Synopses & Reviews
His extraordinary debut,
Those Across the River, was hailed as “genre-bending Southern horror” (
California Literary Review), “graceful [and] horrific” (Patricia Briggs). Now Christopher Buehlman invites readers into an even darker age—one of temptation and corruption, of war in heaven, and of hell on earth…
And Lucifer said: “Let us rise against Him now in all our numbers, and pull the walls of heaven down…”
The year is 1348. Thomas, a disgraced knight, has found a young girl alone in a dead Norman village. An orphan of the Black Death, and an almost unnerving picture of innocence, she tells Thomas that plague is only part of a larger cataclysm—that the fallen angels under Lucifer are rising in a second war on heaven, and that the world of men has fallen behind the lines of conflict.
Is it delirium or is it faith? She believes she has seen the angels of God. She believes the righteous dead speak to her in dreams. And now she has convinced the faithless Thomas to shepherd her across a depraved landscape to Avignon. There, she tells Thomas, she will fulfill her mission: to confront the evil that has devastated the earth, and to restore to this betrayed, murderous knight the nobility and hope of salvation he long abandoned.
As hell unleashes its wrath, and as the true nature of the girl is revealed, Thomas will find himself on a macabre battleground of angels and demons, saints, and the risen dead, and in the midst of a desperate struggle for nothing less than the soul of man.
Review
"Cormac McCarthy's
The Road meets Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic...Buehlman...doesn't scrimp on earthy horror and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors...an author to watch."—
Kirkus Reviews
Praise for Those Across the River
“One of the best first novels I’ve ever read.”—Charlaine Harris, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“What a treat. As much F. Scott Fitzgerald as Dean Koontz. A graceful, horrific read.”—Patricia Briggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“Beautifully written…with a cast of Southern characters so real you can almost see the sweat roll down the page. The ending is exceedingly clever.”—Boston Herald
“Wonderfully eerie from start to finish—a novel sure to enthrall readers of all stripes.”—Grant Blackwood, New York Times bestselling author
“An unsettling brew of growing menace spiked with flashes of genuine terror—do not miss this chilling debut.”—F. Paul Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Fatal Error
“Lures you into a different era, seduces you with eloquent prose and sensual period details, then clamps down on your jugular…an outstanding debut.”—Hank Schwaeble, Bram Stoker Award–winning author of Diabolical
“Buehlman’s lyrical prose vividly captures a landscape made familiar by William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor. A delightfully genre-bending juxtaposition of supernatural horror and gothic drama.”—California Literary Review
“A horror story that manages just the right balance between building dread and suspense and delivering action.”—The A.V. Club
Review
Praise for Christopher Buehlman and#8220;As much F. Scott Fitzgerald as Dean Koontz.and#8221;and#8212;Patricia Briggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author
and#8220;A writer to watch.and#8221;and#8212;F. Paul Wilson, New York Times bestselling author
and#8220;One of the best first novels Iand#8217;ve ever read.and#8221;and#8212;Charlaine Harris, #1 New York Times bestselling author
and#8220;[He] seduces you with eloquent proseand#8230;then clamps down on your jugular.and#8221;and#8212;Hank Schwaeble, Bram Stoker Awardand#8211;winning author
and#8220;Wonderfully eerie.and#8221;and#8212;Grant Blackwood, #1 New York Times bestselling author
and#8220;[A] first-rate storytelling talent.and#8221;and#8212;Kirkus Reviews
and#8220;Beautifully writtenand#8230;Exceedingly clever.and#8221;and#8212;Boston Herald
and#8220;Genre-bending.and#8221;and#8212;California Literary Review
Review
Praise for Christopher Buehlman and#8220;As much F. Scott Fitzgerald as Dean Koontz.and#8221;and#8212;Patricia Briggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author
and#8220;A writer to watch.and#8221;and#8212;F. Paul Wilson, New York Times bestselling author
and#8220;One of the best first novels Iand#8217;ve ever read.and#8221;and#8212;Charlaine Harris, #1 New York Times bestselling author
and#8220;[He] seduces you with eloquent proseand#8230;then clamps down on your jugular.and#8221;and#8212;Hank Schwaeble, Bram Stoker Awardand#8211;winning author
and#8220;Wonderfully eerie.and#8221;and#8212;Grant Blackwood, #1 New York Times bestselling author
and#8220;[A] first-rate storytelling talent.and#8221;and#8212;Kirkus Reviews
and#8220;Beautifully writtenand#8230;Exceedingly clever.and#8221;and#8212;Boston Herald
and#8220;Genre-bending.and#8221;and#8212;California Literary Review
Review
Praise for The Lesser Dead
“This book is what we invented the word bloodbath for: its surprising, scary, and, ultimately, heartbreaking. It dangles false hope in front of readers only to snatch them away. It tells a story where any idea of cuddly vampires becomes a sick, dark, and not terribly funny joke.”—Tor.com
Praise for The Necromancers House
“[An] eruption of characters who evoke Dickensian whimsy and range from the merely unusual to the bizarrely imaginative...an explosion of enthralling fantasy. [A] vibrant, bracing atmosphere.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“You find yourself believing the unbelievable and fearing what you thought belonged only in those Old World, pre-sanitized fairytales."—Andrew Pyper, author of The Demonologist
Praise for Between Two Fires
"Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic...Buehlman...doesn't scrimp on earthy horror and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors...an author to watch."—Kirkus Reviews
“I was spellbound from the moment I opened the front cover…Intense and chilling…The ultimate good-versus-evil battle.”—Night Owl Reviews
“Fans of historical fantasy and horror will find this epic darkly rewarding.”—Publishers Weekly
Praise for Those Across the River
One of Publishers Weeklys Top-Ten SF, Fantasy and Horror Novels
A World Fantasy Award Nominee for Best Novel
“One of the best first novels Ive ever read.”—Charlaine Harris, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“What a treat. As much F. Scott Fitzgerald as Dean Koontz. A graceful, horrific read.”—Patricia Briggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“Beautifully written…with a cast of Southern characters so real you can almost see the sweat roll down the page. The ending is exceedingly clever.”—Boston Herald
“Wonderfully eerie from start to finish—a novel sure to enthrall readers of all stripes.”—Grant Blackwood, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“An unsettling brew of growing menace spiked with flashes of genuine terror—do not miss this chilling debut. Christopher Buehlman is a writer to watch. I look forward to hearing from him again. And soon.”—F. Paul Wilson, New York Times bestselling author
“Seduces you with eloquent prose and sensual period details, then clamps down on your jugular…An outstanding debut.”—Hank Schwaeble, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Diabolical
“Buehlmans lyrical prose vividly captures a landscape made familiar by William Faulkner and Flannery OConnor. A delightfully genre-bending juxtaposition of supernatural horror and gothic drama.”—California Literary Review
“A horror story that manages just the right balance between building dread and suspense and delivering action.”—The A.V. Club
“Sublimely crafted...It is clear that Mr. Buehlman brings his poetic background to bear in creating the rhythm and meter of the story…A well-crafted novel that is a pleasure to read.”—The New York Journal of Books
“Masterful debut novel…moody and lush…[a] spellbinding tale of terror…filled with cowardice and bravery, foolishness and wisdom, grief and grace, and, alas, helplessness and beauty. Buehlman has written one of the best books of the year.”—Shelf Awareness
“Creepy, suspenseful...Recommended for horror fans and those willing to be scared enough to want to stay out of the woods.”—Library Journal
“In its unnerving depiction of small-town creepiness and heathen savagery, this surefooted debut resembles nothing more than Thomas Tryons Harvest Home…Viscerally upsetting…This is lusty, snappy writing, and horror fans will eat it up (or vice versa).”—Booklist
“Buehlman packs suspense and secrets into his debut novel…keep[s] readers on their toes right up until the big reveal.”—Publishers Weekly
“Fans of novels like Salems Lot or classic radio dramas will find this story impossible to put down…[It] feels completely fantastical by our rational minds but believable by our deepest fears.”—Suspense Magazine
Synopsis
Failed academic Frank Nichols and his wife, Eudora, have arrived in the sleepy Georgia town of Whitbrow, where Frank hopes to write a history of his family's old estate — the Savoyard Plantation — and the horrors that occurred there. At first, the quaint, rural ways of their new neighbors seem to be everything they wanted. But there is an unspoken dread that the townsfolk have lived with for generations. A presence that demands sacrifice.
It comes from the shadowy woods across the river, where the ruins of Savoyard still stand. Where a longstanding debt of blood has never been forgotten.
A debt that has been waiting patiently for Frank Nichols's homecoming....
Synopsis
His extraordinary debut,
Those Across the River, was hailed as "genre-bending Southern horror" (
California Literary Review), "graceful [and] horrific" (Patricia Briggs). Now Christopher Buehlman invites readers into an even darker age — one of temptation and corruption, of war in heaven, and of hell on earth....
And Lucifer said: "Let us rise against Him now in all our numbers, and pull the walls of heaven down...."
The year is 1348. Thomas, a disgraced knight, has found a young girl alone in a dead Norman village. An orphan of the Black Death, and an almost unnerving picture of innocence, she tells Thomas that plague is only part of a larger cataclysm — that the fallen angels under Lucifer are rising in a second war on heaven, and that the world of men has fallen behind the lines of conflict.
Is it delirium or is it faith? She believes she has seen the angels of God. She believes the righteous dead speak to her in dreams. And now she has convinced the faithless Thomas to shepherd her across a depraved landscape to Avignon. There, she tells Thomas, she will fulfill her mission: to confront the evil that has devastated the earth, and to restore to this betrayed, murderous knight the nobility and hope of salvation he long abandoned.
As hell unleashes its wrath, and as the true nature of the girl is revealed, Thomas will find himself on a macabre battleground of angels and demons, saints, and the risen dead, and in the midst of a desperate struggle for nothing less than the soul of man.
Synopsis
Failed academic Frank Nichols and his wife, Eudora, have arrived in the sleepy Georgia town of Whitbrow, where Frank hopes to write a history of his family's old estate-the Savoyard Plantation- and the horrors that occurred there. At first, the quaint, rural ways of their new neighbors seem to be everything they wanted. But there is an unspoken dread that the townsfolk have lived with for generations. A presence that demands sacrifice.
It comes from the shadowy woods across the river, where the ruins of Savoyard still stand. Where a longstanding debt of blood has never been forgotten.
A debt that has been waiting patiently for Frank Nichols's homecoming...
Synopsis
His extraordinary debut,
Those Across the River, was hailed as “genre-bending Southern horror” (
California Literary Review), “graceful [and] horrific” (Patricia Briggs). Now Christopher Buehlman invites readers into an even darker age—one of temptation and corruption, of war in heaven, and of hell on earth…
And Lucifer said: “Let us rise against Him now in all our numbers, and pull the walls of heaven down…”
The year is 1348. Thomas, a disgraced knight, has found a young girl alone in a dead Norman village. An orphan of the Black Death, and an almost unnerving picture of innocence, she tells Thomas that plague is only part of a larger cataclysm—that the fallen angels under Lucifer are rising in a second war on heaven, and that the world of men has fallen behind the lines of conflict.
Is it delirium or is it faith? She believes she has seen the angels of God. She believes the righteous dead speak to her in dreams. And now she has convinced the faithless Thomas to shepherd her across a depraved landscape to Avignon. There, she tells Thomas, she will fulfill her mission: to confront the evil that has devastated the earth, and to restore to this betrayed, murderous knight the nobility and hope of salvation he long abandoned.
As hell unleashes its wrath, and as the true nature of the girl is revealed, Thomas will find himself on a macabre battleground of angels and demons, saints, and the risen dead, and in the midst of a desperate struggle for nothing less than the soul of man.
Synopsis
and#147;Buehlmanand#133;slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesnand#8217;t scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors.and#8221;*
The year is 1348. Thomas, a disgraced knight, has found an orphan of the Black Death in a Norman village. An almost unnerving picture of innocence, she tells Thomas that the plague is only part of a larger cataclysmand#151;that the fallen angels under Lucifer are rising in a second war on Heaven. But is it delirium or is it faith?
She believes she has seen the angels of God. She believes the dead speak to her in dreams. And now she has convinced the faithless Thomas to shepherd her across an apocalyptic landscape to Avignon. There, she tells Thomas, she will fulfill her mission. There her true nature will be revealed. And there Thomas will confront an evil wrestling for the throne of Heaven, and which has poisoned his own soul.
*Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
and#147;Buehlmanand#133;slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesnand#8217;t scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors.and#8221;*
The year is 1348. Thomas, a disgraced knight, has found an orphan of the Black Death in a Norman village. An almost unnerving picture of innocence, she tells Thomas that the plague is only part of a larger cataclysmand#151;that the fallen angels under Lucifer are rising in a second war on Heaven. But is it delirium or is it faith?
She believes she has seen the angels of God. She believes the dead speak to her in dreams. And now she has convinced the faithless Thomas to shepherd her across an apocalyptic landscape to Avignon. There, she tells Thomas, she will fulfill her mission. There her true nature will be revealed. And there Thomas will confront an evil wrestling for the throne of Heaven, and which has poisoned his own soul.
*Kirkus Reviews
Synopsis
As much F. Scott Fitzgerald as Dean Koontz” (#1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Briggs), Christopher Buehlman excels in twisting the familiar into newfound dread in his genre-bending” (California Literary Review) novels. Now the acclaimed author of Those Across the River delivers his most disquieting tale yet... The secret is, vampires are real and I am one.
The secret is, Im stealing from you what is most truly yours and Im not sorry...
New York City in 1978 is a dirty, dangerous place to live. And die. Joey Peacock knows this as well as anybodyhe has spent the last forty years as an adolescent vampire, perfecting the routine he now enjoys: womanizing in punk clubs and discotheques, feeding by night, and sleeping by day with others of his kind in the macabre labyrinth under the citys sidewalks.
The subways are his playground and his highway, shuttling him throughout Manhattan to bleed the unsuspecting in the Sheep Meadow of Central Park or in the backseats of Checker cabs, or even those in their own apartments who are too hypnotized by sitcoms to notice him opening their windows. Its almost too easy.
Until one night he sees them hunting on his beloved subway. The children with the merry eyes. Vampires, like him
or not like him. Whatever they are, whatever their appearance means, the undead in the tunnels of Manhattan are not as safe as they once were.
And neither are the rest of us.
About the Author
Christopher Buehlman is the winner of the 2007 Bridport Prize for Poetry and the author of
Those Across the River and several plays. He spends half the year in St. Peterburg, Florida, and the rest on the road.