Kirban’s big hit was his first foray into apocalyptic fiction, 666 (1970), and its sequel, 1000 (1973). Telling the story of George, a postrapture convert who must survive the antichrist’s reign, 666 was structured around the titular “mark of the beast” required by the totalitarian regime in order to exercise basic freedoms of movement, worship, and commerce. In the sequel, with the millennial kingdom established, 1000 dramatized the return of Satan after one thousand years and his ultimate defeat.
