Subterranean Press has announced the first Signed Limited Edition in their lineup of classic Robert McCammon titles will be Baal, the Holy Grail for McCammon collectors. The book will have a full color dust jacket and interior illustrations (and more features in the Deluxe Limited and Lettered Editions). All copies will be signed by the author.
Baal was Robert McCammon’s first novel, a debut that would lead to some of the finest popular fiction of our time. Written at the age of 25 and published as a paperback original in 1978, it has been out of print for years.
The story begins with a horrific rape on the streets of New York City. Nine months after that violation, a most unusual child is born. His name is Jeffrey Harper Raines, but he quickly assumes his true name – and true purpose – as Baal, a new incarnation of the ancient prince of demons. The narrative recounts his lethal progress through the 20th century, which begins with the destruction of his earthly “family.” From there, Jeffrey/Baal moves to a doomed Catholic orphanage, where he unleashes carnage on an unprecedented scale, then out into the wider world, where he embraces his destiny as the Prophet of the Damned, generating a legacy of chaos, violence, and despair.
Baal is very much a young man’s book, raw and brimming with emotion. Listen closely and you’ll hear the voice of a gifted storyteller struggling to be born. In 1978, the career that would encompass Swan Song, Boy’s Life, and The Five still lay waiting several years down the road. This is where it began.
You can order directly from the publisher here: Baal
