Cryptozoica
By: Mark Ellis ; interior artwork and cover art Jeff Slemons
Contributors: Slemons, Jeff, illustrator
Publisher: Millennial Concepts
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Newport, RI
Language: eng
Number of pages: 410
ISBN-13: 9781453604694
Subjects: Science fiction; Suspense fiction; Authors; Écrivains
Notes: Deep in the jungled hell of Big Tamtung, a forgotten island in the South China Seas, lies an ancient substance that will unlock the secrets of life on Earth-- Prima Materia, a fabled material that has been whispered about since Biblical times. Two centuries before, Charles Darwin discovered the last pool of Prima Materia on Big Tamtung and his discovery was suppressed by The School of Night, a secret society of scholars founded by Sir Walter Raleigh. Now, when a small group of scientists and fortune hunters explore the jungles of Big Tamtung, they must endure frightening tests of their ingenuity and courage, as they struggle against ancient terrors--a lost world of dinosaurs and a miracle older than time. With a non-human language spoken by Biblical patriarchs and coded secrets scribbled in the suppressed log of Darwin as their only clues, "Tombstone" Jack Kavanaugh and his partner, Augustus Crowe, discover secrets linking Prima Materia to the hidden history of humanity. Kavanaugh and Crowe lead a pair of cynical scientists and the notorious Madame Bai Suzhen through the seething cauldron of a bizarre ecosystem--the remnant of an Earth that was and might be again. Pursued by a crew of bloodthirsty Triad assassins and frighteningly intelligent monsters spawned by a twisted evolution, Kavanaugh and Crowe are no longer interested in seeking a fortune, but merely in staying alive. Deep in the broiling jungle, amid ruins half as old as time, they plunge into the heart of humanity's greatest mystery--and to a violent confrontation with a misshapen madman who lusts after a miracle but will settle for murder. Lavishly illustrated by Jeff Slemons!