Bestselling authors Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey have teamed up to deliver a dark new story with magic, monsters, and mayhem, perfect for fans of unhinged eldritch horror.
Julie is a coked-up, burnt-out thirty-year-old whose only retirement plan is dying early. She's been trying to establish herself in the NYC magic scene, and she'll work the most gruesome gigs, exorcize the nastiest demons, and make deals with the cruelest gods to claw her way to the top. But nothing can prepare her for the toughest job yet: when her best friend, Sarah, shows up at her door in need of help. Keeping Sarah safe becomes top priority. Julie is desperate for a quick fix to break the dead-end grind and save her friend. But her power grab sets off a deadly chain of events that puts Sarah - and the entire world - directly in the path of annihilation. The first explosive adventure in the Carrion City Duology, The Dead Take the A Train fuses Cassandra Khaw's cosmic horror and Richard Kadrey's gritty fantasy into a full-throttle thrill ride straight into New York's magical underbelly. A 2024 Dragon Awards for Best Horror Novel nominee!Bestselling authors Cassandra Khaw and Richard Kadrey have teamed up to deliver a dark new story with magic, monsters, and mayhem, perfect for fans of unhinged eldritch horror.
Julie is a coked-up, burnt-out thirty-year-old whose only retirement plan is dying early. She's been trying to establish herself in the NYC magic scene, and she'll work the most gruesome gigs, exorcize the nastiest demons, and make deals with the cruelest gods to claw her way to the top. But nothing can prepare her for the toughest job yet: when her best friend, Sarah, shows up at her door in need of help. Keeping Sarah safe becomes top priority. Julie is desperate for a quick fix to break the dead-end grind and save her friend. But her power grab sets off a deadly chain of events that puts Sarah - and the entire world - directly in the path of annihilation. The first explosive adventure in the Carrion City Duology, The Dead Take the A Train fuses Cassandra Khaw's cosmic horror and Richard Kadrey's gritty fantasy into a full-throttle thrill ride straight into New York's magical underbelly. A 2024 Dragon Awards for Best Horror Novel nominee!An addictively satisfying, deeply amusing, dirty-ass masterpiece.
--William Gibson
A sharp-edged urban fantasy, drenched in blood and cynicism, tipping its hat to Sam Peckinpah, Raymond Chandler, and the anti-heroes of Hong Kong cinema....A bravura performance.
--San Francisco Chronicle
I couldn't put it down.
--Charlaine Harris
Sandman Slim has arrived--a wild and weird, edge-of-your-seat supernatural roller-coaster rider that propels author Richard Kadrey to the forefront of the fantasy, thriller, and a host of other literary genres. This spellbinding, utterly remarkable tale of a vengeful magician/hitman's return from hell is part H.P. Lovecraft, part Christopher Moore, part Jim Butcher, and totally, unabashedly dark, twisted, and hilarious.
Sandman Slim returns in a stunning, high-octane thriller filled with the intense kick-ass action and inventive fantasy that are the hallmarks of New York Times bestselling author Richard Kadrey.
The request from Thomas Abbot, the Augur of the Sub Rosa council, couldn't come at a better time for James Stark, aka Sandman Slim. For a man who's most recently met Death--and death's killer--a few months of normal life is more than he can handle. He needs a little action, and now Abbott wants Stark and Candy to investigate the disappearance of a young boy--and help uncover council members who might be tied to Wormwood's power brokers.
Stark's plans change when he meets a dying angel who gives him a vial of a mysterious black liquid that could be a secret weapon in the ongoing war between angels who want to allow human souls into Heaven and rebel angels willing to die to keep them out. When one of Stark's closest friends is poisoned with the black liquid, Stark and Candy have to go to the only place where they might find a cure: Hell.
But standing in their way are the damned souls who, even after death, still work for Wormwood. The secret deal they've struck with the rebel angels is darker than anything Stark has encountered. Not only does the fate of the world hang in the balance, but also the souls of everyone in it. Stark has to find a way to break the stalemate in the angel war, score the Perdition cure for the black poison, and make it back to LA in one piece--where an old enemy waits to finish him once and for all.
Sandman Slim is my kind of hero.
--Kim Harrison
Richard Kadrey is a genius.
--Holly Black
Sandman Slim is back from Hell. After wreaking unholy havoc in author Richard Kadrey's resoundingly acclaimed Sandman Slim, the demon-slaying anti-hero and half-angel fugitive from the underworld returns in a brutally funny, eye-poppingly inventive, and totally addicting follow-up, Kill the Dead. If you're a fan of Buffy and Jim Butcher, Christopher Moore, Neil Gaiman, and Warren Ellis, or you dig the dark urban fantasy vibe of Charlaine Harris, Kim Harrison, and Simon Green, you'll cheer Lucifer's onetime personal assassin as he signs on as his ex-boss' Hollywood bodyguard...and takes on the zombie apocalypse almost single-handedly.
New York Times bestselling author Richard Kadrey's fifth Sandman Slim adventure.
James Stark, aka Sandman Slim, has lost the Qomrama Om Ya, an all-powerful weapon from the banished older gods. Older gods who are returning and searching for their lost power.
The hunt leads Stark to an abandoned shopping mall infested with tribes of squatters. Somewhere in this kill zone is a dead man with the answers Stark needs. All Stark has to do is find the dead man, recover the artifact, and outwit and outrun the angry old gods--and natural-born killers--on his tail.
But not even Sandman Slim is infallible, and any mistakes will cost him dearly.
Sandman Slim must save himself--and the entire world--from the wrath of some enraged and vengeful ancient gods in this sixth high-octane adventure in the New York Times bestselling series.
Being a half-human, half-angel nephilim with a bad rep and a worse attitude--not to mention temporarily playing Lucifer--James Stark aka Sandman Slim has made a few enemies. None, though, are as fearsome as the vindictive Angra Om Ya--the old gods. But their imminent invasion is only one of Stark's problems right now. LA is descending into chaos, and a new evil--the Wildfire Ripper--is stalking the city.
No ordinary killer, The Ripper takes Stark deep into a conspiracy that stretches from Earth to Heaven and Hell. He's also the only person alive who may know how to keep the world from going extinct. The trouble is, he's also Stark's worst enemy . . . the only man in existence Stark would enjoy killing twice.
Sandman Slim investigates Death's death in this hip, propulsive urban fantasy through a phantasmagoric LA rife with murder, mayhem, and magic.
James Stark has met his share of demons and angels, on earth and beyond. Now, he's come face to face with the one entity few care to meet: Death.
Someone has tried to kill Death--ripping the heart right out of him--or rather the body he's inhabiting. Death needs Sandman Slim's help: he believes anyone who can beat Lucifer and the old gods at their own game is the only one who can solve his murder.
Stark follows a sordid trail deep into LA's subterranean world, from vampire-infested nightclubs to talent agencies specializing in mad ghosts, from Weimar Republic mystical societies to sleazy supernatural underground fight and sex clubs. Along the way he meets a mysterious girl--distinguished by a pair of graveyard eyes--as badass as Slim: she happens to be the only person who ever outwitted Death. But escaping her demise has had dire consequences for the rest of the world . . . and a few others.
For years, Slim has been fighting cosmic forces bent on destroying Heaven, Hell, and Earth. This time, the battle is right here on the gritty streets of the City of Angels, where a very clever, very ballsy killer lies in wait.
Richard Kadrey is a genius.
--Holly Black
Sandman Slim is my kind of hero.
--Kim Harrison
All hail Sandman Slim, author Richard Kadrey's ultra-extreme anti-hero and recent escapee from Lucifer's overheated Underworld playground. Legendary author William Gibson (Neuromancer) called Kadrey's first deliciously twisted Slim adventure an addictively satisfying, deeply amusing, dirty-ass masterpiece, and in number three, Aloha from Hell, the ruthless avenger, a.k.a. Stark, finds himself trapped in the middle of a war between Heaven and Hell. With God on vacation, the Devil nosing around in Paradise, and an insane serial killer doing serious damage on Earth, Stark/Slim is ready to unleash some more adrenaline-surging, edgy and violent supernatural mayhem--and even pay another visit to Hell if necessary--which is great news for fans of Jim Butcher, Warren Ellis, Charlaine Harris, Kim Harrison, and Simon R. Green.
Life and death takes on an entirely new meaning for half-angel, half-human hero James Stark, aka, Sandman Slim, in this insanely inventive, high-intensity tenth supernatural noir thriller in the New York Times bestselling series.
James Stark is back from Hell, trailing more trouble in his wake. To return to L.A., he had to make a deal with the evil power brokers, Wormwood--an arrangement that came with a catch. While he may be home, Stark isn't quite himself . . . because he's only partially alive.
There's a time limit on his reanimated body, and unless Stark can find the people targeting Wormwood, he will die again--and this time there will be no coming back. Even though he's armed with the Room of Thirteen Doors, Stark knows he can't find Wormwood's enemies alone. To succeed he's got to enlist the help of new friends--plus a few unexpected old faces.
Stark has been in dangerous situations before--you don't get named Sandman Slim for nothing. But with a mysterious enemy on the loose, a debt to pay, and a clock ticking down, this may truly be the beginning of his end. . . .
A rolling bouncy-house of a caper tale, The Everything Box abounds with quick-witted characters, snarky dialogue, and surreal analogies. If you haven't sampled Richard Kadrey's take on fantasy yet, this is a great place to start. -- Christopher Moore, New York Times bestselling author of Lamb, A Dirty Job, and The Serpent of Venice
From the author of the Sandman Slim series, a new fantasy in the tradition of Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, and Carl Hiaasen.
2000 B.C. -- A beautiful, ambitious angel stands on a mountaintop, surveying the world and its little inhabitants below. He smiles because soon, the last of humanity who survived the great flood will meet its end, too. And he should know. He's going to play a big part in it. Our angel usually doesn't get to do field work, and if he does well, he's certain he'll get a big promotion.
And now it's time . . . .
The angel reaches into his pocket for the instrument of humanity's doom. Must be in the other pocket. Then he frantically begins to pat himself down. Dejected, he realizes he has lost the object. Looking over the Earth at all that could have been, the majestic angel utters a single word.
Crap.
2015. -- A thief named Coop--a specialist in purloining magic objects--steals and delivers a small box to the mysterious client who engaged his services. Coop doesn't know that his latest job could be the end of him--and the rest of the world. Suddenly he finds himself in the company of The Department of Peculiar Science, a fearsome enforcement agency that polices the odd and strange. The box isn't just a supernatural heirloom with quaint powers, they tell him.
It's a doomsday device. They think . . .
And suddenly, everyone is out to get it.
Richard Kadrey's Sandman Slim--aka James Stark--is, quite simply, one of the most outrageous uber-anti-heroes ever to kick serious butt on this or any other world or dimension.
In his previous three adventures--Sandman Slim, Kill the Dead, and Aloha from Hell--Stark has fled Hell for California, taken on angels, demons, outlaw bikers, zombies, covert government operatives, and all manner of monsters, while saving humankind from total annihilation on numerous occasions. But in Devil Said Bang, he finally assumes the role he was destined for: as the new Lucifer, ruler of the Underworld.
Combining outrageously edgy humor with a dark and truly twisted vision, Richard Kadrey has once again delivered a masterful amalgam of action novel, urban fantasy, and in-your-face horror that will delight a wide range of readers--from Christopher Moore and Warren Ellis fans to the devoted adherents of Jim Butcher, Charlaine Harris, Kim Harrison, and Simon Green.
Sandman Slim returns in this stunning, high-octane ninth thriller in the series, filled with the intense, kick-ass action and inventive fantasy that are the hallmarks of New York Times bestselling author Richard Kadrey.
Sandman Slim has been to Heaven and Hell and many places in between, but now he finds himself in an unknown land: the far, far edge of the Tenebrae, the desolate home of the lost dead. Making his way inland with nothing but his unerring instinct for trouble to guide him, he collides with a caravan of the damned on a mysterious crusade, led by the ruthless Magistrate. Alone and with no clue how to get back home, he throws in with this brutal bunch made up of human souls, Hellion deserters, rogue angels--and Father Traven.
Slim didn't land in Tenebrae by chance. His little stunt of trying to open Heaven has set off a tsunami across the universe. Now, the afterlife is falling apart because of the ensuing warfare. And when Heaven finds out Slim is close by, the angels put a fat bounty on his head.
It's one thing to ride with a ferocious criminal pack across the treacherous plains--it's another to do it when everyone in the land of the dead is itching to keep you there permanently. But Slim's not too worried. He's been fighting cosmic forces bent on destroying Heaven, Hell, Earth, and him for years. A pack of vicious bounty hunters, vengeful angels, and dangerous enemies with friendly smiles isn't going to stop him fixing the chaos he's caused . . . one way or another.
The New York Times bestselling author of the Sandman Slim series delivers a wonderful stand-alone dark fantasy in which a young girl is caught between the worlds of the living and the dead.
After her father's funeral, Zoe moved to the big city with her mother to start over. But change always brings trials, and life in the city is not so easy. Money is tight, and Zoe's only escape, as has always been the case, is in her dreams--a world apart from her troubled real life where she can spend time with her closest companion: her lost brother, Valentine.
But something or someone has entered their dreamworld uninvited. And a chance encounter at a used record store, where the vinyl holds not music but lost souls, has opened up a portal to the world of the restless dead. It's here that the shop's strange proprietor offers Zoe the chance to commune with her dead father. The price? A lock of hair. Then a tooth. Then . . .
New York Times bestselling author Richard Kadrey's first novel--the cult classic dystopian cyberpunk tale--now back in print after twenty years in a special signed, collectible edition.
Welcome to the near future: Los Angeles in the late 21st century--a segregated city of haves and have nots, where morality is dead and technology rules. Here, a small group of wealthy seclude themselves in gilded cages. Beyond their high security compounds, far from their pretty comforts, lies a lawless wasteland where the angry masses battle hunger, rampant disease, and their own despair to survive.
Jonny was born into this Hobbesian paradise. A street-wise hustler who deals drugs on the black market--narcotics that heal the body and cool the mind--he looks out for nobody but himself. Until a terrifying plague sweeps through L.A., wreaking death and panic. And no one, not even a clever operator like Jonny, is safe.
His own life hanging in the balance, Jonny must risk everything to find the cure--if there is one.
The book will include a Q & A with Cory Doctorow.
In this fast paced sequel to The Everything Box--the second entry in New York Times bestselling author Richard Kadrey's comedic supernatural series--chaos ensues when Coop and the team at DOPS steal a not-quite-dead and very lovesick ancient Egyptian mummy wielding some terrifying magic.
Coop, a master thief sort of gone legit, saved the world from an ancient doomsday device--heroism that earned him a gig working for the Department of Peculiar Science, a fearsome top secret government agency that polices the odd and strange. Now Woolrich, Coop's boss at the DOPS, has Coop breaking into a traveling antiquities show to steal a sarcophagus containing the mummy of a powerful Egyptian wizard named Harkhuf. With the help of his pals Morty, Giselle, and a professor that's half-cat, half-robotic octopus, Coop pulls off the heist without a hitch.
It's not Coop's fault that when DOPS opened the sarcophagus they didn't find the mummy they were expecting. Well, it was the right mummy, but it wasn't exactly dead--and now it's escaped, using a type of magic the organization hasn't encountered before. Being a boss, Woolrich blames his underling for the screw up and wants Coop to find the missing Harkhuf and make it right, pronto.
Digging into Harkhuf's history, Coop thinks the mummy is hunting for an ancient magical manuscript that will help him bring his old lover back to life.
Which wouldn't be so bad if she wasn't a warrior sorceress hell-bent on conquering the world with her undead armies.
Coop would very much like to run from the oncoming chaos. It's one thing to steal a mummy, but another to have to deal with head-hunting bureaucrats, down-on-their luck fortune tellers, undead mailroom clerks, and a rather unimpressed elephant. Unfortunately, there's nowhere to run. If he wants the madness to stop, he's going to have to suck it up and play hero one more time. But if Coop manages to save the world AGAIN, he's definitely going to want a lot of answers. And a raise.
I loved where Kadrey started with this series, but I love where he's going even more.-- NYT Bestselling author Cory Doctorow
Sandman Slim is back in Los Angeles and kicking more supernatural ass in this inventive, high-octane page-turner--the next to last volume in the popular and acclaimed fantasy adventure series from New York Times bestselling author Richard Kadrey.
As the battle between warring angels continues, James Stark is focused on seemingly simpler matters now that he's resurfaced on earth: an invasion of ghosts. L.A.'s Little Cairo neighborhood has suddenly been overrun by violent spirits, and Thomas Abbott knows if anyone can figure out why they've appeared--and how to get rid of them--it's Stark.
Armed with the Room of Thirteen Doors, Stark quickly learns that the answer may reach back to the 1970s and the unsolved murder of small-time actor, Chris Stein. As he begins to dig into the cold case, another area of Stark's life takes an unexpected turn when he becomes entangled with Janet, a woman he saved during the High Plains Drifter zombie attack.
Janet's brush with the living dead hasn't quenched her thirst for danger. She's an adrenaline junkie and a member of The Zero Lodge--a club that promises there's zero chance you'll get out alive. The Lodge attracts thrill seekers who flock to perilous events such as night walks through the LA Zoo--with its deadliest animals uncaged. Joining the lodge to be with Janet, Stark makes a pair of crucial discoveries that could decide the fate of LA and Heaven itself.
To prevent the Little Cairo haunting from consuming the city, Stark must piece together the connections between the Lodge and a missing angel last seen in a Hollywood porn palace. But while he may dispatch the ghosts, Stark knows that without his help, the bloody war in Heaven could rage forever.