Deofol: A Tale of Horror

by John Conrad, C. Grzybowski (Illustrator)

Martin Horst, a Catholic soldier, is caught in the turmoil of the Thirty Years' War and suffers a fatal wound in the combat to take the Protestant town of Magdeburg. Dying and alone among the dead, he lingers in a peasant's field as his comrades storm the besieged city's broken walls. Horst seeks a meager stable's shelter and solace in his last moments. He meets a stranger, offering to save his life in exchange for rendering his services as a scribe. In the stable, an ass is slaughtered, its hide skinned, and Horst undertakes to pen the devil's bible on its foul surface. The writings unlock a nefarious calendar predicting the future and offering advantage and power to its possessor-Catholic or Protestant. Horst enlists the aid of a young monk, Friar Klanseck, questing to recover the hide and redeem his soul, as others learn of the vile skin's existence and contest them.

318 pages, Paperback

First published May 9, 2005