The Red Winter
by Cameron Sullivan· 2026
Blending heart-breaking love story with blood-drenched quest, this dark slice of folk fantasy finds a professor hunting down the terrifying mythical Beast of Gévaudan in eighteenth-century France. Inspired by the eighteenth-century legend of the Beast of Gévaudan, The Red Winter is a lusty, dark, queer fantasy.
A devastating love story. A bewitching twist on history. A blood-drenched hunt for purpose, power and redemption.
In 1785, Professor Sebastian Grave receives the news he fears most: the terrible Beast of Gévaudan has returned, and the French countryside runs red in its wake. Sebastian knows the Beast. A monster-slayer with centuries of experience, he joined the hunt for the creature twenty years ago and watched it slaughter its way through a long and bloody winter. Even with the help of Sarmodel, the demon he plays host to, bringing the monster down nearly cost him his life.
Now, two decades later, Sebastian has been recalled to the hunt by Antoine Avenel d’Ocerne, an estranged lover who shares a dark history with the Beast and a terrible secret with Sebastian. Drawn by both the chance to finish the Beast for good and the promise of a reconciliation with Antoine, Sebastian cannot refuse.
Some monsters, it seems, simply won’t stay buried . . .
2 editions available
Editions
Blending heart-breaking love story with blood-drenched quest, this dark slice of folk fantasy finds a professor hunting down the terrifying mythical Beast of Gévaudan in eighteenth-century France. Inspired by the eighteenth-century legend of the Beast of Gévaudan, The Red Winter is a lusty, dark, queer fantasy. A devastating love story. A bewitching twist on history. A blood-drenched hunt for purpose, power and redemption. In 1785, Professor Sebastian Grave receives the news he fears most: the terrible Beast of Gévaudan has returned, and the French countryside runs red in its wake. Sebastian knows the Beast. A monster-slayer with centuries of experience, he joined the hunt for the creature twenty years ago and watched it slaughter its way through a long and bloody winter. Even with the help of Sarmodel, the demon he plays host to, bringing the monster down nearly cost him his life. Now, two decades later, Sebastian has been recalled to the hunt by Antoine Avenel d’Ocerne, an estranged lover who shares a dark history with the Beast and a terrible secret with Sebastian. Drawn by both the chance to finish the Beast for good and the promise of a reconciliation with Antoine, Sebastian cannot refuse. Some monsters, it seems, simply won’t stay buried . . .
