What Dreams May Come in the book are derived from my wide range of reading." One of Matheson's influences was Harold W. Percival, an adherent of Theosophy, a belief system with a strong Eastern and Hindu influence. The story also shares the same theme of the ancient Greek myth Orpheus and Eurydice, in which the gifted musician makes a challenging journey to Hell to retrieve his wife. One character quotes from the writings of 18th century Christian mystic Emanuel Swedenborg. Matheson bases his descriptions of the death experience itself on studies by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and Raymond Moody. When reading these accounts, Matheson found that
The House of Hades Tartarus at Barnes & Noble. A paperback edition containing the short stories "The Crown of Ptolemy" and "The Sword of Hades" was launched in the United States on March 31, 2015. "The House of Hades" sold over 350,000 copies during the first week, 26% more than "The Mark of Athena" during a comparable period. Upon release, the book ranked 1 on "The New York Times" bestseller list, "USA Today"s bestseller list, "The Globe and Mail" bestseller list and "The Wall Street Journal" bestseller list, and was the seventh-bestselling book on Amazon and fifth in the Nielsen BookScan. The novel received