In the parallel America of Empire of the Goddess, the Imperial Patriotic States is a theocracy that reveres Christopher Columbus as a religious figure. I bet their July 4th is something spectacular!
Today is release day for new paperback and eBook editions. With a new cover by Deena Warner, this is the same dark fantasy novel Thunderstorm Books published last year, except it’s much cheaper, and soon you’ll have the option of listening to an audio narration performed by yours truly.
Stay tuned this week for behind-the-scenes essays.
Description
Thomas Dylan’s four-year-old son has disappeared without a trace from their Virginia home. There’s no clue what happened until Thomas is also abducted—by robed priests with electric cattle prods.
They take him through an interdimensional portal to a parallel America. There, the priests rule the Imperial Patriotic States, a backward nation suffering from horrific plagues. Healing comes not from medicine but from the Goddess, who dispenses favor in exchange for human sacrifice. The victims come from our world.
Thomas searches for his son, who he hopes is still alive. Along the way, he’ll encounter revolutionaries, romance, and magic. He may prove to be the one person who can stop the sacrifices. But this means deciding whether to find his son or save two worlds.
—Publishers Weekly (read the whole review)
“Empire of the Goddess has some of the most exciting beginning chapters I’ve read in a long while, and the pace never lets up from there. Matthew Warner’s considerable horror-writing chops ensure that Empire of the Goddess is an effective and frightening alternate-world nightmare — highly recommended!”
— Norman Prentiss, author of Odd Adventures With Your Other Father and The Apocalypse-a-Day Desk Calendar
