Lazarus, Home from the War

It's Good? to be Home

Captain Lazarus Lenkov has been a civilian for almost two months, and it's going great. Sure, he's working at an art gallery instead of flying planes. Sure, his brother is preoccupied with his new husband, his sister is busy with her new baby, and he's plagued by nightmares and his malfunctioning foresight. But there are good things, too. He's got a new car. And just today, he got hit over the head with a bottle and then stitched up by a cute neurologist. Who then rejected his advances, but you can't have everything.

Eli Sobel has never met anyone quite like Laz. He's smart and handsome in a scruffy way. He's also a mess. From the first time they meet, it's clear that Laz needs someone to take care of him, even heal him. And while Eli's a doctor, he's not interested in taking on any patients in his personal life. But Laz is funny and generous, and Eli can't help but get drawn into the investigation surrounding the attack he stitched the man up from.

There's bad magic afoot, though neither of them quite understands it. From a similar crime at a Minneapolis art gallery to dead bodies in Edina, Minnesota, each step of the inquiry seems to pull the two of them closer together. But when they finally uncover the surprising motives that tie the events together, will they be able to move past their history into an uncertain future together?

Lazarus, Home from the War is the fourth book in the Wisconsin Gothic series. It contains some spoilers for Troth, but can be read as a stand-alone. One of the Fated Mates podcast's best books of 2025!

E. H. Lupton (she/they) lives in Madison, WI with her husband and children. Her debut novel, Dionysus in Wisconsin, was shortlisted for both the Lambda Literary Award and the Midwest Book Award. She is also the author of the novels Old Time Religion and Troth (Winnowing Fan Press, 2024), and novella The Joy of Fishes (Vagabondage, 2013). Her poems have been published in a number of journals, including Utopia Science Fiction, Paranoid Tree, and House of Zolo's Journal of Speculative Literature. She is one half of the duo behind the hit podcast Ask a Medievalist. In her free time, she enjoys running long distances and painting.