The Rites of Winter

Britain has fallen to the technological might of the Aztec Empire whose armies have rampaged across the globe. Now, for the first time in a millennium, the British are a subject race.

Inevitably there is resistance – and among those determined to fight the invaders is Princess Catherine, elder daughter of the British monarch. But she is torn between her patriotism and her growing involvement, political and personal, with the Aztecs – and with one Aztec in particular. Then her sister is arrested and exiled for her part in an alleged terrorist attack – and Catherine finds herself walking a perilous tightrope…

Sweeping from occupied Britain to the horrors of the Russian front and the savage splendour of the imperial capital in Mexico, is a magnificent novel of war, politics, intrigue and romance, set in a world that is both familiar – and terrifyingly alien.

Winner of the BSFA Award for best novel, 1993

(c) Christopher Evans 1980, 1997

This story first appeared in Vol. 2, No. 3, 1980. This version slightly revised from the original.