The Immortal Treachery Series by Allan Batchelder is on virtual book tour. The dark fantasy stops at Readeropolis with an author...
The Immortal Treachery Series by Allan Batchelder is on virtual book tour.
The dark fantasy stops at Readeropolis with an author guest post.
Be sure to enter for a chance to win the giveaway for a $50 Amazon GC and follow the Silver Dagger book tour (for other dates see the link at the bottom of the post).
Hallowreads!
In my previous post, I listed all the indie fantasy I’d read over the last year or so. This time, in honor of the season, I’m covering all the horror – a good portion of which is also indie.
I was twelve years old when Carrie came out…and I read it with glee, following up with The Shining, The Stand, The Dead Zone, etc. Somehow, I completely jumped over his second novel, but I have just now remedied that. The book imagines, as King says, what might have happened if Dracula had come to a small town in 1970s Maine instead of Victorian London.
This one came out of a short story in Reddit’s No Sleep forum, and, indeed, the first few chapters made me a little uncomfortable in the darkness of my home at night.
This is a novel about the horrors of urban blight and decay. It’s an existential kind of terror, in which certain young girls begin to, well, rust…
This one reads a bit like vintage Jack Ketchum, except that it was written by an Irish novelist. Butchery, cannibalism, incest. It’s just like Black Friday at the mall.
I never fully understood this tale of obsession, but it definitely has its moments and some of it is quite lyrical.
This story, The Troop, and The Outsider have a lot in common. If you’re freaked out about things that come out of lakes, this one will scare you.
If there’s one thing Mr. Britten knows, it’s action. If I were to add a second, it would be gore. This story features Filipino vampires in central Mexico. I know, I know, but it all makes terrific – and terrifying – sense.
A nice tale with some beautiful prose. I enjoyed it, but wish it had found greater emotional impact by the end. I notice he's got a sequel out now, so if you like scary series, this might be your ticket.
The most frightening thing about this one is that it’s plausible if not inevitable. At times, you’ll be reminded of Stephen King.
Off the haunted house stories on this list, Kill Creek is at once the most innovative and traditional, in the sense that it takes the classic set-up in new directions, but also pays homage to all the necessary tropes. If there’s something you expect to find in such a tale, Mr. Thomas has included it. It’s the story of three horror novelists who spend Halloween night in an infamous haunted house. Big mistake. I read somewhere that it’s being developed into a major motion picture.
This horror-parody – if it’s fair to call it that – is part of a larger world Mr. Phipps has created, and features vampires and all sorts of were-creatures. If you enjoy snarky dialogue and pop culture references both cheesy and hip, you’ll love this novel.
This story’s about a haunted town. What it’s haunted by is what makes this one a bit unique.
I couldn’t say why, but of all the books on this list, this one stayed with me the longest. I liked it a great deal, and I never saw the ending coming.
A young boy is murdered and mutilated, and concrete evidence points to the most beloved man in town…who wasn’t actually IN town when the crime was committed. Yep, there’s some weird shit going down.
A small group of religious zealots show up at someone’s vacation cabin, making a series of terrifying demands. Very cinematic – and harrowing. I’ll be surprised if someone doesn’t pick up the screenplay option on this. Blumhouse, are you listening?
An ingenious serial-killer who could perhaps give Hannibal Lecter a run for his money.
This apocalyptic tale has elements of Cronenberg’s Rabid, Cronin’s The Passage, and a host of other “My friend suddenly wants to eat my face off” stories.
Steel,
Blood & Fire
Immortal
Treachery Book 1
by
Allan Batchelder
Genre:
Dark Fantasy
TARMUN
VYKERS
His
awestruck opponents call him The Reaper, an iron-willed man with no
memory of his past, a ruthless champion who has risen to the level of
death incarnate.
But
The Reaper has collected a legion of enemies as he cut a bloody swath
through the greatest of heroes and villains. And these dogs have
finally had their day, exacting a revenge both cruel and
creative.
Wandering
lost, horribly disfigured and unable to fight, Vykers stumbles across
the bones of a half-buried skeleton that can transform his ruined
body in an inconceivable way. But first he must make a devil’s pact
with…
ARUNE
A
secretive, ghostly sorceress with ambitions of her own. If Vykers
wants to wield a sword again, he must surrender to Arune that which
he holds most dear. But can he trust this ethereal enchantress to
hold up her end of their dangerous bargain?
Vykers
has few good choices, and he must make them quickly, for an
impossibly talented and savage wizard has arisen to threaten all of
humanity…
THE
END OF ALL THINGS
Once
an autistic boy hardly able to speak, The End has evolved into a
supernatural terror bent on extinguishing all life. A fearsome and
unequaled tactician, The End is the only person who doesn’t fear
“The Reaper.”
To
have any hope of defeating this bloodthirsty mage, Vykers must gather
the strangest, most dangerous cohort of killers ever assembled. Then
he must seek out the only weapon that can defeat this terrible
adversary…
THE
EPIC BATTLE
Behold
the greatest clash of men, monsters, and Fey that the kingdom has
ever known. Vykers, at the head of his outnumbered contingent,
launches a desperate attack against The End, with the fate of the
world hanging in the balance.
But
The End is a creature worthy of his name. He has forged a secret
weapon, a wicked and terrible instrument that will break through
Vykers’ defenses and exact a devastating toll.
Only
one thing is certain, this extraordinary battle will end in a way
that no one could have predicted!
As
Flies to Wanton Boys
Immortal
Treachery Book 2
Three
years have passed since Tarmun Vykers’ victory over the mad
sorcerer who called himself the End-of-All-Things. But they’ve been
three long years, confined to a sick bed with a grievous wound that
will not heal, cannot be healed by any means known to man. And then
something unthinkable happens, and Vykers is summoned once again to
save the kingdom.
This same mysterious event ensnares Long Pete and his companions, reuniting them for a mission whose consequences none can anticipate and not all will survive. Will Vykers master his wound, or will it finally end him? Can Long Pete serve both his Queen and his family? And what of the A’Shea, Aoife, who finds herself torn between her faith and her powerful attraction to the Reaper? In a world in which the gods play with the fates of men as mischievous boys torture insects, nothing but strife is certain.
This same mysterious event ensnares Long Pete and his companions, reuniting them for a mission whose consequences none can anticipate and not all will survive. Will Vykers master his wound, or will it finally end him? Can Long Pete serve both his Queen and his family? And what of the A’Shea, Aoife, who finds herself torn between her faith and her powerful attraction to the Reaper? In a world in which the gods play with the fates of men as mischievous boys torture insects, nothing but strife is certain.
Corpse
Cold
Immortal
Treachery Book 3
Betrayed
by his closest friend, someone who has also stolen his most precious
possession, Tarmun Vykers wants revenge.
Kittins wants revenge, too, against the all-powerful Queen, who’s been manipulating and dictating his every move for far too long, to devastating effect.
Kittins wants revenge, too, against the all-powerful Queen, who’s been manipulating and dictating his every move for far too long, to devastating effect.
Long
Pete wants revenge against the slavers who murdered his wife and even
now hold his only child captive.
And
many others too numerous to count want revenge as well, for slights
both real and imagined.
One
thing is certain: punishment is coming.
Follow
the Reaper again, as he fights through the worst winter in ages to
deal out revenge that leaves his victims corpse cold.
The
Abject God
Immortal
Treachery Book 4
Vykers
once killed some of the Emperor’s soldiers; now, the Emperor has
crossed the sea with all his legions to exact a revenge that will
impact not only the Reaper, but Kittins, Spirk, Eoman, and even the
Virgin Queen herself. Meanwhile, pieces to the puzzle of Vykers’
origins begin to fall into place, revealing people and purposes both
unexpected and heretofore unimaginable. And then there is the
long-suffering Long Pete, who must now contend with an utterly
reshaped reality that threatens his very existence.
The
End of All Things
Immortal
Treachery Book 5
Tarmun
Vykers, the Reaper, has battled his way across time and two
continents, toppling kingdoms and empires alike and killing untold
thousands in the process. And he has never really known why.
But he’s about to find out.
But he’s about to find out.
And
with this new knowledge must come a reckoning—with the Queen, who
has manipulated Vykers every step of the way, with the Emperor, who
would take what is rightfully the Reaper’s, and even with the gods
themselves.
It
is time for the Reaper to do what he does best.
Allan
is a professional actor, educator and former stand-up comedian. In
addition to Steel, Blood & Fire, he's also written plays,
screenplays, online articles, dialogue for computer games, greeting
card sentiments and more. He holds a Master of Fine Arts in acting
from the National Theatre Conservatory and a Master's in Teaching
from Seattle Pacific University. He is a huge fan of Shakespeare,
Steven Erikson, Joe Abercrombie, Glen Cook, George R.R. Martin, Tad
Williams, and R. Scott Bakker. Allan lives in Seattle with his wife
and son, where he enjoys walks on the beach, reading in the garden
and puttering around on his computer. Oh, and naps. He LOVES
naps.
Website * Facebook * FB Group * Twitter * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads
Website * Facebook * FB Group * Twitter * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads
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