Golgotha

Nevada, 1869: Beyond the pitiless 40-Mile Desert lies Golgotha, a cattle town that hides more than its share of unnatural secrets. The sheriff bears the mark of the noose around his neck; some say he is a dead man whose time has not yet come. His half-human deputy is kin to coyotes. The mayor guards a hoard of mythical treasures. A banker's wife belongs to a secret order of assassins. And a shady saloon owner, whose fingers are in everyone's business, may know more about the town's true origins than he's letting on. A haven for the blessed and the damned, Golgotha has known many strange events, but nothing like the primordial darkness stirring in the abandoned silver mine overlooking the town. Bleeding midnight, an ancient evil is spilling into the world, and unless the sheriff and his posse can saddle up in time, Golgotha will have seen its last dawnand so will all of Creation. R.S. Belcher's The Six-Gun Tarot is "an astonishing blend of first-rate steampunk fantasy and Western adventure." (Library Journal, Starred Review)

R. S. Belcher's debut novel, The Six-Gun Tarot, was enthusiastically greeted by critics and readers, who praised its wildly inventive mixture of dark fantasy, steampunk, and the Wild West. Now Belcher returns to Golgotha, Nevada, a bustling frontier town that hides more than its fair share of unnatural secrets. 1870. A haven for the blessed and the damned, including a fallen angel, a mad scientist, a pirate queen, and a deputy who is kin to coyotes, Golgotha has come through many nightmarish trials, but now an army of thirty-two outlaws, lunatics, serial killers, and cannibals are converging on the town, drawn by a grisly relic that dates back to the Donner Party and the dawn of humanity. Sheriff Jon Highfather and his deputies already have their hands full dealing with train robbers, a mysterious series of brutal murders, and the usual outbreaks of weirdness. But with thirty-two of the most vicious killers on Earth riding into Golgotha in just a few day's time, the town and its people will be tested as never before and some of them will never be the same. The Shotgun Arcana is even more spectacularly ambitious and imaginative than The Six-Gun Tarot, and confirms R. S. Belcher's status as a rising star.

R. S. Belcher's debut novel, The Six-Gun Tarot, was enthusiastically greeted by critics and readers, who praised its wildly inventive mixture of dark fantasy, steampunk, and the Wild West. Now Belcher returns to Golgotha, Nevada, a bustling frontier town that hides more than its fair share of unnatural secrets. 1870. A haven for the blessed and the damned, including a fallen angel, a mad scientist, a pirate queen, and a deputy who is kin to coyotes, Golgotha has come through many nightmarish trials, but now an army of thirty-two outlaws, lunatics, serial killers, and cannibals are converging on the town, drawn by a grisly relic that dates back to the Donner Party and the dawn of humanity. Sheriff Jon Highfather and his deputies already have their hands full dealing with train robbers, a mysterious series of brutal murders, and the usual outbreaks of weirdness. But with thirty-two of the most vicious killers on Earth riding into Golgotha in just a few day's time, the town and its people will be tested as never before and some of them will never be the same. The Shotgun Arcana is even more spectacularly ambitious and imaginative than The Six-Gun Tarot, and confirms R. S. Belcher's status as a rising star.

1720. Escaping the gallows, Anne Bonney, the infamous pirate queen, sets sail in search of a fabulous treasure said to be hiding in a lost city of bones somewhere in the heart of Africa. But what she finds is a destiny she never expected... 1870. Maude Stapleton, late of Golgotha, Nevada, is a respectable widow raising a daughter on her own. Few know that Maude belongs to an ancient order of assassins, the Daughters of Lilith, and is as well the great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Anne Bonney, the legendary female pirate. Leaving Golgotha in search of her daughter Constance, who has been taken from her, Maude travels to Charleston, South Carolina, only to find herself caught in the middle of a secret war between the Daughters of Lilith and their ancestral enemies, the monstrous Sons of Typhon. To save Constance, whose prophetic gifts are sought by both cults, Maude must follow in the footsteps of Anne Bonney as she embarks on a perilous voyage that will ultimately lead her to a lost city of bones in the heart of Africa and the Father of All Monsters.

1720. Escaping the gallows, Anne Bonney, the infamous pirate queen, sets sail in search of a fabulous treasure said to be hiding in a lost city of bones somewhere in the heart of Africa. But what she finds is a destiny she never expected... 1870. Maude Stapleton, late of Golgotha, Nevada, is a respectable widow raising a daughter on her own. Few know that Maude belongs to an ancient order of assassins, the Daughters of Lilith, and is as well the great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Anne Bonney, the legendary female pirate. Leaving Golgotha in search of her daughter Constance, who has been taken from her, Maude travels to Charleston, South Carolina, only to find herself caught in the middle of a secret war between the Daughters of Lilith and their ancestral enemies, the monstrous Sons of Typhon. To save Constance, whose prophetic gifts are sought by both cults, Maude must follow in the footsteps of Anne Bonney as she embarks on a perilous voyage that will ultimately lead her to a lost city of bones in the heart of Africaand the Father of All Monsters.

NEVADA, 1872. Out of the merciless 40-Mile Desert, a stranger appears in the town of Golgotha, home to the blessed and the damned. He carries with him an innocent victim of a horrible massacre and a dire warning for Sheriff Jon Highfather. The conflict between the Indian nations and Mormon settlers has been brewing for years, and now the spirits of the fallen Indian dead have begun to rise to join in the fight. Deputy Mutt's old nemesis, Snake-Man, returns to begin a final bloody war against the Whites, purging them from the land forever. An insane U.S. General with his own genocidal agenda sees the coming conflict as a perfect solution to the "Indian problem," and, as is often the case, the people of Golgotha find themselves caught in the middle. Mayor Harry Pratt's leadership of the town is challenged and he is threatened with the revelation of his greatest secrets, and with a betrayal that could utterly destroy him. The hungry, antediluvian terror imprisoned under the Argent Mine seeks release to devour the world through the most innocent of souls-Auggie Shultz and his wife, Gillian's, newborn. Not only is the fate of an innocent soul at stake, but the fate of all life. Performed by Eric Messner, Scott McCormick, Jacob Yeh, Kimberly Gilbert, Dave Jourdan, Evan Casey, Dani Stoller, Michael Gets, Rebecca Sheir, Joe Mallon, Zeke Alton, Andy Clemence, Chris Stinson, James Konicek, Lise Bruneau, Nanette Savard, Richard Rohan, Rob MacFadyen, Steven Carpenter, Tony Nam, Bill Gillett, Joel David Santner, Laura Harris, Matthew Pauli, Rana Kay, Terence Aselford, Yasmin Tuazon, Carolyn Kashner, John Kielty, Matt Bassett, Michael John Casey, Mort Shelby, Shanta Parasuraman, Colleen Delany, Ken Jackson, Matt Schleigh, Nora Achrati, Nazia Chaudry, Bradley Smith and Karen Novack.

NEVADA, 1872. Out of the merciless 40-Mile Desert, a stranger appears in the town of Golgotha, home to the blessed and the damned. He carries with him an innocent victim of a horrible massacre and a dire warning for Sheriff Jon Highfather. The conflict between the Indian nations and Mormon settlers has been brewing for years, and now the spirits of the fallen Indian dead have begun to rise to join in the fight. Deputy Mutt's old nemesis, Snake-Man, returns to begin a final bloody war against the Whites, purging them from the land forever. An insane U.S. General with his own genocidal agenda sees the coming conflict as a perfect solution to the "Indian problem," and, as is often the case, the people of Golgotha find themselves caught in the middle. Mayor Harry Pratt's leadership of the town is challenged and he is threatened with the revelation of his greatest secrets, and with a betrayal that could utterly destroy him. The hungry, antediluvian terror imprisoned under the Argent Mine seeks release to devour the world through the most innocent of souls-Auggie Shultz and his wife, Gillian's, newborn. Not only is the fate of an innocent soul at stake, but the fate of all life. Performed by Eric Messner, Scott McCormick, Jacob Yeh, Kimberly Gilbert, Dave Jourdan, Evan Casey, Dani Stoller, Michael Gets, Rebecca Sheir, Joe Mallon, Zeke Alton, Andy Clemence, Chris Stinson, James Konicek, Lise Bruneau, Nanette Savard, Richard Rohan, Rob MacFadyen, Steven Carpenter, Tony Nam, Bill Gillett, Joel David Santner, Laura Harris, Matthew Pauli, Rana Kay, Terence Aselford, Yasmin Tuazon, Carolyn Kashner, John Kielty, Matt Bassett, Michael John Casey, Rose Supan, Shanta Parasuraman, Colleen Delany, Ken Jackson, Matt Schleigh, Nora Achrati, Nazia Chaudry, Bradley Smith and Karen Novack.