No one knew where they came from - a parallel world, another dimension - maybe the Abyss. They'd preyed on the inhabitants of the backwoods settlement for years, wiping out entire families, their numbers seeming augmented each time they returned which was always in the winter. But when they came this time - they picked the wrong cabin...Once upon a time… on a cold and dreary winter’s night…For many the frightful remembrances of an awful event suffered during youth fade with time. For others, however, the dreadful scene swells with passing years, driving sanity from its path.Decades after a night of terror an old man, his mind teetering on the ragged edge of madness by his childhood recollections, determines to face his fears by awakening the world to the monstrous visions that haunt his dreams.Now he sits down to pen a strange narrative describing an event his family suffered while living in an isolated cabin during a blizzard on a night of soul-wrenching horror.Inspired by a desire to write a story that was a melding of pulp icons H.P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard, this short story was conceived with the intent to capture the building of horror of which the Man Who Was Providence was so capable, while simultaneously mating a Lovecraftian plot to a hero that might have been penned by the same hand that hammered out stories such as Red Nails and Almuric.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~This quick read is a short-story.

Sent off course by a faulty compass and running low on fuel a pilot sets his plane down in the African jungle. Pursued by strange beasts he stumbles on a prehistoric city where he is captured by its cruel inhabitants and sentenced to work in their mines. The only bright spot in his life becomes the slave girl who teaches him their strange tongue.Lost in a savage Jungle...Sent off course by a faulty compass German pilot Lieutenant Erik von Mendelsöhn sets his plane down in the treetops of an African jungle after running out of petrol.Having survived the terrific crash he is now forced with enduring the terrors of a primitive world with no idea where lay the lines of the friendly forces he was attempting to reach.Soon, however, Erik discovers there to be forces at work infinitely more dangerous than the jungle wildlife with which he has contended since abandoning his wrecked Fokker, when he discovers a mysterious prehistoric city, buried in a valley governed by the time-warp of a distant star – a star whose grim, gray inhabitants would make of him a thrall!A short story inspired by pulp authors Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. P. Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard.

Herein lieis the tale of Iskandar, a valiant Arabian boy sent on a quest by his father to purloin from his father's enemy his most valued possession. A tale that could only transpire in a magical time and place, this Arabian fantasy follows the brave and perceptive lad as he slips among the enemy, encounters genii and crosses blades with warriors of the Nubian Desert's most powerful sheikh.An Arabian tale of a quest that could only transpire in another time and place…When Iskandar’s father came to him and said: “My son, you must go to the tents of mine enemy and bring to me his greatest treasure!” little did the lad guess what was about to befall him.Now, alone amidst the palisaded tents of his father’s rival, would he come away with the chieftest of the great sheikh’s riches? How would he know this gem among gems? Or would the boy lose his life as he attempted to wrest the most valued possession held by one of the most powerful sheikhs of all Arabia - Akram el-Amin!There is no way of knowing but it could easily be assumed there exists only a handful of individuals on the planet who have not, in some form or another, heard of the Arabian Nights, the famous oriental tales dating back centuries.Although this story is not directly derived from those tales, it was the lingering impression of those stories, and the later discovery of a delightful novel by F. Marion Crawford entitled Khaled, that gave birth to the idea to pen an Arabesque legend.Being a fan of pulp-era writing the idea was also conceived to fashion a tale that might have been submitted to Oriental Stories or Magic Carpet Magazine in the 30s. The story must be adventurous and romantic, and the hero wise and cunning for his years. The tale must be filled with the enchanting material that others who appreciate the golden era of pulp writing have come to expect, including plenty of derring-do, beautiful maidens, clashing scimitars and timeless, magical settings.Oh - speaking of magic, there had to be some of that thrown in as well.Simsalabim!

Norwegian Ansen is led down paths of supernatural oddness by the tomahawk bequeathed him by the Arapaho medicine man who raised him from a toddler. He has since learned the axe to be a token of power far older than 'the people'. But can it save him from extra-dimensional deities with hungers of cosmic proportions? A story in the tradition of authors such as H P Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard.A man of great melancholies prone to bury his woes in a pint or a shot glass, Ansen drifts from job to job, typically taking on details for which no one else is suited.When a movie director approaches him in a dingy bar in Zimbabwe, offering him a job as leading man in a film to be shot in a remote location, down-on-his-luck Ansen Grost decides he has nothing to lose.A globetrotter, he’d often found himself in circumstances where he must offer his expertise in mercenary forms to eke out a living. So being paid high wages just to look good for the cameras was an enticing opportunity. Not to mention, the blonde playing the lead role was rather easy on the eyes...After days a-sea they make land only to march inland through a steamy tropical forest to their campsite where they soon suspect they are not alone. The native porters, ever superstitious, sense eyes upon them...Having faithfully borne the talisman for years, the ancient weapon seems ever destined to draw him into confrontation with supernatural evil in bizarre, mind-blasting forms. But even Ansen is unprepared for what he finds atop the cliffs of this unknown island.This introductory short story in the series Tales of the Tomahawk will be followed shortly by Volume 2: The Banshee of the Atacama.