“Despatches is all at once heart-breaking and mythic, highlighting one of the darkest chapters in human history. Murray presents truth and fiction simultaneously, putting the reader amongst the horrors, both real and imagined.” —Greg Chapman, Bram Stoker Award® and Australian Shadows Award-nominated author

 

“Murray’s Despatches has all the hallmarks of a classic; capturing not only the imagination, but the strengths and failings of what it is to be human.” —Dave Jeffery, award-winning author of the A Quiet Apocalypse series.

 

“Multi-award-winning author Lee Murray skilfully combines history, horror and Māori mythology to create a gripping tale that will slither its way into your imagination, there to make its dark, abiding lair.”—Anna Taborska, author of Bloody Britain and For Those Who Dream Monsters

 

“Horror is a good match for war: wouldn’t we rather believe in the fantastical than the brutal insanity of combat? Lee Murray’s Despatches wraps the all-too-real horror of the Dardanelles campaign in a gossamer of eldritch fancies, creating a story that is not only a superb piece of historical fiction but a damned good horror story, too.” —Alma Katsu, author of The Fervor

 

“Lee Murray’s Despatches innovates the Lovecraftian with her signature chills in an enthralling epistolary tale of compassion and eldritch horrors set during one of the bloodiest campaigns of World War One.” —Craig DiLouie, author of Episode Thirteen

 

“What imagined terrors can rival the all-too-human horror of war? In the powerfully melancholy Despatches, Lee Murray offers both, pitching the distressingly real theatre of blood and carnage as a cosmic board for a mythic game between gods beyond our comprehension, playing with people like pawns. And one truth pervades it all – no one wins here. This is historical horror fiction at its most beguiling.” —Alan Baxter, award-winning author of The Gulp and Sallow Bend

 

“Death, disfigurement, and disease prowl the battlelines at Gallipoli, slaughtering men in their thousands. But soon there will be more to fear than the enemy. Within the fetid trenches and freezing coastal waters, an ancient evil will be drawn to the chaos. Blending fact and fiction, Despatches leaves the reader with a distinct feeling of unease and sorrow. Another masterful tale from Lee Murray.” —Alister Hodge, international bestselling author, Aurealis and Australasian Shadows Award finalist

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“A masterclass in weaving myth into the darkest gaps in history, Lee Murray’s latest novella is at once moving and disturbing. Murray’s writing breathes life to the very human face of the Allied Campaign and conjures terrifying cosmic forces that lie behind the madness of war. Among the mud, despair, and death, there are aching moments of connection and ordinary beauty, which hold a bittersweet light against the realisation we are ultimately small and alone against the pitiless dark. Meticulously researched and vividly written, Despatches is outstanding historical horror.” —Geneve Flynn, double Bram Stoker Award-winner, and editor of Black Cranes