King Arthur: Zen Master of Saholin

Anglo-Saxon monks recorded that King Arthur fell at battle of Camlann in 437CE, but they never say he died. Buddhists historians wrote that some dozen years later, a western prince skilled in martial arts appeared in China, teaching a new form of Buddhism called Zen. What if these men were one in the same? Jacob Asher Michael has written an Speculative Fiction/Historical Buddhist Fantasy novel based on this scenario called King Arthur: Zen Master of Shaolin. This book is a sequel to his first novel, The Wizard Merlin: A Zen Master in Camelot published in 2010. It was reviewed by Charles DeLint the chief critic for Science Fiction & Fantasy Magazine, who called it, “one of the most original and entertaining reads I’ve had in some time.” It describes a a Buddhist monk from India was taken west by the Atilla the Hun and became a wizard in King Arthur’s court. In King Arthur:Zen Master of Shaolin, Arthur is a kind of accidental Marco Polo of the 5th Century, traveling from Europe through Persia and up the Silk Road to China. This is a multi-cultural tale with a Roman mulatto harpist, a one-armed Hunnish boy, a foul-mouthed Persian Jew, and a Chinese Buddhist temple whose corrupted monks will kill to protect their prized silk worms. It is not your typical Arthurian spin off. Instead of charting how a boy becomes a king, it explains how sword wielding Celtic warrior transforms into a kind but grumpy Buddhist sage, still revered from Korea to Vietnam. This crossover novel will be of interest to readers interested in King Arthur, New Age fiction, Buddhism, or the history of China and Persia (Iran/Iraq). It delves into spirituality and adventure, with a healthy dose of humor. It is also touches on aging as Arthur, a knight who has been hit on the head more than once, observes his memory fail and even hallucinates that he is speaking to an old man in a cave. Or is it Merlin’s ghost? The love interest is the no-nonsense Maga, a Hun refugee determined to lead a band of Hun girls back to Asia, no matter how many men she must slay.