Nancy A. Collins is best known for the female punk vampire /vampire slayer Sonja Blue and as a founding pioneer of the Urban Fantasy genre. She has published over 25 novels and collections since 1989 and is the first woman to have written Swamp Thing for DC Comics, as well as Vampirella and the Army of Darkness comic franchises. She is a recipient of the HWA's Bram Stoker Award, The British Fantasy Award, the International Horror Guild Award, and the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers Scribe Award, as well as a nominee for the World Fantasy Award, the John W. Campbell Award, the James Tiptree Award, and the comics industry's Eisner Award.

Absalom's Wake by Nancy A. Collins

Have you ever wondered what if Herman Melville had chosen to create the Cthulhu Mythos instead of writing Moby Dick? Well, wonder no more.

Young Jonah Padgett always dreamed of going to sea like his beloved Uncle Calvin, who bequeathed him a letter of introduction and a strange amulet shaped like a dolphin upon his death. Jonah signs on to the whaler Absalom, under the command of his uncle's old friend, Captain Solomon, who is determined to bag "King Jim", a sperm whale said to be as big as a mountain with skin as black as a bible, and in command of a harem of a hundred females.

But when the Absalom signs on the South Seas Islander called Koro as a harpooner, the ship finds itself beleaguered by inexplicable disappearances and horrific death, which pits shipmate against shipmate. Jonah soon finds himself adrift in a fantastical world filled with dolphin-like merfolk and nightmarish were-sharks, endangered equally by inhuman creatures from the ocean's depths and human fear and superstition, his very life at the mercy of something as old and mysterious as the sea itself.

CURATOR'S NOTE

•How's this for the concept of a novel? "Herman Melville's Moby Dick meets H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos." That fantastic idea swims at the heart of this novel by trailblazing horror author Nancy A. Collins...and it makes for an unforgettable book. Nancy delivers on the concept in every way that matters, creating a work that reaches into the darkest depths of man, beast, and Other, all told in marvelously descriptive and poetic text. Once you set sail with Nancy in this wondrous adventure, I know you'll be dying to read more of her wide-ranging and influential work, from the Sonja Blue series about a demonically-powered vampire hunter to her historic run on DC Comics' Swamp Thing, which reinvented the heroic monster and his horrific, creature-filled world for future generations of graphic novel enthusiasts. – Robert Jeschonek

 

REVIEWS

  • "Absalom's Wake is a rollicking tale of whalers, ships, heroes, and monsters. Jonah, the narrator, has quite an adventure and you will too. Gotta love weresharks!"

    – Manphibian@Amazon

  • "Nancy A Collins is fantastic. This is the third book I've read of hers and it is an exciting, action packed page turner. It's a little bit like In the Heart of the Sea with weird creatures. Loved it."

    – Dr. Monstrosity@Amazon

  • "The tone is consistent, with the characters' lives falling into a familiar routine. Their voices are strong and remain distinctive. The descriptions were vivid and the action sequences were gripping! The mystery continues, and I was left wanting more, more, more! Recommended for adult audiences"

    – monsterlibrarian.com
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

The one-eyed headman stepped forward while the others pinned the cooper's arms to his sides, keeping him from rolling free, and bared his horrible filed teeth. The cannibal's mouth seemed to grow to hideous proportions, like a snake unhinging its jaw, before he bit deep into Santo's exposed belly. The cooper's angry shouts quickly dissolved into shrieking, the likes of which I had never heard from a human being.

As I lay there in the shadows, paralyzed with horror, the one-eyed cannibal yanked free a length of my friend's guts, causing them to unravel from his torso like a magician's scarf. The savage then swallowed the mouthful of pulsing, living flesh whole, without the use of his hands, his throat seeming to expand as he gulped down his hideous meal. Excited by the smell of their victim's blood and the sight of his agonized thrashing, the remaining cannibals set upon poor, doomed Santo, ripping into his struggling body like a pair of boars rooting for truffles.

"Get off my porch, you bloody bastards!" His Lordship yelled as he charged out of the bungalow, armed with a native paddle-spear fashioned of koa wood. The Englishman attempted to brain the one-eyed cannibal with the oar blade, but his opponent proved far too swift. The savage dodged the blow while sweeping the aristocrat's legs out from under him, causing His Lordship to drop the weapon.

The cannibal headman then snatched up the paddle-spear and drove its business-end through His Lordship's chest, pinning him like a butterfly.

The sight of the blood spurting from the dying man's mouth, like the crimson geyser in my nightmare, shocked me from my paralysis. Leaping to my feet, I ran towards the beach and the direction of the Absalom. As I sped across the sandy beach, I heard angry shouts behind me. I glanced over my shoulder and instantly wished I had not looked. The trio of cannibals were in close pursuit, their tattooed faces smeared with the blood of my friends, their horrible, shark-like maws opened impossibly wide, as if to swallow me whole.