Azathoth Ordo Ab Chao

The first in a series of anthologies devoted to the Lovecraftian gods, Ordo ab Chao follows the highly successful The Gods of HP Lovecraft (published in 2015 by JournalStone Publishing). We begin our series with the primal origins and the god Azathoth, who represents primordial chaos in the Lovecraftian Mythos. H.P. Lovecraft described Azathoth as a demon king ruling from a dark throne in the middle of the fiery cosmic void, out of which all created things emanated. Surrounding this orbiting spiral of infinite chaos and creation sounded the repetitive notes of an incessant flute, a reference to the Greek god Pan and the symbol of chaos behind the orderliness of nature. Taking this as our departure, the stories in this volume approach Azathoth through the concept of “order out of chaos” (or Ordo ab Chao in Latin). Ordo ab Chao includes new work from some of the most talented and respected authors in horror and dark fantasy, featuring stories from T. Kingfisher, Ruthanna Emrys, Adam L. G. Nevill, Kaaron Warren, Brian Evenson, Donald Tyson, Richard Thomas, Richard Gavin, Matthew Cheney, Erica Ruppert, Jamieson Ridenhour, Maxwell I. Gold, Lena Ng, Nathan Carson, Samuel Marzioli, Lauri Taneli Lassila, Akis Linardos, and R. B. Payne.

The successors of Sabbatai Zevi were responsible for the Jewish Enlightenment of the eighteenth century, known as the Haskalah, and the formulation of Reform Judaism, which evolved into Zionism. As the Asiatic Brethren, they also contributed to the founding the Golden Dawn, that arose from the Occult Revival. Although through the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century the occult secret societies succeeded in widely supplanting the belief in God, a void was created among those felt that this empiricism had gone too far, and who sought to explore the "supernatural." The practice of séances revived the interest in communion with spirits, identified as either souls of the dead, or beings from other planets, or most importantly, as in the case of the Theosophical Society, "Ascended Masters." These beings supposedly communicated a fantastic pedigree to their initiates, that embellished the myth of the Aryan race that had been developed earlier in the century, and claimed they were offspring of the Sons of God of the Bible who had escaped the destruction of Atlantis, before finding refuge in the hidden city of Shambhala in Tibet. A similar legend formed the basis of the legend of Agartha, inside the Hollow Earth, whose inhabitants conformed to a political system of synarchism. The source of the legend was Jamal ud Din al Afghani, who was also an Ascended Master associated with the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, and simultaneously, the founder of the Salafi tradition of Islam, which would evolve into the Muslim Brotherhood, the Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia, and ultimately al Qaeda. The synarchists would collaborate closely with the Nazis, whose occult doctrines derived from Theosophy and Aleister Crowley's Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), which was influenced by the Golden Dawn. Ultimately, the basis of the aspirations of the synarchists was symbolized in the legend of the Priory of Sion, popularized in Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, and which aimed to install the Grand Monarch prophesied by Nostradamus at the head of a United Europe, a project pursued by the Pan-European Union, co-founded by Otto von Habsburg, Grand Master of the Order of the Golden Fleece, and hereditary claimant of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

The hidden plotters of the events unfolding in the world today are deliberately attempting to fulfill the prophecies of the Book of Revelation, to bring about the rule of their expected messiah and the construction of the Third Temple in Jerusalem. Although ostensibly a Christian book, these schemers follow a Gnostic tradition, which interprets the Bible in reverse, where the God the creator is evil, and Lucifer is the liberator. They also understand that the book is representative of the teachings of the Kabbalah, an occult tradition that began in Babylon in the sixth century BC. Known to the ancient world as the Chaldean Magi, the first Kabbalists spread to other parts of the world, most importantly Greece, where they founded philosophy, and Egypt, to produce Hermeticism. These schools became the foundation of what is called the Western occult tradition, being first adopted by the world of Islam, before being transmitted to Europe at the time to the Crusades, when they were received by the Knights Templar, and contributed to the legends of the Holy Grail. Although the Templars were arrested and tried for heresy in 1312, they survived in numerous orders, including the Order of Santiago, the Order of Christ, the Order of the Garter, and finally, the most prestigious of all, the Order of the Golden Fleece, governed by hereditary claimants of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was a confluence of these orders which would give rise to the modern European civilization, through the Age of Discovery, the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation, and then finally the Rosicrucian movement, which would eventually transform into Freemasonry.

"Collects the twelve principal deities of the Lovecraftian Mythos"--

A 2021 Shirley Jackson Award nominee, Where All is Night, and Starless collects seventeen unsettling stories of our fears and weaknesses, and of our often unreliable strengths: stories of monstrosity and the occasional hope, deliberately themed across three aspects of weird fiction. The section ‘On Mythos’ covers re-interpretations and subversions of themes from H P Lovecraft’s Mythos; ‘On Mysteries’ looks into strange transformations, and ‘On Myth’ delves into the realms of folklore and folk horror, each with a dark twist. From the churning hell of World War One to the quiet English suburbs, from contemporary Alaska to colonial Africa, these are weird tales of the decisions we make when faced with something strange, with turns wry, ironic, and dark. Some horrors are found not outside, but in the mirror before us. “A cornucopia of dark delights, this collection is highly imaginative, extremely well written, and a delight to read. Weird fiction at its finest!” — Tim Waggoner, Bram Stoker Award® winner and author of Your Turn to Suffer

The spirits of the dead exist, and they want to communicate.First appearing in the late 1800s, spiritualism became a religious movement that swept the nation. Under the assumption that the dead live on in the afterlife, spiritualists believed that contact with the dearly departed was not only possible, but something those who crossed over longed for. Contact was usually made through a medium, a person who claimed to have the ability to speak with the dead.There Is No Death, There Are No Dead tackles all aspects of the spiritualist movement: from the true believers to the nay-sayers, the hoaxes to hauntings, the real mediums to the scam artists. Includes new work from some of the most talented and respected authors in the horror and dark fantasy genres, featuring stories from Gemma Files, Helen Marshall, Kathe Koja, Lee Murray, David Demchuk, Lisa Morton, Gwendolyn Kiste, S.P. Miskowski, Seanan McGuire, Catherine Lord, Chesya Burke, Nadia Bulkin, Michelle Belanger, and Laird Barron.The dead are speaking. Will you hear?

Psychotic killers, devious ghosts, alien monsters, howling storms, undead creatures, and other dark forces haunt the highways and the truckers who drive them in these 18 chilling tales! Contains the Bram Stoker Award winning story "Happy Joe's Rest Stop" by John Palisano. A ghostly voice on a trucker’s CB radio knows more about his life than it should… Two drivers find their cargo gives them inhuman appetites… A boy in a truck stop encounters a supernatural force that threatens to destroy the world… The hypnotic singing lulling a driver to sleep might not be coming from the tires… A fender-bender between a big rig and a four wheeler is not as accidental as it seems… The sinister cargo lurking in a rock and roll band’s fleet of trucks is unleashed at their final show... Hit the road with this anthology of trucking horror fiction!

And The Dead Shall Rise. . . Two hellish years. That's how long it's been since the hurricanes flooded the Gulf Coast, and the dead rose up from the ruins. The cities were quarantined; the infected, contained. Any unlucky survivors were left to fend for themselves. A feast for the dead. And The Living Shall Gather. . . One boatload of refugees manages to make it out alive--but one passenger carries the virus. Within weeks, the zombie epidemic spreads across the globe. Now, retired U.S. Marshal Ed Moore must lead a group of strangers to safety, searching for sanctuary from the dead. A last chance for the living. Let The Battle Begin. In the North Dakota Grasslands, bands of survivors converge upon a single outpost. Run by a self-appointed preacher of fierce conviction--and frightening beliefs--it may be humanity's only hope. But Ed Moore and the others refuse to enter a suicide pact. They'd rather stand and fight in the final battle against the zombies. An apocalypse of the dead. "One of those rare books that starts fast and never ever lets up. . . a rollercoaster ride of action, violence and zombie horror." --Bram Stoker Award-winning author Jonathan Maberry on Dead City "Gritty suspense. . .You're gonna like this guy." --Tom Monteleone "A rising star on the horror scene."--Fearnet.com