Enchanted pilgrimage

Mark Cornwall is a young scholar in a world that differs from our own, and his curiosity makes him a marked man. The Inquisition has singled him out, and its most relentless agent, Beckett, is determined to see him condemned for the questions he has dared to ask. Mark flees across the border into the Wastelands, a realm of enchantment where monsters hunt anything that moves.

He does not travel alone. His companions include Oliver, a goblin who lives among the rafters, Snively, a gnome, and Mary, a mysterious woman who has come from one of three parallel planes. Together they must cross a dangerous land haunted by vengeful Hellhounds and shaped by the aftermath of the Chaos Beast, which has been destroyed but has left a dark legacy. Their goal lies beyond these perils, where the secrets of the Old Ones wait to be uncovered by those bold enough to search for them.

The novel is a fantasy quest that borrows ideas from science fiction and mixes them into a richly flavoured tale of magic and adventure. Clifford D. Simak, a Grand Master of science fiction, shows his range here by moving into a new kind of storytelling. Readers who enjoy quest narratives with a sense of wonder will find much to explore.