Photos Related to Rise of the Sataners -- Locations

After I published Hell Gate and Wasteland in Red Square, I posted a series of blog entries providing photos and images that inspired the novel's locations and demons. As with the first two books, I've been fortunate to have visited most of the major locations in Rise of the Sataners: Book Three of the Hell Gate Saga. To bring Rise of the Sataners alive for my readers, every Wednesday for the next two weeks I'll be posting blog spots with photos related to the locations described in the novel and/or concept art about the demons. I hope you enjoy them.

First, pictures of northeast China.

Rise of the Sataners takes place in northeast China, a region also referred to as Manchuria, between the cities of Harbin and Shenyang.

Aerial view of Harbin's railway station.

The platform of Harbin's railway station.

The interior of Harbin's railway station.

The illegal steel factory that the Xiongnu used was based on real factories that popped up all over China. I originally read about them in an article in Wired titled "Step Inside China's Hellish, Illicit Steel Factories" (see https://www.wired.com/2016/12/step-inside-chinas-hellish-illicit-steel-factories-kevin-frayer/). I thought the imagery was so stunning I decided to use one in my book.

More photos of the factory.

More photos of the factory.

 

More photos of the factory.

Unit 731, the Japanese biological warfare unit in Pingfang that experimented on local citizens and Allied POWs, did exist -- sadly, it was not something I made up. Only a few of the buildings used by Unit 731 remain. This is the smokestacks of the former crematorium where the Hell Gaters set up camp on their first night in Manchuria.

Yours truly at the crematorium in 1999.