In 1840s Darbury, Massachusetts, physician Dr. Bruce Moller visits Antone Sergio, an aging scientist obsessed with a secret experiment. Inside Sergio’s laboratory stands a strange machine built around a crystalline block. Sergio claims it can pierce the barrier between our world and the Dimension of Death, where monstrous beings wait for a doorway into our own.
Moller dismisses his claims as madness, but an anonymous message soon warns that he has less than twenty-four hours to live. Two fellow physicians receive similar threats, and Moller discovers a disturbing connection between the three men. Then Darbury is swallowed by impossible darkness at midday. Sunlight disappears, the temperature plunges, and terrified citizens stumble through streets where screams suddenly stop. Something is moving through the blackness.
Spawn Of Inferno by Hugh B. Cave follows Moller as he searches for his friends and discovers what Sergio’s machine may have unleashed. Strange sounds fill the darkness, familiar rooms hide horrifying discoveries, and an unnatural presence leaves evidence that defies explanation. Moller must cross the blinded city and return to the laboratory where the nightmare began.
Hugh B. Cave (1910–2004) was an extraordinarily prolific writer of horror, fantasy, science fiction, mystery, crime, and adventure during a career spanning more than seven decades. He became especially associated with Weird Tales, where his supernatural fiction found an enthusiastic audience.
Cave continued writing long after the magazine era that established his reputation, publishing novels and collections for new generations of readers. His novel Legion of the Dead received the International Horror Guild Award. Spawn Of Inferno showcases his talent for turning an impossible idea into immediate danger.
