The Malacia Tapestry

The Malacia Tapestry
Brian Aldiss

In Malacia, a city where change is forbidden and radical ideas are crushed, a war like no other is about to commence.The Brian Aldiss collection includes over 50 books and spans the author’s entire career, from his debut in 1955 to his more recent work.Struggling young actor Perian de Chirolo does as he pleases in the timeless city. He is a lover, a fighter and has no thought for consequence, until the magic of Malacia changes and reality begins to catch up with him.Now de Chirolo must make a choice between his old life, and joining the revolutionaries who will fight to ensure Malacia is never the same again.

BRIAN ALDISS

The Malacia Tapestry

Copyright (#ufd7efee3-35f8-508d-9675-c1186cfa23e0)

HarperVoyager an imprint of

HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpervoyagerbooks.co.uk (http://www.harpervoyagerbooks.co.uk)

This ebook edition first published in Great Britain by HarperVoyager 2015

First published in Great Britain by Jonathan Cape 1976

Portions of this novel appeared in a different form in Orbit 12, copyright © Damon Knight 1973

Copyright © Brian Aldiss 2015

Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2015

Brian Aldiss asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007482368

Ebook Edition © October 2015 ISBN: 9780007482375

Version: 2015-08-28

Dedication (#ufd7efee3-35f8-508d-9675-c1186cfa23e0)

For Margaret

time under prisms

dawn and pollen clouds afloat

presaging changes

you are the glimpsed light

in my smokey existence

frail but enduring

Epigraph (#ufd7efee3-35f8-508d-9675-c1186cfa23e0)

You sing of the old gods easily

In the days when you are young,

When love and trust seem not at odds;

But I know there are gods behind the gods,

Gods that are best unsung.

K. G. St Chentero

(XVI Mil.)

Contents

Cover (#ua1a54441-a231-5684-bf5b-eeb7568a99e0)

Title Page (#u62afe412-7552-584b-94f3-a26f7bd59597)

Copyright (#u5be33903-bfb9-5774-b86d-33d978c90818)

Dedication (#u1b9c2cc9-f5c7-5756-a5cd-3a573e364338)

Epigraph (#u3bb22d63-477c-5eef-b015-f6af577adee0)

Introduction (#u890694b8-5b1e-573a-800b-a02903cd98af)

BOOK ONE (#ued06c269-4e44-50cc-9cdf-834406a81aff)

Mountebanks in an Urban Landscape (#u67817845-cbd8-5dc6-abff-3175836303a9)

A Balloon Over the Bucintoro (#u5058a880-d9e8-5f0a-b2ef-353420e39189)

BOOK TWO (#litres_trial_promo)

A Feast Unearned (#litres_trial_promo)