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Zorachus #2
The Nightmare of God
Mancdaman Zorachus has fallen..
Having killed the High Priest of Tchernobog, he takes his place, and unleashes a campaign of conquest the like of which the world has never seen, murdering kings, paralyzing trade, and exterminating his foes with plague and dragonfire.
Sent north to reason with the apostate, Raschid Kestrel escapes from Khymir, and recruits a barbarian army to stop his one-time friend before night descends forever...
Having killed the High Priest of Tchernobog, he takes his place, and unleashes a campaign of conquest the like of which the world has never seen, murdering kings, paralyzing trade, and exterminating his foes with plague and dragonfire.
Sent north to reason with the apostate, Raschid Kestrel escapes from Khymir, and recruits a barbarian army to stop his one-time friend before night descends forever...
- GenresFantasySword and Sorcery
414 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
About the author
Mark E. Rogers
20 books15 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Please see: Mark E. Rogers
Mark E. Rogers was an American author and illustrator. Rogers, while a student at Pt. Pleasant Beach High School, wrote a short novel, The Runestone, which has since been adapted into Willard Carroll's 1990 film starring Peter Riegert and Joan Severance, although it remains unpublished, except as a numbered, signed limited edition chapbook published by Burning Bush Press in 1979. At the University of Delaware, he continued his interest in writing, graduating summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1974. He was elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa.
He thereafter became a professional writer. His published works include the Samurai Cat
series; a number of novels, The Dead, Zorachus, and the latter's sequel, The Nightmare of God; a series of books known as Blood of the Lamb; and another series called The Nightmare of God. He has also published three art portfolios and a collection of his pin-up paintings, Nothing but a Smile.
Rogers often had heart problems, he died from apparent heart failure while hiking with his family in California's Death Valley.
source: Wikipedia
Please see: Mark E. Rogers
Mark E. Rogers was an American author and illustrator. Rogers, while a student at Pt. Pleasant Beach High School, wrote a short novel, The Runestone, which has since been adapted into Willard Carroll's 1990 film starring Peter Riegert and Joan Severance, although it remains unpublished, except as a numbered, signed limited edition chapbook published by Burning Bush Press in 1979. At the University of Delaware, he continued his interest in writing, graduating summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1974. He was elected to membership in Phi Beta Kappa.
He thereafter became a professional writer. His published works include the Samurai Cat
series; a number of novels, The Dead, Zorachus, and the latter's sequel, The Nightmare of God; a series of books known as Blood of the Lamb; and another series called The Nightmare of God. He has also published three art portfolios and a collection of his pin-up paintings, Nothing but a Smile.
Rogers often had heart problems, he died from apparent heart failure while hiking with his family in California's Death Valley.
source: Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 26, 2021
The striking thing about the Zorachus series has been its very specific theological ideas, which appear to draw from Abrahamic or possibly Zoroastrian thinking (disclaimer: I'd have to do some substantial research to pin this down; I'm by no means an expert.)
Zorachus is not some mustache-twirling villain: his evil is borne of a peculiar suicidal impulse that ties back to the philosophic underpinnings. In particular, despair and shame that makes him seek total oblivion in order to avoid facing God for his sins.
The book's brutality carries from the previous and adds to it, at times becoming thick and soupy as though the reader really is wading through the rivers of blood and viscera. The climax is two human waves pounding at one another to the point of near parody: where are all these people coming from?
Zorachus is not some mustache-twirling villain: his evil is borne of a peculiar suicidal impulse that ties back to the philosophic underpinnings. In particular, despair and shame that makes him seek total oblivion in order to avoid facing God for his sins.
The book's brutality carries from the previous and adds to it, at times becoming thick and soupy as though the reader really is wading through the rivers of blood and viscera. The climax is two human waves pounding at one another to the point of near parody: where are all these people coming from?
March 6, 2016
I enjoyed this book. The storyline is your basic sword and sorcery story BUT in this sequel Zorachus, who was the protagonist in the first book, is now the very evil villain. By the end of the story you are rooting for Zorachus to finally snap out of it and do the right thing. I especially liked how the hero in the beginning of the story escapes death.
July 2, 2014
I Just have to do a short review on what has been a novel I have been searching for for, well years as back in 2006 I remember reading this novel and tries to find it by cover art and just like a few days ago found the cover (Luis Royo) they have since changed cover's, But could not find this novel as my copy was lent out never to return.
Thanks to a gentleman And a scholar' in the cant remember book group , he found the author and novel for me.... how well he wont tell me, just a few words of genius... heh'
Anyway back to this review as I know a few "friends" are into the dark fantasy Now this is a series starts with Zorachus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorachus I did not read this begining but probably will, but as for http://www.amazon.com/The-Nightmare-G...
This is one of the darkest and really a disturbing account of a good man lead not with lies but with truths by a demon into a dark and twisted fall from where once he stood as one of the best in the fight for good and righteousness.
This is not a good book for faint hearted this is a display of some dark thoughts that the author did put into print, sometimes reading it I could not believe he got away with something like that, now-days most anything is not a shocker but I believe this writing still will, a great story set in dark fantasy, sadly no kindle, I am sending away for my books again as they are worth the read.
I think I remember throwing this book into a corner and sat looking at it, like it was just...wrong lol good book!
R.I.P Mark E. Rogers (April 19, 1952 – February 2, 2014)
Thanks to a gentleman And a scholar' in the cant remember book group , he found the author and novel for me.... how well he wont tell me, just a few words of genius... heh'
Anyway back to this review as I know a few "friends" are into the dark fantasy Now this is a series starts with Zorachus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorachus I did not read this begining but probably will, but as for http://www.amazon.com/The-Nightmare-G...
This is one of the darkest and really a disturbing account of a good man lead not with lies but with truths by a demon into a dark and twisted fall from where once he stood as one of the best in the fight for good and righteousness.
This is not a good book for faint hearted this is a display of some dark thoughts that the author did put into print, sometimes reading it I could not believe he got away with something like that, now-days most anything is not a shocker but I believe this writing still will, a great story set in dark fantasy, sadly no kindle, I am sending away for my books again as they are worth the read.
I think I remember throwing this book into a corner and sat looking at it, like it was just...wrong lol good book!
R.I.P Mark E. Rogers (April 19, 1952 – February 2, 2014)
July 7, 2012
Actually, the book was published by Ace, and did about as well as Zorachus...Ace published three more books in the series. The new version of Nightmare is fairly heavily revised...lot of extra material. Much improved, in my opinion, and it was pretty great to begin with. But, like Zorachus, not for the fainthearted.
May 7, 2012
Book two in a series by this author, dark fantasy. The book was considered too dark to be printed by any of the reputable publishers and went out of print for a number of years.
November 5, 2018
The second novel in the Zorachus series, the book falls flat in my opinion. After having been the central character of the first novel, Zorachus falls into the background of his own series. As a stock villain, this wouldn't be terrible, but after holding such a central position in the first novel, this dumbing down of his character makes for a lackluster challenge.
Remember, in the opening of the initial novel, Zorachus was a 7th level master of the Sharajhnagi order, apparently an ascetic order of holy warriors, who use both spells and swords. Yet in this book, he comes across as the leader of the evil equivalent of the keystone cops, whose intelligence, seems to drop like a rock the further into the book you go.
As with the first novel, there is a significant amount of wanton cruelty. The bad-guys are not just bad, but gratuitously so. It's not enough for them to attack a small keep/farmstead and kill everyone, but to dismember the women and children and them use the bodies to decorate the main hall. Yes, its evil with a capital 'E', but its two-dimensional. Similar acts of slaughter occur later in the novel with simple cruelty and minimal thought.
Despite overwhelming odds, the heroes manage to achieve victory through a few 'deux ex machina' achievements, while their army is ground to a pulp.
The only unique part of the story is Zorachus' internal debate over damnation vs. salvation and redemption vs. penance. This internal struggle holds more interest than all of the usual sword and sorcery shtick in the book.
Remember, in the opening of the initial novel, Zorachus was a 7th level master of the Sharajhnagi order, apparently an ascetic order of holy warriors, who use both spells and swords. Yet in this book, he comes across as the leader of the evil equivalent of the keystone cops, whose intelligence, seems to drop like a rock the further into the book you go.
As with the first novel, there is a significant amount of wanton cruelty. The bad-guys are not just bad, but gratuitously so. It's not enough for them to attack a small keep/farmstead and kill everyone, but to dismember the women and children and them use the bodies to decorate the main hall. Yes, its evil with a capital 'E', but its two-dimensional. Similar acts of slaughter occur later in the novel with simple cruelty and minimal thought.
Despite overwhelming odds, the heroes manage to achieve victory through a few 'deux ex machina' achievements, while their army is ground to a pulp.
The only unique part of the story is Zorachus' internal debate over damnation vs. salvation and redemption vs. penance. This internal struggle holds more interest than all of the usual sword and sorcery shtick in the book.
March 4, 2020
This doesn't have nearly as much zany nastiness as Zorachus did and lacks for shifting away, more or less, from that character. Yes, Zorachus is here, but he lacks the fun of his pseudochristian musings, and fails to live up to Kletus as an antagonist. Instead he's tormented by his nonsensical fall from grace from the first book (he got aroused and then threw his whole life's work in the bin) and a kind of lame scheme that didn't match the super weird shit Kletus and company did previously.
The grand mystery, from this book and the first, is who the heck is Mark E. Rogers? Is he an ultraconservative Christian turning the mirror on society's iniquity? Is he a nihilist creep who gets off on writing weird crap? Is he just writing this stuff for a paycheck? Is this his magnum opus?
The theology is frequently kind of interesting, if a little blunt. And full of false equivalencies.
The grand mystery, from this book and the first, is who the heck is Mark E. Rogers? Is he an ultraconservative Christian turning the mirror on society's iniquity? Is he a nihilist creep who gets off on writing weird crap? Is he just writing this stuff for a paycheck? Is this his magnum opus?
The theology is frequently kind of interesting, if a little blunt. And full of false equivalencies.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews