by Kevin Lucia (2010): ISBN: 9780982727508 (Shroud Publishing)

Forces, dark and ancient, lurk in the dark places of reality and serve the Abyss.  Other powers, capricious and amoral, use the power of the Veil to serve their own mysterious purposes.  Between them and the rest of humanity stands Hiram Grange.  A misshapen, damaged man one step away from falling into the Abyss himself, Hiram takes his father’s Webley and Pritchard bayonet, some basic knowledge of magic, and his hatred for the beasts of the Abyss and throws himself under the supernatural bus; for our sake and to heal the wounds of his own soul.

In this, the fourth in the “Scandalous Misadventures of Hiram Grange“, author Kevin Lucia brings the adventure to Belfast where Hiram must untangle the plots of Queen Mab in order to either save the world or the life of a young woman–but probably not both.  These “misadventures”  represent an interesting experiment.  Each installment has a different author who takes the main the character and the surrounding mythos in new and varied directions.  In this installment you see less of Hiram’s perverse pleasures, the outlets he pursues to release the darkness in his soul, and more of his pain.  His guilt and his grief threaten to distract him from his blood task.  Hiram is a truly original creation and every page with his presence is a pleasure to read.  The creatures that Hiram must battle in this episode are truly disgusting and disturbing; tentacled, parasitic demons who pass themselves on in the form of grotesque maggots.  Lucia presents these creatures in all their creepy-crawly glory.

First and foremost, this adventure is a lot of fun.  There is non-stop action seasoned with Lovecraftian chills, forming a page-turning final product that satisfies.  Lucia’s pacing is tight and his writing descriptive, though sometimes a little repetitive.  Nevertheless, each chapter leaves you wanting to see what happens next.  And that, as my inner Neil Gaiman says, is what it’s all about.

For a free sample chapter of Hiram Grange and the Chosen One, click here…