CAN A HANDFUL OF HEROES STOP AN
APOCALYPSE CENTURIES IN THE MAKING?

Escaped gladiator-slave Simon of Gitta returns to Judea—during the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth—on a mission to avenge the deaths of his parents, seeking revenge in blood against the Roman officials who committed the murders and sold Simon into slavery.

But as Simon travels the Holy Lands with his mentor Dositheus and their apprentices Menander and Ilione, they gradually become entangled in a complex occult plot designed to call down a monstrous alien entity to herald a new aeon on Earth. The mysterious time traveler John Taggart (from Tierney’s The Winds of Zarr) also becomes involved with Simon as their separate quests converge toward a common goal of saving all life on Earth from extinction.

But can a handful of travelers really thwart a covert scheme backed by the power of the Roman Empire? As the apocalyptic supernatural events slowly unfold, Simon and his allies are in a race against time to prevent the devastation of the world.

Using mystery cults and early Christian Gnosticism as his vehicle, with meticulously researched Roman history and Biblical scholarship, this is author Richard Tierney’s magnum opus: an epic Lovecraftian alternate history dark fantasy novel that features Tierney’s most famous characters, Simon of Gitta and John Taggart. This novel will appeal to fans of historical fantasy and sword & sorcery fiction in the vein of Robert E. Howard, and the elements of cosmic horror and the Cthulhu Mythos will satisfy many fans of H.P. Lovecraft.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Richard Tierney was born in north central Iowa. Beginning in his teens, he has been both a fan and scholar of H.P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, Clark Ashton Smith and other great names from the pulp fiction era. In 1961, he earned a degree in entomological science (Iowa State College) and served for many years with the U.S. Forest Service in the West of the United States and Alaska. An archaeological tourist by instinct, he has traveled widely, especially in Mexico, Central, and South America. Many of the ideas and images that he has employed in his stories have been inspired by his extensive travels. In the literary field, Mr. Tierney has frequently been both an editor and a writer of adventure fiction, mainly in the realm of dark fantasy. He has coauthored the Red Sonja series for Ace Books (early 1980’s) and created the popular hero-adventurer, Simon of Gitta, a fictionalized version of Simon Magus. His major works include Collected Poems (1981, Arkham House), The House of the Toad (1993, Fedogan and Bremer), The Drums of Chaos (2008, Mythos Books), and Savage Menace and Other Poems of Horror (2010, reprint 2021, P’rea Press).

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Zach McCain is an internationally published artist who is primarily known for his illustration and cover artwork in the horror and science fiction genres. He’s worked on hundreds of books for numerous publishers. His work ranges from book and magazine illustration to graphic design, album art, DVD and poster work for films, and RPG games. Mediums often used are oils as well as pencil, ink, and digital. You can check out more of his artwork at his website, https://zachmccainart.wordpress.com.

As a fan of Stephen King, Zach started out doing graphics and web work for The Dark Tower Compendium, a Stephen King fan website. He continued to do Stephen King fan artwork in his spare time and eventually got work with small horror publishers and Cemetery Dance Magazine. A couple of pieces of his fan artwork were featured in Knowing Darkness: The Art of Stephen King published by Centipede Press. He continues to do artwork for Stephen King projects including books and film as well as private commissions for fans.