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A native of Cuba, Carlos Rubio came to the United States in 1961. A bilingual novelist, in Spanish he has writeen Caleidoscopio, Saga, Orisha and Hubris. In 1989 his novel Quadrivium received the Nuevo León International Prize for Novels. In English he is the author of Orpheus’ Blues, Secret Memories and American Triptych, a trilogy of satirical novels. In 2004 his novel Dead Time received Foreword’s Magazine Book of the Year Award. His latest novel is entitled Forgotten Objects.

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Emerging from the long shadow cast by his formidable father, Harold Godwineson showed himself to be a worthy successor to the Earldom of Wessex. In the following twelve years, he became the King's most trusted advisor, practically taking the reins of government into his own hands. And on Edward the Confessor's death, Harold Godwineson mounted the throne—the first king of England not of royal blood. Yet Harold was only a man, and his rise in fortune was not blameless. Like any person aspiring to power, he made choices he wasn't particularly proud of. Unfortunately, those closest to him sometimes paid the price of his fame. This is a story of Godwine's family as told from the viewpoint of Harold and his younger brothers. Queen Editha, known for her Vita Ædwardi Regis, originally commissioned a work to memorialize the deeds of her family, but after the Conquest historians tell us she abandoned this project and concentrated on her husband, the less dangerous subject. In THE SONS OF GODWINE and FATAL RIVALRY, I am telling the story as it might have survived had she collected and passed on the memoirs of her tragic brothers. This book is part two of The Last Great Saxon Earls series. Book one, GODWINE KINGMAKER, depicted the rise and fall of the first Earl of Wessex who came to power under Canute and rose to preeminence at the beginning of Edward the Confessor's reign. Unfortunately, Godwine's misguided efforts to champion his eldest son Swegn recoiled on the whole family, contributing to their outlawry and Queen Editha's disgrace. Their exile only lasted one year and they returned victorious to London, though it was obvious that Harold's career was just beginning as his father's journey was coming to an end. Harold's siblings were all overshadowed by their famous brother; in their memoirs we see remarks tinged sometimes with admiration, sometimes with skepticism, and in Tostig's case, with jealousy. We see a Harold who is ambitious, self-assured, sometimes egocentric, imperfect, yet heroic. His own story is all about Harold, but his brothers see things a little differently. Throughout, their observations are purely subjective, and witnessing events through their eyes gives us an insider’s perspective. Harold was his mother's favorite, confident enough to rise above petty sibling rivalry but Tostig, next in line, was not so lucky. Harold would have been surprised by Tostig's vindictiveness, if he had ever given his brother a second thought. And that was the problem. Tostig's love/hate relationship with Harold would eventually destroy everything they worked for, leaving the country open to foreign conquest. This subplot comes to a crisis in book three of the series, FATAL RIVALRY.

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Carlos Rubio’s AMERICAN TRIPTYCH charts new realms of satire. It’s a sort of cross between Gulliver’s Travels and Zap Comix with a dash of Pynchon thrown in. Rubio’s hero “comes of age” with girls aplenty and Neo-Baroque gusto. He is a foundling who grows and immigrates to a land of his own robust freedoms. American Triptych is a trip and a hot ticket too. The whole saga re-envisions this country we know, investing it with comic gold. America emerges symbolically as both the world’s womb and the battering ram. Characters roam the raw void of our land and its deep end opportunity. Sex assumes its more than rightful place; law and order break down along class lines as wild things seize the saddle and entropy seeds the American dream. In The Neophyte visit The Fetal Attraction (tavern for all who can’t grow up). Belt bourbon with Sister Gravity who is a nun too refined but can nurture the young hero (as he haunts the Convent of the Righteous Path). Grow up with a boy whose priapic philosophy of education soon replaces placement tests. Imagine a degree in Hedonism, a reign of pleasure, a philosophy of fun. With Bullwhip join lovers in cars that race, in clubs that never close, in joyous trouble with time. Beatitude ever vies with being lost as Bullwhip apes Dionysus in circles of suburban hell. A sheriff named Lovelace fondles his gun but loses his grip on vice. You will seek the next play on words, the next fable of liberty run amok in America. For California Fever will reveal all and nothing less than blithe capers, infinite jest or national amnesia. Seeking the shadowy Wheezer, Rubio’s plucky hero (now called “The Rocker”) is launched into the highlife and hubris of heavy metal bands as the lead singer of Gold Ru$h. From there it’s a short, suspenseful leap to politics where the mock pieties that define him lead to a thrilling finish. You have arrived in Rubio’s realm. The Neo-Baroque style flourishes in Latin American literature, but Carlos crafts these books in his own supple English that convey the overboard amplitude of tongues employed in the service of Eros. Revel in the rotund sentences. Listen to a Cambodian monk sanctify body fluids and wisely lead our hero west of east. Carlos Rubio’s books show a storied career that careens in comic arcs of delight. American Triptych is something old made new for a new century. He is a swashbuckler who takes on the spiritual windmills of our time. The satire explodes our moldy myths that mask hypocrisy. As you turn these pages, your brow will unfurrow as great, fertile America unfolds in laughter. F. Ethan Fischer Editor of Antietam Review

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The Sons of Godwine: Part Two of The Last Great Saxon Earls

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