Search Worlds Without End

In 525 B.C., the Persian king Cambyses sent fifty thousand soldiers across the conquered Egyptian desert to take an oasis city not far from where the Libyan border stands today. According to Greek history, a hurricane-force sandstorm struck near the end of their six-hundred-mile trek. The army - all fifty thousand men - vanished without a single trace. Fast forward to 1986. A British archaeological team, sent to the edge of the Great Sand Sea to exhume evidence of the incident, has also gone missing. It's up to Hellboy to find the missing Brits and to discover what became of The Lost Army. This illustrated novel is written by Christopher Golden, best-selling author of the book Of Saints and Shadows. Hellboy creator Mike Mignola has done sixty-eight black-and-white illustrations for the story.

On the frozen shores of Sweden, lightning strikes from a clear sky. The skeleton of a huge man is revealed, its fingers clutched around the handle of an iron hammer. No one who comes to see this marvel from Norse mythology can lift it -- no one but Hellboy, who lifts the hammer just in time for lightning to strike again, welding it to his hand and leading him towards a bizarre series of visions and encounters.

Fifty years ago, a blood-red, cloven-hoofed demon was conjured up by Axis powers at the end of World War II, but adopted by the United States government, which gave him the name Hellboy and raised him in secrecy. Today, Hellboy is a top field agent for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. He questions the unknown -- then beats it into submission.

His latest case: Angels have attacked the Vatican, destroying an entire floor of the building's precious library. That's a new one, even for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. The BPRD dispatches Hellboy and his amphibious colleague, Abe Sapien, to investigate. When they arrive on the scene, they discover that thousands of documents from all eras of history have been destroyed -- except for one, saved from the holy fire by an obsessive scholar. His prize? An ancient scroll allegedly written by Jesus the Nazarene -- decades after the crucifixion. Hellboy's first thought is that the scroll was the focus of the seraphim's attack -- but why would heavenly creatures undertake such violence and ruin?

The answer to this puzzle will lead Hellboy down a terrifying trail to ancient gods, vengeful demons, and a hidden world made of the purest evil....

Hellboy, a bloodred, cloven-hoofed demon raised by the United States government, is a top field agent for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. He questions the unknown -- then beats it into submission.

A dragon is seen perching on the statue of Christ the Redeemer overlooking Rio de Janeiro...

A werewolf stalks the streets of Baltimore...

A griffin slaughters a herd of horses in Madrid...

Weird sightings of cryptozoological and mythological creatures abound around the globe. Sometimes the creatures simply appear and then vanish again, content merely to put in an appearance. Other times they make themselves known to entire cities, and leave their mark. Damaged buildings. Scars on the landscape. The occasional death.

Then suddenly, the death toll escalates. One by one Hellboy and his friends at the BPRD are dispatched to avert disaster. Hellboy encounters a dragon in Brazil. Abe Sapien tackles a giant alligator in Venice. Liz Sherman faces off against a phoenix in the Mediterranean.

But in dawning horror they realize it's all a distraction -- heralding nothing so much as an event of apocalyptic proportions...

Hellboy, a bloodred, cloven-hoofed demon raised by the United States government, is a top field agent for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. He questions the unknown -- then beats it into submission.

Religious artifacts from every faith are disappearing without a trace. The identity of the perpetrator is a complete mystery until Hellboy and Liz Sherman -- acting on an unlikely tip from a ghost -- foil a museum heist attempted by crude, robotic constructs inhabited by human spirits.

One of these freed human spirits offers to help Hellboy track down those who imprisoned him: a fanatical order of psychics obsessed with creating a new messiah, one that will bring about a new stage of evolution for mankind -- whether mankind is willing or not. Now only Hellboy and his colleagues stand between a vulnerable humanity and an evil, vengeful god...

Hellboy, a bloodred, cloven-hoofed demon raised by the United States government, is a top field agent for the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. He questions the unknown -- then beats it into submission. In the upper reaches of the Himalayas, Hellboy's ex-girlfriend, archaeologist Anastasia Bransfield, believes she has found the location of the legendary "Dragon King Pool" -- thought to be the ancient dwelling of an evil dragon who inflicted horrific devastation on the land and its people. Every year the villagers would sacrifice a child to placate the beast, until one day an unlikely hero fought the dragon and won, bringing peace and prosperity to the land.

But Anastasia's triumph at her discovery is short-lived. Soon unearthly creatures are seen lurking around the dig site, someone is sabotaging the excavation with dire results, and the young daughter of one of the dig leaders goes missing. It looks like a job for Hellboy -- but his toughest challenge might be putting his past with Anastasia behind him...

Hellboy comes to the crossroads in Enigma, Georgia, a small town plagued by strange occurrences. Sent to keep an eye on Sarah Nail, a young girl hiding from the curse of her family, Hellboy becomes entangled in the blood debt of evil mystical preacher, Brother Jester. Stuck between human malice and the mysteries of the occult, Hellboy comes up against an intrigue of ghosts, demon trees, talking bullfrogs, and a race of lost mutant children.

In a London funeral parlor, the dead rise and walk again. On a train in the London Underground, a young couple is terrorized by a demon. In a suburb, a poltergeist forces a family to flee their home.

Hellboy has his hands full.

While the supernatural is on a rampage in London, a series of brutal "Torso Murders" turns up at various sites around the city. All of the corpses are headless, limbless, and drained of their blood.

Called in to investigate the killings, B.P.R.D. agents Abe Sapien and Liz Sherman discover a wellspring of black magic under the London streets. They also find a sack of heads. Hellboy descends into the dark underworld of London, encountering demons who prophesy the coming of plague and the opening of an Eye to the otherworld, bringing forth death and destruction upon the land.

In Cancun, Mexico, police investigate a slaughter at a wedding ceremony. In Dublin, Ireland, the clientele of a backstreet pub are found dead. In Kyoto, Japan, the bullet train pulls into the station with blood-spattered windows.

It is the time of the Black Sun. Across the world, the wolves are calling to each other. Locked in bodies that had no idea they were there, they rise from the depths of the unconscious and turn towards America!

For Hellboy, it's a race against time to prevent a devastating wave of primal savagery washing across the land. And so he is drawn to Boston's Beacon Hill and the Grant Mansion, believed to be the most haunted house in New England, where the truth may lie buried.

Hellboy is called to Amalfi, Italy, by Franca, a young member of the Esposito family. She fears that a dark curse on her family is about to claim her cousin as its next victim. Hellboy makes his way to their large home... and he encounters a flaming demona fire wolfwhich he successfully fights off.

Hellboy and Franca make their way to Pompeii, where Franca remembers seeing an image of the fire wolf whilst on an archaeological dig. Hellboy unearths the shriveled corpse of a demon hunter who was buried during the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius, and it tells him of the fire demon that escaped the grip of the volcano... leading to that devastating eruption.

As the volcano rumbles again, with a new thirst for human blood, an eruption even more devastating than that historical catastrophe looks very, very close.

Following the success of the 1996 illustrated novel Hellboy: The Lost Army, Dark Horse commissioned writer Christopher Golden to gather some of the brightest creative lights in horror and mystery fiction -- Brian Hodge, Poppy Z. Brite, Nancy A. Collins, Greg Rucka, Chet Williamson, legendary horror/humor cartoonist Gahan Wilson, and many more -- to produce a prose anthology of Hellboy short stories, presenting original tales of the world's greatest paranormal investigator. Illustrated by Hellboy creator Mike Mignola.

Table of Contents:

• Hellboy: Odd Jobs - interior artwork by Mike Mignola
• A Mother Cries At Midnight - shortfiction by Philip Nutman
• Medusa's Revenge - shortfiction by Yvonne Navarro
• Introduction (Hellboy: Odd Jobs) - essay by Mike Mignola
• Cartoon - interior artwork by Gahan Wilson
• Jigsaw - shortfiction by Stephen R. Bissette
• Delivered - shortfiction by Greg Rucka
• Folie á deux - shortfiction by Nancy Holder
• Demon Politics - shortfiction by Craig Shaw Gardner
• A Grim Fairy Tale - shortfiction by Nancy A. Collins
• Scared Crows - novelette by Rick Hautala and Jim Connolly
• Where Their Fire is not Quenched - shortfiction by Chet Williamson
• I Had Bigfoot's Baby! - shortfiction by Max Allan Collins
• The Nuckelavee - shortfiction by Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola
• A Night at the Beach - shortfiction by Matthew J. Costello
• Burn, Baby, Burn - shortfiction by Poppy Z. Brite
• Far Flew the Boast of Him - shortstory by Brian Hodge

Mike Mignola's award-winning series Hellboy has earned fans all over the world, among them some of the most respected horror, fantasy, and mystery novelists in the field, and some of Hollywood's most talented writers and directors. Now a who's who list of these writers are drawn together to tell their own tales of Hellboy, to play with the characters and worlds Mignola has created. As part of Dark Horse's celebration of Hellboy in 2004, Christopher Golden (author of the Hellboy novels The Lost Army and The Bones of Giants) has brought together a stellar array of talents including filmmakers Frank Darabont and Hellboy movie director Guillermo del Toro, and novelists Charles de Lint, Graham Joyce, and Sharyn McCrumb, as well as many others. Lavishly illustrated by creator Mike Mignola.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction (Hellboy: Odder Jobs) - essay by Frank Darabont
• The Brotherhood of the Gun - interior artwork by Mike Mignola
• The Brotherhood of the Gun - shortfiction by Frank Darabont
• From an Enchanter Fleeing - interior artwork by Mike Mignola
• From an Enchanter Fleeing - shortfiction by Peter Crowther
• Down in the Flood - interior artwork by Mike Mignola
• Down in the Flood - shortfiction by Scott Allie
• Newford Spook Squad - interior artwork by Mike Mignola
• Newford Spook Squad - [Newford] - shortfiction by Charles de Lint
• Water Music - interior artwork by Mike Mignola
• Water Music - shortfiction by David J. Schow
• The Vampire Brief - interior artwork by Mike Mignola
• The Vampire Brief - shortfiction by James L. Cambias
• Unfinished Business - interior artwork by Mike Mignola
• Unfinished Business - shortfiction by Ed Gorman and Richard Dean Starr
• Hellboy - interior artwork by Mike Mignola
• Saint Hellboy - interior artwork by Mike Mignola
• Saint Hellboy - shortfiction by Tom Piccirilli
• Sleepless in Manhattan - interior artwork by Mike Mignola
• Sleepless in Manhattan - shortfiction by Nancy Kilpatrick
• The Wish Hounds - interior artwork by Mike Mignola
• The Wish Hounds - shortfiction by Sharyn McCrumb
• Acts of Mercy - interior artwork by Mike Mignola
• Act of Mercy - shortfiction by Thomas E. Sniegoski
• The Thrice-Named Hill - interior artwork by Mike Mignola
• The Thrice-Named Hill - shortfiction by Graham Joyce
• Of Blood, of Clay - interior artwork by Mike Mignola
• Of Blood, of Clay - shortfiction by James A. Moore
• A Full and Satisfying Life - interior artwork by Mike Mignola
• A Full and Satisfying Life - shortfiction by Ray Garton
• The Glass Road - interior artwork by Mike Mignola
• The Glass Road - shortfiction by Tim Lebbon
• Tasty Teeth - interior artwork by Mike Mignola
• Tasty Teeth - shortfiction by Guillermo Del Toro and Matthew Robbins

And you thought Hell was weird... Longtime contributor to the Hellboy mythos Christopher Golden brings together a crew of luminaries including Joe R. Lansdale (Bubba HoTep) and China Miéville (King Rat), crossgenre sensation Barbara Hambly (The Windrose Chronicles), celebrated mystery writer Ken Bruen (The Dramatist), bestselling science fiction and fantasy novelist Tad Williams (Otherland), and a bevy of other skilled storytellers eager to spin a tale or two about the world's greatest paranormal detective, as some of the biggest names in horror, mystery, and fantasy come together to pay homage to Mike Mignola's Hellboy.

Table of Contents:

• Hellboy: Oddest Jobs - interior artwork by Mike Mignola
• Introduction (Hellboy: Oddest Jobs) - essay by Christopher Golden
• Jiving with Shadows and Dragons and Long, Black Trains - shortfiction by Joe R. Lansdale
• Straight, No Chaser - shortfiction by Mark Chadbourn
• Second Honeymoon - shortfiction by John Skipp and Cody Goodfellow
• Danny Boy - shortfiction by Ken Bruen
• Strange Fishing in the Western Highlands - shortstory by Garth Nix
• Salamander Blues - shortfiction by Brian Keene
• The Thursday Men - shortfiction by Tad Williams
• Produce - shortfiction by Amber Benson
• Repossession - shortfiction by Barbara Hambly
• In Cupboards and Bookshelves - shortfiction by Gary A. Braunbeck
• Feet of Sciron - shortfiction by Rhys Hughes
• Monster Boy - shortfiction by Stephen Volk
• Evolution and Hellhole Canyon - shortfiction by Don Winslow
• A Room of One's Own - shortfiction by China Miéville