The Enterprise of Death
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Yet salvation may lie in a mysterious tome her tutor has hidden somewhere on the war-torn continent. She sets out on a seemingly impossible journey to find the book, never suspecting her fate is tied to three strangers: the artist Niklaus Manuel Deutsch, the alchemist Dr. Paracelsus, and a gun-slinging Dutch mercenary. As Manuel paints her macabre story on canvas, plank, and church wall, the apprentice becomes increasingly aware of the great dangers that surround her. She realises she must revisit the fell necromancy of her childhood — or death will be the least of her concerns. Praise for Jesse Bullington’s The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart: An Amazon.com Top 10 Science Fiction & Fantasy Book of 2009 “Fantasy debut plunges viscerally into the depths of medieval nightmare ... deeply rooted in history and folklore, the novel is both earthier and far more cynical than the original versions of Grimms’ fairy tales; it’s a perverse Dark Ages anti-Candide ... discomfiting, disgusting, and at times as grotesquely pleasurable as picking at a scab.” —Kirkus Reviews “A blackly humorous fantasy full of monsters, demons, and witches, there’s more than enough here to engage the reader looking for that, but beneath the surface The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart is a novel of surprising complexity.” —Realms of Fantasy “Bullington is definitely a promising new writer of the fantastic.” —Romantic Times “Grimmer-than-Grimm ... striking and often funny.” —Publishers Weekly “Darkly funny, profane, erudite, bawdy, and wickedly original...the debut of an amazing new talent.” —Jeff VanderMeer “The Sad Tales of the Brothers Grossbart is what would happen if the Brothers Grimm, Clive Barker, Chuck Palahniuk and Warren Ellis all came together and wrote a novel.” —Fantasy Book Critic / FantasyLiterature.com “As debut novels go, this is one the best I’ve read. It is utterly absorbing and as fine a tale as you'll read this year. Jesse Bullington has a unique voice and a rare talent and his debut novel showcases both to terrific effect. Following the Brothers Grossbart will be a difficult task, of that there’s no doubt, but I'm looking forward to whatever he conjures up next with enormous anticipation.” —Sci-Fi-London “If you want spartan description, cracking prose and a tale with the stuff of legends then this is going to be a must own. Great stuff.” —Falcata Times “Wonderfully written, clever, funny, and ultimately, brilliantly itself. It’s a debut novel of a kind we rarely see.” —Innsmouth Free Press
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As the witch-pyres of the Spanish Inquisition blanket Renaissance Europe in a moral haze, a young African slave finds herself the unwilling apprentice of an ancient necromancer. Unfortunately, quitting his company proves even more hazardous than remaining his pupil when she is afflicted with a terrible curse. 
