Category: Leviathan

Robert McCammon

Hello, all! Yes, it’s that time of year. Fast approaching is Halloween, and also fast approaching is the publication of the 9th Matthew Corbett volume, Seven Shades Of Evil.

But there are eight shades in the book, and I’ll explain in a bit.

Seven Shades is a departure for the series, in that it’s a collection of shorter stories drawn from earlier events in the careers of Matthew, Hudson, Katherine and Minx. A question you might have is, ‘Why did you want to do this when the end volume is really right upon us?’

Well, a good question and the answer is: The last book in the series—Leviathan—will complete Matthew’s story. It’s now or never for these shorter but I think no less involving tales to be told. As much as I’ve enjoyed writing the series, getting to know the characters and living vicariously in what I consider a fascinating period of history, after Leviathan it will be time for me to move on and do some other projects ahead.

I do promise that Leviathan will be everything you hope it will be. Promise made. My plan (and hope) is that Leviathan will be published in October of 2024, but I can’t promise that due to unforeseen circumstances of life and the publishing business. But I will say that around that time, again, is my plan and hope.

As for Seven Shades Of Evil, I had originally planned to do this after The River Of Souls but I felt it unfair to leave readers hanging for such a long stretch after that book. Therefore…now or never for these shorter pieces, but consider them as appetizers for Leviathan because one story holds a clue as to the identity of the final—and certainly worst—villains that Matthew has faced in his dangerous episodes.

Coming from
Lividian Publications,
October 24, 2023

The stories in Seven Shades Of Evil are:

‘The Four Lamplighters’: Matthew and Hudson sign on as bodyguards to a band of travelling musicians and wind up with mud on their faces.

‘Night Ride’: Matthew finds himself in the middle of an age-old war.

‘The House At The Edge Of The World’: Hudson learns that a cyclops is not only a creature of mythology.

‘The Scorpion’s Eye’: Minx is on the hunt for a stolen jewel with a fantastic and deadly power.

‘The Pale Pipesmoker’: Katherine and Minx come to the aid of a man who’s been challenged to a duel by a cunning killer.

‘Skeleton Crew’: Katherine helps an ex-slave being tormented by a band of marauding skeletons on horseback.

‘Wandering Mary’: A ghost trying to lure a wealthy man to his death takes Matthew to a haunted castle.

And, the eighth, because I couldn’t leave out another character who’s been through so much…

‘Incident On The Lady Barbara’: A disappearance at sea puts Berry in the position of being a problem-solver.

I’m very excited about this book and so glad to be able to show some of the other characters in action. I was particularly glad to be able to see what Katherine can do when she’s on her own. (She’s actually pretty good with a pistol!)

So, there you have it. That time of year. And speaking of the time of year, on the 28th of October I’ll be at the Alabama Booksmith in Birmingham where I’ll be reading from Seven Shades, signing books (whatever you’d like me to sign), and talking about Leviathan. I hope you can make it!

Do not despair of Matthew’s future! I can promise also that the ending of Leviathan will be a proper ‘beginning’ for Matthew…and more than that I cannot say…but I might say more on the 28th of October!

Thanks again for your readership and continued support, and I hope this time of year is one of your happiest.

Best Wishes.

Robert McCammon, June 2021

Hello, all!

I finished The King of Shadows toward the end of April. Since then I’ve been resting up because as I think you’ll understand when you read the book, it was quite a lot to put together. For one thing, it took me a while to refine what began simply as a ‘what-if?’ idea that at first seemed so outlandish and ‘out there’ it couldn’t possibly work. Well, I’m happy to say it did, but not without a lot of thrashing and gnashing. Matthew and Company came through for me once again. I’m pleased to say it’s a hefty book too, running about 560 pages.

I wanted The King of Shadows to be completely different from anything that had come before, and I wanted it to have that ‘weird’ and ‘otherworldly’ edge. Also I became very interested in the backstories of both Cardinal Black and Maccabeus DeKay…how did they become what they are? So you’ll find in The King of Shadows the stories of how the young Adam Black became the infamous Cardinal, and how “Mac” DeKay devolved from being a wealthy young man faithful to his father and involved in the sport of horse racing to being the scarred—and soul-scarred—and masked creature of the ‘present’.

Another thing I wanted to play with was the idea that instead of a human antagonist, a physical place could be antagonistic. Thus you’ll find in The King of Shadows a beautiful Mediterranean island called Golgotha that hides a multitude of secrets, and puts both Matthew and Hudson at risk like never before…but maybe not in the way you would expect!

Next up will be a book of seven short stories involving Matthew, Hudson, Minx Cutter, and Katherine Herrald titled Seven Shades of Evil. Some of these stories have previously appeared in other places, but I believe there will be at least three new ones and two of those will be “novelette” length. Seven Shades of Evil will be sort of a compendium of various “problems” Matthew and Company are called upon to solve during Matthew’s career with the Herrald Agency—these being done in the time between the spans of the regular books—and we’ll begin with one of the earliest events and end with one in his later life.

And so we are moving toward Leviathan, the last book in the Matthew Corbett series. It will be set in Italy and will involve—must involve—the worst of the worst that Matthew has yet to face. As someone from the realm of the past tells Matthew in The King of Shadows: “I have a feeling that Professor Fell will seem as a kindly old uncle bouncing baby Corbett on his knee when you meet who’s waiting for you in the future. Because take it from me, my boy…the worst is yet to be.”

You can take that as truth, because the person who tells this to Matthew is none other than Tyranthus Slaughter, returned from the dead.

So…on we go!

Publication of The King of Shadows is probably not going to be until early in 2022, but I hope you’ll feel the wait was worth it when you read the book. Until then, I’ll be working on Seven Shades of Evil and putting Leviathan together.

I hope everyone has a happy summer, and thank you again for your readership and support. I’m certain that in some other realm Matthew and his companions wholeheartedly thank you as well!

Best Wishes,
Robert McCammon