The Spiral Trilogy by Michael Scott Rohan
The Spiral Trilogy is a fantasy series that explores a multidimensional world where the mundane and magical intersect. The narrative follows Stephen Fisher, a seemingly successful businessman from England whose life feels hollow despite his wealth. Throughout the trilogy, Steve navigates the enigmatic Spiral, a realm where he encounters both delightful and perilous characters, including pirates and supernatural beings. In the first installment, "Chase the Morning," Steve's journey begins as he confronts personal demons and participates in a battle against mysterious adversaries known as the Wolves, leading to his involvement with a formidable female pirate and a voodoo god.
The second book, "The Gates of Noon," sees Steve undertaking a charity mission in Bali, where he becomes entangled in a struggle involving ancient deities and a complicated romantic past with his former girlfriend, Jacquie. His adventures emphasize themes of redemption and self-discovery. The trilogy concludes with "Cloud Castles," where Steve faces darker forces while realizing his own potential and ultimately steps into a heroic role as the Grail King. The series delves deeply into personal growth, the clash of cultures, and the transformative power of love, all set against a backdrop of rich fantasy lore and moral challenges.
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Subject Terms
The Spiral Trilogy
First published:Chase the Morning (1990), The Gates of Noon (1992), and Cloud Castles (1993)
Type of work: Novels
Type of plot: Fantasy—heroic fantasy
Time of work: The near future
Locale: England and various modern, historical, and fantasy places
The Plot
The world of the Spiral Trilogy is conceived of as multidimensional. Everyday life is lived in the Core, but some people slip into the Spiral, where legend and unpleasant magic mix.
Stephen Fisher lives in England and shows promise in the import-export business. Despite his wealth and success, his relationships are failed or trivial, and his life is meaningless.
In Chase the Morning, Steve is haunted by memories of the breakup with his only serious girlfriend, the Eurasian Jacquie. He decides to spurn his lonely designer flat and look for a restaurant in the dock area. Suddenly finding himself in an area of anachronistic masted vessels, he behaves with uncharacteristic gallantry in rescuing a man from a gang of bestial attackers. He thus meets Gyp, the Pilot, and is taken to the Illyrian Tavern as a hero for resisting the “Wolves.”
The next day, back at his company, an injury he incurred in the fight is fussed over by his attentive secretary, Clare, and he is supported by his respectful assistant, Dave Oshukwe. This existence seems unreal to him. He looks up the name of the key ship from the night before, the SS Iskander, and finds it on his database. When he discovers that the ship was active in 1868, he is hooked.
Steve returns to the Spiral, meets a colossally strong female pirate called Mall, and is attacked by a Dupiah smuggled by the Iskander. He, Gyp, and Mall defeat it, but he looks forward to leaving the world for good. This does not happen because the Wolves, alerted by his use of the computer to check on the Iskander, break into his office and kidnap Clare.
Steve has financial resources and can count on the support of Gyp and Mall. He hires a ship and an evil magician, Le Stryge, to pursue the Wolves. He succeeds in the Caribees, but only after becoming possessed by the loa of the voodoo god Ogoun.
The Gates of Noon is an Oriental fantasy. The increasingly successful Steve has taken on a Rotary Club obligation to transport some computer gear for a charity project in Bali. There it will be used in a program to irrigate the land and ease the prospect of famine. Even the resourceful Dave, however, has failed to penetrate unsuspected commercial and bureaucratic tangles. Steve flies to Bangkok to sort out the problem.
Almost immediately upon arrival, he is assaulted by denizens of the Spiral and saved by a bar-girl, Rangda. He also is visited in his hotel by a group of Balinese priests, led by the sinister Bali. Inspired by the renewed contact with the Spiral after seven years, Steve decides to hire a pirate ship to take the crucial crate through the Spiral to Bali. He also hires the Magician Ape to accompany the expedition.
Steve had not anticipated that his project contact would be Jacquie, who is suspicious of his involvement and believes he will cheat the project. Rebuffed, Steve falls for a night of passion with Rangda, only to find that he has been possessed and somehow stolen the crate for one of the enemy groups. Jacquie insists on following him, and they all set off for Borobodur on Java, where there is a terrific confrontation with Rangda, who is revealed to be the Goddess of Death and Destruction. Only the arrival of Mpu saves them.
For reasons that Ape will not reveal, it is vital to reach Bali by noon on May 3. When pursuit by pirates wrecks their ship, this seems impossible, but Gyp and Mall help out. It is Galungan, the festival during which the Gates into the gods’ world open. Mpu, changed into the Barong, Lord of the Forests and Harvest, and Rangda begin a war that threatens to destroy Bali. Ape, who has become Hanuman, looks to Steve for a solution. Steve again is possessed, but in a way that allows him to decide the way forward. He and Jacquie have a happy week but realize that they live in worlds too different for them to have a future.
In Cloud Castles, Steve is managing director of C-Tran and has developed a system of sending important mail with a small computer that can sort out delays. His partner in this venture is Baron Lutz von Ameringen, a rich Prussian of noble family. The baron is working to gather dark powers on the Brocken, a traditionally evil place. He is in league with the Invisible, a corrupt being from the Rim, and Le Stryge, the necromancer who appeared in Chase the Morning. Steve learns of the latter’s return when he is tricked into taking a spear from a Spiral town, Heilenberg.
Steve also is being pursued by Alison Laidlaw, who believes Steve is the mastermind behind Lutz’s nefarious schemes. Both she and Lutz try, at various times, to kill him. Lutz’s attempts come after Steve makes it plain that he will not join with Lutz in the plot.
The spear turns out to be the arm of the Grail, which also is in Heilenberg. Steve refuses to give it to Le Stryge and is strengthened by finding that it responds to him. As the time of fulfillment of the plan nears, Steve is driven into a Spiral nightmare of public slaughter, race riots, and popular rebellions.
Eventually, having managed to kill the maniacal Lutz, Steve is faced with the critical moment on the Brocken. This time, he finds his true stature, as a bunker in the mountain collapses and the Brocken explodes. He emerges as the renewed Fisher King to heal the land. He is now also Grail King, having struck a bargain in his own time. Alison becomes his true companion.