Fantasy Novel 'The Screaming Skull' Named to Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2019

CINCINNATI, December 18, 2019 (Newswire.com) - ​​​What would happen if J.R.R. Tolkien and Hunter S. Thompson met in a bar, got drunk, and wrote a book together? They'd write The Screaming Skull, Rick Ferguson's debut epic fantasy novel, which was recently named to Kirkus Reviews' Best Books of 2019. The novel is now available exclusively on Amazon Kindle Unlimited.

"I couldn't be more pleased with the reception for The Screaming Skull," said author Rick Ferguson. "The novel is a love letter to fantasy fiction crossed with the foul-mouthed meta commentary of Deadpool and the absurdist humor of Monty Python and Douglas Adams. This sensibility helped the book stand out to Kirkus Reviews."

The Screaming Skull tells the story of King Elberon, a foulmouthed former adventurer who finds himself caught between two prophecies of the future: one in which he lives another 65 years in deteriorating health and another in which the world ends at the hands of one of his former compatriots on the day of his 65th birthday. Both strike him as horrific.

The nonlinear narrative jumps between the present and Elberon's checkered past, recounting his rise to power and loopy adventures through the Multiverse, armed with a screaming skull that may be one of the magical Phylaxes of Koschei the Deathless, a figure compared to "Sauron, Voldemort, Lord Foul, Thulsa Doom, or Vladimir Putin." The book is the first volume of a planned epic fantasy trilogy called The Chronicles of Elberon.

Publishers Weekly calls The Screaming Skull "[a] wildly original debut [that] plays fast and loose with literary convention in a self-aware whirlwind of epic fantasy tropes and absurdist humor."

Author Rick Ferguson wrote the novel over a decade during his career as a globally recognized marketing expert with appearances in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, MSNBC, and the Fox Business Channel. He has delivered keynote speeches on marketing principles and best practices on six continents.

Rick lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with his wife Allison, son Ian, and cat Penny. He is currently at work on The Mace of Malice, the sequel to The Screaming Skull, to be published in the summer of 2020.

The book is available exclusively for sale on Amazon Kindle Unlimited. To read an excerpt, please visit www.phabulousity.com.

Media Contact:
Author Rick Ferguson for Phabulousity Press
​rick.ferguson@phabulousity.com
​www.phabulousity.com
Facebook | Twitter

Source: The Screaming Skull