Gravelight [Paperback]

Marion Zimmer Bradley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 1998

Wycherly Musgrave is the perfect drunken, ne'er-do-well youngest brother. Beneath his lighthearted manner, however, lies . . . something dark. Now, afraid that in a drunken blackout he may haev murdered a young woman, Wycherly has fled the family estate to try to dry out and see if he can remember what happened that terrible night.

Wycherly finds himself strangely attracted to Sinah, a famous actress whose ability to read minds and project exactly what people want to see has made her a star. Sinah fears her own identity is drowning under the characters she's played. Above these people looms a ruined sanitarium, a vortex of evil psychic powers. And both Wycherly and Sinah are ripe for possession.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Fans of the supernatural will enjoy this high-spirited, smoothly told novel from a fantasy master."--Publishers Weekly

"Taut, shapely, well-informed: the best entry so far."--Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Marion Zimmer Bradley was born in Albany, NY and lived for many years in Berkeley, CA. Best known as a writer of fantasy, science fiction, and romantic occult fiction, Bradley was also the editor of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Fantasy Magazine and many anthologies. Her most famous works include the Darkover series of science fiction novels and the New York Times bestselling The Mists of Avalon. Bradley's romantic, magical, contemporary novels for Tor include The Inheritor, Heartlight, Ghostlight, and Witch Hill. Marion Zimmer Bradley died in 1999.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; Reprint edition (August 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312865074
• ISBN-13: 978-0312865078
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,568,366 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Marion Eleanor Zimmer was born in Albany, NY, on June 3, 1930, and married Robert Alden Bradley in 1949. Mrs. Bradley received her B.A. in 1964 from Hardin Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, then did graduate work at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1965-67.
She was a science fiction/fantasy fan from her middle teens. She had written as long as she could remember, but wrote only for school magazines and fanzines until 1952, when she sold her first professional short story to VORTEX SCIENCE FICTION. She wrote everything from science fiction to Gothics, but is probably best known for her Darkover novels and for her Arthurian novel, THE MISTS OF AVALON.
In addition to her novels, Mrs. Bradley edited magazines, amateur and professional, including Marion Zimmer Bradley's FANTASY Magazine, which she started in 1988. She also edited an annual anthology called SWORD AND SORCERESS, which is still published annually under the title MARION ZIMMER BRADLEY'S SWORD AND SORCERESS.
She died in Berkeley, California on September 25, 1999, four days after suffering a major heart attack.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely briliant work in a delightful series, December 12, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Gravelight (Hardcover)

Morton's Fork, West Virginia is reported to be a hotbed of psychic activity. The rumors draw paranormal researcher Professor Dylan Palmer and his fiancee Truth Jourdemayne to the small town. Truth soon learns that her ancestors Quentin Blackburn and his lover Athanasis Dellon fought to the death over control of the Wellspring gate that takes visitors to a world filled with magic.

Truth and Dylan also learn that the original fight between her great-uncle and his lover on the mortal plane several decades ago continues on the astral plane. However, this time the pair of spirits are using human descendants to fight their eternal battle. Athanasis possesses her own daughter, actress and confused psychic Sinah Dellon to be the tool in her war. Quentin has moved inside the body of rich drunk Wycherly Musgrave to use as his dupe. It is up to Truth to save the pair of pawns and close the gate before disaster strikes the townsfolk and her beloved.

Marion Zimmer Bradley is the mistress of several genres including the supernatural. That reputation is well deserved and her latest novel, GRAVELIGHT, will strengthen her hold on the top rung. The story line is fast-paced, filled with action, and quite entertaining. Truth be told, nobody does it better.

Harriet Klausner

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yet another great occult novel..., March 2, 1998

By 

Olaf Keith (Dortmund) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gravelight (Hardcover)

I loved GHOSTLIGHT(1995); I liked WITCHLIGHT (1996) even better, but GRAVLIGHT surely tops both of them ! Her story of an alcoholic, a desperate actress and her two psychic reseachers is a great and compelling story. I could not put it down until I had read the whole book. Be sure not to miss this fantastic novel which tops nearly every novel MZB has written in recent years. And look for the next installment in the series.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Third Time is a Charmer, January 4, 2001

By 

Ann E. Nichols (Sierra Vista, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gravelight (Hardcover)

When I met Wycherly Musgrave, Winter's brother, in WITCHLIGHT, he seemed like just one more thoroughly unlikeable member of a unlikeable and dysfunctional family. In GRAVELIGHT I learned that he's probably the only other member of the family who's worthwhile. Unlike his sister's adventure of the mind, we don't have to wait three-quarters of the book to find out what he's running from. Yes, he has good reason for hating himself. It was interesting to find out what happened to the Musgraves. Too bad that Wycherly is the only other sibling to break away. Will he find the truth and shall it set him free? GRAVELIGHT starts out with a chapter that sets us up for what is to come. Quentin Blackburn certainly misjudged the will of his lover, Athanais Dellon. Unfortunately, Attie didn't succeed in wiping out his evil influence. Unlike the first two books, this one changes viewpoint from character to character before tying everything together. This enabled the author to accomplish more than she could have by sticking with any one character. I enjoyed learning about Athanais and present-day Melusine ("Sinah") Dellon's self-serving ancestress and the origin of the Dark Brooding Evil Menace in Morton's Fork [great name!]. I enjoyed seeing Truth Jourdemayne and Dylan Palmer again, although the reversal of their believer-skeptic roles made me worry that they wouldn't be together by the end. I think Ms. Bradley chose wisely in the manner in which she resolved the problem. However I didn't understand why there should be any trouble between Truth and another character in GHOSTLIGHT who makes an appearance here and I still don't. Little nugget of information: according to one of the many catalogs that clutter up my mailbox, those little bricks of Fels-Naptha that Truth wonders about in chapter five are heavy-duty laundry soap. Just as I found the climax of GRAVELIGHT more powerful and satisfying than that of its predecessors, I think this book has the most powerful and evocative cover. With the other two, I don't think it would matter much if the paperback cover doesn't include the entire wraparound design of the hardcover's dustjacket, but in this case it would. I love the glimpse of the ruined sanatorium with the light streaming through and around it!