In The Shadow Of Swords

by Cody Goodfellow

August 1, 1998
Baghdad, Iraq

For seven years, the United Nations Special Commission has tried to strip the defiant Iraqi war machine of its chemical and biological arsenal. For seven years, Warren Revell and his international team of scientists have beat their heads against a wall of deception and force, and discovered nothing.

As they prepare to go home in defeat, an intercepted transmission from a secret chemical weapons installation called Tiamat forces them into a rogue inspection to prevent an unthinkable disaster.

It's leaking into the control room!

Remain calm. Everything is under control.

Give me the combination for the door! For the love of Allah, let us out!

This is what they think they've been waiting for. But as they get closer to the truth, they find it is much more than a question of contraband weaponry. A secret deadlier than nerve gas and older than humankind is waiting for them at Tiamat: waiting for them to discover it, and let it out.

44 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

CODY GOODFELLOW has written nine novels and five collections, and has won three Wonderland Book Awards for Bizarro Fiction. He wrote, co-produced and scored the short Lovecraftian hygiene films Stay At Home Dad and Baby Got Bass, which have become viral sensations on YouTube. He has appeared in numerous short films, TV shows, music videos and commercials as research for his previous novel, Sleazeland. He also edits the hyperpulp zine Forbidden Futures. He “lives” in San Diego. Find out more at codygoodfellow.com.

Reviews

[Paul Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved "In The Shadow Of Swords". Bought the chapbook (along with Goodfellow's "Black Wind") from Perilous Press. So turned on, I will buy Radiant Dawn and Ravenous Dusk. Covert military ops via. Lovecraftiana - hit this.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this tale in the centipede press version of A Mountain Walked. It was one of the best stories in the collection. Written in a style that makes it almost believable. Extremely exciting - I would say this is similar in style and tone to a Laird Barron story when he is firing on all cylinders. Believable, tough, and competent characters that may not be up to the Lovecraftian horror breaking through. But at least they are trying! I will definitely have to give this author another try.