Empire of Unreason(2000)

J. Gregory Keyes

There has never been an epic quite like The Age of Unreason . By interweaving reality with arcane fantasy, J. Gregory Keyes proves himself a literary alchemist who vividly recreates the eighteenth century–and brings it brilliantly to new life.

When Sir Isaac Newton uncovered the secrets of alchemy, he could never have imagined the tragic results. Dark sorcery rules. Europe is lost and the American colonists have been driven south. The demonic creatures known as the Malekim won’t tolerate even a flicker of hope. Any who oppose them– Franklin, Voltaire, even the mysterious daughters of Lilith–will be swept away. However Benjamin Franklin and his secret society, the Junto, manage a precarious existence founded on the mutual trust of Native Americans, whites, and freed blacks. And as armies and alchemy clash, the Choctaw shaman Red Shoes witnesses a vision of an ancient, implacable evil–and of a young boy who shines as brightly as an angel . . . the fallen, avaricious kind .