Gloriana; Or The Unfulfill'd Queen: Michael Moorcock

Gloriana rules an Albion whose empire embraces America and most of Asia. A new Golden Age of peace, enlightenment and prosperity has dawned, in dazzling contrast with the brutal austerity Albion endured under the iron hand of Gloriana's father, King Hern. Gloriana is Albion, and Albion is Gloriana; if one falls, so will the other. Much depends on Montfallcon, Gloriana's Chancellor, and his network of spies and assassins - in particular cold-hearted Captain Quire, seducer of virtue and murderer of innocence. When the two quarrel and Arabia conceives a plan to ruin Gloriana, a huge intrigue is hatched, threatening to destroy Albion, the Empire and the Golden Age, in a love affair between the Queen of Virtue and the King of Vice. Cover art, detail from Sappho by Gustave Moreau (1893)