Dark Gods

T.E.D. Klein's highly acclaimed first novel The Ceremonies - which Stephen King called "the most exciting novel in my field to come along since Straub's Ghost Story - established him in the top rank of horror writers. Now, with the four novellas gathered here, Klein proves himself to be a master of this classic shorter form.\nThe collection opens with "Children of the Kingdom", a beautifully crafted chiller that gradually reveals the horrors that lurk behind the shadows of the city. In "Petey", George and Phyllis and the die-hards at their housewarming think that their new rural retreat is quite a steal - unaware that foreclosure, in a particularly monstrous form, is heading their way.\nIn the insidiously terrifying "Black Man with a Horn", a homage to Lovecraft, a chance encounter with a missionary priest over the Atlantic lures a traveller into a web of ancient mystery and fiendish retribution. And in "Nadelman's God", the protagonist discovers, degree by shocking degree, that the demons of our imaginations are not always imaginary.

Literature & Fiction

T.E.D. Klein

Genre Fiction

Pan Books

Graduate student Jeremy Freirs and aspiring dancer Carol Conklin, summering in the New Jersey village of Gilead, are trapped in a nightmare of terror, with an evil force emanating from a place once called Maquineanok, the Place of Burning

The Ceremonies

Contemporary

Bantam/Doubleday/Dell

Four stories, "Children of the Kingdom," "Petey," "Black Man With a Horn," and "Nadelman's God," deal with creatures of the urban night, a hungry beast, a ritual murder, and terrifying apparitions

United States

Viking Adult

The Events at Poroth Farm

Necronomicon Press

SYNOPSIS He stopped, look back, and saw it the monstrous black thing staring at him from the tree . . . This summer sees the long-anticipated re-issue of The Ceremonies, a celebrated masterpiece from a generation ago, now fully corrected by its author. Chalking up the British Fantasy Award for Best First Novel on its original publication back in 1984, The Ceremonies was hailed by Stephen King as the best horror novel since Peter Straub s Ghost Story. It is now included inHorror: 100 Best Books. From the terrifying vision of its opening scene to the breathtaking horror of its climax, The Ceremonies turns our familiar world into a place of malevolent intrigue and ominous design. In the grip of an extraordinary writer, it plumbs the darkest underpinnings of ancient myth and folklore to reveal an undying evil. For graduate student Jeremy Freirs, citified, cynical, yet prone to daydreams, summer is the time to shed a few pounds and finally get some reading done for a course on gothic literature. He's picked just the right place: the small, secluded village of Gilead, New Jersey, only ninety minutes from Manhattan but, with its antique customs and clannish traditions, seemingly centuries away. For farmers Sarr and Deborah Poroth, young members of Gilead's fundamentalist community, the summer threatens a conflict between their passionate natures and the stern dictates of their faith. For Sarr's widowed mother, gifted with second sight, it promises the frightful awakening she's dreaded all her life. And for aspiring dancer Carol Conklin, a naive country girl struggling to survive in the city, it brings not only the first blush of romance but a lucky job with a kindly-looking old man known as Mr. Rosebottom. But Rosie, as he calls himself, bears a more sinister name the Old One and a far more terrifying secret. Though the signs are all about them, he alone knows the invisible design that rules these people's lives as they dance unwittingly toward doom: for in the heat of summer an ancient corruption is stirring, an evil rooted not far from the Poroth farm, yet reaching to the city and beyond. The time has come for the Ceremonies, the monstrous rites that will unleash on a despised creation an age-old promise of apocalypse. And to see the scheme unfold, like some deadly flower, is to watch a nightmare come to life.

PS Publishing

ABOUT THIS BOOK 
T.E.D. Klein’s highly acclaimed first novel The Ceremonies―which Stephen King called ‘the most exciting novel in my field to come along since Straub’s Ghost Story―established him in the top rank of horror writers. Now, with the four novellas gathered here, Klein proves himself to be a master of this classic shorter form. 
The collection opens with ‘Children of the Kingdom’, a beautifully crafted chiller that gradually reveals the horrors that lurk behind the shadows of the city. In ‘Petey’, George and Phyllis and the die-hards at their housewarming think that their new rural retreat is quite a steal―unaware that foreclosure, in a particularly monstrous form, is heading their way. 
In the insidiously terrifying ‘Black Man with a Horn’, a homage to Lovecraft, a chance encounter with a missionary priest over the Atlantic lures a traveller into a web of ancient mystery and fiendish retribution. And in ‘Nadelman’s God’, the protagonist discovers, degree by shocking degree, that the demons of our imaginations are not always imaginary.

Dark Gods [Trade Paperback]

Ceremonies, The

Audible Studios on Brilliance Audio

ceremonias macabras

Ediciones Martínez Roca

Ceremonias Macabras

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Books by T.E.D. Klein