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Kosmos
KOSMOS – Returning Series
What would happen if the legendary Arthurian wizard Merlin returned to contemporary Britain, but in a form far from what his mythical status and powers lead us to expect?
It’s an intriguing proposition explored by author and lawyer Adrian Laing in his fantasy novel Kosmos as Merlin in this latest incarnation appears to find himself in greatly reduced circumstances.
Adrian and his co-screenwriter, the renowned television director Sandy Johnson, imagine Merlin back in Britain as an ‘old lag’ in prison, charged with manslaughter.
But is this ‘Merlin’ what he claims to be, or simply another sad, deranged fantasist? Enter his defence lawyer, George Winsome, an arrogant and aspirational young barrister, who finds himself swept into a riotous trial by jury, which turns ‘Merlin’ into a national celebrity.
But this unexpected and sudden courtroom fame causes George and his partner Heather to become victims of their own greed and ambition.
However, as the narrative unfolds, moving from the law courts to the wilds of Scotland, an underlying love story and a spiritual journey of redemption emerges.
Then the secret of Merlin’s past is revealed as the spirit of Saint Yves intervenes to ensure George and Heather follow their true paths to a better way of life in this rip-roaring and up-lifting tale.
Adrian Laing, a leading UK media lawyer, combines his life-long interests in law, psychology, and Arthurian mythology to powerful effect in his fantasy novel Kosmos. Adrian is also script advisor for the Ettinger Brothers’ planned film The Divided Self based on his widely-acclaimed biography about his renowned psychiatrist father RD Laing: A Life.
Sandy Johnson, co-writer with Adrian Laing on Kosmos, has a phenomenal record in television, having directed numerous top drama series which are house-hold names starring many of our leading actors. These series include: Inspector Morse, A Touch of Frost, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Jonathan Creek, Benidorm, and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.
Adrian Laing Interview
Taking his sons on the daily school run in north London, Adrian Laing passed Boudicca’s Mound, on Hampstead Heath, where the legendary Iceni queen was once thought to be buried, and this created the germ of an idea, which became his novel Kosmos.
