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
“One of the best first novels I’ve ever read.”—Charlaine Harris, #1
New York Times Bestselling Author
“What a treat. Terrible and beautiful. As much F. Scott Fitzgerald as Dean Koontz. A graceful, horrific read.”—Patricia Briggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“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. 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 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
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
"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
Synopsis
Buehlman slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn t scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. *
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 cataclysm 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
Haunted by memories of the Great War, failed academic Frank Nichols and his wife 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 their new life seems to be everything they wanted. But under the facade of summer socials and small-town charm, 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 the Savoyard Plantation still stand. Where a long-smoldering debt of blood has never been forgotten.
Where it has been waiting for Frank Nichols…
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
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.