Perhaps the most bizarre and off-beat published work of David Mark Brown, Fourth Horseman has for the most part been maligned by even much of the Truth in History Society. While not the official stance, members of the THS have voiced concern that the outlandish moral tale contributes to widespread mockery of the Lost DMB Files. Indeed the story is most oft quoted as argument against the historicity of Brown’s broader works.
Ironically, this controversy has given the story rise to the crest of the public’s awareness of the lost files, preserving it more so than any other. Which is to say that still nearly no one has heard of it. (Best I can tell, over 100 print copies exist).
In an apparent minority of one, I contend that Fourth Horseman deserves the spotlight.
Despite the story’s sometimes garish prose and obvious focus on the fourth horseman of the apocalypse as a burned-out recluse, upon closer reading the entire tale seems woven around tiny clues hidden amongst the text. It is my theory that these facts were so explosive during Brown’s day that the only means of broadcasting them to the outside world was to bury them even deeper in fiction than he had previously.
While reading Fourth Horseman in this light, as allegory within allegory, truly ghastly implications can be made. (Which I will not reveal for the sake of those readers who wish not to make them!) But for aficionados of truth, this lurid little tale is a must read, and so I include it with this first volume of Lost DMB Files. On that note I invite you to enjoy Fourth Horseman, the story most lost among the lost files.
Earnestly,
Professor Jim “Buck” Buckner
Department of Geology, University of Texicas, Austin