The Sacred Pool

A MILLENNIUM IN PROVENCE A lost little girl weeps in the high wilderness, and her cries are heard...Is her rescuer a crazy, lonely woodsman, or a timeworn Celtic god, and she his only believer? Does an ancient female deity live beside the pool, among the ancient trees of the cool beech grove, or is she little Pierette's "imaginary friend," a poor substitute for a murdered mother? Will the Black Time come, when dark, evil machines tower over the sunny little harbor of Citharista and all the goodness of the world is locked in an ebon box, or will young Pierette indeed become the great sorceress of her dreams, with fire at her fingertips to stem the evil tide? Journey with her across the ancient landscape, wander among the bleaching limestone bones of dragons that lie still atop the hills, and see for yourself whether the old gods yet endure.... The Sacred Pool stands at the midpoint of a vast historic tapestry, looking both forward and back: From the sea-girt Paleolithic caves of Sormiou and the enchanted forests of ancient Gaul, to the steamy swamps of Midicor IV, a million years hence; from old Polybius in his leather tent at the siege of Numantia, to Achibol the Charlatan in a cybernetic fortress buried beneath the Columbia Icefields of Alberta, L. Warren Douglas is there -- and he takes his readers with him.