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Jun 01, 2010 | ISBN 9780767930765 Buy
Jul 07, 2009 | ISBN 9780385530439 Buy
Jul 07, 2009 | 649 Minutes Buy
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Jun 01, 2010 | ISBN 9780767930765
Jul 07, 2009 | ISBN 9780385530439
Jul 07, 2009 | ISBN 9780739383605
649 Minutes
A charmingly gothic, fiendishly funny Faustian tale about a brilliant scientist who makes a deal with the Devil, twice. Johannes Cabal sold his soul years ago in order to learn the laws of necromancy. Now he wants it back. Amused and slightly bored, Satan proposes a little wager: Johannes has to persuade one hundred people to sign over their souls or he will be damned forever. This time for real. Accepting the bargain, Jonathan is given one calendar year and a traveling carnival to complete his task. With little time to waste, Johannes raises a motley crew from the dead and enlists his brother, Horst, a charismatic vampire to help him run his nefarious road show, resulting in mayhem at every turn.
Johannes Cabal, a brilliant scientist and notorious snob, is single-mindedly obsessed in heart and soul with raising the dead. Well, perhaps not soul . . . He hastily sold his years ago in order to learn the laws of necromancy. But now, tormented by a dark secret, he travels to the fiery pits of Hell to retrieve it. Satan, who is incredibly bored these days, proposes a little wager: Johannes has one year to persuade one hundred people to sign over their souls or he will be damned forever. To make the bet even more interesting, Satan throws in that diabolical engine of deceit, seduction, and corruption known as a “traveling circus” to aid in the evil bidding. What better place exists to rob poor sad saps of their souls than the traveling carnivals historically run by hucksters and legendary con men? With little time to lose, Johannes raises a motley crew from the dead and enlists his brother, Horst, a charismatic vampire, to be the carnival’s barker. On the road through the pastoral English countryside, this team of reprobates wields their black magic with masterful ease, resulting in mayhem at every turn.
Jonathan L. Howard is a game designer and scriptwriter who has worked in the computer games industry since the early nineties, notably coscripting the first three Broken Sword adventure games. He has also written the novels Johannes Cabal the Necromancer and… More about Jonathan L. Howard
“Witty, inventive, and thoroughly entertaining, this rollicking Faustian adventure grabs the reader and holds him until the very last page.” –Tucson Citizen “The spot-on work of a talented writer.” —Denver Post “Howard makes it look easy to paint a soul-stealing murdering necromancer as a sympathetic character; that, folks, is worth the price of admission. Step right up!” —San Diego Union-Tribune “For anyone whose taste edges towards the intelligent and macabre, this book is a gift.” —Fangoria “Amusing and clever.”—The Free-lance Star “Populated with some of the most creative, and odd, characters to be found . . . hysterical and fascinating.”—Bookgeeks “A delightfully wicked and inventive story.” –Keith Donohue, author of The Stolen Child “Cross Susannah Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell with Gregory Maguire’s Wicked, and you have this witty and sometimes touching debut novel in the Faustian tradition.”—Library Journal “That ole black magic has never been more fun than it is in this deft and quirky Faustian take. A diabolical romp.” —Elle Newmark, author of The Book of Unholy Mischief
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