Pick up Between Two Fires
Do yourself a favor and pick up this book by American writer Christopher Buehlman, a USA Today bestseller. It is a haunting gothic tale set in France during the Hundred Years War. The great plague sweeps across Europe in 1348, affecting everyone, everywhere.
Survivors despair amid the death and pestilence. Devils reign across the land, and God and his angels cannot be found. In Chapter 5, the fallen knight, Thomas, is dragged beneath the black river and attacked by a grotesque crocodile-like water demon whose body is all teeth, flesh, and unnatural strength. The creature wounds him terribly, gnashing into his groin, but Thomas refuses to surrender and fights it from inside its own body, tearing and stabbing his way through its entrails until the monster finally disgorges him. The scene is deliberately brutal and claustrophobic, combining medieval religious horror with visceral, animalistic violence. The book feels like it was written for tabletop roleplaying gamers, and especially Shadowdark.
The characters and dialogue are so well written. There are many inspirations here for a good GM in search of ideas for the tabletop. Between Two Fires is adult fare for language, sexual and adult situations, and violence. This is not The Hobbit. Read it, and you’ll thank me later.
Christopher Buehlman is an author, playwright, comedian, and former Renaissance-festival performer. His books blend horror, dark fantasy, and historical fiction. His best-recognized dark-fantasy novels include Between Two Fires, The Blacktongue Thief, and The Daughters’ War. He is particularly celebrated for Between Two Fires, which won the American Library Association’s Best Horror Novel award.
