The Third Beast

About the Book

Anthropologist Carl Stevens looked out at what used to be his quiet suburban neighborhood and mused that his whole world seemed to have changed. He had no idea how right he was.

When civilization collapses around you into depravity and madness, the only reasonable response may be to arm yourself to the teeth and try to fight your way out!

A missing child, predatory bands of machete-wielding youths, neighbors who begin to display cranial features more suited to the prehuman fossils Stevens studies—The Third Beast is a gripping tale of imagination, suspense, terror, and headlong action.

"An impressive accomplishment . . . really nightmarish fantasy, replete with thrills. . . . I found the story fascinating, its effect powerful."

                     —Paul Spencer, editor, Kalki

About the Author

Patrick H. Adkins was seduced by the Muse at the tender age of ten and has been in and out of recovery ever since. At different times he has been a bookseller, small press publisher, "slush pile" reader for Galaxy magazine, medical and technical editor, freelance writer, story doctor, ghost writer, and editor-in-chief of a multimedia publishing company. His published works include Lord of the Crooked Paths, Master of the Fearful Depths, and Sons of the Titans, a highly regarded series of mythological fantasies issued by Ace Books (Berkley-Putnam Publishing Group). An antiquarian in taste and a futurist by inclination, he spends inordinate amounts of time exploring the byways of popular literature, especially 19th and early 20th Century writers, playing with his computer, and ruminating upon the implications of 21st Century science and technology. Presently he is at work on several books and short stories.