Emerald Hell

Mike Mignola's Hellboy is one of the great comic book-graphic novel creations of the past two decades. Christopher Golden has written several exceptionally fine novels in the Hellboy world and he's now joined by Tom Piccirilli whose Emerald City is a delightfully dark take on the mystical and mythical South of Manly Wade Wellman and Robert E. Howard.

Here's what the publisher has to say: "Hellboy comes to the crossroads in Enigma, Georgia, a small town beset by strange occurrences. Sent to keep an eye on Sarah Nail, a young girl hiding from the curse of her family, Hellboy becomes entangled in the blood debt of evil mystical preacher, Brother Jester. Stuck between human malice and the mysteries of the occult, Hellboy comes up against an intrigue of ghosts, demon trees, talking bullfrogs, and a race of lost mutant children."

Here's what the publisher doesn't say: Tom Piccirilli is becoming one of the most compelling stylists in current fiction. He possesses the gifts of a true poet as you'll discover simply by opening the book at random. He couples this with his ability to show us people we've never met before. They're Piccirilli people, exclusively so. And to take us places we can never quite escape. They stay with us long after we close the book.

This book is rich with a variety of pleasures.