Pentacle: A Self Collection

by Tom Piccirilli

PENTACLE collects the classic tales of an unnamed Necromancer and his demonic familiar "Self" as they wander the spectral highways of America incurring the wrath of both heaven and hell.

Praise for PENTACLE:

"I was delighted with the assurance of his prose and imagery. The stories
abound with startling and emotive incidents." --Charles de Lint, The Magazine
of Fantasy & Science Fiction

"While technically horror fiction, PENTACLE has more the feel of mythic fantasy, with larger than life characters and wonderous events. This is an
odd, unclassifiable and quite enjoyable short book." --Science Fiction Chronicle

"This is whiplash fiction that takes dangerous curves at 150 m.p.h."
--Deathrealm

Genres: Horror, Urban Fantasy, Fiction

158 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 1995

About the author

Thomas Piccirilli (May 27, 1965 – July 11, 2015) was an American novelist and short story writer.

Piccirilli sold over 150 stories in the mystery, thriller, horror, erotica, and science fiction fields. He was a two-time winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for "Best Paperback Original" (2008, 2010). He was a four-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award. He was also a finalist for the 2009 Edgar Allan Poe Award given by the Mystery Writers of America, a final nominee for the Fantasy Award, and the winner of the first Bram Stoker Award given in the category of "Best Poetry Collection".

Reviews

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main character is two parts John Constantine and one part Solomon Kane. At times, Piccirilli's depictions of witchcraft and supernatural forces seem disturbingly authentic; at others, they come across as pulp adventure nonsense. I can't help but think that, for those highly religious people who refuse to read HARRY POTTER because they think it promotes witchcraft, PENTACLE is the sort of book they imagine HARRY POTTER to be. Never has the occupation "necromancer" seemed so sexy and cool.
I love the set-up to all these stories, but most of them get a little too off-the-wall and chaotic by the end. Too much spell casting can get boring after a while. Piccirilli needed a good editor to rein him in and keep from getting too self-indulgent (no pun intended). The writing is mostly brilliant, and some of the descriptions are pure poetry, but the stuff with Self generally fell flat for me. The relationship between Self and the main character wasn't as interesting as it could have been, and the dialog between them not as sharp.
Overall, PENTACLE is a book that I love more in concept than execution. I found the mood and tone of these stories to be prefect, but the endings somewhat unsatisfying.

[Kurt Criscione · Rating 5 out of 5]

AWESOME... i've read mostly Tom newish stuff... and i knew he wrote horror early in his career but i never expected to find urban fantasy/ horror when i opened this book. Loved the stories of a wandering sorceror traveling and facing off against hellions "tormentors".

[Bill Borre]

"Paindance" - The protagonist of the story battles the Indian coyote god.