The Twilight Patrol Series

"Readers nostalgic for the flash and dazzle of pulp derring-do will find this adventure tale a fitting homage."— Publishers Weekly Reprinting the June, 1935 issue of The Twilight Patrol exactly as it might have appeared ... if it ever appeared ... The strangest adventurers of all time have banded together to fight the dreaded Mysteriarchs of the Abyss — an ancient and vilified order of wizards, or demigods, or fallen angels. With their insatiable appetite for destruction, the Mysteriarchs would sow the seeds of nothingness and reap a harvest of eternal horror — transforming the War to End All Wars into the War to End All But War! The Twilight Patrol is: Captain Hollister Congrieve — A scrappy orphan who became one of the most feared aces of the Great War, a patriot ever alert for trouble; Captain Orville Wootin — A mad genius, brilliant airman, spymaster, poet and philosopher, who never fails to deliver the goods — except when he’s out of his mind; Cassiopeia Peyotrovna Lampreyv — Deposed queen of a hidden Carpathian kingdom, driven by a passionate blood lust; Chaim Ben-Zimra — The queen’s private physician, a cabbalist and mystic with a preternatural understanding of the dark forces threatening our mortal realm; Lael — Beautiful and mysterious, part of a strange union of agents known only by their purple eyes. She is never who (or what) she seems. To the annals of pulp fiction, they are the strangest band of adventurers ever assembled to defend our mortal coil from the ambassadors of darkness!

1918 — The Great War has crossed the Atlantic to the American eastern shore. City after city has fallen to the combined might of the Central Powers and their insidious allies, the Mysteriarchs of the Abyss, whose deadly arsenal of bullet proof-zeppelins and flesh-eating flies have made them masters of the air. As the Deep South’s battle-weary army fights a desperate battle to save the nation, The Twilight Patrol arrives with salvation in the form of a mystic rune, but the Mysteriarchs have turned both sides against them. In the hour of America’s greatest need, the country has dedicated itself to hunting down and slaying the only ones who can save it.

Foulness spreads across the Florida Everglades. Its gangrenous veins stretch from the salt marshes to the Indian burial grounds, to the Live Oaks, now blackened and dying. Some strange manner of contagion -- the like of which has never before been seen in the world -- leaves a Stygian residue, as if the very light of creation were being leached from the land. Is this the result of using strong chemical toxins to drive back the bestial flies brought to America by the Central Powers? Is it some new accursed pestilence provided by the Mysteriarchs of the Abyss ...

The saga of the Twilight Patrol continues -- equal parts H.P. Lovecraft and G-8 and His Battle Aces. Out of the night explodes an engine of unimaginable fury, powered by the drive to accumulate and hoard for the mere sake of possession — a force that draws its strength from the perpetual motion of irreconcilable imperatives engaged in timeless opposition; a beast that should be a myth, but thrives on the nightmares that well out of the unconscious when the unconscious is untethered from myth. The Mysteriarchs of the Abyss have shackled and enslaved the primordial evil that has guarded their hideous treasure troves for eons — a dragon of gargantuan proportions with more destructive rage than the Great War itself! Also features the short story "Zohar of the Jungle" by Stuart Hopen. To the world at large, The Twilight Patrol is a high-flying band of scrappy patriots, ever alert for trouble and always willing to lend a hand. To the sinister foes lurking behind the Axis horizon, they are a force to be reckoned with in the onslaught against freedom. To their fans, The Twilight Patrol is the bravest assortment of adventurers ever brought together to confront the dark forces threatening our mortal realm.

Beneath our feet, beneath this very spot, lies beauty beyond all comprehension. This beauty lies in the form of seven cities. These seven cities are linked in mysterious and secretive ways to one another, and the destiny of all mankind. But the Mysteriarchs of the Abyss are preparing to destroy the seven cities. The aftermath of destroying their consummate beauty will yield ultimate power to the ultimate enemy, and throw the world into darkness. And the seven cities that have lain for countless eons, safe from the corruptions of man, will be no more.

The saga of the Twilight Patrol continues — equal parts H.P. Lovecraft and G-8 and His Battle Aces. The dead reappear all over Europe. Men survive fatal wounds. Judgement Day seem to have arrived, but no supernatural or spiritual forces are at work. The world is being subjugated by an entirely rational and scientific phenomenon — A perfect pain killer. A cure for most illnesses and injuries. The Aesculapius Pact zealously believes life should be preserved — at any cost. They heal the wounded and drive away their pain, so they may take up arms again and be wounded again, so they may heal again. All should live so that all may fight. Eventually, The Pact’s dominance of medicine and drugs will allow them to control both sides while the Great War goes on forever! To the world at large, The Twilight Patrol is a high-flying band of scrappy patriots, ever alert for trouble and always willing to lend a hand. To the sinister foes lurking behind the Axis horizon, they are a force to be reckoned with in the onslaught against freedom. To their fans, The Twilight Patrol is the bravest assortment of adventurers ever brought together to confront the dark forces threatening the mortal realm.

An insidious battle rages for the post of High Priest of the Mysteriarchs of the Abyss. As the Archons work to replace their dying leader, they hide behind a new threat to humanity. In dealing with the ordeals of reordering their order, the Mysteriarchs of the Abyss always demand to be the only ones who will ever give the orders! Babel rises again from the pits of its ruined foundations, raining devastation and confusion upon long suffering humanity! As in the ancient days, an unnameable force infects the tongue and afflicts the ear. How can the Twilight Patrol possibly defeat an unnameable force that attacks the very meaning of meaning? Could this actually be their very last adventure? Also: An Outstanding Short Story — "The Fountain Red" by Stuart Hopen