk becomes worried that she’s out to get him. In order to reduce her powers so that he’ll have time to weave himself a protective gold shirt, Rezhyk sends his demon slave Gildrum to impregnate Delivev with Rezhyk’s own seed. Gildrum takes on the form of a handsome young knight (Mellor) and shows up injured at Delivev’s doorstep. As expected, Delivev falls in love with Mellor, but unexpectedly, Gildrum (who doesn’t even have a heart) falls in love with her, too. However, Gildrum must return to serve Rezhyk. He doesn’t tell Delivev that he’s really a demon — he lies and tells her that he’ll come back after he delivers a message.
Sure enough, Delivev becomes pregnant and gives birth to Cray. And, of course, Mellor never returns. When Cray becomes a teenager, he decides to find out what happened to the father whom his mother still loves. This leads to a series of adventures which create more questions than answers.
The plot of Sorcerer’s Son is original and interesting — especially the parts in which Delivev or Rezhyk appear. Delivev has control over nature — particularly snakes, spiders, and ivy. Rezhyk summons and enslaves various types of demons who live in a complex world and follow strict rules about summoning. These parts are very creative and entertaining and I found that I have developed a respect for Phyllis Eisenstein’s imagination.
The Book of Elementals — (1979-1988) The Book of Elementals contains both Sorcerer’s Son (1979) and The Crystal Palace (1988) reprinted and packaged together. The third novel in the series, The City in Stone, has not been published. You can read Chapter 1 on Phyllis Eisenstein’s website. Publisher: As Cray Ormoru, son of the enchantress Delivev, grows to be a man in magical Castle Spinweb, he yearns to find his father, who disappeared years before on a heroic mission. And so Cray sets out on the journey which would take him from town to castle to a fortress of bronze, totally unprepared for the sorrows and dangers that lie ahead. For the fate of Cray’s father would only be discovered by the light of demon fire.
Significance of Study
Sorcerer’s Son is a classic quest-based high fantasy, set in a pseudo-medieval European world of knights, castles, sorcerers and demons. The hero, a young man named Cray who has been raised in protective isolation by his sorceress mother, ventures into the world to find the identity of his father who vanished before his birth. So far, so standard. But unlike much of modern YA, where the sole focus is on the young protagonist and their coming-of-age journey, Sorcerer’s Son tells another side of the story. So, let’s rewind. This story starts before Cray’s birth: it’s the story of two fathers. The straight father and the queer father; the annihilating, rage-filled biological father and the father of love, and choice.
Rezhyk is a self-centred, tyrannical sorcerer who enslaves demons to do his bidding. His first and most powerful slave is Gildrum: a bodiless fire demon he has forced into the physical form of a pubescent girl. When a sorceress rejects Rezhyk’s offer of marriage, he flies into a furious, paranoid delusion that she must plan him harm. He gives Gildrum a new mission and suitable body with which to carry it out: curtail the sorceress’ powers by impregnating her. Gildrum’s cynical mission goes awry when, after seducing the sorceress with his beautiful male body, he falls in love in return. But the demon is still a slave. Forced back to Rezhyk once the mission is complete, imprisoned once again in a girl’s body, Gildrum can only watch helplessly from afar as her son—Rezhyk’s biological son, but the son of Gildrum’s heart—becomes a man. As Cray pursues his quest, his path leads to Rezhyk’s castle. There, he unknowingly meets his two fathers: the cruel and violent man who desires both his and his mother’s death, and the girl-shaped demon who seeks to save them.
Having vanquished Sorcerer Rezhyk, nothing remains for sorcerer Detivev Ormoru and her son Cray but to live happily ever after. Easy enough for Detivev, who has her doting demon lover Gildrum. Easy enough for all the demons liberated by the relentless Cray. But where is Cray’s happily ever after?
The answer begins with a magic mirror.
The Seer Sepwin has constructed a mirror in which the viewer’s heart’s desire can be seen. It shows images without any explanation. Cray looks in the mirror and sees a girl who is presumably his heart’s desire. However, he has no idea who she is or where to find her. He dithers. The next time he looks in the mirror, the girl has grown. At last, he sets out to find her.
After great difficulties, Cray learns that Aliza is a human woman who lives in a crystal palace in a supernatural realm of ice. He appears unannounced at her home, hoping to befriend the woman in the mirror.
Aliza remains oddly cool to Cray. Perhaps this is because she seems to have no soul. Aliza’s grandfather Everand, the sorcerer who imprisoned Aliza in the crystal palace, might be able to explain the matter? Asking would be futile, as Everand has good reason to conceal what he is up to. As well, although neither man knows it, Cray is Everand’s bitterest enemy.
~oOo~
This series started out at publisher Del Rey with Sorceror’s Son1. The next volume in the series, this one, was published by Signet. At first glance I thought Signet had commissioned another cover by Darrel Sweet for consistency of appearance. In fact, the artist was Richard Hescox, whose art I had not thought similar to Sweet’s.
Why the friction between two men who have never met? Everand is a sorcerer and like all sorcerers, gets his power by enslaving demons. He covets more demons to enslave. Cray has spent years freeing demons and placing them beyond sorcerous control. He is thus a bitter enemy to (almost) all sorcerers2. Good thing for Cray that the freed demons have refused to reveal who freed them. Although Everand has no idea who the liberator is, he knows that there is one and been searching for the person’s name without success… at least by the time the novel begins.
Whereas Rezhyk, the antagonist in the previous volume, was dangerous because he was powerful3, Everand is dangerous because he is weak. Having been victimized by other sorcerers in the past, he is determined to become as powerful as his abusers. Lacking sorcerous aptitude, Everand does his very best to compensate with a degree of ruthlessness that is unusual even for sorcerers.
It is fortunate indeed for Cray that the author is his ally. If she weren’t, perhaps readers might think Cray a stalker. He tracks Aliza down and shows up expecting to be received as a friend. He sees himself as a hero rescuing a maiden from bondage. But the reality is that Aliza is content with her life. She has a demon friend and spends her time studying magic.
But the author reveals that Aliza is after all in great danger and that Cray is ideally suited to save her. He’s a hero, not a stalker, and all is well.
The moral: before embarking on a one-sided romance, establish that you are the protagonist and not just a creep.
1: If I am reading the ISFDB correctly, Eisenstein’s first few novels published in the USA were put out by Dell. There was one exception, Sorcerer’s Son, from Del Rey. Then she moved the series to Signet, and finally to Meisha Merlin, who burned her career down to the water-line.
2: Cray is, of course, not his mother’s enemy. She doesn’t need demonic slaves to have power. Cray is a sorcerer, but he doesn’t need to enslave demons; he just asks grateful freed demons for favors.
Demons do not like being enslaved. With the legions of freed demons growing every day, one has to wonder if the demons are taking revenge for their enslavement. If that’s so, any list of sorcerers would be shortening rapidly.
3: Everand is paranoid. In this secondary universe, many sorcerers seem to be paranoid, and for good reason. Sorcery depends on enslaving demons. Sorcerers do not limit themselves to victimizing demons; anyone weaker is seen as fair game.
“Sorcerer’s Son” and “The Crystal Palace” are novels set in a magical universe where individuals harness supernatural powers through study and the control of demons from various elemental realms. The story begins with the sorcerer Smada Rezhyk, who, feeling threatened by other sorcerers, seeks to secure his position through a marriage proposal to Lady Delivev. After she refuses, he manipulates the situation using one of his demons, Gildrum, to seduce her, leading to the birth of their son, Cray.
As Cray grows up, he becomes determined to uncover the truth about his father, embarking on a quest filled with friendship, betrayal, and the discovery of his own magical potential. In the sequel, “The Crystal Palace,” Cray, now restless and searching for purpose, becomes infatuated with a girl named Aliza, who is isolated by her grandfather’s sorcery. As Cray learns more about Aliza’s tragic circumstances, involving her missing soul and her grandfather’s sinister motives, he vows to rescue her from her fate.
The narratives explore themes of identity, the struggle against manipulation, and the quest for freedom, as Cray ultimately confronts powerful sorcery to save those he loves and reshape his destiny. Through their journeys, the characters navigate challenges that test their bonds and their understanding of power and autonomy.
To distract Delivev while he weaves metal clothing that will not be under her influence, Rezhyk sends Gildrum, one of his demons, to her in the guise of a handsome, wounded knight. Gildrum bears enough of Rezhyk’s semen to impregnate her. The seduction is successful, but Gildrum is genuinely attracted to Delivev and leaves her only because he must do as Rezhyk commands.
Delivev’s son is called Cray. His childhood is happy, but as he grows up he determines to become a knight like his supposed father and to find out why his father has never returned. Unknowingly, he receives supernatural encouragement in his quest, whenever Gildrum can steal moments from Rezhyk’s service. Cray becomes friends with Feldar Sepwin, a young man who is an outcast because of mismatched eyes.
Even after Gildrum fakes evidence that the knight is dead, Cray and Feldar continue on their quest to what was supposedly his home castle but discover that no such knight had served there. The two friends go to the Seer Helaine’s cave to learn the origin of the shield Gildrum left at the knight’s supposed grave. Cray again fails to find news of his father at the castle from which the shield came, but the kindly lord there gives him training so that he might become a knight himself. Cray, however, must leave to follow his obsession. Following the Seer’s advice, Cray and Feldar explore the supposed grave, but they find no body. Realizing that magic is involved, Cray decides that the only way he can find his father is to become a sorcerer himself.
Because Cray’s mother is unable to give him the training he needs, he offers himself as apprentice to Rezhyk, who by now has become completely paranoid but who fears to reveal his guilt by rejecting Cray immediately. Instead, Rezhyk bullies Cray mercilessly, attempting to make the young man quit voluntarily. Gildrum befriends Cray, but Cray figures out the identity of his biological father and leaves Rezhyk’s castle in dismay. Rezhyk instructs Gildrum to kill the boy, but the demon evades the command. Cray realizes that it must have been Gildrum who carried the sorcerer’s seed to Delivev. They become allies to destroy Rezhyk. Gildrum transports Cray to the various demon realms, in each of which Cray meets many who are intrigued with the idea of a human who would rather try to befriend them than enslave them. Cray vows to break the sorcerous rings that enslave demons, freeing them irrevocably, as soon as he can.
Meanwhile, not knowing what has happened to her son, Delivev sends an innocent inquiry to Rezhyk, who takes it as a declaration of war and attempts to incinerate her and her home. While she defends herself, Cray and his demon army attack Rezhyk’s castle. The boy kills his genetic father to save his mother and his emotional father. Gildrum settles into human form to live with Delivev, and Cray decides to continue his sorcerous studies.
At the beginning of The Crystal Palace, the basic situation has changed little. Cray is increasingly restless but uncertain of what he wants. Feldar, Cray’s friend, is apprenticed to the Seer Helaine. He discovers a magical mirror that reveals one’s heart’s desire, but it gives Cray only pictures of an unfamiliar little girl in an unknown place. Over the years, however, as the girl grows into a beautiful young woman, Cray becomes obsessed with her. With Gildrum’s aid, he locates her home, in a crystalline structure at the intersection of the human world and the realm of Ice.
Going there with demon companions, Cray attracts the attention of the girl and is admitted into the crystal palace. Her name is Aliza, and she tells Cray that her grandfather, the sorcerer Everand, has left her in isolation except for one ice demon slave so that she can study to acquire sorcerous mastery over Ice. She is perfectly content with the arrangement, but Cray perceives that she has had extremely limited contact with anything outside her dwelling and vows to widen her experience. She becomes interested, even curious, but remains distant from him even as he becomes more emotionally involved with her.
On the way to Delivev and Gildrum’s castle, Aliza visits the Seer’s cave to find out what her heart’s desire might be. The mirror crumbles, and the Seer discovers that Aliza cannot have normal desires because she literally lacks a soul. It has been removed and hidden by her grandfather so that he will always have control over her.
Despite Aliza’s protests that she is comfortable as she is, Cray and his allies begin investigating Everand. They discover that he actually is a puny sorcerer who was embittered as a young man when his parents rejected him after his sorcerous master died without giving him any real power. Everand killed his own daughter and her lover to gain possession of their child, Aliza, in a scheme to gain power for himself through her single-minded studies. When Everend confronts Cray and Aliza, he admits his purpose, but he uses Aliza’s soul to cause her so much pain that Cray withdraws rather than see the woman he loves hurt.
With his demon friends and the covert aid of Everand’s single ice demon slave, Cray attacks Everand’s stronghold and kills him. In Aliza’s crystal home, they discover the hiding place of Aliza’s soul. It is guarded by sorcerous barriers, so Cray must take it into himself, nullify the magic, and breathe it into her through a kiss. With her soul restored, Aliza clings to Cray, and the two begin a life together.