Lost Gods

Chet Moran walks out of jail wanting a clean start with his pregnant girlfriend, Trish. The two head for the island where his grandmother lives, and something ancient there kills him. Chet wakes in Purgatory, the land that lies between the heavens and the hells.

Purgatory is ruled by old gods who were cast out and killed on Earth. Three forces pull at it: the gods themselves, the demons who hunt souls, and factions who want the realm set free. Chet is a dead man with no standing in any of them.

A despairing angel gives him a task. A sacred key exists that could save Trish and their unborn child, and Chet must find it. The search sends him far down into the underworld, where he has to get by gods, demons and roaming rebel groups made up of the dead.

The story runs on two tracks. Chet pushes downward through Purgatory, while Trish fights to stay alive on Earth above. It is dark fantasy, written and illustrated by Brom, and it draws on classical mythology, Dante and Lovecraftian horror. Whether the key reaches her in time is the question the book turns on.