The Burning Man (Kingdom of the Serpent)

After a long journey across the ages, Jack Churchill has returned to the modern world, only to find it in the grip of a terrible, dark force. The population is unaware, mesmerized by the Mundane Spell that keeps them in thrall. With a small group of trusted allies, Jack sets out to find the two "keys" that can shatter the spell. But the keys are people—one with the power of creation, one the power of destruction—and they are hidden somewhere among the worlds billions. As the search fans out across the globe, ancient powers begin to stir. In the bleak north, in Egypt, in Greece, in all the Great Dominions, the old gods are returning to stake their claim. The odds appear insurmountable, the need desperate. . . . This is a time for heroes.

"The final battle against the Void looms in this Gnostic mix-up as the champions of Existence, the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons, travel the globe to seek the hidden Keys that will unleash magic and undo the Mundane Spell. Jack 'Church' Churchill (from 2012's Jack of Ravens) and companions follow cryptic clues to confrontations with Norse, Greek, Egyptian, and Chinese gods, before taking a stroll off the Empire State Building through an invisible cloud maze. Faced with betrayals and the suspect reformation of nemesis Ryan Veitch, Church and his team have to decide who to sacrifice and who to save as the Army of the Ten Billion Spiders starts to overrun reality. Chadbourn again blends humor, horror, and mythology in a dimension-hopping epic that could use a few scorecards to tell players and teams apart, especially where scenes like those involving the Burning Man (as in the real annual counterculture festival) are undermined by muddled moralizing. Still, readers looking for hard-nosed heroes will enjoy a bunch who adopts the motto, 'No Happy Endings.' (Apr.)" Publishers Weekly Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

A two-time winner of the British Fantasy Award, Mark Chadbourn is the critically-acclaimed author of nineteen novels and one non-fiction book. A former journalist, he is now a screenwriter for BBC television drama. His other jobs have included running an independent record company, managing rock bands, working on a production line, and as an engineers assistant. He lives in a forest in the English Midlands. Visit him online at www.markchadbourn.net or on Twitter @Chadbourn.