S.E. Lindberg

ALCHEMICAL MUSES:
Strange muses have had inspired my creativity for decades. I’m fascinated with the intersection of science, art, and spirituality (alchemy essentially) and have turned toward writing as a medium to learn. Since 2014, I’ve also interviewed authors on the topic Beauty in Weird Fiction to explore how others approached such inspirations. By education and trade, I am actually a chemist. For Perseid Press, I’ve contributed five alchemy-inspired tales to date (three for the Heroes in Hell series and two for Heroika).

ALCHEMY IN HEROES IN HELL:
I’ve adopted the duo of Howard Carter (renowned archaeologist and looter of King Tutankhamun’s tomb) and Ernst Haeckel (discredited evolutionist and original ‘ecologist’) as tour guides. Their motives contrast: Carter adores material, artificial wealth as much as Haeckel is fascinated with nature’s riches. They roam the Egyptian world of the dead, Duat. Their story arc continues in the just-released Mystics in Hell.

1) “Curse of the Pharaohs” in Pirates in Hell
In the Egyptian realm of the dead of Duat, many pharaohs wait to be judged by
Anubis; yet, he has been in absentia for centuries. As the piratical Sea People
threaten to come ashore, the meddling duo of Carter and Haeckel unearth
Anubis’s Hall of Two Truths. Eleven anxious Rameses risk leaving the shoreline
unprotected to chance judgement (and a chance to exit Duat!).

2) “Lovers Sans Phalli” in Lovers in Hell
Surviving Pirates in Hell’s “Curse of the Pharaohs”, the lovers Hatshepsut and
Senenmut depart Duat toward hell proper, Anubis having removed their hearts
and broken their toy phallus. They find Osiris, missing the penis he requires to
retake the realm from Satan’s influence. Carter and Haeckel quest with the
Egyptians, seeking to make everyone whole again by stealing genitalia from the
Undertaker’s Mortuary.

3) “Fool’s Gold?” in Mystics in Hell
The Egyptian god of mysticism, Thoth, seeks conspirators to retrieve the
Philosopher’s Stone; with it, Thoth could usurp Satan’s control of the realm of
Duat. Taking up the charge is Carter and Haeckel. They discover that King
Midas’s alchemical ability to transmute flesh into gold relies on the stolen
Philosopher’s Stone, and Midas is producing hell’s new gastro-currency: buttcoin.
Yes, rejoice, there is a gold-rush in hell! Mine for a price. At your own risk.

ALCHEMY IN HEROIKA:
For this series, I track the mystical Emerald Tablet (a.k.a., the Philosopher’s Stone) through time. Read these and experience the birth of chemical warfare. You’ll see that Thoth and Osiris make appearances here too.

1) “Legacy of the Great Dragon” in Heroika 1: Dragon Eaters
Legacy of the Great Dragon fictionalizes the Hermetic Tradition, presenting the
“Divine Pymander–Great Dragon” as being the sun-eating Apep serpent of
Egyptian antiquity (a dragon who ate the sun each day from under the horizon, in
the underworld). Thoth, physician of the gods (the Father of Alchemy), helps
Horus to find power to avenge the death of his father, Osiris, at the hands of Set.
This is a wild piece, with a cosmically huge dragon and gods fighting inside of it.

2) “The Naked Daemon” in Heroika 2: Skirmishers
“The Naked Daemon” pits the mystic Apollonius of Tyana (deceased ~100 CE)
against zealots who destroy what remains of the Alexandria Library. In life, his
principles had been aligned with those of the pacifist gymnosophists (a.k.a. naked
philosophers); hundreds of years past his death, Apollonius finds himself reborn
as a daemon empowered with Hermes’s Emerald Tablet. He observes the Roman
oppression over pagan scholars and is challenged with an urgent need to defend
knowledge. Will Apollonius rationalize war by unleashing the power of alchemy
to do harm? Will he become an angel or demon? How will alchemy transform
The Naked Demon? Witness the Birth of Alchemical Warfare!

S.E. Lindberg resides near Cincinnati, Ohio working as a microscopist, employing scientific and artistic skills to understand the manufacturing of products analogous to medieval paints. Two decades of practicing chemistry, combined with a passion for the Sword & Sorcery genre, spurs him to write graphic adventure fictionalizing the alchemical humors (including his independently published “Dyscrasia Fiction” series). With Perseid Press, he writes weird tales infused with history and alchemy (Heroika: Dragon Eaters & Skirmishers, Pirates in Hell, Lovers in Hell, Mystics in Hell). S.E. Lindberg is a Managing Editor at Black Gate and co-moderates the Sword & Sorcery group on Goodreads. He enjoys studying Aikido and creates all sorts of fine art in the family workshop.

Check out his website at http://www.selindberg.com/