Beyond Redemption

by Michael R. Fletcher

Overview

A darkly imaginative writer in the tradition of Joe Abercrombie, Peter V. Brett, and Neil Gaiman conjures a gritty mind-bending fantasy, set in a world where delusion becomes reality . . . and the fulfillment of humanity’s desires may well prove to be its undoing.

When belief defines reality, those with the strongest convictions—the crazy, the obsessive, the delusional—have the power to shape the world.

And someone is just mad enough to believe he can create a god . . .

Violent and dark, the world is filled with the Geisteskranken—men and women whose delusions manifest. Sustained by their own belief—and the beliefs of those around them—they can manipulate their surroundings. For the High Priest Konig, that means creating order out of the chaos in his city-state, leading his believers to focus on one thing: helping a young man, Morgen, ascend to become a god. A god they can control.

Trouble is, there are many who would see a god in their thrall, including the High Priest’s own doppelgangers, a Slaver no one can resist, and three slaves led by possibly the only sane man left.

As these forces converge on the boy, there’s one more obstacle: time is running out. Because as the delusions become more powerful, the also become harder to control. The fate of the Geisteskranken is to inevitably find oneself in the Afterdeath. The question, then, is:

Who will rule there?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062387035
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	06/16/2015
Pages:	512
Sales rank:	154,903
Product dimensions:	5.30(w) x 7.90(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Michael R. Fletcher is a Canadian writer whose first novel, 88, was published by Five Rivers Publishing, a small Canadian press. His short fiction can be found in Interzone, On Spec, Daily Science Fiction, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, and Arcane. This novel grew out of his desire to write something outside of the normal tropes of fantasy, and his contemplation of rare mental disorders (like Cotard's Syndrome) in a fantasy context.

Editorial Reviews

★ 04/06/2015
In this disturbing and original fantasy, set in a dark world run by the Theocrats, perception is reality, and altered perceptions can alter reality. The most insane, labeled with Germanic diagnoses, are also the most powerful. Three adventurers— a scary, lethal Kleptic thief; a preening Gefahrgeist (sociopathic) duellist; and a scarred warrior forced to violate his few remaining scruples—stumble onto a Gefahrgeist Theocrat’s plot to raise the first designed god, and they decide to kidnap Morgen, the boy who’s intended as the initial sacrifice. Before the Theocrat’s delusions can do him in, he unleashes his Hassebrand (a pyromaniac) and his assassin squads (including shape-shifters and walking dead) to kill the conspirators and ensure Morgen’s ascension. Fletcher (88) populates the landscape with an array of mental disorders, turning a well-thumbed psychiatric manual into a dramatis personae. His protagonists worry about their fate in the Afterdeath as they commit their crimes, but they always keep their slim hopes for redemption. The dystopia and its victims never quite collapse under the weight of the horror, and their perseverance encourages the reader to endure the grimness until the thought-provoking conclusion. Agent: Cameron McClure, Donald Maass Literary Agency. (June)

Publishers Weekly

Set in a world where madness equates to power, Michael R. Fletcher’s Beyond Redemption is often as nightmarish as it is fascinating. An alarming, original and compulsive tale laced with a blackly comic sensibility. Highly recommended.

Anthony Ryan

The journey is dark and emotionally taxing, but there aren’t many fantasy novels as smart, ambitious, and excellently written as this one.

Booklist on BEYOND REDEMPTION

04/15/2015
Morgan is a young boy being groomed for godhood by Konig Furimmer, the high priest of the Geborene religion. Konig is a powerful Gefahrgeist, able to impose his own delusion upon the populace of the city state of Selbsthass. He intends to force Morgan to ascend by killing him, thereby manipulating the new god to serve him. Aufschlag, a sympathetic member of Konig's retinue, helps Morgan escape, but his choice of protectors was perhaps a bit hasty. The three murderous adventurers who break into the palace to kidnap Morgan are unable to hold him for long, and they are only one of the many groups vying for control of a possible god. VERDICT Incredibly brutal, this unusual fantasy world from Fletcher (88) is populated by delusional sociopaths—literally. Mental disorders such as megalomania and kleptomania provide the sufferers power over those around them, giving the whole world an off-kilter manic edge. If you like your fantasy überdark, this might be an intriguing Freudian excursion.

Library Journal