The Country Under Heaven
Forthcoming May 2025
Louis L’Amour meets H.P. Lovecraft in this thrilling western epic about a former Civil War soldier following enigmatic visions that started coming to him after he survived one of the war’s bloodiest battles . . .
Set in the 1880s, the story follows Ovid Vesper, a former Union soldier who has been having enigmatic visions after an explosion at the Battle of Antietam. As he travels across the country following those visions, he finds himself in stranger and increasingly more dangerous encounters with other worlds hidden in the spaces of his own.
Ovid brings his steady calm and compassion as he helps the people of a broken country, rapidly changing but still reeling and wounded from its Civil War two decades earlier. He assists with matters of all sorts, from odd jobs around the house, to guiding children back to their own universe, to hunting down unnatural creatures that stalk the night–all the while seeking his own personal resolution and peace from his visions and the war that changed his life.
This epic journey across the American West with Ovid and a surprising cast of characters blends elements of the classic Western with historical fantasy in a way like no other.
Reviews
"Durbin skillfully combines cosmic horror tropes with American frontier fiction in this standout historical horror novel set in the Old West... This is Lovecraftian fiction at its finest."
"Durbin’s (A Green and Ancient Light) stellar and unique novel combines lots of heart, a plot that replicates the best of classic Westerns, and awesome cosmic horror into one terrifying, thought-provoking, and entertaining package. Recommend to those who enjoyed Lone Women by Victor LaValle."
"A triumphant snapshot of the hellish fallout in the divided US after the Civil War, The Country Under Heaven makes note of the amorphous individual terrors that those involved in the war carried with them forever after. This is a cosmic Western novel that doubles as a psychological treatise on the hidden wonders of radiant and mysterious inner worlds."
"This is a book to lose yourself in. A book to be read slowly, to be set down for moments during reading, just simply to reflect on the power of the imagery it casts into the mind... Prepare to be drawn in."
"A haunting, violent, touching, episodic fever dream of a novel that spans from the Civil War to the post-war Wild West. I’ve never read anything quite like it."C.J. Box, #1 NYT Bestselling Author of Three-Inch Teeth
"The Country Under Heaven is a brilliant exploration of the Old West and even older supernatural horrors. Elegant, thrilling, and deeply satisfying! Highly recommended!"Jonathan Maberry, NY Times bestselling author of the Joe Ledger thrillers and editor of The Good, The Bad, and the Uncanny
"The best of the [weird] west. Durbin invokes eldritch terrors to examine the peculiar, lawless hellscape that was the American West following the civil war. Delicately written, beautifully told, and bristling with dark turns of the unexplainable, The Country Under Heaven is a phenomenal read."Alma Katsu, author of The Hunger
"[T]his book shook me out of normal reading mode in the best way. It’s just extraordinary, combining elements that would seem to repel one another—historical fiction about the Reconstruction era, the supernatural, and a Western—but that form the most memorable story I’ve read in some time, with writing to match...[a] wild, wonderful story"
"Evoking the majesty and grandeur of the Old West, Durbin spins a stirring yarn about the aftershocks of battle and the struggle to overcome what haunts us."The Speculative Shelf
"I decided to read the first chapter and see if it gripped me. I don’t mind saying that it did more than grip me, it grabbed hold of me and shook me for all I was worth... I read the book in a few days, and it is a testament to the easy style of writing employed by Frederic S. Durbin that I did. The language was both down to earth and poetic in that way that westerns often are, as though the rough and ready heroes of the time are struggling to put into words both the horrors and beauty of their new land."
"If you’ve read Durbin before, you likely recognize his style. A taste of horror, a bit of adventure, a veil between worlds... Country Under Heaven still spins an excellent yarn, one that I thoroughly enjoyed."