Mary Reed

Eric Mayer

An enticing picture of sixth-century Byzantium. Court intrigue and the conflict of religious beliefs in the Christian capital of Constantinopole.

One for Sorrow

Reed and Mayer combine the scholarship of Steven Saylor with the humor of Lindsey Davis. Starred review in Booklist 12/00.It is now two years after One For Sorrow and John the Eunuch, Lord Chamberlain to the Emperor Justinian, is faced with a new and byzantine problem: why are Constantinople’s holy stylites bursting into flames as they stand atop their pillars? His investigations are hampered by a pagan philosophy tutor from his youth and a heretical Christian prophet whose ultimatums threaten to topple the Empire.Then murder strikes close to home and John has only days to find a solution before he, his friends, his Emperor, and the city itself are destroyed. The sumptuous halls of the Great Palace and the riot-torn streets are filled with the same danger and deception. A colorful cast of characters that includes a runaway wife, servants and soldiers, madams and mendicants, a venomous court page and a wealthy landowner or two — not to mention John’s bete noire, the Empress Theodora — adds texture to this rich, exotic tale of sixth century life and mysterious death.

A John, the Lord Chamberlain Mystery

Two for Joy

Who killed the mosaic girl? As Lord Chamberlain, John spends his days counseling Emperor Justinian while passing the small hours of night in conversation with the solemn-eyed little girl depicted in a mosaic on his study wall. He never expected to meet her in a public square or afterwards find her red-dyed corpse in a subterranean cistern. Had the mysterious woman truly been the model for the mosaic years before as she claimed? Who was she? Why had she sought John out? Who wanted her dead — and why?The answers seem to lie among the denizens of the smoky streets of that quarter of Constantinople known as the Copper Market, where artisans, beggars, prostitutes, pillar saints, and exiled aristocrats struggle to survive within sight of the Great Palace and yet worlds distant. John encounters a faded actress, a patriotic sausage maker, a sundial maker who fears the sun, a religious visionary, a man who lives in a treasure trove, and a beggar who owes his life to a cartload of melons. Before long he suspects he is attempting to unravel not just a murder but a plot against the empire. Or is John really on a personal quest, to find the reality behind the confidante he thought existed only in his own imagination? Is there such a thing as truth in a place where people live on memories, dreams, and illusions? Even if there is, can John push aside the shadows and find the truth in time?

Seven For a Secret

548 CE, Constantinople. Emperor Justinian, distraught from the death of his wife, Empress Theodora, has exiled his longtime aide, John, the Lord Chamberlain. At the Church of the Holy Apostles, an Egyptian magician tries to raise the empress from the dead. As the unholy ceremony explodes into chaos, supposed demons vanish into the darkness with one of the city's holiest relics. Felix, Captain of the Palace Guard, is selected as John's successor and charged with finding the missing relic. But before Felix's investigation even begins, someone deposits a corpse at his house. A botched attempt to dispose of the body leaves Felix looking suspect. To make matters worse, it seems as if half the city wants to possess the relic, see Felix dead - or both. If only Felix's friend, the shrewd John, were still in the city, but the former Lord Chamberlain has already sailed for Greece. Now Felix enters a fight for his very survival, a crucible in which he cannot cannot tell friend from foe - or worldly dangers from the supernatural.

Ten for Dying

The year is 548 and Empress Theodora is dead. Emperor Justinian suspects murder and orders John, his Lord Chamberlain, to find her killer or suffer the consequences. Many aristocrats at the imperial court had reason to want Theodora dead. General Artabanes, Justinian's cousin Germanus, and Antonina and her husband General Belisarius have suffered at Theodora's hands. Might Gaius, palace physician, have tampered with Theodora's medication? Even Pope Vigilius, detained in the capital by a religious controversy, is not above suspicion. Meanwhile, John must also grapple with domestic upheavals. His daughter is about to give birth and his aging servant Peter is dying. Will John be able to serve justice, his loved ones, and the emperor?

Nine for the Devil

Fernsehformate, die Wissen vermitteln, sind zum festen Bestandteil der heutigen Fernsehlandschaft geworden. Denn Wissen - im Sinne von Bildung - hängt eng mit Erfolg und Stellung in der Gesellschaft zusammen, ist also zum Statussymbol avanciert. Auf diesem gesellschaftlichen Nährboden stehen TV-Wissenschaftsmagazine. Fernsehmacher haben dabei die Herausforderung, wissenschaftliche Zusammenhänge nachvollziehbar und quotenbringend umzusetzen. Hierbei rücken unterhaltungserzeugende Gestaltungsmittel immer weiter in den Fokus. Eric Mayer untersucht, inwieweit das Dramaturgiegerüst der Heldenreise zur Wissensvermittlung eingesetzt werden kann. Er deckt die generellen Potentiale von Unterhaltung und Heldendramaturgie für die TV-Wissenschaftsvermittlung auf und prüft in einer tiefgreifenden Analyse die Magazine Quarks & Co, Terra Xpress und Kopfball auf ihre heldendramaturgische Struktur hin. Dadurch arbeitet er grundlegende Muster heraus, die sich in diesem Genre durchgesetzt zu haben scheinen. Dieses Buch gibt Journalisten, Fernsehmachern und Medienwissenschaftlern theoretische Grundlagen für eine unterhaltungsorientierte TV-Wissenschaftsvermittlung an die Hand und bietet interessante Einblicke in die dramaturgischen Grundmuster der Magazine.

Eric Mayer

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