From the author of The Druid King—a sweeping historical novel based on the 16th-century Spanish Conquest of the Aztec empire.\n1531. In a hut on the slopes of the volcano Popocateptl, scholar and poet Alvaro de Sevilla reflects on his extraordinary life. For Alvaro was one of a small army of conquistadors who, years earlier, set out to conquer an empire. Hernando Cortes is a man driven by his desire for gold and glory. Having been proclaimed the reincarnation of the god Quetzalcoatl on his arrival in the New World, Cortes capitalizes on the hatred for the central state of Mexica to force his way to the capital city. There he will meet the Aztec Emperor, Montezuma, who welcomes the conquistadors to his city, showering them with gold. But it is an encounter between two civilizations that can only end in chaos, death, and destruction…Born in New York, Norman Spinrad is the author of Bug Jack Barron, The Iron Dream, and The Druid King.