Review Excerpt:

Gawain and the Green Knight is the backdrop for Brenda Webster's new novel, The Beheading Game. . . . The Beheading Game tells the story of Ren, a 40-something New York City off-Broadway raconteur who is trying his hand at directing for the first time. Ren's choice of play? An adaptation of the medieval epic of Gawain and the Green Knight. . . . In The Beheading Game, Ren is busy mounting his production while caring for his lover Jack, a handsome 20-something Ivy League boy suffering from cancer. Jack is undergoing a horrific treatment at a nearby hospital, and Ren is trying to balance his new show and his old love. Complicating matters is Jack's father, Malcolm, a stern captain of industry who reigns over Jack's life with an iron if absent hand. Jack is too afraid to tell his father is he is gay, so Ren finds himself often relegated to the sidelines, a position that makes Ren very uncomfortable indeed.