Johannes Cabal: The Fear Institute (Johannes Cabal Novels)

A Darkly Gripping Comic FantasyBeyond the wall of sleep lies the Dreamlands, a world formed by dreams, but not a dream itself. For countless millennia, it has been explored only by those with a certain detachment from mundane reality, its strange seas navigated and its vast mountains climbed by philosophers, mystics, and poets. Well, those halcyon days are over, beatniks.Johannes Cabal is coming.Cabal, a necromancer of some little infamy, is employed by the mysterious Fear Institute to lead an expedition into the Dreamlands, an expedition to hunt and destroy the dread Phobic Animus, the font of terrors, the very source of all the world's fear. They will enter exotic lands where magic is common and monsters abound. Cabal will encounter witches, vile abominations, and far too many zebras.And, when they finally come close to their goal, Cabal will have to face his own nightmares. But for a man who communes easily with devils and the dead, surely there is nothing left to fear. . . .

From Booklist

Comedy meets high-concept fantasy in Howard’s latest Johannes Cabal outing. As readers familiar with Johannes Cabal the Necromancer and Johannes Cabal the Detective know, the supercilious Cabal is more than a little obsessed with all things macabre, including the dead; therefore, when he gets the opportunity to visit the Dreamlands (à la H. P. Lovecraft) on behalf of the Fear Institute, he jumps at the chance. On a mission to understand and eradicate fear by slaying the Phobic Animus, he encounters the wild, the wooly, and the weird with unambiguously hilarious, albeit often frightening, results. Genre fans will appreciate Howard’s attention to world building, while more general readers will simply enjoy all the horrific fun. --Margaret Flanagan

Publishers Weekly

“Howard's affectionate, witty homage to Lovecraft's dream stories, complete with early-20th-century setting and language, is an enjoyably macabre comic adventure, and his antihero Cabal is, for all his overweening self-confidence, an engaging protagonist whose heart is not quite as hard as he would like to pretend.”

Richard Kadrey, author of the Sandman Slim novels

“Howard's characters, relentless imagination, twisting plotlines, and use of language make the Johannes Cabal series a real pleasure to read, and The Fear Institute is the best Cabal yet.”

Booklist

“Comedy meets high-concept fantasy in Howard's latest Johannes Cabal outing. … Genre fans will appreciate Howard's attention to world building, while more general readers will simply enjoy all the horrific fun.”

TimeOut (Chicago)

“Cabal, the detective and necromancer, is full of charismatic amorality, making him both a classical and refreshing antihero.”

Library Journal

“Cross Susannah Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell with Gregory Maguire's Wicked, and you have this witty and sometimes touching debut novel in the Faustian tradition.”

Publishers Weekly

“Howard's ear for witty banter and his skill at rendering black comedy bode well for the future.”

The Freelance Star

“Amusing and clever.”

Bookgeeks

“Populated with some of the most creative, and odd, characters to be found . . . hysterical and fascinating.”

Free Lance-Star

“Definitely entertaining, a cut above many books out there.”

The Huffington Post

“Silly, erudite, and part a playful modern variant of the locked door murder mystery.”

Keith Donohue, author of The Stolen Child

“A delightfully wicked and inventive story.”

Elle Newmark, author of The Book of Unholy Mischief

“That ole black magic has never been more fun than it is in this deft and quirky Faustian take. A diabolical romp.”

Daniel H. Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of How to Survive a Robot Uprising

“Johannes Cabal would kill me for saying this, but he's my favorite Zeppelin-hopping detective. The fellow has got all the charm of Bond and the smarts of Holmes--without the pesky morality.”

The Denver Post

“The spot-on work of a talented writer.”

The San Diego Union-Tribune

“Howard makes it look easy to paint a soul-stealing murdering necromancer as a sympathetic character; that, folks, is worth the price of admission.”

Fangoria

“The language is clever and rich with literary allusions and cunning humour... For anyone whose taste edges toward the intelligent and macabre, this book is a gift.”

Denver Post

“A swashbuckling mystery set in a steampunk world.”

Tucson Citizen

“Witty, inventive, and thoroughly entertaining, this rollicking Faustian adventure grabs the reader and holds him until the very last page.”

Sci-Fi-London

“Every word of every page is carefully crafted and utterly precise and the whole thing is beautiful to read but, above all, it's so very, very funny. … Jonathan L. Howard is a supremely talented writer and the Johannes Cabal series makes for superb reading. It would be easy at this point to say if you like Rankin or Fforde or Pratchett or Holt then you will love these books, but while it may well be true it would be doing Howard a disservice.”

Bookgeeks

“Readers, rejoice; Johannes Cabal is back... Howard's Dreamlands will thrill fans of H.P. Lovecraft, but Cabal leaves a permanent mark on even the most fluid of landscapes, and Howard's writing shines, sketching out a personality both fascinating and heartbreaking, on an adventure that reverberates from Dreamlands to the waking world, with a future that every reader must hope involves many more stories to come.”

Dracula Society Newsletter

“There are thrills. Laughter. Tears. I am almost inclined to say this is the best Johannes Cabal book yet. Until the next one, I suspect. Read it. You'll be hooked.”

Fortean Times

“In Johannes Cabal he has created a thoroughly unpleasant lead character who somehow the reader is rooting for - a real achievement.”

Sci-Fi-London

“A thoroughly entertaining and hugely fun book populated by great characters . . . intelligently written and very funny.”

The Huffington Post

“Johannes is one of the most interesting fictional characters of our still-new century.”

GoodReads

“A charmingly gothic, fiendishly funny Faustian tale.”

Graemes Fantasy Book Review

“Not only does Howard deliver a devilish mystery but he also wraps it all up in a gorgeous 'steampunk noir' atmosphere.”

Tina Rath, The Dracula Society

“Just as fast and funny as its predecessor. I loved it, and hope another one comes along 'as fast as a rabbit from a trebuchet' as the author so prettily puts it.”

Warpcore

“I had no reason to expect this sequel to be even better than that steamalicious first book. Yet it is.”

About the Author

Jonathan L. Howard is a game designer, scriptwriter, and a veteran of the computer-games industry since the early nineties, with titles such as the Broken Sword series to his credit. He is author of Johannes Cabal the Necromancer and Johannes Cabal the Detective, as well as the YA novels Katya's World and Katya's War. He lives in the United Kingdom with his wife and daughter.

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