Bram Stoker Award-winning author and editor Alan Rodgers (1959-2014) was a horror writer, loved sci-fi, and was an extraordinarily gifted editor and poet. Alan is remembered by many for his work in the early eighties as Associate Editor for Rod Serling's Twilight Zone Magazine. Soon after, he was the editor of the spin-off horror digest Night Cry. His short fiction appeared in Weird Tales, Twilight Zone and a number of anthologies such as Full Spectrum, Darker Masques, Prom Night and Vengeance Fantastic.

He began publishing fantasy with Bram Stoker Award for Best Long Form Fiction winner and World Fantasy Award nominee "The Boy Who Came Back from the Dead." His debut horror novel Blood of the Children was a Bram Stoker Award nominee for Best First Horror Novel. His other novels include NY Times bestsellers Fire, Night, and Pandora. His 1995 horror novel about the blues, Bone Music, was a Bram Stoker Award nominee. Other notable books include The Bear Who Found Christmas and Her Misbegotten Son, set in the Lovecraftian mythos.

Fire by Alan Rodgers

Two countries on the brink of nuclear war. The President is bent on avenging the greatest loss a man can endure: the First Lady. A dangerous religious organization vying to control the fate of the earth. A mysterious virus leading to the resurrection of the dead all over the planet. A bestial nightmare of a creature straight out of Revelation. These are the elements at play in FIRE, an epic novel of the world in what might be its final days.

This fast-paced novel written from the point of view of ordinary people confronting the end of the world is a genuine page-turner. From janitor Ron Hawkins, who's just trying to make it through his college graduation to Luke Munsen, a scientist who wanted to find out dinosaur biology, to an intrepid tabloid reporter, a mad scientist and the President himself, the world has turned upside-down. Our greatest fears are a reality. Even our food is coming back to life … and attacking!

CURATOR'S NOTE

I knew Alan Rodgers early in my career as we were both breaking into the industry. He wrote some epic books, including the New York Times bestseller FIRE. Alan passed away not long ago, but Amy Sterling Casil is bringing his books back into print. FIRE had a tremendous audience in its first incarnation, and I wanted to fan the flames again. – Kevin J. Anderson

 

REVIEWS

  • "Every so often, a truly seminal book is published in the horror field. Blatty's The Exorcist, King's The Stand, Barker's Books of Blood. Alan Rodgers' Fire is such a book. It is a tale of amazing sweep and scope, uniting Biblical prophecies and hightech, ancient horrors with new ones cobbled up from labs and shadows. After this book, everything changes."

    – J. Michael Straczynski, creator of Babylon Five

  • "With Fire, Alan Rodgers shows that he can set the whole world of horror alight. Powerful, frightening, apocalyptic."

    – Graham Masterton

  • "This is not one of those cheap bloody post-King horror novels in which the writer tries to stimulate your gag reflex at every opportunity. This is a real story, full of life in the midst of death, magnanimity in the midst of cruelty, creation in the midst of devastation. Those other guys know horror. Rodgers knows humanity.

    If there's any justice in this world, then half a million copies of this book won't be enough."

    – Orson Scott Card
 

BOOK PREVIEW

BOOK ONE

Three Days at the End of the World

WEDNESDAY

July Thirteenth

Transmitted over the AP Wire

Tuesday, May First

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a televised speech this evening, American President Paul Green swore publicly that the death of his wife would not go unavenged.

Russian spokesmen, responding to the speech at the United Nations, expressed grave concerns. "We too mourn the death of Ada Green," said Ivan Illych, third assistant to the Russian Ambassador to the United Nations, "but we cannot countenance threats, veiled or otherwise."

First Lady Ada Green died in a tragic series of accidents two weeks ago, while on a good will mission to Russia. Details of that death are still unclear, but unnamed sources report that she contracted food poisoning after eating a preserved fish in a Moscow restaurant.

According to reports, local doctors administered intravenous penicillin to treat the food poisoning. The First Lady had a severe allergy to penicillin, and the antibiotic sent her into shock, killing her in a matter of minutes.

Congressional reaction to the President's speech was remarkably similar to the reaction of the Russians. House Speaker William Thergild, giving the televised Bipartisan response to the President's speech, expressed his sympathy for the President — and his reservations about the President's pledge.

"I honestly feel for the President," said Thergild. "All of us here in Congress do. He's been through a rough time — rough, hell. That man has been through a horrible and tragic time. But all the same, we can't have him bringing this nation to the brink of war for personal reasons. Can't. No matter how tragic his personal circumstances."

Other members of Congress, who asked not to be identified, were less charitable in their reactions.

"That man is out of his mind," said one New York City Congresswoman. "This is exactly the excuse he's been looking for since he took the oath of office. Do you know anything about that church of his? They're Armageddonists. They're looking for a way to bring on the end of the world. He's looking to create an Apocalypse. And this is the way to the beginning of the end."