The Black Crusade

The Black Crusade

The Black Crusade first edition cover.
Author	Richard Harland
Cover artist	Kerri Valkova
Country	Australia
Language	English
Genre	Horror
Publisher	Chimaera Publications
Publication date	January 2004
Media type	Print (Paperback)
Pages	217 pp (first edition)
ISBN
Preceded by	The Vicar of Morbing Vyle

The Black Crusade is a 2004 horror novel by Richard Harland. It is a prequel to Harland's earlier novel The Vicar of Morbing Vyle. It describes the journey of the hapless Basil Smorta, a multi lingual bank clerk, who is forced into the company of a group of "fundamental Darwinists" by their imprisonment of the object of his undying love, Australian singer, Volusia, in a mobile iron box. The group travel across Eastern Europe during 1894, and encounter ghosts, blood donating vampires and other comic horror curiosities.

The Black Crusade was first published in Australia in January 2004 by Chimaera Publications in trade paperback format. It won the 2004 Aurealis Award for best horror novel and the 2004 Golden Aurealis for best novel.