Dreadmire

by Elizabeth Donald

A float trip into hell, Dreadmire follows four adventurers on a quest through the dark, dismal haunted swamp that lies on the edge of their land as a living nightmare.

Tam is a Moor Knight whose dearest love, the half-elf Wynter, has vanished into Dreadmire on a quest to destroy the evil at the center of the swamp and set free the people terrorized by its half-dead creatures.

But it has been a long time since anyone heard from Wynter.

Tam and his best friend, Kancethedrus, enlist the help of guide Alesia and seer Angiss to help them find Wynter - and perhaps complete her mission to destroy the evil Somesuch that has controlled the life, death and unlife of the swamp for so many years.


But the way through Dreadmire is not easy, and that's not just because of monstrous mosquitoes, sentient weregators and cannibalistic undead elves living among the predatory flora and fauna of this twisted bayou.

What's more dangerous than a demonic tree that can eat you alive? The perils of the human heart... and what a man will risk for the woman he loves.

Based on the legends of the Louisiana bayou with a sword-and-sorcery flair, this amazing novel based on the game by Randy Richards will turn your skin cold as a gator's stare and your heart hotter than a Cajun summer.

Genres: Fantasy

268 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2013

About the author

Elizabeth Donald is a dark fiction writer fond of things that go chomp in the night. She is author of the Blackfire urban fantasy series and Nocturne vampire mystery series, as well as other novels, novellas and stories in the horror, science fiction and fantasy genres. She is a three-time winner of the Darrell Award for speculative fiction and finalist for the Prism, Imadjinn and Knost awards, and more recently received the Mimi Zanger Award for fiction. She is the founder of the Literary Underworld small-press cooperative; an award-winning journalist and essayist with more than 25 years in journalism; a nature and art photographer; freelance editor and writing coach. She holds a masters degree in media studies and MFA in creative writing from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, and teaches journalism and English composition at several St. Louis colleges. She serves as president of the St. Louis Society of Professional Journalists and vice president of the AWP Adjunct Writers Caucus, and is a member of the national SPJ Ethics Committee, Association of Writers and Writing Programs, Authors Against Book Bans, Authors Guild, and more writing and trade organizations than is healthy. She lives with her family in a haunted house in Edwardsville, Illinois. In her spare time, she has no spare time. 

Reviews

[Susannah T · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you love dnd definitely give this book a try! The love triangle they had going on left me very frustrated, and wanting a longer story with more details and reasons to the heartbreak.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tense and so creepy, it's like a DnD story set in a creepy swamp.

[Rachel Brune · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed the action and the characters. Terrific for LitRPG fans!

[Angelia Sparrow · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm biased. I'm the editor.

When Elizabeth was looking to re-issue this one, I jumped at the chance. I had loved the first incarnation, but saw its flaws.

Now, join us on a Float Trip Through Hell.

Elizabeth never lets the reader forget she is a horror author, even when she is writing heroic fantasy. As the crew braves one setback after another in their pursuit of Tam's missing love, I was turning pages and ignoring the clothes that had stopped in the laundromat dryer.

Solid sword&sorcery fantasy, in a slight unusual setting.

[Craig Russo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of action. The ending stinks.