Death is taboo. Death is incomprehensible, inexplicable; and, yet, inevitable.The most ancient desire of humankind is to conquer death; we humans don’t see death as part of life. We want to play God, want to find a new direction in the eternal circle of life—or stop it altogether.After publishing Cluster (“one of the best science fiction novels published from a Hungarian author” - Köki Terminal Bookshop), in Stephen Paul Thomas’s new short story collection, we can look deeply into the problem that the whole of humankind wants to solve: How can we live longer? In eleven short stories, we follow the characters through different paths to prolong their own lives or the lives of others. For some of them, the soul is a separate entity (a thing that can live without the body); for others, this is impossible—they still live and die as before, in sickness and in old age, some in sacrifice for others. In the big race, in the fight for long life, we can see the picture of a big cataclysm; the collective death.But at its deepest level, this book is not about death. The stories—set in the same Colonial Universe as Cluster—about Life; they are a quest for answers about incurable sickness, about how to replace the body in a world where the soul is immortal. Can humankind alone kill Death? Do we need to prolong life—sometimes even to a pointless, meaningless degree? Why would we do that, why would we want to live longer than the stars? Even they stop shining one day.

Now the world stands on the brink of another big economic and social crisis. People look for understanding through occult practices, so that mediums and fortunetellers have become wildly successful in helping them escape from reality. No more churches and established religion, Christians now gather in hidden places.  The story continues right after Book 1. Dark clouds are gathering around the Vatican. The economic and moral cataclysm has reached the Papal State. The Master, who’s behind the demonic forces and possessed by the demon of Authority, wants to save the Vatican State.  Meanwhile we learn more about the origins and nature of Josh’s prophetic abilities. A psychiatrist claims that the boy is a reincarnation of his grandfather who was killed by a bullet through his heart, but Julie Bond, his doctor, finds out that she is facing with a lie of a familial spirit which followed Josh’s family through the generations.  While the future of the Vatican hangs in the balance, John Levi, the cop investigating Josh’s accident and the TV-evangelist’s murder, uncovers strange evidence at the scene—Will’s dissected sentences, words, and characters from his Bible collection arranged into several new languages. The big puzzle starts to emerge from the supernatural revealing the movements of the demonic legions… The story continues in the Book 3. – World War S: In the Heart of Black Magic  

After thousands of years of spiritual warfare, the Vatican has turned a corner. It’s no longer the Church that buries its secrets in underground libraries and hides its failures behind the closed doors of its clerical institutions. It is now a real missionary church reviving its relationship with God. The new pope has radically changed the organization with a courage his predecessors never dreamed of possessing. The heroes of the previous book—Paul, Lylian, John, and Julie—travel to Africa to follow Josh’s prophetic dream to find the first African pope, Peter II. They are not alone in this quest; the demonic Legion of the Gadarenes and its allies, the witch masters of black magic, are hot on their heels.John and Julie meet a fetish dealer on the black market who knows where the new pope, “Africa’s Saint,” lives in solitude and leads a mission to help the needy. He offers to guide them to the village, but John doesn’t like the idea. Before a decision is made, the expedition takes a turn for the worse. A mudslide devastates their camp, and John can only hope that Julie survived the accident.Paul and Lylian cross the continent from another direction, following a local informant to find the “Holy Man,” but their task is no easier. If not for the help of angelic troops, they would have perished. Meanwhile, in Europe and the United States, a new religion is emerging. The Master and his maidservants—Salome Sue Richardson and Sidney Grimm—have inflated the new faith into a global religious institution with the help of the corrupt and powerful politician, Carl Millerbeck. This new religion opens a window into the future for anyone who cares to look… If you read Peretti's This Present Darkness you will find this series more exctiting and intriguing! Follow the demonic legion and the devotes fighting against the darkness thourgh the centuries!

In the near future, the world stands on the brink of another worldwide economic and social crisis. People look for understanding through occult practices, so that mediums and fortunetellers have become wildly successful in helping them escape reality. There are no more churches, and established religion is a thing of the past. Christians must now gather in secret.In this fragile era emerges Josh Heartley, a young boy with astounding prophetic abilities. Though Josh had a heart transplant in his early years, it doesn't slow him down. He is a light for everyone around him, and he can often tell future events with supernatural clarity.During an accident, Josh has a Near Death Experience and finds himself in the middle of a spiritual battle that goes back more than two thousand years. Dr Julie Bond, conducting a research study involving Josh, hopes to unlock the secret behind NDEs and their ties to the human soul. She soon suspects the key lies within this very special boy.Stephen Paul Thomas's thrilling novel is based on shocking real-world events of a thousand-years-long demonic occupation told through exciting storylines, unexpected twists, and many historical examples."Thomas (Cluster, 2015) deftly paints a world in which Christians have been backed into a corner by the belief systems of other cultures—like that of Linda’s ancestral village in Central America—and by demons. These demons, including Karnelo, the “lust-addict spirit,” have been possessing people for hundreds of years, using human tools to instigate everything from the Inquisition to organized pedophilia. Thomas’ prose presents the complex story evocatively, as in the line “Linda’s chest rhythmically lifted and sank, like water in the mighty ocean, which kept its secrets in the dark deep.” - Kirkus Review