Sorcery in Shad: Tales of the Primal Land [Hardcover]

Brian Lumley (Author)

Book Description

Series: Tales of the Primal Land | Publication Date: September 5, 2006

Classic Lovecraftian horror from one of the masters of the form, British Fantasy Award-winner Brian Lumley.

Sorcery in Shad

Pity the poor lamia! Mighty Orbiquita, she who damned to death countless men for merely looking at her, she who slew with impunity any who dared breach the walls of her fabled castle . . . Orbiquita has fallen in love--and with a barbarian Hrossak!
Tarra Khash, he is, who saved a lamia's life and made her long to be human again. Tarra Khash, who with the help of the last survivors of an alien race, overthrew a god and saved an entire city thereby. Tarra Khash, who has adventured far and wide through the Primal Land, searching for treasure, for wine, women, and song.
Tarra Khash, who has fallen into the clutches of the slave Cush Gemal, who was once an ordinary man but who has become the foulest of sorcerers, Black Yoppaloth. Like all sorcerers, Black Yoppaloth craves immortality, and believes he stands on the brink of achieving it. Then his evil power will be unrivaled and he will control all of the Primal Land.
Only Tarra Khash stands in his way. Tarra Khash--and, though he does not know it, his friends and allies: she who was once the lamia Orbiquita; the alien Amyr Arn; a slumbering, ponderous yet powerful moon god; and the magician Teh Atht, who must choose between immortality and saving the Primal Land!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Tarra Khash, Lumley's barbarian hero, meets and defeats no end of wizards, good and evil, discovering the hard way that some villains aren't so bad after all, in the mellow third and final collection of primal land adventures (after The House of Cthulhu and Tarra Khash: Hrossak!). In a typical sequence, the vampire bite of Orbiquita, an ugly, leathery and long-lived lamia, has dire consequences; Tarra loses interest in women just as Orbiquita's passion for him is further inflamed. For Tarra's sake, Orbiquita surrenders her near-immortality as a lamia to become a beautiful if short-lived woman. While Lumley takes too long to wind up the action, he closes with an appropriately happy climax. (Sept.)
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Review

"Lumley deserves a wide audience among those who love Anne Rice . . . John Grisham . . . and Stephen King."--VOYA

"Since reading Lumley's "Necroscope" series, I know that vampires really do exist!"--H. R. Giger

"Lumley excels at depicting heroes larger than life and horrors worse than death."--Publishers Weekly

"I'm impressed with Lumley's talent. He's obviously one of the best writers in the field."--John Farris

"An accomplished wordsmith, Lumley wields a pen with the deft skill of a surgeon, drawing just enough blood to titillate without offending his readers."--The Phoenix Gazette

"Lumley's strength is in his jovial voice, a diction that dominates the narrative. Lumley's love of his pulp-horror subjects is gleefully apparent. He revels in every telling detail, in stories-within-stories and convoluted histories."--San Francisco Chronicle

"Nightmarish in a manner obviously inspired by Lovecraft . . . long hard to find in the US. Lumley succeeds at spine-chilling creepiness. Juicy indeed--worthy additions to the mythos and the horror genre alike."--Booklist on Beneath the Moors and Darker Places

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Tor Books; 1st edition (September 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765310775
• ISBN-13: 978-0765310774
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,133,757 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Brian Lumley is the author of the bestselling Necroscope series of vampire novels. An acknowledged master of Lovecraft-style horror, Brian Lumley has won the British Fantasy Award and been named a Grand Master of Horror. His works have been published in more than a dozen countries and have inspired comic books, role-playing games, and sculpture, and been adapted for television. When not writing, Lumley can often be found spear-fishing in the Greek islands, gambling in Las Vegas, or attending a convention somewhere in the US. Lumley and his wife live in England.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars delightful homage to the macabre world of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu, September 10, 2006

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sorcery in Shad: Tales of the Primal Land (Hardcover)

After five years away, mighty magician Teh Atht has returned to the Primal Land, having failed at his quest. He comes home seemingly empty-handed. At the same time that Teh returns "home" Tarra Khash continues his hedonistic ways of wine and women until the ugly vampiric lamia Orbiquita bites him. The results of her teeth is to cause him to lose interest in females even as she prepares to give up immortality to become a desirable woman as she wants him. Evil sorcerer Black Yoppaloth plans to become immortal and rule eternal over the minion of the Primal Land; he is on the brink of success with the only possible way to prevent his enslaving everyone is Teh and Tarra teaming up; but the former is under a curse and the latter mistrusts all magic practitioners.

Like its two Primal land predecessors (see THE HOUSE OF CTHULHU and TARRA KHASH: HROSSAK!), SORCERY IN SHAD is a collection of interrelated tales that fans of the series will enjoy as Brian Lumley brings the fine fantasy to a conclusion.. Though a few of the twelve tales seem more like sidebar fillers that do not enhance the theme, Mr. Lumley completes his delightful homage to the macabre world of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu.

Harriet Klausner

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The king of fantasy!, January 7, 2007

By 

J. L. Comeau (Fairfax, VA, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sorcery in Shad: Tales of the Primal Land (Hardcover)

I never thought I'd ever come to adore a Lumley character as much as Harry Keough (see NECROSCOPE: THE TOUCH below) or the sublime Titus Crow, but the barbarian hero of Mr. Lumley's Primal Land series, Tarra Khash, fairly leapt from the printed page and into my heart with the first volume, THE HOUSE OF CTHULHU. While I recommend that you read all three Primal Land books, you may certainly read SORCERY IN SHAD as a stand-alone (as is the case of all of Mr. Lumley's series books). Tarra Khash the barbarian inhabits the pre-Atlantian world of Theem'hdra, an island continent inhabited by terrifying monsters, beautiful maidens, brave warriors and powerful sorcerers. Lovecraftian horrors abound in this land where the mighty lamia Orbiquita, who has damned scores of men for merely glancing at her hideous countenance, has finally fallen prey to the most dangerous emotion of all--love! And the object of her passion is none other than the barbarian Tarra Khash, who has traveled the Primal Land in search of treasure, adventure and all manner of fleshly pleasures. Tarra Khash, who has overthrown a god and saved countless lives has become the prisoner of an evil sorcerer, Black Yoppaloth, who wishes to crush all in his evil path to power and immortality, and for whom Tarra Khash has become the last impediment in Black Yoppaloth's evil plan to control the Primal Land. Unknown to Tarra Khash, he has secret allies who are sworn to battle the black sorcerer to the death. This is a deftly wrought and heart-pounding thrill ride that will leave the reader gasping in astonishment that what they've reading is actually fiction! You will run every step of the way beside Tarra Khash, his companions and his foes. Theem'hdra seems so real--despite the horrific and fantastical content--that you might wonder, as I do, if Brian Lumley is privy to information that we mere mortals have been denied. This is heroic dark fantasy of the very highest quality.

0 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars PREJUDICE, January 13, 2008

By 

M. Manganello "M. Telesco" (Wirtz, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sorcery in Shad: Tales of the Primal Land (Hardcover)

As a huge fan of brian lumley, I was extremely disturbed by this book. After only a few chapters, I put it down. The racial prejudice shown in this writing was intolerable. If this is Mr. Lumley's true nature, this will be the last book of his that I spent money on.
example: "blacks they were, curly headed, black caravan, white gold(slaves)
Don't think I am thin-skinned. I happen to be an anglo, but take it for what it is worth.