The Between by Ryan Leslie

The Between (Book 1)

While landscaping his backyard, ever-conscientious Paul Prentice discovers an iron door buried in the soil.

His childhood friend and perpetual source of mischief, Jay Lightsey, pushes them to explore what’s beneath.

When the door slams shut above them, Paul and Jay are trapped in a between-worlds place of Escher-like rooms and horror story monsters, all with a mysterious connection to a command-line, dungeon explorer computer game from the early ‘80s called The Between.

Paul and Jay find themselves filling roles in a story that seems to play out over and over again. But in this world, where their roles warp their minds, the biggest threat to survival may not be the Koŝmaro, risen from the Between’s depths to hunt them; the biggest danger may be each other.

The Garden of Before (Book 2) – Releases September 23, 2025

“That’s what happens here, Paul. Every power has its price. It always gets worse.”

For Paul Prentice things have gotten much worse. His house was destroyed in the battle with the Koŝmaro. He’s on thin ice at his job, where instead of working he loses himself in the Between’s computer game, trying in vain to find explanations. His best friend Jay has transformed into a shadowy killer. Corinne and Supriya have vanished. And it appears his wife, Julie, has finally had enough and left him.

Alone and near ruin, Paul receives a familiar visitor with a dire message: they are all back in the Between. Hunted, captured, doomed. For Paul, still wearing the serĉilo’s artifact on his wrist, escape was never an option. The game must be played until the end.

In the harrowing conclusion to The Between, Leslie once again invites readers into a mind-twisting world where the most terrifying monsters are the ones let loose inside of us.