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Welcome to the Moloch Manoeuvres Update Page| 2014: "Cataclysm Catalyst" | 2013: "Nuclear Dragons" | 2013: "Damnation Brigade" | Blog on | Get Busy | 2012: "Goddess Gambit" | 2010/11: "The Thousand Days of Disbelief" | 2009: The War of the Apocalyptics" | 2008: "Feeling Theocidal" | Start Page Proper | Quick Lynx | Phantacea Publications available in print and digitally | |
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What might have been, will be for sure in 2014 |
Phantacea Revisited 2: Cataclysm Catalyst
Coming in the Spring of 2014, the third graphic novel from Phantacea Publications extracts another complete story sequence from Phantacea 1-7 and Phantacea Phase One #1. Artwork by Dave Sim, Ian Fry, Sean Newton, Verne Andrusiek, and Ian Bateson Double-click to enlarge in a separate window |
What was once, will be again
Thirty-six years after its original release, Jim McPherson completes his Launch 1980 project to novelize all the Phantacea comic books with the release of pH-3 artwork by Richard Sandoval, 1978; rollover adjustments made by Jim McPherson, 2013Double-click to enlarge images in this panel here |
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Phantacea Seven- The unpublished comic now novelized -
At long last, the second entry in the Launch 1980 epic fantasy has arrived Check out the expanded Availability Listings for places you can order or buy Phantacea Publications in person Images in this row double-click to enlarge here |
Jim McPherson continues his ongoing project to novelize the entire Phantacea comic book seriesDouble-click on image to enlarge in a separate windowDedicated webpage can be found here; back cover text here; lynx to excerpts from the book start here and here; check out material that didn't make it here and related excerpts from its scheduled follow-up, 2014's |
Centauri Island- The web-serial enlarged radically -
Ian Bateson's unpublished artwork from Phantacea Seven provides the basis for the first full-length phantacea Mythos Mosaic Novel since Ian Bateson's breathtaking wraparound cover for the novel utilizes his own dragons from pH-7. Those from the unfinished cover for the Phantacea Phase One project can be seen here and here. Images in this row double-click to enlarge here and here |
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Phantacea Revisited 1
Check out the expanded Availability Listings for places you can order or buy Phantacea Publications in person NEW: Read most of the mini-novels making up "The Thousand Days of Disbelief" today on Google Books Hit here to see what else is currently available there |
Guess what isn't coming soon any more?
"Phantacea Revisited 1: The Damnation Brigade"A Watermarked PDF of the graphic novel can be ordered from Drive Thru Comics here
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The Damnation Brigade Graphic Novel
Artwork never seen before in print; almost all of pH-5 available for the first time since 1980 Images in this row double-click to enlarge here |
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No wonder they call themselves the Damnation Brigade
Now available from Phantacea Publications Images in this row are double-clickable from here, here, and, to a lesser degree, here. |
pHantaBlog On
Register now and contribute whenever you pleaseThe 2006 PDF of Mythos Mag, with its updated 2012 lynx, can be downloaded here. Hit here for a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) of the most recent pHantaBlog entries |
The Phantacea Revisited Project
Collecting the Phantacea comic books 1977-1980, 1987, Rv1:DB contains material from pH #s 1-5 + pHz1 #s 1 & 2. This will be the first time in the better part of 30 years that material from pH-5 has been available except from online traders. Watch for
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"Goddess Gambit"– Now available from Phantacea Publications –
Thus Ends
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If they're not, kindly direct local librarians and neighbourhood booksellers to www.phantacea.com in order to start rectifying that sad situation. Either that or, if you're feeling even more proactive, click here, copy the link, paste it into an email and send it to them, along with everyone else you reckon could use a double dose of anheroic fantasy. It will certainly be appreciated. Help build the buzz. The more books sell, the faster the PHANTACEA Mythos spreads. |
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Individual copies of Libraries, bookstores and bookseller collectives can place bulk orders through Ingram Books, Ingram International, Baker & Taylor, Coutts Information Services, and a large number of other distributors worldwide. E-books for Kindle, Kindle Fire, I-pad, I-phone and other applications can be ordered through amazon.com, amazon.co.uk and other amazon affiliates worldwide. An interactive e-book containing the entirety of BookFinder.com lists the latest releases from Phantacea Publications along with a goodly number of additional booksellers carrying them. Also listed therein are almost all of the PHANTACEA Mythos print and e-publications, including the graphic novel and some of the comic books. Another interesting option for the curious is Chegg, which has a rent-a-book program. Thus far its search engine shows no results for phantacea (any style or permutation thereof) but it does recognize Jim McPherson (a variety of them) and the titles of many releases from Phantacea Publications. As for the Whole Earth (other than the Hidden Continent of Sedon's Head, at least as far as I can say and always assuming it's still around in what be its 61st century), well, this page contains a list of a few other websites where you can probably order the novels in a variety of currencies and with credit cards. Of course you can always email or send me your order(s) via surface mail. No matter where you live or what currency you prefer to use, I'll figure out a way to fill your order(s) myself. Just be aware that I can only accept certified cheques or money orders. Plus, I'll have to charge an additional 12% to cover Canadian and provincial goods and sales taxes as well as Canada Post rates for shipping. I do use bubble mailers, though. |
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Additional Information Regarding'The Moloch Manoeuvres'- As Revised in the Spring of 2002 - |
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A PHANTACEA Mythos Mosaic NovelWebpage Contents
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IntroductionIn Greek the word 'phantacea' means imagination. I first used the word in a short story I wrote in 1969 while I was in first year university. It was the title of a series of comic books I wrote and published from 1977 until 1980 and I kept on using it when, in 1996, I began writing and publishing PHANTACEA on the Web. Although due to aspects of its subject matter 'The Moloch Manoeuvres' unavoidably touches upon issues of faith (including some of the most widely held beliefs found in organized religions throughout today's world) I can assure you PHANTACEA is and always has been, shall we say, religiously secular. Of course, it being 'Anheroic Fantasy', science is treated somewhat sacrilegiously as well. |
PremiseThe overriding premise of this novel, and indeed of the entire PHANTACEA Mythos, is the Gods and Goddesses, the Demons and Monsters, of Antique Mythology not only existed but still do. At least they still did in January 1938, which is when Manoeuvres is set. However, thanks primarily to monotheism, these Gods and Goddesses, Demons and Monsters no longer function very well. So, in 1920, what a large number of them did was attempt to have themselves reincarnated. The results of this attempt are now 17 or just turning 17 years old. Collectively they are known as the Summoning Children. 'The Moloch Manoeuvres' tells of the first encounter of a few of these teenagers, some of whom are also known as 'supranormals' or 'supras', with forces that are beyond the rational ken of not just them but the vast majority of their elders and/or financial supporters. These forces are not beyond the ken of a few of their minders, the Witches of Weir, though. That is because it was these witches who called the Summoning of 1920 in the first place. |
Publishing History of PHANTACEAJim McPherson's PHANTACEA Mythos first appeared publicly as a series of comic books ('PHANTACEA - Anheroic Fantasy Illustrated') that I wrote and published from 1977 until 1980. In 1987, after considerable success at selling back issues of the initial series, I attempted to revive the comic book as 'PHANTACEA Phase One'. Unfortunately the market for independently published comic books went soft again so I discontinued the Phase One project after only one issue. In 1989 I published 'Forever & 40 Days - The Genesis of PHANTACEA'. This was a graphic novel that included the short story entitled 'Sister Grandmother'. I published an earlier version of 'The Moloch Manoeuvres' in serial format on the Internet between 1996 and 1998. Accompanying installments of this version of the novel, which was much shorter in its original draft, were chapter-by-chapter synopses. These synopses, complete with relevant links, remain available on the Internet starting at www.phantacea.info/mole1.htm. The jumping off URL for PHANTACEA on the Web - 'Modern Age Mythology' is www.phantacea.info/index.htm. The Main Menu can be found on www.phantacea.info/ph2.htm. |
The Novel & Future Installments of the PHANTACEA MythosIn the Spring of 2002, in order to better reflect
the growth of the PHANTACEA Mythos over the course of An overview of this revision, including a encapsulation of relevant aspects of the PHANTACEA Mythos, some additional notes specific to Manoeuvres, and sample chapters of this revision are available elsewhere on the Web... At present I have on disk first drafts of a total of 5 novels or novellas set in 1938, a lengthy, still-in-progress book that covers the years from 1955 to 1965, and 7 novels or novellas set in the early 1980s. This material has been written, mostly on weekends, over a period of approaching 30 years. My father built train sets in his basement. I write books and publish web-pages in mine. If you want to buy into the PHANTACEA Mythos please download the order form, follow the instructions given and do just that. At this point in time I am not offering the revised version of 'The Moloch Manoeuvres' for sale on disk. Nor am I selling any more copies of 'Helioddity', the novel that proceeds from it. I am, however, currently serializing Oddity out here in WWW.Dotland. |
Reference MaterialIn order to prepare Manoeuvres I relied on a wide variety of reference material. Among the material referred to by various characters in the novel are "The Histories of Herodotus", Ovid's "Metamorphosis", Dante's "Divine Comedy" and the Bible itself. For information on the True Easter I used Frazier's "Golden Bough". Other material available in 1938 that I incorporated into this novel includes work by Manly P. Hall and Lewis Spence. Throughout Manoeuvres there are references to such well-known mythological staples as the story of the Minotaur, the Trojan War, the Volsung Saga and the Song of Nibelung, upon which Wagner based his operatic Ring Cycle. More modern material I referred to during my research includes some of the works of Zecharia Sitchin ("The Earth Chronicles"), David Hatcher Childress (Adventures Unlimited Press), Barbara G. Walker ("The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets") and Robert Graves ("The Greek Myths" and "The White Goddess"). I have also built up a decent-sized home library of reference material on various mythologies and mystery cults such as Roman Mithraism. In addition I have been to a number of the locales in Europe, Egypt, Turkey, Central and South America where parts of the Mythos are set. There's an Online Bibliography webpage elsewhere, though I can't guarantee all the links work any more. Some of the graphics found in PHANTACEA on the Web are scanned-in pictures I took while on the trips referred to above. A good percentage of the rest are taken from the comic books. There's a list of sites with loads of graphics on my Web-Publisher's Commentary webpage. |
Fanciful Aspects of PHANTACEAAmong the fanciful creatures who appear in Manoeuvres besides a couple of devils, a dozen or so supras, and two maybe-faeries are lamia and a chelonian basilisk, both of which are akin to Medusa-Gorgons, a Garuda, a Raven Fetishim and a fin-winged flying dolphin, psychopomp or porpoise pomp. While there are no blood-sucking vampires in Manoeuvres they are presumably out there somewhere. Even though he is actually wearing a Grecian style skirt or girdle, one of the supras describes himself as a Werewolf in Shorts. By contrast, the Witches of Weir and the trance-sending Wayfarers in the Weird are comparatively ordinary. However, most of witches have skills that include an ability to walk or hide between-space on Menstrual Stones, an ability to cast sensory illusions, and an ability to perform memory edits and control some folks' minds. The male maybe-faerie in Manoeuvres teleports between recently killed dead things. He accesses these dead things by visibly killing himself, sometimes quite gruesomely. |
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Language, Violence & Sexual SituationsThere is the occasional outburst of cursing and swearing in Manoeuvres. Most of it emits from Hush when she is in Huff-mode. Figurative steam is not all that emits from her, -- she smokes cigarettes and a corncob pipe. The violence, when it happens, is relatively graphic and there is a Mithraic Taurobolium ceremony wherein a bull, quite involuntarily, spills his guts into a pit containing a Summoning Child hoping to achieve manhood, or an approximation thereof. There is also a fair amount of sexually suggestive language. However, the actual sex scenes themselves are not presented in any lurid detail and in fact happen mostly off-camera. |
Potential Spin-offsIn addition to comic books, which was where it began, and novel-length continuations, of which as already noted there are a number in first draft stage on disk, I believe much of the PHANTACEA Mythos could be spun-off into video games, action toys, graphic novels and such like. Although I am not a fan of animated comic books I believe there is potential for a live-action television series or perhaps a series of special effects laden movies, albeit with nowhere near as large a cast of characters. |
Other Relevant Links
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'The Moloch Manoeuvres'(First Three Chapters of the 2002 Revised Version*) |
Page Pictures Redux |
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Phantacea Publications in Print- The 'Launch 1980' story cycle - 'The Thrice-Cursed Godly Glories' Fantasy Trilogy - The '1000 Days' Mini-Novels - The phantacea Graphic Novels - |
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The 'Launch 1980' Story Cycle |
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The War of the Apocalyptics
Published in 2009; main webpage is here; ordering lynx are here; |
Nuclear Dragons
Published in 2013; main webpage is here; ordering lynx are here; |
Helios on the Moon
Published in 2014; main webpage is here; ordering lynx are here; |
The 'Launch 1980' story cycle comprises three complete, multi-character mosaic novels, |
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'The Thrice-Cursed Godly Glories' Epic Fantasy |
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Feeling Theocidal
Published in 2008; main webpage is here; ordering lynx are here |
The 1000 Days of Disbelief
Published as three mini-novels, 2010/11; main webpage is here; ordering lynx for individual mini-novels are here |
Goddess Gambit
Published in 2012; main webpage is here; ordering lynx are here |
Circa the Year of Dome 2000, Anvil the Artificer, a then otherwise unnamed, highborn Lazaremist later called Tvasitar Smithmonger, dedicated the first three devic talismans, or power foci, that he forged out of molten Brainrock to the Trigregos Sisters. The long lost, possibly even dead, simultaneous mothers of devakind hated their offspring for abandoning them on the far-off planetary Utopia of New Weir. Not surprisingly, their fearsome talismans could be used to kill Master Devas (devils). For most of twenty-five hundred years, they belonged to the recurring deviant, Chrysaor Attis, time after time proven a devaslayer. On Thrygragon, Mithramas Day 4376 YD, he turned them over to his Great God of a half-father, Thrygragos Varuna Mithras, to use against his two brothers, Unmoving Byron and Little Star Lazareme, in hopes of usurping their adherents and claiming them as his own. Hundreds of years later, these selfsame thrice-cursed Godly Glories helped turn the devil-worshippers of Sedon's Head against their seemingly immortal, if not necessarily undying gods. Now, five hundred years after the 1000 Days of Disbelief, they've been relocated. The highest born, surviving devic goddesses want them for themselves; want to thereby become incarnations of the Trigregos Sisters on the Hidden Continent. An Outer Earthling, one who has literally fallen out of the sky after the launching of the Cosmic Express, gets to them first ... |
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The '1000 Days' Mini-Novels |
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The Death's Head Hellion- Sedonplay -
Published in 2010; main web presence is here; Character Companion starts here; ordering lynx are here; |
Contagion Collectors- Sedon Plague -
Published in 2010; main web presence is here; Character Companion starts here; ordering lynx are here; |
Janna Fangfingers- Sedon Purge -
Published in 2011; two storylines recounted side-by-side, the titular one narrated by the Legendarian in 5980, the other indirectly leading into the 'Launch 1980' story cycle; main web presence is here; Character Companion starts here; ordering lynx are here; |
In the Year of the Dome 4825, Morgan Abyss, the Melusine Master of the Utopian Weirdom of Cabalarkon, seizes control of Primeval Lilith, the ageless, seemingly unkillable Demon Queen of the Night. The eldritch earthborn is the real half-mother of the invariably mortal Sed-sons but, once she has hold of her, aka Lethal Lily, Master Morgan proceeds to trap the Moloch Sedon Himself. In the midst of the bitter, century-long expansion of the Lathakran Empire, the Hidden Headworld's three tribes of devil-gods are forced to unite in an effort to release their All-Father. Unfortunately for them, they're initially unaware Master Morg, the Death's Head Hellion herself, has also got hold of the Trigregos Talismans, devic power foci that can actually kill devils, and Sedon's thought-father Cabalarkon, the Undying Utopian she'll happily slay if they dare attack her Weirdom. Utopians from Weir have never given up seeking to wipe devils off not just the face of the Inner Earth, but off the planet itself. Their techno and biomages, under the direction of the Weirdom of Cabalarkon's extremely long-lived High Illuminary, Quoits Tethys, have determined there is only one sure way to do that -- namely, to infect the devils' Inner Earth worshippers with fatal plagues brought in from the Outer Earth. Come All-Death Day there are more Dead Things Walking than Living Beings Talking. Believe it or not, that's the good news. |
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phantacea Graphic Novels |
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Forever and Forty Days- The Genesis of Phantacea -
Published in 1990; main webpage is here; ordering lynx are here |
The Damnation Brigade- Phantacea Revisited 1 -
Published in 2013; main webpage is here; ordering lynx are here |
Cataclysm Catalyst- Phantacea Revisited 2 -
Published in 2014, main webpage is here; ordering lynx are here |
Kadmon Heliopolis had one life. It ended in October 1968. The Male Entity has had many lives. In his fifth, he and his female counterpart, often known as Miracle Memory, engendered more so than created the Moloch Sedon. They believe him to be the Devil Incarnate. They've been attempting to kill him ever since. Too bad it's invariably he, Heliosophos (Helios called Sophos the Wise), who gets killed instead. On the then still Whole Earth circa the Year 4000 BCE, one of their descendants, Xuthros Hor, the tenth patriarch of Golden Age Humanity, puts into action a thought-foolproof, albeit mass murderous, plan to succeed where the Dual Entities have always failed. He unleashes the Genesea. The Devil takes a bath. Fifty-nine hundred and eighty years later, New Century Enterprises launches the Cosmic Express from Centauri Island. It never reaches Outer Space; not all of it anyhow. As a stunning consequence of its apparent destruction, ten extraordinary supranormals are reunited, bodies, souls and minds, after a quarter century in what they've come to consider Limbo. They name themselves the Damnation Brigade. And so it appears they are -- if perhaps not so much damned as doomed. At least one person survives the launching of the Cosmic Express. He literally falls out of the sky -- on the Hidden Continent of Sedon's Head. An old lady saves him. Except this old lady lives in a golden pagoda, rides vultures and has a third eye. She also doesn't stay old long. He becomes her willing soldier, acquires the three Sacred Objects and goes on a rampage, against his own people, those that live. Meanwhile, Centauri Island, the launch site of the Cosmic Express, comes under attack from Hell's Horsemen. Only it's not horses they ride. It's Atomic Firedrakes! |
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Webpage last updated: Autumn 2012There may be no cure for aphantasia (defined as 'having a blind or absent mind's eye') but there certainly is for aphantacea ('a'='without', like the 'an' in 'anheroic') Ordering Information for PHANTACEA Mythos comic books, graphic novels, standalone novels, mini-novels and e-books
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