“Now the sons of the East claimed that Samorrah was half as old
as time and just as evil. This may have been a myth but the city was indeed
ancient. In the days when the dark empire of Sheol ruled most of the world of
men, Samorrah was. When Thoth finally threw off the yoke of the Serpent Men but
then started to build her black pyramids and demon-haunted tombs filled with
ancient evil in honor of those very same oppressors, Samorrah was. Long before
the pretensions of the Rhodians and their empire, when Tarantium was but a
fishing village on the Syrenian Sea, Samorrah was. When the ancestors of the
Caldorians, Espirians and Nestrians still were living in caves, Samorrah was.
Samorrah seemed like it always had existed. And when a city becomes as ancient
as Samorrah it attracts all kinds of evil like a drain pulls the filthy water
to itself, every temptation and perversion known to man since the fall was
enclosed in her walls.” This is where Thurl the Hyperian, a wandering mercenary
with a regretful past, has found himself; in a degenerate city ruled by the
wicked Witch Queen Semiramis and her minions, fighting for he and his friend’s
lives and more importantly his very soul. For a tale of high adventure come
with us to the antediluvian world in “The City of the Dead”.
The City of The Dead (Sword & Sorcery)
By William M. Hope
Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN #978-1540494832
Price $6.50 (Paperback)
137 Pages
Rating 5-Stars
“A Nice Homage To Conan.”
Thurl the Hyperian mercenary has lucked upon a huge jewel, The
Heart of Ashmedai, which he hopes to sell in Samorrah, an evil town in the
desert. But there awaiting him is the Living Goddess, Semirrami. The jewel will
bridge the dimension between this world and another, and she wants more power –
as well as a new lover, and the barbarian looks big and strong.
But will the evil gods of this world be more powerful than the
one True God, and what can mortal man, even one as strong as Thurl, do against
gods?
The author mixes a bit of the Bible in with the Conan universe.
Samorrah can be none other than Gomorrah, the evil town destroyed when God abolished
Sodom. This was a fun adventure in the mold of Robert E. Howard’s Conan, with
flashing swords, mighty warriors, and beautiful slave girls. Reminded me of
those mighty swordmen that followed Conan, and are still talked about today:
Brak, Aubec, Thongor, and Fafhrd & The Grey Mouser. They carried the genre
forward. And now comes Thurl, the Hyperian. If it’s adventure you want, give
this book a try. Highly recommended.
Tom Johnson
Author of HERCULES AND THE MOON GODDESS.
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