How Are the Mighty Fallen

by Thomas Burnett Swann, George Barr (Cover Art)

Cyclops and sirens, halfmen and godlings...that of which myths are made and that from which worship arises—these are the materials Thomas Burnett Swann weaves together in the fantasy-historical tapestry of this new novel, which he considers to be his most important work to date. For the author of Green Phoenix and The Forest of Forever now tells of a Queen of ancient Judea who was more than human, of her son who became legend, of their Cyclopean nemesis whose name became synonymous with Colossus, and of loves and loyalties and combats fixed forever in the foundations of human society.

The ever-growing audience that Thomas Burnett Swann has gathered for his unique novels will find How Are the Mighty Fallen a new fantasy fiction experience.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction, Historical Fiction, LGBT, Science Fiction Fantasy

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Thomas Burnett Swann was best known as the author of numerous fantasies published in the 1960s and ’70s. Many of his bucolic tales were set in the Ancient World and populated by mythic creatures. His best-known works include the novel DAY OF THE MINOTAUR and the shorter works “Where Is the Bird of Fire?” and “The Manor of Roses,” all nominated for Hugo Awards. Swann was also a poet, professor, and literary critic.

Reviews

[Richard Derus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4.5* of five

An out-of-print rarity now, this was the shocking sexualization of a Biblical legend that its distributor tried hard to prevent seeing the insides of bookstores. Thomas Burnett Swann wasn't a very good craftsman, really, but his imagination was nonpareil and his courage inspired my teenaged self.

My review is live now.

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

DAW Collectors #94

Cover Artist: George Barr

Name: Swann, Thomas Burnett, Birthplace: Tampa, Florida, USA, (12 October 1928 - May 5, 1976)

Swann called "How Are The Mighty Fallen" 'my starkest book, but also, at the end, my happiest.’

Swann’s delight in the pagan sexuality of his characters, including same sex relationships, won him a devoted gay and lesbian readership.

Swann never won either award, he was nominated several times for both the Hugo Award (science fiction) and the Mythopoeic Award (given for fantasy in the Tolkien tradition). He was also frequently cited in the runner-up listings for the Locus Award, determined by an annual readers’ poll conducted by the science fiction trade journal Locus.

the Biblical David and Jonathan were lovers Jonathan was of a strange, ancient winged race of non-humans. Once the of strangeness is accepted, all is transformed into wonder.

[Wanda Wanjiku · Rating 3 out of 5]

When a poet writes Biblical fantasy, you know the prose is going to be something. It’s unfortunate that Bible mythology isn’t as played around with in fantasy, and I mean, it’s obvious why. It’d be a genre surrounded with endless controversy. This book was almost not distributed in stores at all because of that. It’s crazy that I even found this book in the first place.

On to my brief review of this before I forget:

The prose is beautiful. The author’s poetic skill really suit David’s character here. The dialogue was also very polished, even though the story is very scarce. He really brought the land and it’s people to life in the most interesting ways.

However, this had a lot of Greek mythology in it, which I found disappointing. Ancient Near Eastern cosmology and mythology is already rich and there’s so much to explore about the monolatrist theology of ancient Israel and the surrounding nations. I wish he’d leaned more into the mythology from freaking Babylon than Greece or Rome. There was a distinctly Western feel to the prose and fantasy elements. (I mean, Jonathan and Ahinoam are literally blonde?!! Lmao) Sometimes if felt like Thomas was only interested in telling his own version of the Jonathan and David story without really having to deal with any of the themes that would be part of that culture. It’s a choice, is all I’d say. It makes the story bizarre and divorced from the lands it’s trying to depict, but in a way, that sometimes adds to its charm.

Overall, this book felt a lot more like a long epic poem than a fantasy story. It’s sophisticated writing, yet it also somehow feels like a comic book without pictures. It was ahead of it’s time, yet the author really didn’t care too much to depict the times of the characters he was writing. So now I’m left with these pieces that are pretty but don’t have much substance when it comes to plot or even theme. I couldn’t tell you what the story was about, only what happened.

First chapter had me shook, though.

[Pfedac · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first novel by this author. And it's deeply sad that the only reviews here seem to focus on the fact that David and Jonathan are in love. There is so much more to it. It's a beautiful story, the disappearance of an ancient mythical civilisation mirroring the raise of the semitic tribes, the god of the Hebrews presented as the god of a tribe instead of the transcendant deity from the three religions of the Book (a point of view that rings so true for those who read the book of Genesis). The writing is beautiful and rich, the metaphors delicate as a dream. The cover is as hideous as the inside is beautiful. An author worth discovering, and a book worth reading.

[bookslayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

It did not seem to David that only then did they embrace as more than friends; it seemed to him that there had never been a time when they were less than lovers. Arm in arm they had crossed impassable deserts; side by side they had sailed impossible seas, farther than Sheba or Punt; beyond the edge of the world! Other lands had known them; in other times they had loved and shared the throne; the high-breasted Lady of Crete, twining snakes in her hands, had smiled beneficence on them; they were as young and as old as the pyramids.

Шкода, що ніхто крім мене цю книгу не прочитає, бо в електронному вигляді її нема... принаймні, легально (:

Це кросовер Старого Заповіту з античністю. Така маленька книжка, так багато цікавого.
Агіноам не просто дружина Саула та мати Йонатана, вона колишня цариця Сирен, біженка з Крита і фактично головна героїня.
Ґоліаф - один з критських циклопів.
Боги тут не приймають участі особисто, але все одно майже гомеричні, бо очевидно та буквально існують та диктують свою волю, а також надають життя-після-смерті: "рай" визначається тим, кого з богів персонаж більше шанував, і може бути дуже різним, а може бути й "ніяким", типу "просто між світами". Рай Яґве дуже специфічний.

Взагалі це дуже-дуже крута робота з точки зору фанфікшену (ой, вибачте, "ретелінґу", як зараз називають друковані фанфіки), бо психологічно це абсолютно не сучасна книга, це одночасно амальгамація міфологій та їхня старанна імітація без натягування сучасних цінностей на старозаповітний глобус. Давид втратив цноту в дванадцять років з одноліткою, на секунду. Не можу сказати, що адаптація ідеальна (бо я не розбираюся настільки глибоко), але що вона краща за роботи Медлін Міллер - це точно.

Любовна лінія Давида з Йонатаном чудова, але в світі царів, богів та пророків обоє досить покірно слухаються долю: Давид має правити та мати вісімнадцять дружин чи скільки там, доля Йонатана - померти в бою з філістимлянами, тож їм нічого не залишається як мужньо миритись із цим та планувати як смертне життя, так і зустріч на тому світі. Канон та фан тут сплетені дуже щільно, тож присутні плюси та мінуси обох, і мені одночасно не подобається та подобається дуже сильно.

У будь-якому разі маю безмежну повагу до твору. Це розйоб.

[Surreysmum · Rating 3 out of 5]

[These notes were made in 1985:]. A retelling of the David and Jonathan story with three distinguishing features: (1) it includes original poetry and excerpts from the biblical poetry as commentary on the action; (2) it postulates a homosexual relationship between David and Jonathan; (3) it shifts the story out of the purely Hebrew context of the Bible, suggesting that Jonathan actually belongs to an entirely different race and different set of gods, not belonging to Saul at all. It is in the creation of this alternate, bee-like race (Jonathan's mother is a queen-bee), and their enemies the Cyclops - one of whom turns out to be Goliath - that the novelist's imagination is most fully engaged. The whole is quite short, and the depiction of various emotions rather fleshless. But a curiosity, nonetheless.

[Stephen Poltz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a retelling of the David and Jonathan story as if they were lovers and with some fantasy thrown in. The question of the relationship between David and Jonathan has been a matter of speculation, that it was more than a bromance. Of course, it is very controversial. Published in 1974, it’s a subtle romance, with more emphasis on the forces around them than in the details of the relationship. And it has a rather cold narration, not flowery or overly prosy, but it reads well. It has gods, goddesses, cyclopes (yes, that’s the plural of cyclops), war, and intrigue. It packs in a lot for such a short book.

Come visit my blog for the full review…
https://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspo...

[Christopher Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a unique and imaginative work. A blend of biblical and Greek mythology, telling the story of David and Johnathan. Johnathan as the son of a siren, Goliath as a cyclops.
I found it a bit heavy on description at times, and a typo (or mistake) about the evil behind Goliath’s eyes was really distracting.
Overall it was a compelling enough read. I wasn’t really floored at any point but there were some good lines. If you see it in a used bookstore, pick it up.

[Marina Golondrina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thomas Burnett Swann es un autor injustamente dejado de lado a pesar de tener una obra interesantísima y muy distintiva. Esta novela es significativamente más triste que otras suyas, porque no en vano nos cuenta la historia de un amor truncado por la tragedia, pero sigue teniendo esa exaltación del amor y los placeres compartidos, de la ternura y la gentileza aún en tiempos duros. Los personajes son entrañables, sus relaciones también, y como hará luego Madeline Miller en la Canción de Aquiles, te lleva a las más altas cumbres del amor para luego dejarte caer desde allí. Pero lo aceptas con gusto, porque la prosa es preciosa y porque ese corto periodo de tiempo que David y Jonathan comparten juntos hace que valga la pena.

A parte, aprecio esta aproximación desde la fantasía. Esta no es una novela bíblica ni tampoco una especie de desmontaje de la religión. Es simplemente una novela.

Lamentablemente, en retrospectiva, se me quedó corta y la bella prosa no logra camuflar el desarrollo errático de los personajes. Es una pena, pero aún así lo disfruté.

[Ashleigh Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delighted to find any of Swann's catalog back in print (or electron.) This was my introduction to Swann in the middle 1970s, at one point, I had managed to acquire all but one of his titles
The Biblical story of David and Jonathan is revisited in a mythic way.

[PRJ Greenwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Semi-fantastic re-telling of the David and Jonathan story from the Old Testament with the usual Swann fae/faerie treatment. Can be heavy going at times and Swann's wordplay is certainly baroque and sometime misses the mark with its ornate twists and turns. Withal, well-crafted and laid out, but it's probably not for anyone other than fans of this kind of material, and I agree with another reviewer than George Barr's artwork doesn't quite mesh with the story within the covers.

This work is not as playful or whimsical as some of his other stuff, but Swann is a unique voice amongst the fantasy field.

[Mely]

The one where David and Jonathan are gay! And one of my least favorite Swanns, sadly. Creepy racial subtext.