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In a mythical, late-nineteenth-century city in Bohemia, Waltraud hears a voice no one else can hear.
It belongs to Rübezahl — a winged old man imprisoned for decades, a penitent monster who once abducted her as a child and now calls to her for release. When Waltraud refuses to help him escape, her defiance unleashes tragedy, and the creature is freed by other means.
Rübezahl’s revenge is subtle and devastating. A ghost rain begins to fall, flooding the city with hallucinations, stupefaction, and false hopes. As the population drifts into confusion and chaos, class war erupts and the authorities prove helpless.
Immune to the rain’s spell, Waltraud becomes the city’s last clear mind. Armed with a dangerous prototype weapon and hunted as much by public opinion as by monsters, she must confront Rübezahl — not only in the streets of the drowning city, but in the mountains where myth, media, and violence collide.
A dark, philosophical fantasy about power, belief, and the cost of independent thought.
Read an Excerpt
Waltraud wandered out into a quiet, unflooded lane on the edge of the city and examined the lightning rod. Only one more shot. Not even two. Twice, she tapped her left heel. I’ve got to bide my time. She had no choice but to do so, for the city’s militia had already tasked a proper hunting party with tracking Rübezahl and delivering the death blow—and she doubted any commissioned officer would approve of her travelling off ahead of them. As a consequence, she had resolved to depart only after the others had gone. Patience.
A soft, natural, autumnal breeze sighed through the alleyway.
What a good feeling, after all the ungodly rain, she thought. With her free hand, she covered her brow. There’s no guarantee of victory. If anything, he’ll be so vindictive. And if he survives, he’ll destroy the whole hunting party. For that matter, why not take me?
As she brooded, she bumped into a clean-shaven gentleman with a PRESS ticket in his top hat. She studied his attire—a tattered, gray musterdevillers robe. Just like the one Rübezahl wears. Yes. She cocked her head to the side and pointed at the garment’s hem. ‘Why do you dress like that?’
‘To show solidarity with Rübezahl, that’s why. We fine newspapermen have no choice but to protest his persecution.’
‘Persecution?’
‘Yes, of course. Now that Rübezahl has become the bottom dog, he deserves our sympathies.’
Review
This book takes you on a mind-bending journey as you travel along with Waltraud as she confronts the being known as Rübezahl - and the reader never really knows if this journey takes place in her mind or in reality. Whichever it is, it is definitely a journey of a lifetime.
Rübezahl is a famous legendary mountain spirit and folkloric figure from the Krkonoše Mountains and, in this rendition, he has been imprisoned, but is anxiously waiting someone to release him. He wants it to be Waltraud, but when she refuses, he gains his freedom through other means and then proceeds to rain havok (literally) over the entire city in the form of a mind altering rain. He also targets people specifically that Waltraud loves and cares for...driving her to realize that only she can stop him.
I found this book to be profoundly character driven and was driven to follow Waultraud as she makes her journey. It was definitely hard to put down and I truly needed to find out what happened. Good job. 4 stars
About the Author
M. Laszlo is the pseudonym of a reclusive author living in Bath, Ohio. According to rumor, he based the pen name on the name of the Paul Henreid character in Casablanca, Victor Laszlo. M. Laszlo has lived and worked all over the world, and he has kept exhaustive journals and idea books corresponding to each location and post. It is said that the maniacal habit began in childhood during summer vacations—when his family began renting out Robert Lowell’s family home in Castine, Maine. Rumor has it he still possesses those childhood diaries and plans to release a trilogy set in the Pine Tree State. The habit continued into the 1980s when he lived in London, England (the summer of 1985.) The idea books and journals from that summer inspired his first work The Phantom Glare of Day published by the hybrid Spark Press in 2022.
The habit continued into the 1990s when he lived in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem and worked as a night clerk in a Palestinian youth hostel. In recent years, he revisited that very journal/idea book and based Anastasia’s Midnight Song and The Nameless Land on the characters, topics, and themes contained within the writings.
At the end of the decade, M. Laszlo attended Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York and earned an M.F.A degree in poetry. During his time in New York, he kept the idea books and journals that formed the basis of his second release, On the Threshold, published by the acclaimed Australian hybrid now known as Alkira. That house released Anastasia’s Midnight Song on 17 January 2025. The Nameless Land serves as a stand-alone sequel and released on 5 December 2025.
M. Laszlo’s political parable, Rübezahl, has been described as Animal Farm meets Alice in Wonderland and is set to be published by Alkira in May 2026.
M. Laszlo has lived and worked in New York City, East Jerusalem, and several other cities around the world. While living in the Middle East, he worked for Harvard University’s Semitic Museum. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio and an M.F.A. in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York.
