Good News For Amber Fans!

For years, one of my favorite classic fantasy series has been the Chronicles of Amber, by Roger Zelazny, and in talking to other fantasy fans over the years, it seems that lots of people agree with me.

So I was very excited to get an email today announcing that the entire ten-book series — the original five-book story arc plus the additional five-book arc added on later — is now available as audiobooks from Audible.com. As Audible Frontiers titles, they’re self-produced by Audible, which probably means that’s the only place you can get them right now.

For those who haven’t yet entered the world of Amber, I’ll give a quick summary.

Amber is one end — the “Order” end — of the universe, with the Courts of Chaos at the other end. In between are what are called Shadows, of which our own world is one, as are many fictional worlds that readers might recognize. The royal families of both Amber and the Courts have the ability to walk through these Shadows, visiting worlds both familiar and strange.

Corwin, one of the Princes of Amber wakes up in a New York hospital with amnesia. He is contacted by two of his siblings and finds out that their father has been missing for centuries, with the succession up in the air, and that one of the nine princes will have to take the throne soon. From there we have brothers fighting each other, making alliances, and all the other things you’d expect from a royal succession fight; only this one takes place across several Shadows.

In the second story arc, Corwin has disappeared, and his son Merlin, born and raised in the Courts of Chaos, wants to find him. Merlin is part wizard and part computer hacker, which makes it even more interesting.

If you like a good fantasy story, give Amber a try… and now you can listen to them instead of reading them.