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Exploring dark alleys. Discovering new nightmares. Revisiting the masters.

Thursday, April 1, 2021

Cast Out the Demons | AstraDaemon


Father Fernando Lopez de Ugalde is a catholic priest who developed his ministry at the Vatican under the watchful eye of Pope Pius VII. The pope reveals to Father Ugalde the secrets of the Vatican library, hoping the arcane knowledge contained within can provide a new age of Christian worship through secret arts. For decades, Father Ugalde develops his knowledge and collects it in a grimoire to serve him in times of need.As Father Ugalde and his acolytes fight a supernatural curse in south Texas ending up in the small town of Encinal, the current pope, Pius IX, learns of the magic being wielded by the priest. He and several leaders of the church begin to study in the Vatican library to try and develop the same magical arts as Ugalde. The pope travels to Texas with his own team of Christian magic-users to bring Ugalde to his side. His goal: To take over the world with the new magic.Will Father Ugalde and his acolytes be able to overcome the magical death squad lead by Pope Pius IX? Or will Ugalde submit to the power of the Pope and take over the world? Discover now the true Legend of St. Uvalde.

THE LEGEND OF ST. UVALDE by Bowie V. Ibarra is not anything like his DOWN THE ROAD series, or his creature feature BIG CAT. This novella is a mix of legend, theology and magic...everything from demons and witches to priests and zombies. Told as a story being passed on from father to daughter, the pace is somewhat slow, but contains plenty of action along the way. The last battle is absolutely fantastic. (You can find out more about one of the characters in THE CRUEL FATE OF DR. BREWSTER McGILL.)

I love this direction Ibarra is taking with his writing, blending fact and myth with history and current events, calling into specualtion the nature of faith. I hope he will continue with this cultural sub-genre of supernatural horror.

As always,
AstraDaemon

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