Bringing epic fantasy to a micro world, Clark T. Carlton takes us into the world of ants and men in THE PROPHET OF THE TERMITE GOD (Harper Voyager Impulse; Paperback; June 18, 2019; $7.99 and also available as an e-book; April 23, 2019; $2.99). The new novel follows the acclaimed Prophets of the Ghost Ants, celebrated as “exciting, visionary” and “a tour de force” by Lawrence Bender, producer of Inglourious Basterds, Pulp Fiction, Good Willing Hunting and An Inconvenient Truth.
Clark was inspired to begin writing the series during a trip to the Yucatan when he witnessed a battle for a Spanish peanut between two different kinds of ants. That night he dreamed of armies of tiny men on the backs of red and black ants. After doing years of research on insects and human social systems, Clark says “the plot was revealed to me like a streaming, technicolor prophecy on the sixth night of Burning Man when the effigy goes up in flames.”
Turning to the world he has created, Clark tells the story of Pleckoo, once an outcast, who has risen to Prophet-Commander of the Hulkrish army. But a million warriors and their ghost ants were not enough to defeat his cousin, Anand the Roach Boy, the tamer of night wasps and founder of Bee-Jor. Now Pleckoo is hunted by the army that once revered him. Yet in all his despair, Pleckoo receives prophecies from his termite god, assuring him he will kill Anand to rule the Sand, and establish the One True Religion.
Can Anand, the roach boy who worked in the dung heap, rise above the turmoil, survive his assassins, and prevent the massacre of millions?
This acclaimed fantasy series will appeal to lovers of the beloved Game of Thrones series by George R.R. Martin now heading into its final season on HBO and Adrian Tchaikovsky’s brilliant Shadows of the Apt series. I hope you enjoy the read, and I look forward to discussing this fascinating novel with you personally.
Book 1 of the Antasy series
Both familiar and fantastic, Clark T. Carlton’s Prophets of the Ghost Ants explores a world in which food, weapons, clothing, art—even religious beliefs—are derived from Humankind’s profound intertwining with the insect world.
In a savage landscape where humans have evolved to the size of insects, they cannot hope to dominate. Ceaselessly, humans are stalked by night wasps, lair spiders, and marauder fleas. And just as sinister, men are still men. Corrupt elites ruthlessly enforce a rigid caste system. Duplicitous clergymen and power-mongering royalty wage pointless wars for their own glory. Fantasies of a better life and a better world serve only to torment those who dare to dream.
One so tormented is a half-breed slave named Anand, a dung-collector who has known nothing but squalor and abuse. Anand wants to lead his people against a genocidal army who fight atop fearsome, translucent Ghost Ants. But to his horror, Anand learns this merciless enemy is led by someone from his own family: a religious zealot bent on the conversion of all non-believers . . . or their extermination.
A mix of Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Shadow of the Apt, Katherine Addison’s The Goblin Emperor, and Phillip Pullman’s Golden Compass, this is a powerful new addition to the genre.
Clark T. Carlton is the son of a barefooted, Floridian cowboy and a beauty queen from the Land of Cotton who ventured North to raise their children in the long shadow of New York City. When he was a teenager, his family moved from a blue-collar melting pot to a segregated and conservative enclave of Southern California, an event which forever altered his world view. He studied English and Film at Boston University and UCLA and has worked as a screen and television writer, a journalist, and as a producer of reality television in addition to a thousand and one other professions. He has always had more blue than white in his collar.
Some of his favorite books are the classics of science fiction, all of which have an element of fantasy if they involve time travel or traveling faster than the speed of light (or through a wormhole) to another solar system. As a child, he had hopes of enlisting in Star Fleet Academy, but any physicist worth his neutrons will tell us that kind of space travel will never be possible. One of the greatest regrets of his life is that he cannot travel the galaxies to interact with alien societies- but it has opened him up to create his own imaginary world.
He lives with his family in Los Angeles where he enjoys tennis, volleyball, songwriting, and painting. A friend of his calls his paintings “Grandma Moses on acid”, which he takes as the highest compliment.
Twitter: @ClarkTCarlton / Facebook: @Clark Carlton / Website: clarkthomascarlton.
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PRAISE FOR THE PROPHET OF THE TERMITE GOD
“An epic tale of tiny humans and warring insect empires continues in this sequel… Carlton displays in his insect high fantasy tale a completely assured— and totally infectious—imagination while employing precisely controlled narrative pacing. …A dense, complex, and engrossing second installment of a genuinely promising high fantasy series.”
—Kirkus Reviews
PRAISE FOR THE PROPHET OF THE GHOST ANTS
Chosen as a BEST OF THE YEAR title by Kirkus Reviews!
“A gripping read ... a fascinating, enjoyable sci-fi yarn.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“I had my proverbial socks knocked off…extraordinary scope of imagination…a perfect example of very skillful storytelling, something the field could use more of. The novel never flags, every word counts…
I simply could not put this book down.”
—Galaxy’s Edge Magazine
“A rewarding novel that is remarkable for its intensity as it is its easy grace.”
—Antony Jones, SF Book Reviews
“Be Prepared to be carried off, as if by a giant swarm of locusts, to a world of epic fantasy that rivals Lord of the Rings and is on par with the likes of Dune or Watership Down.”
—Ken Korczak, Best E-Book Reviews
“One of the most engrossing, original and powerful novels I have read in years...a monumental cross-genre book, an allegory like Animal Farm, as well as a thrilling adventure into a whole new world. Exciting, visionary, a tour de force.”
—Lawrence Bender, Producer of Inglourious Basterds, Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting, and An Inconvenient Truth
“An engaging piece of fiction built upon an imaginative idea. Even though everything takes place on a very small scale, the scope of the conflict remains epic and the nature of the conflict remains quintessentially human.”
—Aaron Pounds, Author of Dreaming of Other Worlds
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