The Drums of Chaos is a splendid sword-and-sandal-and-sorcery-and-superscience romp in which Richard Tierney brings together his two recurring protagonists Simon of Gitta (the young Simon Magus) and John Taggart, for a re-imagining of events in Palestine at the inception of the Christian era. The jacket copy emphasizes the sprawling continuity of Tierney's other stories about these two men, and I would point to "Seed of the Star-God" and "The Throne of Achamoth" (collected in The Scroll of Thoth and The Azathoth Cycle respectively, for Simon) and The Winds of Zarr (for Taggart) as the most valuable orientation for readers wanting to approach this book within the context of the larger Tierney oeuvre.

But enjoyment of this novel does not depend on acquaintance with other Tierney stories as much as it does on the reader's familiarity with Yog-Sothothery, and even more, the Christian New Testament. Tierney's twists on the various Gospel pericopes are delightfully inventive. His representation of a proto-Gnosticism, as developed in the Simon stories, is also fine, and this book sees what is probably its fullest expression, elaborating the mundane consequences of the theology staked out in "The Throne of Achamoth." Among Lovecraft's stories, "The Dunwich Horror" is the one most relevant to The Drums of Chaos, and, as introducer Robert M. Price observes, even the 1970 cinematic version of that story has made a contribution here. Tierney also cleverly fuses the Jauniste lore of Carcosa and Hastur with the Lovecraftian "mythos," supplying far more integration than the usual mere juxtaposition which relates the two.

The writer with whose work Tierney's bears closest comparison is Brian Lumley. The Drums of Chaos contains a mix of genre elements that is very much like the one in Lumley's Titus Crow stories, along with a similar pulp adventure pacing. But it is all the richer for its hermeneutic cleverness and theological insight. Lumley's Khai of Khem is also a comparable effort at science-fictional horror in an ancient setting. In Tierney's approach to a Weird Antiquity, he doesn't draw on the 21st-century vogue for "ancient aliens," but instead on virtually all of the fictional and fanloric precedents that made that trend possible, which probably includes Khai of Khem.

The physical volume published by Mythos Books is quite impressive, a cloth-bound hardcover showing a sword-wielding Simon on the dust jacket. But it does include a fair number of typographical errors in its 400+ pages. These didn't slow or sour my reading at all. It's not surprising that Tierney's work is obscure and sometimes hard to obtain, but for those readers looking for a Gnostic and/or Lovecraftian version of a para-biblical epic like Ben Hur, this book is as good as it gets.

Richard Tierney’s concept and vision for The Drums of Chaos is nothing less than breathtaking. It is perhaps the most brilliant premise for a Cthulhu mythos novel ever. The sweep of his research and mastery of the background material just puts me in awe. I cannot think of another book in my chosen genre where I felt this way while reading it. Surely it must stand as the pinnacle of the author’s career. Alas, in execution it was not as successful.

The Drums of Chaos was released as a gorgeous hardcover from Mythos Books in 2008. It is a quite substantial 420-page novel, with a lovely cover by Dave Carson; production qualities are magnificent, typical for Mythos Books’ hardcover editions. I snarfed up a copy immediately after its release but only just finished it now. The reason for this is part of why I cannot give the rave review I was hoping to do. Robert Price wrote the introduction; surely no one else on the planet was qualified to write this introduction. No one else has the same appreciation of Biblical scholarship, the same comprehensive understanding of the Cthulhu mythos and the same familiarity with the works of Richard Tierney. But, dammit Bob, did you have to put such big spoilers in your opening remarks? I was so incensed I literally tossed the book back onto my shelf. On the other hand, unless you are a complete mythos geek with access to rare collectors’ items, there is no way you can truly appreciate Tierney’s novel without reading Price’s introduction.

Mr. Tierney has remained very true to his vision of the mythos over many years, melding it with an appreciation of the works of Robert Chambers. He has absorbed the Derlethian view and more or less turned it on its head. The Primal Ones or Elder Gods seeded the galaxy with life. They then feed of the psychic torment engendered by death and suffering. At times in his books, the Primal Ones want to use The Phantom of Truth to reveal this to all living creatures, precipitating a wave of suffering called The Great Dying, offering them a veritable feast of misery. Competing with these unfathomable entities are the Great Old Ones, such as Cthulhu and Hastur. They want the same space, hence the conflict. Sometimes they want to destroy all life to clear planets for their personal use, sometimes they want to end all life to end all suffering. This is not meant in a beneficent way; they want to deprive the Primal Ones of a food source. Over the years, Mr. Tierney’s most well known character is Simon of Gitta, a former Roman gladiator, now a mystic, who seeks revenge on the Romans for injury done to his family when he was but a youth. The problem is, only the absolutely most assiduous collector will have The Scroll of Thoth from Chaosium, collecting the short stories about Simon, and Tierney’s novels, The Gardens of Lucullus. Simon of Gitta has become quite skilled over the years and has some understanding of these cosmic realities. Tierney’s other character, whom he has developed carefully over the years, is John Taggart. Taggart is a human who serves the Zarrians, space faring servitors of the Great Old Ones, opposing the Primal Ones. Alas, the Taggart stories are even harder to come by than the Simon stories. I have never even seen a copy of the novel, The Winds of Zarr, and that’s not for lack of trying. All of these concepts and characters converge in The Drums of Chaos. There is simply no bloody way anyone can understand this without Price’s introduction. The blurb on the back of the slipcover only will serve as a warning about how confusing this all is. However! I would like to have tried, Mr. Price, rather than having to also endure a major spoiler. I guess it was inevitable. The Biblical aspect offers Price special fascination and there also is a great similarity between Tierney’s ideas and Price’s own story, Acute Spiritual fear. Readers can either read Price’s introduction advisedly or attempt the novel with no more background than I have given. A thorough discussion of the plot would ruin the book.

….. spoiler warning………

The Drums of Chaos is set in the environs of the Holy Land about 2000 years ago. Bar Josef is being strongly tempted by a man in black clothing to step aside from the path his father has set for him….thus we are thrown into that most tumultuous of times in human history, with Simon of Gitta coming back to Jerusalem to seek revenge, Taggart seeking to prevent the ultimate triumph of the Great Old Ones and Tierney showing his mastery of Robert Chambers, The Dunwich Horror, Roman and Jewish culture, and Biblical scholarship. Every time I think about what he melded together I have to shake my head in admiration.

Unfortunately I had other problems with the book. Much of the story is characters meeting to trade information then dashing off somewhere else. Their paths repeatedly cross fortuitously. Everyone falls into danger and is almost immediately rescued. Trying to place his relevant characters into the narrative where they needed to be, Tierney ends up with choppy plotting and a lot of deus ex machina encounters. The way things worked out for the protagonists had a contrived feel. There was also a lot of redundancy as characters recounted the adventures they just had, and some of the mini-episodes were so similar they blurred together.

Mr. Tierney is a highly regarded author of fantastic poetry. This novel is his best prose. If I wasn’t as won over by the writing as I wanted to be, the historical setting, the meticulous work that went into this creation, the marvelous culmination of years of thought and study, all of these and more command our respect. I think anyone who is a Cthulhu mythos fiction fan must read this book. To put it in perspective, I had a better time reading Radiant Dawn by Cody Goodfellow but I have more admiration for Mr. Tierney’s achievement. My real rating is 4.5 stars. ( )