Campbell's nightmarish prequel to Scar Night
(2006) explores the depths of twisted revenge. Every half-century since the Deepgate year 511, when Henry Bucklestrappe was extracted mysteriously from the temple dungeons and nastily murdered, the hideously scarred angel, Carnival, has slain a Bucklestrappe descendent. Now, in 1012, it is wily old prospector Sal Greene's turn to be a victim. He asks phantasmacist Laccus Ravencrag to summon up the demon Basilis, unexpectedly impotent, to battle Carnival, herself victimized by her own psyche and trapped by the brutal witch Ruby. Campbell meshes pity with terror against the bleak phantasmagoric backdrop of a city suspended from chains, swinging dismally over a yawning abyss. In a civilization literally built upon nothing, dark magic and vengeance are the rule of the day, and Campbell will quickly have readers under his creepy and sometimes heartbreaking spell. (Jan.)
