Tales of the White Witchman: The Seraph Chronicles Volume One

The Seraph Chronicles #1-3

by John Houlihan

One man. One Defy the might of the mythos!

From the frozen wastes of Nazi-occupied Norway to the haunted sands of North Africa, Tales of the White Witchman plunges readers into a pulse-pounding fusion of historical warfare and cosmic horror. This collector’s edition unites three explosive adventures featuring the enigmatic Mr Seraph—a soldier, sorcerer, and eternal foe of the Cthulhu Mythos.

The Trellborg Monstrosities: 1943. A Nazi sorcerer awakens an ancient evil. British commandos and Seraph must stop it—before the world freezes in terror.The Crystal Void: 1810. Sabres clash and eldritch horrors rise as Seraph and a dashing French hussar race to rescue a kidnapped fiancée and seal a supernatural rift.Tomb of the Aeons: Rommel’s desert offensive hides a darker threat. Trapped in a cursed ziggurat, Seraph and a lost tank crew must battle horrors beyond time.With sword, musket, and arcane fire, Seraph fights across centuries to hold back the darkness. Perfect for fans of Hellboy, Sharpe, and Call of Cthulhu, this volume delivers “blood, bullets and ice” in a genre-bending thrill ride.


'Wonderfully evocative tales of blood, bullets and ice.' David J Rodger
'Pulp Cthulhu at it's best!' - Amazon Reviewer
'I really loved The Trellborg Monstrosities and I encourage you to pick it up.' Nerds Domain

Genres: Horror

206 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 26, 2014

About the author

John Houlihan is a novelist and short story writer publishing many works including The Seraph Chronicles and Mon Dieu Cthulhu! series, The Cricket Dictionary and the BSFA-award nominated The Constellation of Alarion. He has also appeared in numerous sci-fi and fantasy short story collections including Signals, Near Future Fictions, When Shadows Creep, Corridors, Forgotten Sidekicks, Musketeers vs Cthulhu and many more.

He currently works for Modiphius Entertainment as an ENNIE-award winning game designer, creative lead and narrative director and works for many other TTRPG companies including Wizards of the Coast, Need Games and Monolith. He was also editor-in-chief of Dragon+. Before that he was a journalist and broadcaster for over thirty years, working in news, sport and especially videogames. He worked for The Times, Sunday Times and Cricinfo and is the former editor-in-chief of Computer and Video Games.com. He still works as a video game consultant and script writer.

Away from the written word he has an unnatural fondness for cricket, football, snowboarding, cycling, music, playing guitar and all forms of sci-fi, fantasy and horror. He has an unnatural dread about writing about himself in the third person and currently lives in his home town of Watford in the UK, because, well frankly, someone has to.

Find him at www.john-houlihan.net and @johnh259 on X.com

Contact: jollybigpublishing AT gmail DOT COM

Reviews

[Tony Calder · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contains the 3 novellas that make up the first 3 stories in the Seraph Chronicles. This review will be of the third novella, Tomb of the Aeons, as I have already reviewed the first two novellas.

This story sees a return to World War II, this time in North Africa. As in the other stories, this is told through the eyes of someone other than Seraph. Houlihan has written another good story, exploring more aspects of the Cthulhu Mythos, this time ancient serpent races. We also learn more about the title character, with strong indications that he isn't human - at least, not a standard human.

Overall, this series has been very enjoyable so far, and is a worthwhile addition to the genre.

[David Hambling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not so much "Indiana Jones And The Temple of Cthuthu" as some have suggested, more "Commando v Cthulhu," this is superior LitRPG following the rip-roaring adventures of the enigmatic Captain/Major/Mr Seraph during WWII and the Napoleonic era.

The stories are very much in the spirit of the old Commando comics, with sturdy, reliable Tommies, posh but heroic officers and diabolical Nazis. Weaponry is in the forefront and the action is lit up with dramatic shootouts with Sten guns against MP40s and a few grenades for good measure. But this sort of weaponry is limited against the real enemy: terrifying paranormal beings which can only be countered by the forces which Seraph can (just about) bring to bear.

One of the stories, featuring the dashing French hussar Gaston Dubois, is set in the Peninsular War, and while the accents change, the spirit is the same, but this time with added galloping hooves and flashing blades. (Dubois sometimes speaks like a character out of 'Allo 'Allo which can be distracting but it does help his character shine through).

Houlihan has does his research and it shows, with an impressive spread of period details. These are historical worlds you can wander around and sit down in, full of nice touches rather than the usual two-dimensional backdrops. If the plots are somewhat linear, that is a feature of the genre, and the villains and monsters are suitable villainous and monstrous, not to say larger-than-life.

An enjoyable set of tales which will help establish Seraph as a fixture in the Mythos world -- and a very useful ally for those in need.