“Beyond the Pale offers a diverse cast of characters and a well-realized world in which the expected does not happen.”  —Robin Hobb, author of Assassin’s Apprentice

“Anthony demonstrates his ability to create memorable characters in this impressive series opener.”  —Library Journal

“A decidedly superior fantasy, Mark Anthony maintains the tradition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and Terry Brooks’ Sword of Shannara, while bringing a polished contemporary approach to classic High Fantasy.” —Amazon.co.uk

Web Exclusive—Read an original short story set in the world of Eldh!

“The King of Winter” was originally published in Dragon Magazine #265. The story takes place centuries before the events of Beyond the Pale, and tells the tale of Dor Calavus, the loyal commander of a lonely outpost of the Tarrasian empire, and the desperate events that led to the founding of the oldest of the seven Dominions.

Read “The King of Winter” by Mark Anthony (PDF Format)

Book One: Beyond the Pale

Reality is unraveling in the dusty Colorado town of Castle City. Strange symbols are carved into storefronts, and ancient legends come to life. Saloonkeeper Travis Wilder is handed an ornate iron box and a mysterious mission. And in Denver, where dead men walk, ER doctor Grace Beckett is witness to a terrifying and inhuman scene of carnage. Theirs is a destiny shrouded in a coming darkness, a destiny that draws them into the otherworld of Eldh….

Eldh is a land of gods and monsters, myths and runecraft, conspiracy and blood. It is a world that has secretly coexisted beside ours for millennia. But now the boundary between worlds is crumbling in the face of a monstrous evil. And Travis and Grace must save this strange land in order to safeguard their own world.

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Book Two: The Keep of Fire

Travis Wilder has returned from the otherworld of Eldh, hoping to settle back into his humdrum life in the mountains of contemporary Colorado. But he soon finds himself stalked by two shadowy organizations, each aware of his incredible journey and each determined to exploit it–whatever the cost to Travis…or to Eldh. Meanwhile, a terrifying new contagion is spreading like wildfire, a disease with no cure, which some are comparing to the Black Plague.

When the disease strikes his closest friend, Travis is drawn back to Eldh, where the same epidemic, known as the Burning Plague, is wreaking another kind of havoc. There, in a realm of gods and monsters, myths and runecraft, Travis and his former companion Grace Beckett—herself from Earth but now living on Eldh—must solve the riddle of the plague. Where did it come from? What is its purpose? And how can it possibly be stopped…before it completely destroys two coexisting worlds: ancient Eldh and modern Earth.

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Book Three: The Dark Remains

Travis Wilder and Grace Beckett have returned to modern Earth on a mission of mercy: to get medical help for the severely wounded Beltan, a knight from the otherworld of Eldh. But as Beltan lies unconscious in the ICU of a Denver hospital, a shadowy organization plots to kidnap him for use in its cruel experiments, while sinister forces of dark magic cross the boundary from Eldh in a murderous search for Travis and Grace.

Meanwhile, in Eldh itself, a young baroness, her witch companion, and their mortal and immortal friends journey to a dying city, there to confront a nameless evil that has begun to annihilate the very gods.

Somehow Travis and Grace must save Beltan and themselves, and then make their way back to Eldh, for only in this realm of gods and monsters, myth and runecraft, can they hope to defeat a demonic enemy that can shatter time, devour space, and turn existence into nothingness.

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Book Four: Blood of Mystery

A twist of time has left Runebreaker Travis Wilder and three of his otherworldly friends stranded on 1880s Earth, in a lawless Colorado mining town. As they search for a way back to their own time, Grace Beckett—in present-day Eldh—journeys to a frozen kingdom where she learns her own terrifying destiny: to oppose the Pale King and his monstrous army in the coming cataclysmic battle that will decide Eldh’s future forever.

If the Pale King emerges victorious, his master Mohg, the dread Lord of Nightfall, will return from exile, break the First Rune, and remake Eldh in his own dark image. And Earth itself, Eldh’s sister world, will be next to fall to under shadow.

Even if Travis returns to Eldh in time to align his calling as Runebreaker with Grace’s destiny as Blademender, how can two mere human hope to defeat an evil more ancient than any world, more powerful than all existence?

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Book Five: The Gates of Winter

The enigmatic Shemal has known only two Runebreakers. One, her rival Kelephon, serves the Pale King and his army of apocalypse. The other is Travis Wilder, the Runebreaker of prophecy. Now, in outcast and newly made Runebreaker Larad, Shemal has found a weapon to open the door between worlds.

As the shadow of Shemal’s master, the vengeful god Mohg, Lord of Nightfall, looms, Grace Beckett seeks to harness wild magic. and Travis Wilder joins her in the struggle between warriors and mages, witches and kings, and betrayers of every form.

As the time of final reckoning approaches, Travis and Grace will find themselves facing a dark conspiracy of evil whose virulence threatens to overwhelm anyone who stands in its way. Yet if they don’t succeed in stopping it, two worlds will be lost forever.

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Book Six: The First Stone

Runebreaker Travis Wilder has found a new life free of magic and fate—until an unexpected event draws him back to Eldh. Two thousand years ago, the city of sorcerers, Morindu the Dark, destroyed itself so that its secrets could not be stolen by its foes, the Scirathi. Blood sorcery was banned until the city could be raised from the sands that had swallowed it. But some defied that law—and now one has emerged with news that the lost city has been found. The Scirathi have only to find the key: the blood of Travis—or his daughter.

It has been prophesied that Travis is to raise Morindu the Dark, and he is prepared to accept his fate—though the Scirathi are not far behind him. But once Travis returns to Eldh, he and his old friend Grace Beckett will face even deadlier challenges as they battle age-old enemies to raise a city, to find the Last Rune, and to save the universe…

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