The Launching of the Cosmic Express

Potential Dust Covers for

| "The War of the Apocalyptics" | "The Trigregos Gambit" |

In terms of publishing, the comic books of the late 70s came first of course. The graphic novel came out in 1990. Although I wrote a bunch of other material throughout the 80s and early 90s, mostly proposals for teleplays and short stories, some of which featured characters from the PHANTACEA Mythos, it wasn't until 1996 that I began web-publishing.

One of the first novels I serialized on the Web was: 'The War of the Apocalyptics'. I revised the serialized version in 2003; sent it out to some publishers and non-fee-charging literary agents via the Internet, and there it still languishes, on a variety of slush piles. This is the latest dustcover I've prepared for it. A different potential front cover can be found elsewhere.

Text at the top of the front cover reads:

"From the creator of the PHANTACEA Mythos comes Fallen Angel Devils, comes unrelenting Action, comes the Damnation Brigade, comes ..."

Text on the back cover reads:

"Launching 1980

"The ten members of the Damnation Brigade survived a quarter century in Limbo. Until their minds were separated from their bodies in 1955, they were the last of the Outer Earth's supranormals.

"Plague, Murder, War and Disaster, they're Apocalyptics. They're also immortal devils. Murder's pregnant. She'll give birth on the Inner Earth if D-Brig doesn't stop her."

The 'Children! It's a trick, an illusion. We're under attack!'; bit in the collage on the front cover is a direct quote from pH-5. The 'Damnation! Stop this farce!' bit on the back cover is something Cyborg Cerebrus says in pH-4.

As for the images that went into the two collages, some of them are from the comic books. Most of the rest come from photos I've snapped or postcards I've bought over the years during various Travels in my Pants. Scanned-in versions of some of them are out here on the Web somewhere and there's a note on the 1987A background image below.

The primary webpage for the revised version of this novel can be found here whereas the introductory webpage for the serialized version can be found here.

As per here, an earlier version of 'The Trigregos Gambit' has also been serialized previously. I revised the serialized version in 2005. If I decide to start self-publishing the PHANTACEA Mythos, I'll likely begin with this one because, although it's by far the most violent of all my novels, I can justify going anywhere on the timeline-compass for its follow-up print publication: timewise either direction sideways, timewise before, 1938,1960, or timewise after.

This is the latest dustcover I've prepared for it. Text at the top of the front cover reads:

"'For the Dead to thrive, the Living must die!' So proclaims Nergal Vetala, the Blood Queen of Hadd."

Text on the back cover reads:

"Launching 5980

"She's the lone devic vampire. For 35 years she has been unable to prevent the encroachment of the Living on her realm, the Land of the Ambulatory Dead.

"Then her soldier falls out of the sky and she's back in the pink. As in arterial. She still isn't satisfied.

"Too bad for not just her, everyone who plays a Trigregos Gambit loses."

The 'Mercy is a Capital Offense' bit on the front cover is the rest of the proclamation the Vampire Queen psychically issues to her remainingly faithful adherents once she returns to Hadd after 35 years in the Forbidden Forest of her litter sister, Kala Tal. Most of those she thereby contacts are occupied, and animated, by Vetalazurs, her strictly Spirit Being offspring by many a male devil. Vetala eats her young.

As for the images that went into the two covers, the back cover Vetala (in the moon-mirror) is from the front cover of pH-5. Ian Bateson did the colour over Verne Andru's pencils and inks. The front cover Vetala is by Ian Fry, the artist who drew the graphic novel: "Forever & 40 Days - the Genesis of PHANTACEA". It was done circa 1990. The graphic novel is still available.

With the exception of the Pictish Warrior on the front cover, which I scanned in from a postcard I bought some time ago during one of my occasional Travels in my Pants overseas (or over lots of land in the Americas). I plucked the rest of the images used from the Web.

Those who have read '4-Ever&40' might find it interesting that the crimson corona effect circling the moon-mirror and, indeed, the starry background of the entire dust cover, are both digitally dicked pictures of Supernova 1987A. Besides the fact they look so good, I plucked them because, in the PHANTACEA Mythos, Supernova 1987A was caused by the Dual Entities when they destroyed the first Weirsystem.

A mini-essay on the Pictish fellow can be found here. The primary webpage for the revised version of this novel can be found here whereas the introductory webpage for the serialized version of 'Gambit' can be found here.